“I want to help you.” The need was so great, it burned through his chest and throat. He outstretched his arms, not entirely sure why.
But she seemed to know. After a brief hesitation, she tucked her body against his.
His arms instinctively closed around her, and the hallway, the outpost, the storm, it all faded as he focused on Wynn and held her close.
A ragged breath shook her, the vibrations transferring to him. His arms tightened, and she expelled a longer breath.
“I thought they would kill you.”
Her words were quiet and tortured, ripping through his mind like a weapon.
“I thought I would watch another person die.” Her breath hitched, her shoulders shaking.
An emotion welled inside him and tasted bitter on his tongue. By speaking with the animals, he had caused her harm, but he could not fix it. He could not reverse time and make a different decision.
“I am sorry.” He said the words even though they did not feel like enough, because he was apologetic for more than his conversation with the animals. He was sorry her colleague died, for the trauma she went through, and for all the secrets hidden beneath the systems of this outpost.
She stiffened, then turned slightly within his arms. Her gaze met his, and he saw so much in her eyes. They shimmered with questions and pain, and he felt acute regret because he had caused it.
The longer she stared at him, her eyes searching his, the more her body relaxed into him. His blood surged. They connected from chest to hip. He could not remember a time he had ever stood this way with another. It was both foreign and natural, his muscles sinking into the position like he belonged.
Her fingers flexed against his arm, gripping him tight, fingernails biting through the material. He liked that too, but could not say why.
He lifted his hand and cupped her jaw. “I am sorry,” he said again.
She inhaled sharply, stilling, then leaned into the touch. Her cheeks bloomed with color. The shimmering moisture in her eyes morphed into something else when she blinked. Her lips parted.
Beautiful. The word came from far away. From the past. From a voice he had almost forgotten. The person had been speaking about a flower hanging high in the air in a green space, below a dome of stars.
Wynn was more beautiful than that flower, the expression in her eyes more poignant, her face full of life. He did not want to look away, not for all the flowers in the solar system.
Slowly, she reached toward his face. Fingernails skimmed his jaw, then gripped the back of his neck. He felt every digit, each length of her fingers against his skin. Tingles spread downward, over his shoulder blades and spine, then lower to settle in places that heated and yearned.
His breath stalled in his lungs as new emotions surged within him, ones with elusive names and definitions. The embrace held his body captive just as much as the emotions in Wynn’s eyes, which darted lower for a moment, focusing on his mouth before returning.
Her fingers tightened on the back of his neck, then she tugged his head downward. Closer and closer his face drew to hers. She closed her eyes with a sigh, and their lips met.
His mind blanked.
Then an explosion of feelings spread through him, both hers and his. They wrapped around his essence, his mind, his body, then everything focused on one location—where his lips joined with hers.
Soft. Supple.Perfect. He closed his eyes, basking in the pure pleasure. Though he could not taste her thoughts, he could tasteher. He inhaled her flavors, vibrant with life: water, and green, and earth. They settled into his mind, calming and exciting him in equal measure.
Wynn’s fingers flexed on his nape, tugging him closer, but he was as close as he could get with their bodies pressed against each other and their lips connected. Moving. Opening.
When her tongue swept inside his mouth, he realized he was very wrong. They could get so much closer. The stroke of her tongue was paradise. A sound emerged from his chest and throat, something between a growl and a moan.
In echo, she groaned into his mouth. Shivers broke over his scalp, traveling everywhere.
How was he feeling these things? The few times he had observed coupling, the interaction had been impersonal. Calypsons expressed a need, and both parties took care of that need if they were agreeable. There wasn’t this heat that now spiraled inside him, mimicking Wynn’s emotions as they bombarded his senses.
Along with his need also rose a new emotion whose name eluded him, but it urged his hands to explore down Wynn’s arms, to her waist, then around her body. His hands shook when he pressed her harder against him, her breasts squishing against his chest.
She groaned again, fingernails digging into his scalp as she continued her mouth explorations.
He had appreciated her slight form earlier, but now he wanted to memorize it. To admire andsavorher.
He did not remember moving, but they had shifted their positions until the wall was at her back, his knee between hers. His shoulders crowded her body, casting her face in shadows. His cock strained against the front closure of his pants.
