“I just want to go home.” The raw words exploded from her mouth, painful.
He cupped her jaw in his hand. “I know.”
“Ineedto go home.” She stared into his icy blue eyes, willing him to free her.
His thumb brushed her cheek.
Tingles spread across her skin. His thumb moved again, creating another wave of sensation, this time tumbling down her spine. His eyes darkened. She couldn’t look away. She wanted to drown in their depths and never resurface.
She gripped the collar of his uniform and yanked him forward. His lips smashed into hers, inelegant, brutal. Heat flared in the pit of her stomach. Shivers exploded across her skin. Every one of her frustrated emotions flooded into the kiss. She trembled, and it had nothing to do with fear.
On a groan, he gathered her closer, his arms tight around her ribs. The shift of their bodies pressed her breasts flush against his chest. Her nipples puckered under the thin material of her top and bra. His mouth took ownership of hers, his tongue stroking inside until she couldn’t breathe from the flood of sensation. His masculine scent filled her head, minty and warm. The taste of him stoked a primal part of her she didn’t know existed.
She wanted to get closer,neededit. Her fingers pulled at the material of his uniform, trying to rip the cloth from his body.
He tore his lips from hers on a groan. She gasped for oxygen. His icy eyes bored into hers. Their chests rose and fell in tandem. The moment hung in time, suspended, until Mace pressed his forehead against hers, hands on either side of her throat.
“What are you doing to me?” he whispered. Their noses touched, breath mingling.
Then he turned his face to the side. In one movement, he scooped her up, set her on the bed, and strode to the door. It closed behind him with a soft whoosh.
The absence of his heat made her shiver. His abandonment sliced through her stomach like one of those daggers she’d seen today. Conflicting and traitorous thoughts tumbled through her head one after the other.
She wanted him to come back.
She wanted to finish what they started.
Arms wrapped around herself, a sob clogged her throat—one she was determined not to release.
Mace strode from his quarters, his hand scrubbing his face. The way Nia had looked—lips puffy, eyes glistening, her whole body trembling. He couldn’t get her out of his head. If he hadn’t left right then, he would have had her naked and been inside her within the next few minutes.
The thought did nothing to extinguish the way she made him burn. Her jasmine scent hovered around him in a cloud. He rubbed his lips, remembering how she’d tasted.
Fucking hell.He needed a cold steam. When he entered an empty corridor, he stopped and stared at the bulkhead.
He wanted to let her go, he really did. Taking her had been a mistake,a weakness. He should have left her to die. His chest tightened at his thought.No.He couldn’t have. Not when those russet eyes had already seared his soul, when her heart beat under his arm,aliveand full of fight. Not when thinking her dead along with the rest ofElara Fivehad turned in to an unacceptable scenario in those first few minutes.
His mind ran through strategies where he could take her back to CORE space and let her go. But even if she arrived at a CORE controlled ship or station unharmed, he knew what would happen. She would never be able to return to her old life. She would be monitored, restricted, and controlled. The CORE never trusted those who returned into the fold and treated them like criminals instead.
The safest place for her to be was in his quarters.
The most dangerous place for her was in his quarters.
He would not turn into something to fear like his ancestors before him. He wouldn’t touch her again. Because if he did, if she made those encouraging sounds in the back of her throat that set him on fire…
Fucking hell.He hit the bulkhead with his fist. The resounding crunch filled the quiet.
Chapter twenty-two
AfterthekisswithMace, Nia rarely saw him. He’d quit escorting her to and from family medicine, instead giving the job to Elec. At least she wasn’t required to be bound in the corridors anymore.
Even though she rarely saw him, she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. When they’d kissed, she’d been lost, drowning in sensation. She hadn’t cared where she was, who he was, what he’d done…she’d wanted to lose herself completely and forget everything else.
The desire hadn’t really left her.
She still wanted him.
And hated herself for it.
