until heat swept up his thighs, shot through his dick, and he came so hard it was like an explosion inside him. Tess cried out, her head turned to one side. He didn’t know if she was climaxing again. His own throbbing overwhelmed everything else, and the thud of his pulse echoed like thunder in his head.
Sweating, his muscles spent, he bowed his head, breathing rapidly against her shoulder. His heart hammered, and he held on to her hands, not wanting to let go yet.
“Come back,” he murmured before he knew what he was saying. “When you’re done on Starway 8, come back here.” Then he’d at least know she was still safe.
Her body seemed to soften even more under his. “You want me to come back?”
“Baby, I don’t want you to leave in the first place.”
She smiled. He made her smile. His chest seemed to grow ten sizes, and he knew he was in deep, deep trouble. He hadn’t had a weakness in years, not one fucking thing he couldn’t stand to lose, because everything he cared about was already gone.
Fear started to run like ice through his veins. What had he done to himself?
A second later, he realized it didn’t matter—because he’d do it all again.
Shade rolled them back onto their sides and wrapped his arms around her, those few long whip scars hidden against his chest. After a moment, he threw his leg over both of Tess’s, thinking that its heavy weight pinning her to his bed was about as caveman possessive as she’d let him get.
“I’ll try,” she finally said, not making any move to wiggle free from his near-full-body grip.
Trying was better than nothing, he guessed.
“Go to Nuthatch,” he said. “It’s as good as the Squirrel Tree and less expensive.”
She nodded. “Why do all the docking towers have such weird names here?”
“My—” Shade cleared his throat and started over. “The person who built the docking empire on Albion 5 was a naturalist at heart, even though he ended up in urban construction and then got involved in the terraforming next door. He studied the old Earth species, those that survived the fallout and those that didn’t, and even wrote a few books about them in his spare time. He was fascinated by birds and small mammals—I guess because they’re tough little critters that can apparently make it through almost anything. He named the towers after them.” Shade chuckled. “Avoid the Rat Hatch. It’s as bad as it sounds.”
“Interesting.” Turning her head toward him, Tess asked, “How do you know all that?”
Shade tried to keep the glumness from his face and voice. “Read his books.”
Tess seemed to accept that. It was the truth, even if it wasn’t all of it.
“Thanks for the tip.” She smiled. “I’ll remember—Nuthatch.”
He smiled back. “Anytime, starshine.”
Both their smiles slipped from their faces. Anytime was as up in the air for them as the stratosphere.
Shade’s lungs contracted almost painfully. Tess might fly off in an hour, and he’d never see her again.
* * *
That hour came fast, and as the elevator tube swept them up to the three-hundred-and-fourteenth level of the Squirrel Tree just after sunrise, Shade had no idea how he was going to let go of Tess, especially knowing the danger she was in.
She used a hand scan to open the new starboard door of the Endeavor. A beep sounded from somewhere deep inside the ship, signaling the door opening from the outside.
He didn’t know if anyone was awake inside, but he moved Tess a little farther out onto the platform before stopping again. Their goodbye seemed more private that way.
“Stay safe,” Shade said, his voice coming out gruff. It didn’t seem like enough, but he didn’t know what else he could add. Don’t kill yourself for orphans? If you see anyone who looks like a bounty hunter, run? Ditch the rebellion and hide out in my basement?
As much as he wanted her tangled up with him in his bed, only a jackass would suggest that.
Tess moved forward and threw her arms around his neck. “You, too, Shade.”
His arms were up and around her before his brain caught up. With Tess, he seemed to function on a primitive level with instinct driving him. Help. Protect. Fuck. Keep.
He squeezed her hard, trying to mentally erase that last part.
Their story probably ended with help, protect, fuck, and he wasn’t sure he’d done any of that except for the fuck part.
“As usual, you hit the target first, Ganavan. And it looks like you