else slipped away, replaced by waves of heat and jolts of pleasure.
Nothing in the galaxy could have distracted me from the slide of our bodies, our panting kisses, our subtle noises, or Shade’s hands on me. I set the pace for a long time, and he adjusted to my rhythm, using his mouth and fingers to drive me wild and move me toward that pinnacle he’d promised again.
He finally turned us so that he was on top, his weight balanced above me. I drew my knees up as he thrust. He went so deep I gasped.
“You all right?” he asked, holding my head in his hands.
I nodded. “More than all right.” I was so all right that I was ready to blurt out stupid things like Wait for me and I’ll come back.
He started moving again, touching places inside me that made fireworks spark. Between consuming, soul-searing kisses, he breathed heavily against my neck.
“Shade,” I whispered, wound up so tightly that I shook.
His big, hard body was a heady weight on mine. His strokes stayed long and deep but went faster. I raised my hips, spurring him on.
“You’re a dream I didn’t know I had,” he rasped, his stubble grazing my neck.
My heart swelled. I felt the same way.
He bit down on where my shoulder met my neck. It didn’t hurt, but it was feral and possessive and perfect. It made pleasure burst between my legs.
“Shade!” I dug my fingers into his back, arching up into him as I climaxed hard. It was everything the first time had been, and so much more, because he was inside me this time, and the connection I felt to him was starting to both amaze and terrify me. I couldn’t believe how right this felt—he felt.
I let out a shuddering breath, sinking back down into the covers with a satisfied moan. Pulsing aftershocks rippled through me, heightening every sensation. Shade kissed my shoulder and neck and then slid his mouth along my jaw. I gripped his short hair and turned his face toward mine, claiming his lips and knowing that I was trying to imprint myself onto him—and hoping it worked.
He began thrusting again, driving himself toward his own release. I held on with arms and legs, my mouth open against his neck. I bit, too. Why not? I’d loved it. Then I sucked. Sucked hard. Shade tasted like a salty dessert. A lusty sound thrummed in my throat.
“Holy hell, baby.” He shuddered above me, an exhale rushing from his lungs. Then he stopped, and I felt him throbbing inside me. Slowly draining of tension, he groaned in a way that told me he was just as lost in me as I was in him.
The moment was so perfect I wanted to stay in it forever, lovers entwined. For a few seconds, I let myself wish that could be my life.
Closing my eyes helped cut off that thought, blocking out the dim light and reminding me of the Dark. I still couldn’t help the maybe someday that blew like a cyclone through all the doors I was trying to shut.
Shade stayed where he was, caging but not crushing. I turned my head to lightly kiss his mouth again, and his eyes opened, warm and brown.
“You’re something else,” he murmured with a smile. “A man could get used to this.”
He kissed me back, and I flushed all over, hot with pleasure.
He eventually pulled out of me, but we stayed all tangled up together, neither of us making any effort to clean ourselves up or talk. I smelled like him, and we smelled like sex, and I wanted to hold on to that. I watched his big hand on my waist, watched his scarred knuckles, watched his thumb sweep slowly back and forth in what seemed like an instinctual, subconscious caress.
When I shivered, Shade got us under the covers and curved himself around me until I slept.
Chapter 20
Shade had to wake her up. Tess had told him she needed to leave for Starway 8 today, and past a certain hour of the morning, she’d have to pay for another whole day on the Squirrel Tree. She couldn’t afford that.
Lying there, she was so still. It made him realize how kinetic she usually was, always in motion. Even when she wasn’t actually moving, there was a nervous edge to her, making her seem active. Not now. Not sleeping. Sleeping, she didn’t look like she’d been orphaned and imprisoned and hunted and who knew what else.