“Please,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, feeling the roughness of his skin.
Those beautiful eyes found her when she pulled away, those swirling greens and blues and golds stealing her breath for a moment. It was like he saw everything about her with that gaze.
“Pax, leeldra,” he rasped and bright relief burst in her chest. “I cannot deny you anything.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Eve ordered a driverless car on her Nu device, which picked them up close to the Lake District and dropped them off in front of her townhome.
Given the time of night, the Garden District was quiet and empty, but Eve knew that the neighbors could be nosy. Khiva made sure his hood was in place before they exited and they quickly strode to her front door. She wondered if there would be a time when they wouldn’t have to sneak around in this manner, but knew it was unlikely.
Eve pulled him inside once she closed the doors, the familiar scent of her townhome hitting her nostrils. It was a comforting smell, the smell of old books and Old Earth restored leathers, but she wondered what Khiva thought of it. Genni had always complained that it smelled strange.
She let him take in his surroundings in the foyer and she went to all the windows and activated the shielders so that no nosy neighbors or anyone walking past would be able to see them inside. They could still see outside, however, one of the few modern amenities her father had installed in their townhome.
When Eve returned to him, she found him in the sitting room, one of the front rooms of the house, whose bay window faced the street. He’d taken off his hood, so Eve could see the way his eyes flickered over the furnishings. Eve got the sense he was acutely observing every little detail, absorbing everything.
“Let me take your overcoat,” she told him softly, going to him. For some reason, she was nervous about what he thought of her home, a place she’d spent the majority of her life. Her home was a reflection of her, or at least, who she’d been.
Silently, Khiva shrugged it off and handed it to her. She went back to the hidden closet in the hallway, opened it with a swipe of her hand over the scanner, and deposited his overcoat inside.
When she returned to him, he was looking at the shelves of books lining the wall next to the fireplace. Eve approached him and placed her hands on his strong back, feeling the way his muscles shifted there at her touch, before sliding them around his front, embracing him from behind.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she admitted softly.
He cupped her hands in his own and then turned, so that he could look down at her. In the warm light of the room, his skin looked more gray than blue, like the first time she’d seen him. His eyes appeared more golden.
“I’m happy you’re here,” she said next.
“Even if it is only for a short while?” he asked carefully, studying her.
Eve’s lips press together briefly. “I’ll take whatever time we have together.”
Khiva’s eyes closed, his jaw tightening the barest amount. When he opened his eyes, he murmured down to her, “I wish I could give you more. More than this.”
Eve’s heart fluttered with both happiness and despair. “I told you I would help you.”
Khiva shook his head, dismissing her words immediately. Eve sighed, but she wouldn’t give up. She would do anything she could to make him accept. She could easily pay for his passage off Everton, could help him pay for his application renewals to continue searching for his mother and brother.
His pride was stopping him.
Eve thought it was ridiculous, but in a way, she understood. He’d been a Krave for so long and had been paid so little for it. Perhaps his pride was something he needed to hold onto to, to not feel completely…used.
It made her want to cry. It made her want to scream. It made her want to put Madame Allegria on the Quentin colony for the rest of her natural life.
At that moment, she didn’t press him, however. Later, when they were lying in bed, she might bring it up again. Or perhaps tomorrow morning, or during her visit to him that week.
Eve sighed and then asked, “Are you hungry?”
A dark trill rose in his throat. “For what?”
Despite her thoughts, Eve couldn’t help but give him a smile, at the teasing tone she heard. She realized that during her visit, when she’d lost her virginity to him, he’d asked her that same thing. And she’d responded with those same words.
“For food,” she said, trying to keep her tone stern.
He huffed.
“Veki,” he rasped, his arms suddenly plucking her from the ground and she gasped, automatically wrapping her legs around his waist to secure herself. “Not for food. Where are your sleeping quarters? Or would you prefer to be mated here?”
