you can keep me safe or because of our deal, but…but just…just because as well.”
Maybe she should have said more. Maybe she should have admitted exactly how she felt. Or confessed her plans. But she couldn’t. Not when the future was so uncertain between them.
“So we’re okay?” His gaze had that hungry look again.
With a final deep inhale of their fragrance, she dipped the stems in the water and placed them gently a safe distance from the edge. “We’re more than okay.” She held out her arms again—this time for him. “Join me?”
In the next heartbeat, water splashed onto the bank, his chest warm and slick against her skin, his soaked pants slapping against her legs as he lifted her flush against him.
Laughing, she wrapped her legs around his waist and trusted him to keep her afloat. “Eager much?”
The droplets of water clinging to his long, spiky lashes only made his expression more intense. “I’m going to seize every second I’ve got.”
That wiped the smile from her face. “So am I.” Locking her gaze with his, she cradled his square jaw in her hands and brought their foreheads to touch. “Just because.”
Chapter Sixteen
“I may never move again.” Bella rolled off Caine’s slick body, flopping onto her back to stare overhead at the lush canopy of the Oasis, her breathing still frantic from their latest bout of sex, her skin flushed from the mix of midday heat and arousal. The warm lake water lapped at her toes.
“Mmmm.” He slipped his hand around her ass and slid her close enough to press fully against his side, hip to hip.
After five blissful days together, Caine still wasn’t much of a talker, but he communicated his wants just fine.
“Thanks for bringing me here again today.” She studied an unusual purple flowering vine high up in one of the trees, making a note to take a closer look when she regained the use of her legs. The flowers Caine had first given her were still her favorite, but she’d discovered quite a few other varieties since then, adding to her spectacular collection and her growing scientific understanding of the fragile environment.
“You’re welcome.” His fingers interlaced with hers, their palms pressing close. It had become a habit. One she cherished. “I like it here, too.” His voice was roughened by sex and sleepiness. “Don’t know why I never really hung out here before.”
She hid a smile. She knew why. Until a few days ago, the man hadn’t known the meaning of taking a break. He’d spent all waking minutes hunting, training, or working on the jammer. Was it no wonder he was wound so tight? Was it no wonder he’d forgotten there was more to life than simply surviving?
Sure, he’d been the first one to show her pleasure, to insist she could strive for more than pain and grim hard work, but his definition of where and how to seize such pleasure had been limited to sex. She’d had to show him right back that he was allowed the same opportunity—and that sex wasn’t the only way to achieve it. Frankly, she was still working on that. He was proving far more stubborn than she.
It had taken all her coaxing to get him to relax even a little the first time they’d come to the Oasis. He’d watched the surrounding terrain like a hawk, spear in hand, while she ran around, too excited to stay in one place long, examining actual thriving, healthy plants, taking fertile soil samples, and living the dream that no Earth botanist in over a hundred of years had ever thought would be possible again. Of course, she’d gained his attention when she stripped off her clothes and waded into the lake. It had been a lovely way to end an extraordinary day.
Since then, they’d returned to the Oasis five more times. Each exploration as wonderful as the last. She never wanted this time to end.
But it had to—and soon.
Her skin grew cold, her smile disappearing. Despite her best efforts, she still hadn’t had any brilliant insights into how to convince Command Council to allow a condemned criminal on that rescue shuttle. Detailing Caine’s heroism and the way he’d saved Winthrop’s life might earn him a few less years or some better rations, but she knew Caine was right. It might not even get him that. And it definitely wouldn’t gain him a pardon. She needed more.
“If you want to have time to explore the outer rim of the Oasis, we should