Chapter 23
Xivthar pushed the food around on his plate. He felt downright petulant. It wasn't like him, but he couldn't help himself.
The most beautiful creature he'd ever seen was sitting across from him, making little moans of delight with each bite of the seafoam concoction in front of her. "My God, X, this has to be the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. Better than dark chocolate even. I can't stop myself from eating it all."
And she did eat every last bite, moaning over each one as she gazed up at him. Then she licked the spoon.
His cock twitched painfully under his sarong.
When she'd finally finished torturing him, she hopped up from the table in his sitting room and stood in front of him, her mood having brightened significantly. "Let's go see about my ship.”
X dropped his fork. It clattered against his plate, the discordant noise grating against his already frayed nerves. "As I told you in the Ministry of Science, it isn't safe."
"And as I've told you a hundred times since, we don't have any other options."
The regent ran a hand through his tendrils. They were more agitated than usual, waving against his head in disarray. "I'll think of something. I don't want you anywhere near your ship. It would be too easy to... to..."
"Too easy to what?" She narrowed her vibrant eyes at him. "There's no reason to keep me from my ship. I'm in no more danger there than I am walking the hallways where your subjects keep calling for my exile. Or worse."
She was right, and the crowds were only getting thicker. Xivthar imagined it was only a matter of time before the council was convened and his leadership was questioned. A crisis required swift action and so far he'd done little to protect his people. The defense shield was still down and his planet could be flooded with Hareema agents at any moment, or worse, maybe they'd already arrived.
The point that seemed to stick out the most to his constituency was the fact that he was being seen with the Earthling female. They knew she was in his quarters right now. If his predilections were as widely known as they seemed to be, he had a pretty good idea of what his subjects thought he was doing with her in here.
Which was exactly what hewantedto be doing.
Except they weren't. They were arguing. Again.
X had had enough of this verbal sparring. He'd rather engage in another type of sparring, one that involved his—
"Listen, X, I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but right now you don't seem too focused on the task at hand."
She sat back down, placing her elbows on the table and her face in her hands. Her position afforded him an uninterrupted view of her magnificent chest. Those pale globes, how badly he wanted to taste them, to touch them and see them on full display. She had opened her legs for him earlier. She would do it again.
"You aren't even paying attention to me now!" she yelled, bringing his gaze back to her face. "You're too distracted to be any help to your people!"
"I know!" he bellowed, standing up from his chair and stalking over to her. "You distract me like no other has before. I can't concentrate, all I can think about is possessing you."
She leaned back in her chair to put some distance between them, but he pushed into her space, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her eyes to his. “X… what are you doing?”
"I only know of one way to dispel this hold you have over me. I must have you." He pressed his face against her neck and licked her salty skin.
"Stop," she whispered, her voice lower than moments before. She pushed at his chest, but her actions were futile, the woman barely putting her strength into it.
"My body is screaming for me to take you. I've never experienced anything as powerful as this need I have for you. Don’t deny me, Sylvie. I wouldn’t deny you." He brushed his lips by her ear as she shivered and snuggled into him. He wasn’t alone in his desires, but she seemed the only one willing to fight it. "I know you want me too."
"I do not." She moaned as he slipped the tip of her earlobe into his mouth, her fingers tightening on his back.
"You lie only to yourself, pretty girl. Spend one night with me. One night to get each other out of our systems, to satisfy our mutual curiosity."
"One night?" Her voice was soft, very unlike the woman he had seen only moments ago.
Was she wavering?
"One night."
"And then you'll send me home?"
His grip on her tightened, and so did the clenching in his gut that hadn't stopped since earlier. The clenching that demanded he claim her as his for all time.
