Darius didn’t answer, but his hands went to the hem of his shirt and tugged it off over his head, breaking our kiss just long enough to pull the fabric from between us before devouring me again.
It wasn’t enough.
Reaching down, I pulled my hoodie off over my head, revealing the black spaghetti-strap tank top I wore underneath. Peeking at him from my shoulders were the straps of my hot pink bra, the only sexy bra and knickers set I owned. There was nothing extraordinary about me. I was average in every way—height, bra size, hair color. I was no runway model or stunning beauty. I was just me.
Darius reached for me, his hands settling at my waist as he inspected the close-fitting tank top and flirty pink bra. I stopped breathing as the silence stretched. Tried to pull away.
He stopped me, kissed me again, then pulled me close. Darius lowered his hands to my hips and pulled my lower body into intimate contact with his hard—rock-hard—length, leaving me no doubt that he very much liked what he had seen.
Darius
I kissed her,and she pulled away.
I asked her questions. She refused to answer.
What the fuck was I missing here?
“Lily? Talk to me. Tell me what you want.”
Silence. A blush to her cheeks. I could barely think straight staring at her lips, feeling the softness of her pressed against me. The taste of her on my tongue. I was the one who was supposed to be leading the way between us. This was my planet, my people, my war. Not hers. Just as I was not yet hers, and I fucking wanted to be. Needed to be.
My broken pieces were in the palm of her hand, and she was supposed to glue me back together. I’d found my pair-bonded mate at last. A true pairing. Like minds. Complementary skills. We would forever be better together than apart. I’d spent hundreds of hours fighting next to her in our simulation training, learning her moods and the sound of her voice through the recordings she’d made for her avatar. She knew me, yet acted as if we were strangers. As if I did not know her.
Damn her. Maybe I didn’t know her at all. Perhaps I was the fool here.
Her pulse raced at the base of her throat, and she licked her lips. A groan slipped from mine. “Are you ignoring me, or trying to seduce me?” I asked, my tone deliberately neutral.
“I don’t know,” she countered. “I don’t know what I want.”
“That is a lie, Lily.”
Her gaze shot to mine as she gasped. “What?”
“You heard me. You know what you want. What I don’t know is why you won’t be honest with me. I am your pair bond. I am yours, Lily. I’m yours until the day I die. Do you understand?”
Her smile was a bit sad. She lifted her hand and pointed to her temple. “Do I understand here?” She lowered her hand to cover her heart. “Or here? They are two very different questions.”
“I only have one answer to give you. You’re mine.”
I’d never taken the jeans off a human female before, but they were easy to strip away. I grunted when I tugged off her panties as well until she was bare from the waist down. She wiggled her hips to help me undress her and actually kicked the jeans away as if they were an annoyance once they were pooled at her feet.
“You are mine, Lily. Your orgasms? They’re mine.”
I circled her entrance with the lightest touch, teasing her as I stared down into her eyes. I kept my touch brief but deliberate, explored around and around her core so she was squirming, eager to take more.
“Do you want me to shove your back against the wall and take you like a beast would?” I asked, brushing my thumb over her clit, careful to only make her more desperate. She wouldn’t be allowed to come. Not yet, not until she understood how things would be between us from this moment on.
“Yes.”
At last. An admission. Desire. The truth.
Perhaps she wanted my touch as badly as I needed to touch her.
I claimed her mouth once more, guiding her until her back hit the wall of our bedchamber, and she whimpered in response, her lips molten and wild, her hands frantic, tugging at my clothing.
“Like this?” I lowered my hand to her hip, her ass. Caressed the soft skin there. Lifted her so that her wet heat was where I needed it so I could fill her, take her, make her mine.
Her fingers tangled in my hair, and I moved to kiss the curve of her jaw, her neck. The soft arch of her shoulder. I tugged the tight, black top she wore over her head until her breasts were displayed in a pink contraption that matched the tiny underthings I’d removed with her jeans.