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“You’re supposed to wait for me to return, when I use the safe word.” She reminded him quietly. “You’re not supposed to follow me.”

“I will always come when you need me. I will always kill anyone who hurts you.” He helped her stand. “I will always lift you up.”

Some emotion that she didn’t even have a name for filled Randa. No one had ever promised her something like that, let alone proved that he meant it. Just Kahn. Only Kahn.

Not giving herself time to rethink the decision, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

Her lips found his in what she’d intended to be a gentle peck of thanks. At least she thought she intended that. Maybe she’d been kidding herself and she’d actually intended to kiss him passionately. Because the moment her mouth met his, an inferno of desire and rightness ignited in her body.

This man was her Match.

Hers.

Kahn drew in an astonished breath, like he wasn’t sure how to respond. A fraction of a second later, he was kissing her back, just as hungrily. His body curved around hers, like she was the most important part of his world.

Oh yes.

He’d been so, so right before. Whatever she was feeling, he felt it, too. It was obvious from the way his huge body trembled with need. A possessive growl rumbled in his chest.

Randa’s lips parted, welcoming the desperate sweep of his tongue. It was like he couldn’t wait to have some part of him inside of her. She kissed him back just as wildly. It was a wonder the raindrops didn’t turn to steam the second they touched her overheating skin. She was burning from the inside out. It wasn’t just Phazing energy driving her lust. It was him. It was them.

It was Kahn and Randa, two parts of the same whole.

She reached up to caress his thick, intricately braided hair. He rubbed his head against her palm, as she stroked the streak at his temple. Wanting more. Randa gave it to him, her fingers gently tugging at the sensitive black strands. Kahn loved that. His rumble of approval made it obvious.

When his arms tightened around her in response, though, Randa froze. She couldn’t help it. Dark memories stirred, threatening to spill over.

Kahn felt her tense and stopped touching her. He quickly pulled back to check her face. “Too much? Shit. It was too much. We don’t ever have to do something you’re not comfortable with.”

“I’m comfortable with you. I’m just new at this.” She licked her bottom lip, savoring the lingering taste of him. “I’ve never kissed anyone before. I need practice.”

“You’ve never…?” His eyes widened, processing all the implications of that. “Holy fuck. You’re a virgin.”

“I’m not. I told you that Parald…”

“That doesn’t count.” Kahn interrupted with total surety. “You were never with anyone by choice?”

“No.”

“Then you’re a virgin. How the hell is that possible?”

“I’m demisexual with introverted tendencies. I discovered it in therapy.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I only feel desire for someone I’ve formed a genuine emotional connection with, and it’s hard for me to form genuine emotional connections. You’re the first.”

His mouth stretched into an arrogant grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Randa echoed with an exasperated roll of her eyes. He looked decidedly too smug. “And you’ll be happy to know that I like kissing much more than I anticipated.”

“Good. We can practice anytime you want.”

The other three were pretending the kiss hadn’t happened. Or possibly they were genuinely too busy bickering to even notice it.

“Just admit that you screwed this up, Mannus! The plan was to question Sax, so we could find out if he was the stalker.” Daven nudged the bisected body with his boot. “You weren’t supposed to kill him.”

“Kahn did that, not me.” Mannus contradicted.