“No sex.” Features stark, he leaped to his feet. His body seemed to have doubled in size, his skin taut over muscle as he tore open his leathers.
Her jaw dropped when his erection sprang free. The size of this male. “Let’s definitely have sex immediately. Yes?” She reached for him—No?
The Astra avoided her grip. “Will feel you against me, nothing more,” he told her, his voice practically inhuman. He looked inhuman as he hooked his arms under her knees and spread her legs wider. Desire had removed any filters of humanity.
He rolled his hips, rubbing his shaft against her, male to female, without penetration, and hissed in a breath.
He resisted his own desperate needs in order to keep his word to her? Ophelia moaned and thrashed, erupting beneath him, coming again with a scream...but still wanting more. Needing it. “Don’t stop, Halo. Please, please, don’t stop.”
“That’s right. Say my name. I make you feel this way. Me and no other.”
* * *
Frantic need ruled Halo. He struggled to maintain his iron control, but the pleasure... He’d never encountered its like. The female was affecting him. An unwanted internal softening. A jagged ache. A clawing desperation to possess someone, body and soul.
His usual tension had dissipated completely, replaced by all-consuming desire. Arousal burned in every inch of him, and he could not get enough. Not of this, and not of her. The nymph was a wild thing beneath him, thrashing over the covers, hair like tangled ribbons around her delicate shoulders. A hot flush lent her flawless skin a darker undertone. Her nipples were hard little points, her sex drenched with the desire he’d drawn from her.
How had he ever settled for subdued trysts? He was...this...nothing compared to it. Because of her.
Can’t give this up.
“Halo, Halo, Halo,” she chanted, hooking her legs around him to yank his muscled weight atop her. Brilliant green eyes glazed. “Kiss me.”
At her nape, he fisted a length of her hair. He angled her head and took her mouth, because he couldn’t not do it. Tongues tangling, he glided his shaft against her wetness, pressing, tormenting, but never entering. Could his fragile control handle penetration? Not yet, not yet. Not until she was ready.
“Halo!” Another scream of rapture broke from her. Another climax achieved.
The sight of her, lost to the pleasure, left him nigh mindless. He wrestled with the urge to follow her over the edge. Not ready. Here, now, he wasn’t simply without strain; he had no gears. They’d ceased to exist, and it was ecstasy. But as he rubbed and thrust and ground against her, his body didn’t care if he was prepared for the end or not. Seed erupted from him, lashing over her belly. Ribbon after ribbon after ribbon, as if he’d saved a lifetime supply.
When he had emptied himself, he collapsed and rolled to his side next to her. As he panted, his heart racing, he expected the gears to return. Instead, bliss cascaded over him. He couldn’t think. Could only smile. Euphoric state? I’m there. But what was that strange feeling in his chest?
“Halo?” A soft entreaty with a hint of vulnerability.
With effort, he blinked into focus and realized a good amount of time had passed. Ophelia was mostly cleaned up and pliant, her body curled into his.
Magnificent female. He reached out to smooth a lock of hair from her cheek, a beam of sunlight striking his palm. He frowned. No stardust. Why? It made no sense. She must be his gravita. The way he had reacted to her...
He wanted her to be his gravita.
Crrrrank. The gears. Not gone, just hidden. Now they chugged into action, everything in his chest pulling tighter. In seconds, the strain was nearly unbearable.
She noticed his preoccupation with his hand, paled, and jolted upright. “Well. I’m gonna clean up for real. Alone. I mean it. Enter the bathroom, and I’ll straight up murder your future children. And there’s no need for us to talk about what happened. In fact, let’s pretend it didn’t. Okay? Yes. Good plan. Okay, bye for now.”
Naked, she scrambled out of the bed and raced to the bathroom, where she sealed herself, leaving Halo alone and floundering.
He flopped to his back and rubbed his aching chest, scowling at the ceiling. What was he going to do now?
12
What have I done?
Ophelia’s wings fluttered so swiftly they buzzed. The rest of her trembled. She was hornier than ever and wildly adrift as she twisted different knobs in the shower. When water finally rained from a spout, already steaming, she dunked under the spray. A good washing should free her of the most powerful flood of pleasure she’d ever experienced, this awful vulnerability, and the remnants of Halo’s spunk, all at the same time.
Halo, the Astra who had rocked her world without producing stardust for her. No stardust, no gravita. She’d hoped...she’d taken a risk...she’d crashed and burned.