“And we were doing itdoggie-style!Oh, god. That’s even worse.”
“What are you upset about?” I truly did not understand her reference. “What is ‘doing it’? Are you referring to our mating? And what is ‘doggie-style’?”
She burst out laughing. My mate rolled over onto her side and propped herself up on one arm to look at me. Her dark hair framed her face perfectly. “What am I supposed to do with you, huh?”
Fully clothed once more, I sat next to her on the small bed and gently pushed a stray piece of hair from her face. “Keep me. Allow me to stay at your side.”
Rebecca flopped onto her back and stared up at me, her heart in her eyes. “No wonder I can’t seem to stay mad at you.”
Did she know what her gaze told me? Was she beginning to love me? Did I dare hope? I could not lose that fragile beginning within her. I needed her too badly. “We will return to Earth.”
She gasped and reached for me, her palm tender against my cheek. “Thank you.”
I sighed. When she looked at me like that I could deny her nothing. Already I was hers in ways she could not comprehend. The pull of a Marked Mate was no small thing. A miracle. Rare. True and strong and impossible to deny. I would give her anything. Follow her anywhere. Kill for her. Die for her. Never get enough of her voice. Her touch. Her scent. Her smile.
I wanted more. I wanted her heart.
“We return. Not for the hunt. Not for the Coalition. We go back because I know your heart would break if we did not.”
Tears gathered in her eyes and I cursed myself a fool. What the fuck had I done wrong now? I had killed the one who attacked her. Saved her life and that of her beloved animal. I had healed them both. Cared for them. Stated my intention and claimed her body, giving her pleasure. I had melded our hearts into one with the binding of our marks as I filled her with my cock. What more could I have done in such a short time?
Nothing. I had done all I could do. It was not enough.
Despair threatened to break me at the great sorrow I saw gathering in her eyes.
A single tear slid down her cheek. Two. I could not bear it. “Please, do not.” I wiped the tears away with my thumb. “Do not cry. I will fix this. Whatever is breaking your heart, I will fix it.”
She smiled. “I don’t think so, Stark.” She turned her head and placed a kiss in the palm of my hand, my skin wet with the tears I’d wiped away. “I think this might be what love feels like. I just didn’t expect it to hurt.”
“I do not know. I have never been in love before.” Before her.
She sniffled and wiped the remainder of her tears away. She sat up, a new energy singing in every line of her body. She pulled my shirt down to cover herself and slapped the bed. “Okay. You, go set the autopilot, or whatever you guys call it, to take us back to Earth.”
“The journey will take five days.” I did not want to disappoint her with the news, but she needed to know. “We are nearly home.”
“To Everis?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. It is what it is. Get us turned around and then come find me.”
“The ship is not large enough for you to hide from me.”
“I know. I’ll even tell you where to look.”
Confused, I felt my own head tilt to the side, just as her pet’s did. “Where?”
“In the shower. Thanks to you, I need one. Badly.”
The assault on my senses began at once as I imagined water gliding over her curves. Droplets on her lips. Moving my hands over every part of her. Relishing the soft glide of cleansing oils on her smooth skin.
My cock pulsed. I swore at the shameless beast. The vision would not leave me. The curse of a vivid imagination.
“Perhaps that is not a good idea.” I turned my face away. The only way to regain control of myself was to stop looking. I could not think with her spread out on my bed like an offering to a god. To me.
“I don’t know. I’d like to try out those oils.”
“What?” My head snapped to attention. I turned to look at her over my shoulder. She was grinning, a sexy, feminine grin full of pure seduction.
