Chapter Ten
If Lian hadn’t given Nuar permission to touch her, he would have exploded on the spot. He grabbed her under her arms and lifted her to her feet, smashing his mouth against hers.
Careful. Careful. I must be gentle.
And yet, after the powerful experience she’d just given him, he was having trouble holding himself back. She hadn’t seemed to hold back any of herself with him.
He plunged into her mouth with his tongue, dominating her, letting her know that he would give her the same pleasure she’d given him—if without the agonizing restraint of not being allowed to touch her back. Now, he was free, and he intended to make sure she longed for his touch for the rest of their lives.
He thrust his thigh between her legs, pressing it against her core. Her heat blasted him even through the denim of her jeans.
Bringing his hands to her ass, he squeezed its softness, pulling her closer. She groaned, writhing against his thigh. She ran her hands down along his spines, sending white-hot waves of pleasure through his body.
He clasped her breast through her shirt, catching her nipple between his thumb and index finger and rolling it. His claws caught in the soft fabric.
That could cause a problem.
“Lian, I need you to be safe,” he said.
“What like…” Her voice was breathy and she gasped as he nipped her neck. “Is there even a way things could be transmissible between us?”
“If I lose control, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Oh. Yeah. That would be bad.”
He ran his teeth gently over her skin and she whimpered. He wanted to hear more of that, to do whatever it took to have her begging for him. But he had to be safe about it.
Releasing her, he stepped back.
She looked bewildered at first, a haze of lust clouding her eyes. But then she glared at him. It seemed to be her default expression—and he found himself absolutely loving it. She was full of a fire that warmed his hearts and cleansed his soul.
Careful not to laugh, though her willingness to pursue their connection had him nearly euphoric, he kept his expression serious as he said, “It’s time for you to be naked as well.”
“Right,” she said. “This’ll be fun.”
Her tone didn’t match her words, though she began to undress. In fact, she disrobed faster than he’d ever seen someone do so before. When she was done, she grabbed several blankets from the couch and tossed them on the floor in a sort of makeshift nest.
He felt his claws extend farther as he gazed on her body.
So many curves to explore. Her full hips and shapely ass, the soft round of her belly. He couldn’t wait to hold the fullness of her breasts in his hands.
Instead of embracing her glory, she crossed her arms over her chest and hunched her shoulders. Again, he almost laughed, except in that moment, she seemed fragile in a way he would never have guessed possible.
“Lian,” he said. “Do you not know that you are beautiful?”
She snorted and looked away. “Yeah, right. I have a potato chip habit.”
He had no idea what potato chips were, but would find out as soon as possible and shower her with them.
He approached her cautiously and brushed away the curtain of dark hair that had fallen across her face. His thumb trailed along her cheekbone, then over her lush mouth.
Leaning down so his lips were almost touching hers, he said, “You are perfect in every way.”
He claimed her lips again, wrapping his arms around her, feeling her skin against his. It was the most divine torture to have her so close and yet not be inside of her, not feel their souls connected through an established bond.
He could feel that bond reaching from each of them. His hearts beat strongly in synch, both with each other and with hers. The connection would be much more potent once they had shared their bodies completely.
But there were other things to be done first. Scales to be balanced.
He released her again, then lifted his arms and removed his wristbands. Holding them up before her, he said, “Please wear these.”
“Your bracelets?”
“My wristbands.”
She arched a wary brow at him. “Don’t they control access to your technology?”
“I can get another pair back at the ship. I need you to wear these.”
“Why?” she said.
“Because they can encircle you in a force field that will prevent me from hurting you accidentally. It will be just above your skin and you won’t even know it’s there.”
“I guess that’s okay. But they’re way too big.” She lifted her arms as if he wouldn’t have noticed how delicate and tiny her wrists were.
He struck the wristbands together, then slid them over her hands and hummed the note to activate them for her. The metal coiled itself tighter, matching itself perfectly to her wrists.
“Oh, that is way cool.” She looked up at him and said, “I’m keeping these, by the way.”
His hearts pounded faster.
She has accepted my gift.
“Of course,” he said.
She smirked, and he finally let himself laugh. His chest felt lighter, though suffused with energy. Energy he knew was waiting to establish their soul bond.
“Are you sure you wish to share your body with me in this way?” he asked.
“In case that appetizer wasn’t clear enough, hell yes,” she said.
“Well then, I believe it is my turn to pleasure you to the edge of sanity.”
Her smirk deepened. “And how do you plan to do that?”
The wristbands were still active, waiting for his commands. He hummed a note that activated their limited antigravity function, lifting Lian’s arms slightly above her head.
Her gaze turned wary.
“You can trust me,” he said.
“I guess turnabout is fair play, since you weren’t allowed to touch me.” She nodded, and said, “My safe word is sauerkraut.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
She laughed. “Sauerkraut is a super gross food. I don’t know why anyone would do that to a poor, unsuspecting cabbage. I use it as my safe word, because that’s the only time I’ll ever mention it.”
He kept staring at her, giving her time to realize her omission.
“Right, and a safe word is what I say when I’ve had enough and want you to stop what you’re doing,” she said.
“Can’t you just say, ‘stop,’” he asked.
“If you want to be boring about it.”
He laughed again, then hummed another note, bringing her wrists higher. The wristbands latched onto each other with a clack, leaving Lian stretched before him.
He stepped in to kiss her, wanting to reassure her that he had only her pleasure in mind. Not being able to touch her had pushed him to a new level of ecstasy. He wanted to give her a similar experience.
He let himself explore her mouth, their tongues sparring. Lian wasn’t passive about anything. He loved that about her.
Letting his lips rove farther down, he hummed the note to activate the field that would protect her from his teeth and claws. He kissed the nape of her neck and traced his teeth across her skin.
Her body shivered.
“That tingles,” she said.
“I want you to feel all the pleasure I can give you, even through the shield.” He stepped back and ran his claws gently over her chest. Bright motes of light flickered in their wake. “It will only activate when needed, based on the specifications I programmed.”
She arched an eyebrow. “So, you planned for something like this to happen while you were on Earth?”
“I had hopes, but you’ve already exceeded them by farther than I could have ever imagined.”
She frowned. “Lucky you started off with me, then.”
He cupped her cheek and said, “Now and always you are the only woman on Earth, on Cygnus-Prime, in the entire universe who interests me.”