Synnr's Hope - Kate Rudolph Page 0,57

You’ve been hurt. And though Synnrs are not nearly bad as Apsyns, the people I’m forced to associate with can be... unkind.” He spoke quickly; he had to know he was running out of time to make excuses.

“Quit the bullshit.” She didn’t need to put up with this.

“What?” His brow furrowed in confusion, and Lena was not going to find it cute. No. Why did the man have to be so damn sexy? It was screwing with her brain. At least the blanket was covering up his most... interesting bits.

She didn’t want excuses. She wanted the truth. “Pretend all the rest of your problems don’t exist. Is this something you actually want?”

He didn’t hesitate to answer. “I want nothing more.”

This was a turning point, even more than the sex. The sex they could write off as something that happened in the heat of the moment, something neither of them could control. This was choosing to move forward. Lena didn’t believe for a second that their issues would suddenly resolve like they’d never been there if they took the plunge. Solan had decades of resentment built up against his father and the Match that had sent his life off on a different path.

She couldn’t fix him. She didn’t want to. This sexy, complicated, wounded, wonderful man was who she wanted, bullshit and all. And she wasn’t going to pull away just because there would be challenges in their path.

She leaned in close and trailed her hands up his chest. “Then kiss me like you mean it.”

He did, devouring her as thoroughly as the night before, his tongue tangling with her as his fingers gripped her tight. She found herself on top of him, legs straddling his as his cock hardened against her. Yes. That was what she wanted, and there was nothing keeping her from having it, not when Solan was groaning under her and arching against her.

A lazy morning in bed had its advantages. Even better? A vigorous morning in bed.

Lena’s core tightened and she wanted him inside her. Now. Her fingers gripped him firmly, the different shape of a Zulir cock already familiar.

But before she could do anything more than tease, the lights flashed red and they both froze.

A challenge.

Fuck.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THEY’D BOTH TAKEN A minute to splash cold water on themselves and change into clothes. Was the computer going to mark them down for that? Lena didn’t care. The water hadn’t done much and the adrenaline surging in her blood was only making her desire worse. Hopefully it would go away. Or this would be a quick mission and they’d be back in bed in no time.

She couldn’t look too closely at Solan or she might jump him, and that would definitely be an automatic failure.

They were wearing bulky life support suits that would have weighed them down if they weren’t in the decreased gravity field of a dying space ship. The mission was simple: get in and quickly retrieve a sample from the ship’s lab before the ship destructed while avoiding getting killed by the security robots. No living people to worry about.

But the ship was falling apart. A giant breach in another part of the ship made it unrepairable. The self-destruct sequence hadn’t been activated, but the breach could turn into a bigger rupture at any moment. Their suits would protect them for long enough to get back to their own ship so long as they didn’t get damaged by debris or robots.

Easy.

After their last mission and the night spent together, Lena was feeling confident. They were going to get this done quickly and perfectly. She wasn’t going to screw up.

Of course, she’d feel more confident if her suit was equipped with a blaster, but none had been provided when they’d stepped into the simulator.

“Why no blaster?” She kept tracing her palm over her hip, looking for the weight that wasn’t there.

“One wrong shot and you could damage the system to the point of failure,” Solan explained.

“And my wings can’t?” Had he seen her try and aim with those things? She was far from accurate.

“Once you have control you’ll be more precise than a blaster ever could be.” He said it like he believed she’d get there one day soon. Lena wanted to trust him.

They entered through the air lock near the storage compartment and kept close together. With the ship at risk of falling apart, they couldn’t get separated. And Lena was relieved. Splitting up had led to disaster last time, even if it had been