a virgin.
His brows snapped together. “That sounds both painful and physically impossible.”
She was still looking at him, eyes wide in surprise when he turned and stomped out of the cockpit. She watched him go. He was a virgin… he’d never… How did that even work?
“I thought you guys used pleasure houses, brothels with females from other species in them, when you’re off duty?” she asked when he returned, his jacket back on. Damn, but she preferred him naked to the waist. Her fingers still tingled from the feel of his skin under her fingers.
“Most do.” His answer was clipped as he slid into the pilot’s seat. “I do not.”
She knelt up on her seat, elbows on the arm and her chin propped on her hand as she looked at him. He was embarrassed, she could tell, but she wasn’t letting him off the hook. Not yet.
“Why not? Because you’re a paladin… is that like a monk or something?”
He shook his head, keeping his attention on the screen in front of him and not looking at her. It was deliberate. She knew it was. The shuttle was on autopilot. That much she’d worked out for herself.
“No, it is not. A paladin is a warrior who has vowed to become a champion for the god or goddess they serve.”
Okay, they were making progress. He was religious, just as she’d thought.
“And you serve this lady?”
He slid her an irritated glance and she hid her smile. He definitely did not want to talk about this. Suck it up, buttercup, she thought. You started it.
“I serve the Lady Liaanas, goddess of battle and mother of all.”
“Uh-huh.” Sounded like a lot of early earth goddesses. “Does she tell you no between the sheets action then?”
He blew out a short sigh. “No Latharian religion requires celibacy. I just… do not find non-Lathar species appealing.”
Ohhh… now they got down to it.
“I’m not Lathar,” she pointed out, her voice silky. “So does that mean you don’t find me attractive?”
His jaw tightened but he didn’t look at her. Temptation riding her harder than a cop squeezing his informant for intel, she stood and slid between him and his console. He turned his head, lips compressing as he sat back sharply, hands raised.
“Nyek…” she repeated, knowing she was needling him and not caring. “Does this mean you don’t find me attractive?”
“Don’t play games with me,” he ordered, his voice lower than normal. She shivered at the sound.
“Oh come on,” she teased softly, moving forward. One hand on each of the armrests, she climbed into his lap. Slowly. Sensuously. Watching him the whole time. He leaned back, but finally he met her gaze. Not directly, though. Instead, he watched her from the corner of his eye.
“Don’t…”
His command was barked and abrupt but she heard the note in it—a desperate little note. As though he was only just holding on to the rigid control she felt as tension through his body.
She reached out, ran her finger down the center of his chest, and then dropped her gaze. He was hard, his cock pressing desperately against the fly of his pants.
“Why not? You kissed me. You seemed to like it.”
He closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing as she moved closer. She settled herself down, legs either side of his lean hips. His cock jerked against her, pressed right where she needed him.
“You really seem to like me,” she murmured, leaning in to kiss the side of his throat. His pulse hammered away just under her lips. “And I gotta admit, I kinda like it too…”
His breathing caught, hands tightening on the arms of the chair as she worked her way up his throat to his jaw. A tiny muscle there jumped as she kissed along it. His stubble abraded her lips and she shivered, imagining how that would feel… other places.
Reaching up, she turned his jaw with gentle fingers, and he let her. His eyes dark, he watched her as she leaned in. Pressed her lips to his. Kissed him. He didn’t move, didn’t respond, but she kept going and learned the shape of his lips with soft kisses, arched against him from hip to breast.
With a soft groan, he relaxed, moving his arms to wrap around her as his lips parted. Tentatively he kissed her back. She smiled against his lips, her fingers gentle on his cheeks as she gave herself over to the pleasure of their kiss. And god, for saying this was only his second, the guy really knew how