As AJ went limp over his shoulder, his arms wrapped tight around her waist. She could feel his heart riot the way it had after their first kiss, and she closed her eyes as he held her. Her skin was tingling; her body was speaking to his on a molecular level.I know you,it was saying.I wished for you,hummed each cell, each fiber. They stayed like that for a long time.
Gradually, Noah’s arms loosened. AJ eased off him, and they sat side by side, stunned by the magnitude of what they’d just done. Without looking at her, Noah placed his hand on top of hers, then got up to use the bathroom. When he finished, AJ followed, shocked to see her own face under the vanity’s harsh yellow light. It took her a few minutes to pee, she was still so turned on, and when she finished she was uneven on her feet. She washed her hands for twice as long as usual, letting the water run over her wrists, her mind completely blank.
When she opened the bathroom door, Noah was outside. He was completely naked now, and he was hard again, andwow.This time, he was the one to touch her first, his hands in her hair, his tongue in her mouth, his cock flat against her stomach. Want spasmed between AJ’s legs as he backed her into the bathroom and turned her around, so that her hip bones were flush against the cool Carrara marble of the sink. Without hesitation, he entered her from behind.
Both of them winced at the intensity of it, AJ folding forward, Noah’s face convulsing in an almost agonized expression. Then his hands wrapped around her waist, and he began to fuck her so hard that AJ understood. This wasn’t just what he’d wanted yesterday; this was what he’d always wanted, how he’d always wanted it. He held her gaze in the mirror, and all AJ could do was stare at the hunger in his eyes, until the friction became so consuming her vision blurred.
Here was thunder—outrage, sorrow, possession.Mine,said his hands as they dug into her hips.Mine, mine, mine,said his body as he thrust farther and farther inside her.Minein his eyes as AJ began to come from that deep, satisfying place, building and building. She gasped, caving forward, dumb with the sensation of him fucking her. Then she lifted her eyes to his, and he lost control.Mine,she thought as his face contorted.Mine,she thought as he came inside her.
Gently, almost apologetically, he pulled back. AJ drew herself up, one vertebra at a time, cold stripes on her skin from the marble. Noah’s breathing was still ragged as he kissed her on the lips, then on the forehead, then on the lips again, her face cupped in his hands.
They cleaned themselves up and fell into his bed. AJ was grateful there didn’t seem to be a question of her staying. Noah just slid his arm beneath her neck like a pillow and engulfed her in his embrace, and AJ thought quite calmly that it would be okay with her if she died. That she would be fine to go to sleep and not wake up from this.
But she did awaken, a few hours later, the night sky a cobalt haze. As she stirred, Noah rolled onto his side, and she realized he was already conscious. Maybe he hadn’t slept. He brushed the hair out of her eyes, his fingers gliding down her neck, over her shoulder. Then his hand was moving down her abdomen, tracing circles around her navel, traveling lower, and lower, until the heel came to rest against her pubic bone, his fingertip delicately probing her entrance.Are you sore?he was asking.Can I touch you?The answers were yes and yes.
AJ reached for his face and brought him close, taking in the pink stain on his cheeks, the way his brow creased as he studied her, then kissed her.
Now the rain—a thousand points of contact, lips and tongues and fingertips and palms. This was what their first time should have been,wouldhave been had things been different. He cradled her, kissing her softly as he coaxed her open, petal by petal.His hands,AJ thought as he slipped a finger inside her; she would lose her mind for love of his hands.
He touched her slowly, deliberately, refusing to alter his careful pace, even when AJ bucked against him. As her head reared back in frustration, he tasted the base of her neck, his tongue hot on her pulse. Then he pressed in with another finger, stretching her, stroking her, drawing her so fucking taut. He was going to make her come, and she told him, and he made a deep noise that sounded a bit like her name, and that was it. He watched her tremble and burst, his pupils enlarged, his dick thick and heavy on her thigh.
