There was no pressure for it to be more…now there is. Isn’t there? If I don’t go to his room tonight, will things be weird tomorrow? For how long is okay for us to be figuring this out before it needs to move forward?
If I don’t go, my doubts and fears will consume me.
If I do go, I will have faced them, and possibly created more.
Instead of putting on pajamas, I pull on clean underwear, pants and a T-shirt and shove on my boots. I’m sure this isn’t the smart thing to do, but dammit, I want him. Even though the idea is more than a little terrifying.
It’s dark when I walk through the corridors of the accommodation block to where Yva’s room is. I pass a few people, but they are doing their own thing, and everyone is used to people wandering around and moving between beds, so no one bothers me.
There are people in the corridor where his room is. I either have to keep walking or knock. I’m running out of time to decide. I should’ve told him to come to my room, but Yva walking to my room so much more obvious.
Five steps…
Three steps…I’m sure the women talking in the corridor are watching me.
One step. I stop and knock and hope that he’s there. Their gazes burn into me as if they know I don’t belong.
Yva opens the door, and once again he’s only wearing the colony issue soft blue pants. I forget how to breathe at how good he looks. “Come in.”
What else am I going to do, aside from stand and stare?
He holds the door for me and gives the women a look. And it’s not the ‘I’m interested look’. Annoyance radiates off him, then he closes the door. “Some people started having conversations in the corridor so they can watch us come and go.”
“Are they spying on you or vying for your attention?”
“Both.” He takes my hands. “I am glad you are here. I wasn’t sure…”
A nervous laugh escapes. “Neither was I. It’s been a long time since I crept into someone else’s room.”
“I never have.” He’s smiling, lips pressed tight.
“Because you didn’t have a room?” I try to make a joke.
“Because I don’t sneak around. I don’t think you do either.”
“Well, I didn’t announce it.” I look into his red eyes. “I’m worried that we might do something…” I’m not sure how to say it. “I don’t want to trap you.”
“I appreciate your concern. I will be very careful because I do not want to trap you either. So as much as I want to taste you, I will not.” His tongue sweeps over his lower lip. “It will be best if you keep your pants on.”
I nod. I’d already figured that was going to be the best way to be safe. “Will you be keeping yours on?”
“You want to see somealien dick?” The way he says it suggests he has heard it from other people.
It can’t be that different, or one of the mated women would’ve said something. When the hard length of his dick pressed against me and it didn’t feel too different. “No. I want to understand how this will work and how you’ll tell if we mess up and end up mated.”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”
“You might hate me in a year.” Or I might hate him.
“I doubt that.” He runs his fingers through my short hair and leans in to kiss me. His lips are a whisper away from mine. “In part because of the way the mating bond affects warriors.”
“That doesn’t bother you? That your biology makes your love your mate?”
“Is that a bad thing?” His lips brush over mine. “That a warrior craves his mate and will do anything to please her?”
It sounds too good to be true. A man devoted to me and my happiness?
His tongue flicks over my lower lip and I open my mouth, sinking into the kiss. I want to believe in this little fairy tale. That I get to be happy with a…he’s not a prince…but he was before he was banished. I suck in a breath, and he draws back.
