"Dorian?"
Ten more minutes, he told himself.
"I'm right, aren't I? You consider me an ene - "
"Shaya," he gritted out, "you're babbling."
That made her snap her mouth shut for several more minutes. "A nervous reaction. I should be able to handle it using the same tools I used when sitting face-to-face with Councilor Ming LeBon."
The dirt track became nothing more than the most primitive of paths a hundred meters ahead. Switching to the hover-drive, he took them into the shadow of the majestic guardians of the forest - the giant sequoias.
"However, none of my tools seem to be working."
He slammed the car into low gear, maneuvering them over a small outcropping of rock. Even using the hover-drive, he could cause damage, but he knew the forest well enough to avoid going near anything that wouldn't regenerate quickly. Right now, he was more worried about his cock regenerating. It was going to end up cut in half if he didn't lower the zipper soon.
"I can't stop talking," she said, her shock open. "Why? My stomach is full of butterflies, my heart is thundering, and my palms are damp." A small pause, followed by a relieved sigh. "Must be fear. You've got a very threatening look on your face."
That did it. He brought the car to a halt in front of a cabin so well hidden by greenery, not even cats would find it if they weren't actively looking. He wondered what Ashaya would think of it. But first things first. "You," he said, turning to glare at her, "are never to be threatened by me. Understood?"
She blinked. "Actually, right now you're - "
"Tell me you understand." He leaned closer, eyes narrowed.
"But - "
"No buts, no nothing. You have the ability to piss me off without even trying, but I'll fucking take a gun to my head before I lay a hand on you. You clear on that?"
She was crushed against the door now, his hand palm down beside her head. But her face was one of rebellion. "No. Not while you're being so aggressive."
"Go on, baby, push me a little more." He smiled.
Ashaya had a very bad feeling about that smile - but it was the kind of bad that had her body melting from the inside out. "Dorian, maybe we should go inside the house... I assume there is a house close by?"
He smiled widened. "Sure."
Wary of his agreement, she waited until he moved back and then quickly got out. He followed a few seconds later, stopping to get her pack out of the back. "This way." He jerked his head toward a heavy mass of foliage.
Her eyes widened as he nudged aside a sweep of trailing vines dotted with tiny white flowers and put his hand on a high-tech scanner, unlocking the door. She entered to find that the entire place was - but for a corridor that she assumed led to the bathroom facilities - a single large room shaded with the green dark of the forest.
"Lights," he said a second later, and cunningly placed fixtures bathed the cabin in what felt like sunshine.
"It's all glass," she breathed, taking in the way he'd brought the forest inside. The leaves and flowers felt so close, she was tempted to reach out and touch. While the greenery was all shadowed curves outside, clean lines dominated inside. The bed took up the left section, but with plenty of room to move around it. To her right was a comfortable seating area, and beyond it, a small kitchen.
Suddenly, and though she'd heard no voice command, the lights all dimmed, except for the one that lit up the sleeping area. Turning, she opened her mouth to ask him - "Oh."
Dorian was unbuttoning his shirt.
Her throat dried up as inch after inch of golden male flesh was revealed. A strange heat washed through her body, a turbulent internal storm. This afternoon, she'd held on to him because she needed to forget. Tonight, she knew she'd remember every touch, every caress... every hard male demand.
He shrugged off the shirt, and she saw it glide to the floor in a motion that seemed ridiculously slow to her heightened senses. In front of her, he was all sleek muscle and heat, a leopard contained in a body blessed with quicksilver grace. Whenever Dorian moved, she felt compelled to watch, it was such a beautiful thing.
Now, with his shirt off and an intrinsically male look on his face, his grace turned into the stalking prowl of a big hunting cat. And she knew very well she was the prey. Still, she stayed in place as he circled around her without speaking before stopping at her back. Tugs on her braid, her hair being released into a wildly curly mass. Then strong male hands stroked over her, sliding her cardigan down her arms.
She should've resisted... except she could find no reason to do so. What he'd done to her on the sofa - it had been beyond pleasure. She wanted more - to touch him as he'd touched her, to explore, to taste. And, given that her PsyNet shields were miraculously solid, she had no cause to fear. As for the rest... she didn't know how the chaos of what she felt for Dorian kept Amara at bay, but it did. For these stolen moments, she was free. To live. To touch. And be touched.
The cardigan made a soft shush as it hit the floor.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," Dorian said, his fingers resting on her hips, at the very edge of her waistband. "If you want to say no, do it now." Taut strain in every syllable.