“I like that out here I don’t have to be tame,” she admitted. “I can justbe.” Aesira nestled into Stone’s shoulder. It was a nice thought, imagining a world without walls. Without sacrifices. Without punishments.
“I have to ask you something,” Stone said. Aesira peeled herself away from him so she could see his face. “If you had known who I was that night at the tavern…” He watched her and through his glasses, she could see the worry in his eye. “If you knew I was an Odega, would you have let me kiss you?”
Her heart sped up, the guise of who she pretended to be was slipping, slipping. Noble. Fair. Just. But she was none of those things, not really.
“You know what”— he shook his head at her silence—“don’t answer that. It was an unfair question and I shouldn’t have asked.”
“I knew who you were,” she blurted out. “That’s why I…” She bit her tongue. How could she explain that she pursued him that night because he was just a rebellious itch to be scratched? A way to lash out from the strict demands of the Order constantly pulling her in whatever direction it pleased. Stone was a distraction. A way to push back against the rules that defined her.
“I see.” A muscle flexed in his jaw as he focused his attention on the fire.
Did he see? Was he now realizing there wasn’t much good left in her? That she was something rotten masquerading as something noble? “I was using you,” she said. “I was upset that the Order sent me a new station. Upset that every moment of my life was–is–dictated by someone else.” Stone sat silent next to her but his eyes softened and he leaned closer.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just wanted to make a choice that was completely my own and I saw you sitting there. With your goggles pushed up in your hair and the grease on your hands and you were laughing at something someone said. Then, you looked right at me and then immediately away and I knew you must be trouble.”
He smiled, the light returning to his eyes.
She didn’t want the new wall between them to grow any stronger. Not when they were just admitting to each other how they felt. Not when she was just admitting to herself how she felt.
She wanted to tear the whole fucking wall down until there was nothing between them at all, but she couldn’t lie to him. She didn’twantto lie to him. Whatever this was growing between them, she didn’t want to ruin it like she had ruined everything else in her life, even if all they had was this trip. Even if they had to pretend.
He pulled her hand, urging her into his lap. Her legs straddled either side of him, chills snaking down her spine as his hands worked their way under her shirt, ghosting across the bare skin of her back. “Commander,” he said, “if there’s anyone I wouldn’tmind being used by, it’s you.” He kissed one side of her neck. Then the other.
“And for what it's worth, I don’t want you tame," he said. "I want you wild and fierce and terrifying.” He punctuated each word with a kiss and her heart leapt to her throat as his hands slid lower, wrapping around her hips and pushing her tighter to him until their bodies melded together. “I’m at your mercy.” A small scrape of teeth against her throat followed by another kiss. “So use me. Lie to me. Break my fucking heart. I should be so lucky.” He kissed her lips before pulling back. Giving her a chance to say no. To walk away.
“Who will we be tonight?” She smiled, lacing her finger around the back of his neck. “A painter, a sculptor, a rogue debutante?”
Anyone but Commander, anyone but Odega.
“I’ll be whoever you want me to be, Aesira.”
She ran her fingers through his hair. “Tonight, I am a runaway and you are my bounty hunter.”
“Oh?” His arms tightened around her. “Does that mean I finally get to use those?” He tapped the restraints on her hip.
“If you can catch me.”
She jumped out of his lap and sprinted away, making sure to head in the opposite direction of the ruins. She could hear him behind her, the fire in the background fading as she wove around a group of trees, finding one to hide behind.
Anticipation curled in her stomach as Stone’s boots crunched through the fallen twigs on the ground. His breathing was heavy and she wondered if it was because of the run or the reward that’d be waiting if he caught her. He took another step, inches away, before she bolted again.
Darting around another tree, Stone’s footsteps faded behind her. She slowed her pace, giving her lungs a break, when a large hand wrapped around her wrist, pulling her to the ground.
Stone fell on top of her, his chest heaving, pushing into hers. “Caught you.” He slid her other arm up, pinning both wrists above her head. “Awfully pretty for a runaway.”
Her lips crashed into his, a new fierceness blooming in her chest. He loosened his grip on her wrists so she could pull her hands free. She snaked them through his hair, holding him as close to her as she could. Stone’s lips were demanding. Desperate. His hands grabbed at her, the rough calluses scraping across her skin. She rolled her hips forward, looking for any kind of friction, any way to be closer to him. He cupped the back of her neck and kissed her again.
His lips trailed over her neck, her chest, her mouth. She rocked her hips up again and Stone moaned, like he was in agony. But she was too. Agony that there were too many barriers between them. Clothes and layers and weapons. Duties and demands and stations. Pleasure and need pulsed between her legs as Stone rocked against her and she against him.
“Stone,” she whispered against his ear and she felt his body shake. He climbed off of her so they were side by side. Then, slowly, his fingers trailed down the front of her shirt.
“Do you like when I kiss you here?” He kissed a line down her throat, coaxing a moan out of her. “What about here?” He pulled her shirt down just enough to kiss over her chest.
“What else happened in your dream?” His lips paused against her skin, his hands tensing around her hips.
“How about I make you a promise,” he said, sliding his hand lower, lower, her breath hitched when he stopped right at theedge of her pants. “When we get back to the ship, I’ll show you everything that happened in my dream.”
The need for him to touch her was growing so desperate, she clawed her nails into his arm just to keep from touching herself. He kissed her pulse then his fingers dipped below her pants and she closed her eyes.
