Chapter Twenty
Taly’s laughter filled the upper corridor. “Ranvir. What are you doing?”
“Showing you how fully recovered I am,” he told her, entering their quarters.
“Well, in that case.” Twisting in his arms, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, pulled his head down, and captured his lips for a deep, hard kiss.
Ranvir came to an abrupt halt, realizing they weren’t going to make it to the bed. Spinning, he pressed her against the wall and hungrily returned her kiss. He gave little thought to her clothing as his hands tore them away. He needed her. Needed to be inside her.
He could have lost her today. He’d seen her hesitate when he’d told her to run. If that mob had gone after her instead of him, he would have turned into that ruthless, emotionless killing machine, so many thought cyborgs were. It was something they would be having a long discussion about. Later. Right now, he needed to prove that they were both alive and whole.
Ripping his mouth from hers, he hoisted her up higher on the wall, his mouth blazing a trail along her jaw and neck, sucking and nipping his way down until he reached the valley between her now bare breasts. He captured first one already pebbled peak in his mouth and then the other, causing her to cry out.
“Ranvir!” Her fingers dug into his shoulders as he released one nipple with a pop.
He knew he needed to slow down, but not even his processors could control the desire and need flooding him. With her back braced against the wall, his thumb glided through her damp curls until it reached her clit.
Rubbing it, he got the response he wanted as his cymar rocked her hips, seeking more of his touch. He gave it to her, driving her desire higher and higher until she cried out with need.
Gripping the fastener of his pants, he released his aching cock and placed it at her dripping opening.
“Ready for me?” he asked, lifting his head to take in her swollen lips, flushed face, and passion-dazed eyes.
“Gods, yes,” she panted.
Needing no further reassurance, he gripped her hips and impaled her on his cock with one hard thrust. The feel of her hot silky depths enveloping him snapped what little control he had left.
His breath quickened as he plunged into her harder and faster until he thought his heart would burst. She matched him thrust for thrust, her fingers digging into his biceps. He felt her muscles fist around him and emptied himself into her with one final thrust.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Taly lay across Ranvir’s chest on the couch and tried to catch her breath. She wasn’t sure how they’d gotten there but didn’t care. All she cared about was that Ranvir was in her arms, whole and alive.
She’d never been so scared as she’d been watching Ranvir take on that mob alone. She’d always known life was precarious, but that had brought it into sharp focus. Now, she would savor every moment she had with Ranvir because it might be their last.
“What has you thinking so hard?” Ranvir asked as the fingers of one hand lazily ran up and down her back.
“How close I came to losing you today,” she murmured.
“I’m hard to kill, Taly.”
She rose up on an elbow, her head resting in her palm to gaze down at him. “So were those cyborgs Shui executed. If that had been you….”
“I don’t know how those cyborgs were captured, but I do know that they didn’t have someone like you there to assist them. If they had, they’d still be alive.”
Taly felt her eyes begin to fill. This all started because she wanted to save one cyborg, her brother. Now, she wanted to do more than that. She wanted to save all of them, their families, and anyone else willing to stand up against Shui.
She just wished she knew how to do that.
“Hey.” Reaching up, he gently cupped her jaw using his thumb to wipe away a tear. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Is it?” Her eyes searched his. “You were shot, Ranvir. Twice. If those bounty hunters had better aim, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
She could see he wanted to argue with her, but cyborgs didn’t lie. Sighing, she laid her head on his chest and let the beat of his heart soothe her.
“What are we going to do now, Ranvir?”
“Wait for Nas to respond to your message.”