Grief tore through her then at her sudden realization.
“And you won’t be here to stop me,” she whispered. Those tears welled in her eyes again, knowing that very soon…she would never see him again. “You’ll be gone, Dravka.”
Once he left Everton, he would be lost to her. Lost in the stars. On a flickering little planet, far away from here.
She cleared her throat, bringing the back of her hand up to wipe at the tears that leaked down her face, suddenly furious that she was crying. She should be happy he would be gone soon. It would mean she’d succeeded. It would mean he might be able to find some semblance of peace and happiness in this life after everything that he’d endured.
He deserved happiness. They all did.
His grin was a little feral, a little wild.
“If you think I’m leaving this terrible little colony without you, you’re solely mistaken,mellkia,” he growled.
There was that word again.
She ignored him, sniffling. “I’m planning to get in touch with Eve and Khiva. She gave me a patch number for a contact of hers. They settled on a colony named Dumera, remember? Maybe you can—”
A gasp escaped her lips.
Dravka’s hands settled around her waist and he stepped forward until there was no space left between them.
Then…
His lips were on hers.
Dravka was kissing her.
Dravka was kissing her!
Valerie’s eyes were open and she stared, shocked, elated, angered, bewildered, into his own eyes. His gaze was a challenge. Up close, even in the darkness, Valerie saw swirls of color in those eyes that evenshehadn’t noticed before. Glimmers of gold threaded in the green. Hints of teal in the blue.
Dravka was kissing her?
At first, it seemed he’d decided to kiss her so she would stop talking. A simple way to seal off her words.
But then…
A rough sound chuffed in the back of Dravka’s throat. He crouched, his hands squeezing at her waist. Then, heaven help her, his lips began to move.
The kiss started out soft. A mere brushing of his lips across hers, gentle after the shock had worn off. Valerie sucked in a long breath through her nostrils, desire lighting within her, her hands curling into his chest. When had she placed them there?
If possible, Dravka pressed closer. His head slanted and then those soft lips were taking her own with more force, moving over her leisurely but skillfully.
One of his hands moved to cup the swell of her ass, squeezing, another roughened, dark sound emerging from his throat, one that seemed to light her blood on fire like a match had been struck. He used his grip to lift her up, holding her against the door. With her feet suddenly dangling, she instinctively latched her legs around the back of his thighs and it gave him more room topress.
Now their faces were level and Dravka took full advantage of that. In her temporary madness, she couldn’t remember why this was such a terrible, terrible idea. In her temporary madness, swimming in her surprise and her desire, her eyes closed, getting lost in his kiss, beginning to respond to him.
Both his hands were cupping her ass now in an almostpossessivegrip. Her legs were around him and she felt the hard settling of his cock between her parted thighs. She began to pant, her heartbeat thundering in her ears, her hands clutching him, afraid that he would pull away.
And when he nibbled at her bottom lip, taking advantage of her small gasp to delve his long, dark tongue inside her mouth, her body began to throb. He groaned into her, his hips hitching ever so slightly, rubbing his cock against the seam of her pants, over her own sex and—
Brandy. She tasted the brandy on his tongue.
Valerie’s eyes shot open.
Panic was beginning to rise, reality returning to her though his drugging kiss had temporarily made her forget.
This was Dravka.
