“Mission accomplished then. Your research saved an entire planet.” I can’t refer to Earth asherplanet anymore. She belongs on j’Tilak. With me.
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten. I almost regretted it when Earth backed out of the treaty the second it became inconvenient. Regardless of how shitty the politicians are, the people stuck on Earth don’t deserve to slowly starve to death.”
I scan the horizon, looking for any sign of the Boraei. We’ve passed the landmarks from the vague directions Maia’el gave us. The ground is flat and hard, and there’s nothing for miles.
“Let’s stop for the night,” I suggest. The sun is low in the sky. There is no point in pushing ourselves to go any farther today.
Bri looks around, assessing our location as well.
“You won’t hear any arguing from me!” she says brightly.
“Liar.”
FORTY-SIX
Bri
Ilike this Tai. He listens and watches like he’s studying me for an exam later. Each time I open up to him, he shifts his eyes like all of these little conversations are being filed away in his head so he can fully understand me. It’s a heady feeling, and more than a little intimidating.
He’s already in the tent when I climb in. He smiles nervously as I make myself comfortable in the small space. We are down to one tent. Watching him set it up, I knew we wouldn’t be able to keep our hands off each other. Before the “fuck like rabbits” portion of the evening commences, I need to get something off my chest.
“Today you asked me if I was running away from you or towards something else.”
He lets out a heavy breath and a heavy swallow at nothing.
“The truth is more complicated than that.”
“How so?”
“For a lot of reasons, which I don’t want to get into right now.” Icrawl up his body and straddle his hips. “However, I have a solution.” I tug at his hair, pulling him to me.
“You are a problem-solver,” Tai rasps against my skin.
“We can do this, guilt-free. And then when we get home, everything goes back to normal.”
His grip on me lessens. “Guilt?”
Oh, shit. I said the wrong thing.
“Wrong word,” I move his hands back to their previous position. “No strings attach—shit, you won’t know what that means. Unconditional, yeah. Let’s go with that.”
“Do we need to figure all this out right now?” he asks, breathing heavily.
“Not at all.”
Our lips crash together violently. It’s all need and heat and desperation.
His hands are on my back, pressing into my skin, holding me tight like I could fly away at any second. He arches beneath me, adding to the building friction between us. I circle my hips, indulging in the sensation of us pressed together.
The movement elicits a snarl, and I have never felt sexier in my life. His lips and teeth are at my jawline and throat. Nipping, claiming, teasing me.
My hands are on his shirt pulling up. Before I get it over his head, I’m flipped onto my back and Tai hovers over me, his hips between my legs. He kisses down my chest and pauses above my belly button. He spits and sputters out some sand he licked up along the way.
I can’t help but laugh at his expression. My skin is all sand and sweat. The thought banishes the confident sexy feeling that had possessed me seconds ago. I push on his chest and squirm beneath him, trying to put some space between us.
He growls and goes back to kissing and nuzzling deep into my neck.
“I’m so gross—you don’t want to do this,” I tell him. My voice is breathless and doesn’t even sound believable to my own ears.
