He made a sound in the back of his throat, his arms sliding around her again.
“What else did Eve say?” he asked, steering the conversation back towards where they left off.
Valerie sniffed a little, running her fingertip underneath her lower lash line to catch a stray tear there.
“That she can help all of you find homes,” she murmured. “That you can stay with her and Khiva until arrangements can be made.”
“Val,” he growled, feeling his belly churn. “For the last time, you will be coming with us. If you think I’m leaving you here, you’re sorely mistaken. I don’t care if I have to sedate you myself and take you on the vessel, I’ll do it.”
She thought he was joking by the small, melancholy smile she gave him. But he wasn’t. He’d do whatever it took to get her off the colony.
“Regardless,” she continued, “Eve and Khiva will help. You’ll all have work and a safe place to live. On a respectable, peaceful colony, far away from here. What you’ve always wanted.”
“What I want,” he murmured, “is you and only you. None of it matters if you’re not with me.”
Her brows drew together and she licked her lips.
And itvaukingdepressed him just how resigned she looked just then. When she was cradled in his arms, after what they’d just done.
Dravka, thinking of nothing else that he could do, simply kissed her, pouring everything he felt for her into that single kiss.
She gasped, gripping his shoulders.
At the very least, it would erase that expression off her face.
Until Dravka could convince her to come—or until he could kidnap her off thisdemav-forsaken place—it was the only thing he could do.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Valerie woke the next morning, Dravka was watching her, stroking his thumb across her shoulder.
Her heart did a strange pitter-patter, a stuttering of surprise and happiness.
“Kasunu, mellkia,” he rasped, his voice husky and deep. Roughened with sleep.
She was lying in the crook of his arm, their legs entwined underneath the thin coverings of his bed.
“Good morning,” she replied back, knowing that that was whatkasunumeant in the Keriv’i language.
And now she knew whatmellkiameant as well.
My love.
Her heart did the little stuttering again and she tried not to grin as she rolled away. It was so strange, waking uphappy.
But all too soon, reality would crash back in, a reality she needed to return to.
“Where are you going?” Dravka asked, pushing up onto his elbow, the sheets sliding away from his chest, showing off the sculpted muscle underneath. Muscles she’d dug her nails into last night as he’d caressed her in his bed.
She cleared her throat, standing from the bed, dressing quickly in her discarded silk dress, the one she’d worn for him last night. Her underwear were nowhere to be found, however.
When she looked back at him, she scraped her messy hair into a quick bun on the top of her head. Dravka watched her with interest, his lazy gaze flickering over her in a possessive way that made her blood heat. Because shewantedto be his. That was all she wanted.
He watched the hem of her short dress slide up her thighs as she smoothed her hair. His hand reached for her, his fingers sliding up her inner thigh.
Valerie gasped, quickly stepping away, shooting him a look that made his deep chuckle fill the room.
“Val,” he murmured, rolling on his back. “Come back to bed.”
