Swift shuddered a few times, his body rocking slowly back and forth as he spent every last drop he had. When he was done, he used his shocking strength to flip her onto her back and then climbed over her. Before she could speak, he claimed her mouth in a punishing kiss. She wrapped her arms around his blazing hot body and held him close as their tongues tangled.
His hand slipped between their bodies, finding her swollen nub, and he began to circle it slowly. She was so aroused it didn’t take much to send her over the edge. She buried her face in his neck and moaned as the waves of pleasure rippled from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
As the ecstasy faded, the memory of what she had said returned, and she felt suddenly shy. She avoided his gaze as he caressed her breasts and belly. Finally, he asked, “Alys, did you—?”
“I’m sorry. That was so crass.” She still couldn’t meet his gaze and focused on the interesting lines of the tattoo at the top of his arm.
“It wasn’t.” He placed two fingers under her chin and tipped her head back, forcing her to meet his tender gaze. “It was hot as hell.”
She blushed. “I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t very ladylike.”
“Like I care about that?” He kissed her lovingly. “I almost blacked out when I came.”
She winced. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize! I want you to be like that every time we have sex. Be wild and free. Talk to me. Take what you want. Ask for what you need.”
She understood that he was trying to reassure her and appreciated it. Still a little embarrassed, she admitted, “It was easier to be wild and free while facing away from you.”
“That makes sense, and it’s fine with me. We can do all sorts of fun things that don’t require us to face each other.”
The eager, boyish grin on his face made her smile. “Why am I not surprised that you have an entire list ready?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to prepare.” He kissed her again, and she wished they could stay like this for the rest of the afternoon, naked and sated and exchanging sweet kisses.
“I meant it,” she confessed and drew her initials on his chest. “About the baby,” she clarified softly. “I’ve always known that I wanted to be a wife and a mother. I expected it to happen a little differently and for there to be a farm and animals involved.”
“No space ships and giant sky warriors?” he teased.
“No.” She traced his jaw. “But I think maybe this was always supposed to be my destiny. It feels right.”
“It feels right to me, too, and that scares me,” Swift admitted, his eyes betraying his vulnerability.
“Why?”
“Any time things go well up here, things inevitably go to shit.” He pulled her into a close embrace. “We’re still at war with the Splinter faction. They’re wounded and weak, but they’re still out there. The hardliners will come at us again. It’s only a matter of time.” He kissed the top of her head. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt.” She didn’t know anything of warfare. She had lived a peaceful life down on her planet, insulated from the violence that happened often in The City or other parts of her world. She couldn’t even begin to imagine all Swift had seen.
“I’ll keep you safe, Alys. Whatever it takes, I’ll keep you safe.”
His arms tightened around her, and she placed her ear against his chest, listening to the slowing thud of his heartbeat. Swift had spoken his vow to keep her safe, but she made hers silently, vowing to herself to do everything she could to make him happy and give him the family he had earned.
Chapter Twelve
Swift stood back and watched as Alys fussed around the table. She had been grumbling about the lack of table linens and proper dishes and silverware for at least ten minutes now. He sensed she was embarrassed to be serving dinner to a guest on a bare table on the utilitarian dishware stocked in each kitchen.
“Alys, Rampage will be perfectly happy to eat off the floor if that’s where you decide to serve dinner,” Swift said, trying to be reassuring. Instead, his remark earned him a scowl.
“I would never!” Her eyes narrowed with irritation. “Being a gracious hostess to any guest in our home includes preparing a beautiful meal on our best table linens and dishes.” She cast a baleful glance at their table. “My mother would be so upset if she saw this.”
“Your mother would understand that you’re a new bride in a new home without a hope chest,” Swift insisted. He crossed the space between them and drew her in for a soothing embrace. “Rampage will be thrilled to get a home cooked meal and to get out of the bachelor wing for a few hours.”
“What’s so bad about the bachelor wing?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.
“It’s loud and crowded,” he said, choosing not to tell her about the wild antics that often went on over there. Horny, frustrated men with too much testosterone and not enough access to women were a constant problem, especially in the lower ranks of young men with only a handful of valor points. “Rampage has his own quarters, but they’re very small.”
“But he was a prisoner!” She glanced up at him with concern etched into her face. “Why would they put him in a small home if he’s been in a prison cell?”
“Because it’s what we have available,” he said with a helpless shrug.
“Does he have as many points as you?”
“Probably more,” Swift said, thinking of the various battles Rampage had fought in and the dangerous missions he had undertaken.
“So, until he has a mate, he has to stay in the cramped side of the ship?”
Swift nodded. “That’s the way it goes.”
“That doesn’t seem fair. I was reading the section in the guide about Grabs, and it said there aren’t enough slots available for the men who have points. So—what? They have to wait indefinitely?”
“There are other ways to get a mate.”
“Such as?”
“Matchmaking,” he said. “My parents were in an arranged marriage.”
“I suppose mine are as well. My grandfather practically sold my mother to my father when she was sixteen.”
“How old was your father when they married?”
“Twenty-nine.”
Swift grimaced. “That’s a bit much.”
She shrugged and echoed his earlier remark. “That’s the way it goes.”
He grunted at that, but their discussion of age gaps was cut short by the chime of their doorbell. He glanced at the screen mounted on the wall and saw Rampage waiting in the hallway. He gave Alys another kiss, this one lingering, and then said, “You look beautiful. The table is fine. The food smells delicious. Relax.”
“Yes, sir.” She slipped in another quick kiss before letting him go and making her way back to their small kitchen.
When he answered the door, Swift was surprised to see what Rampage held. “Plants?”
Rampage shrugged and sheepishly explained, “Mayhem said I shouldn’t show up empty-handed to a home cooked dinner.”