As AJ’s breathing slowed, Noah parted her legs so he could restbetween them.Yes.She took his weight, reveling in the strength of his arms, in the warm expanse of his back beneath her palms. He trailed reverent, unhurried kisses along her collarbone, her sternum, her breasts, inhaling the scent of her skin as he went, so absorbed and beautiful in the gathering light.
It was getting light.
Oh God.AJ’s fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him up. She had to kiss him. She could still kiss him. As their lips met, Noah’s tongue drove into her mouth, his cock nudging at her entrance.
He’d noticed the light, too.
He made a guttural sound as her fingers grasped his length, lining him up. Their eyes met as he inched into her, just the tip. AJ whimpered, canting her hips.More.Noah kissed her deeply, giving her another inch. It wasn’t nearly enough. AJ held his gaze, panting with need.Do it.A look of sheer arrogance passed over his features. Then he gave her the rest in one ruthless shove, and AJ swore.
Told you so,he laughed into her neck as she adjusted. AJ leaned her head against his temple, eyes closed, and for a moment, their breath was the only sound in the universe.
Then Noah kissed her hard, and they began to fuck in earnest. Their bodieswenttogether, fit together to make something intense and messy and sacred and whole. As AJ shifted to get a better angle, her cells vibrated in tune with his.It’s you,they sang.It was always you, and it always will be.And now white-hot panic seared through AJ because she knew that it was true.
As she started to cry, Noah stilled. His hand took hold of hers. When AJ opened her eyes, she found that his too were glassy with emotion.
His gaze drifted to her lips, and she felt him pulse inside her, and they both smiled a little. Then he kissed her like this was the end, because it was. His fate had been sealed, and she was free, and he didn’t want to take her life.
And just when the sadness threatened to overpower her, Noah moved, and the rush of it halted her tears. AJ closed her eyes as he thrust again, surrendering to the alchemic shift from pain to pleasure.
He rocked them both as she kissed his jaw, his shoulders, anywhereshe could reach. She gave herself over to his body, to that dark, salty scent, to the torrential force of him. They were getting close now. AJ felt his lips moving senselessly against her neck.
“Noah,” she said. He groaned. “Noah, I lo—”
“Don’t.” He lifted his eyes to hers, and AJ understood that he couldn’t allow her to say it, that it would shatter the dome. His expression softened as he took her face in his enormous hand, smoothing his thumb across her cheekbone. “Me too,” he whispered. “God, me too.”
And then he was fucking her so deeply, AJ had to bite into his shoulder to keep from yelling out.I need you,his body was saying.Let me need you.Palm to palm, their fingers entwined, his firm and strong, even as his orgasm threatened to pour out.Not yet,AJ begged. But the harder she resisted, the closer she edged, until she convulsed so violently she couldn’t make a sound. Noah grasped her as she came, thrusting once, twice. Then he breathed her name and spent himself.
They lay joined for some time after, until their bodies wilted and their sweat began to cool. Then gradually, Noah roused. He kissed her sweetly, then rose from the bed. Once he shut himself in the bathroom, AJ donned her white dress and slipped out the door. There would be no goodbyes.
Under a clear gray sky, she made her way across the courtyard, hopeful that the hour would enable her to pass unnoticed. As she closed the sliding door to her room, she did feel someone’s gaze and looked up to see that it was Noah, standing behind his own glass door.
For a moment they stared at each other. He held up a hand. AJ forced herself to smile, to return the wave. Then she drew the curtain between them. She did not know how long she remained after, waiting. She did not know what she was waiting for.
Todd Gould stood alonein the editing bay holding twelve shipping labels and a roll of packing tape. On the floor sat a fleet of white boxes, one for each episode.
As he prepared to ship them to New York, he thought of the lastepisode, of Ana Tar steering the crale back to the Naval Capitol planet to rescue Rho. They’d filmed the resolution the day after on location—Todd supposed he’d have to wait to see it with everyone else.
