Every fiber of her being went into overdrive, but her arms dropped to her sides and she couldn’t move, couldn’t bring herself to go to the railing to greet whoever it was. Because if it wasn’thim, Janet didn’t think she could live with the disappointment.
She couldn’t lose the months of time she’d spent grieving.I can’t do it again.
The watership slowed down and moved alongside her own, and she willed her eyes to meet with a pair of beautifully tragic, dark ones across the space.
The man jumped over the side and onto her ship with inhuman grace, moving steadily toward her.
Her body shook.
“Janet,” he said.
Her mouth opened and closed as he stopped right in front of her and he waited as she found her voice.
“Hector,” she said after a long, breathless spell.
Hector smiled down at her, and for the first time since she last saw him, there was no walls, no pain, no secrets in his eyes. She twisted her shaky fingers together.He came back.But she was too afraid to touch him, too scared he’d fall into dust and only be a sick illusion.
He reached behind her and pulled out her bun. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” she barely managed to say. “Are you real?”
His smile widened. “More real than I’ve been since I met you.”
She raised her hand to hover it above his chest. “The real you.”
“Yes.”
“And your illness? Is it gone?”
“Zeph’s gone.”
Janet licked her lips and press her palms against his chest, needing to make sure. His body was solid, warm, and real enough to convince her that this wasn’t a dream. God it felt good. “Never to return?”
“Not unless we’re missing Nightheart.”
Her lips twitched, and a chuckle threatened to burst out of her.He’s really here.She couldn’t believe it. She moved her hand up to cup the back of his neck. A breeze came in from the ocean and swept up their hair. Her nose filled with the scent of sea breeze and sunblock. Hector’s brow furrowed down at her, and he leaned in… Janet tilted her face up for the kiss.
It never came. Instead, he buried his face into her neck and inhaled deeply.
His breath was hot on her skin, and she shuddered, pressing her legs together. It really convinced her he wasreal. When Hector pulled away, she sought his lips and stole a quick kiss. His arms came around her and pressed her into his chest, lifting her into the air. The kiss deepened with moans, with grasping hands and gasping breaths. Any traces of the numbing sadness inside her vanished.
“I need you, my little siren.”
Janet laughed. “You mean maneater?”
“I call my favorite pussy that now.”
“Wow, really? Ruin the moment, much?”
“You mean elevating it, sweetheart, Cyborgs elevate things, not the other way around.”
Janet wiggled out of his embrace and pointed a finger at him, narrowing her eyes. “Watch yourself, I apparently haven’t killed you yet,” she teased. Badly.
Hector plucked at a loose strand of her hair. “What’s my name, Janet?”
She stilled, her smile falling. “Hector,” she whispered, getting it right for the first time since he asked that question. It was the only answer to any question he could ask her at that moment. He swept her back up into his arms. “Hector, Hector, Hector,” she said again and again between kisses.
This was what she wanted—complete acceptance. Someone who'd risk everything for her the same way she'd risk everything for them. To love her unconditionally, flaws and all.
