Wrage (Galaxy Gladiators #11) - Alana Khan Page 0,14

he even know who he’s kissing?

“You know I’m not Sibyl, right?”

“I know.”

“Say it, Wrage.”

“You're not Sibyl.”

“Say it again. When you kiss me I want to be Elyse.”

“You’re not Sibyl. You’re beautiful Elyse who sings like the prettiest bird.”

“Your voice is amazing,” I blurt.

“Now you’re teasing.”

“Come on, you have to know your voice is like, I don’t know, man-silk. You blew me away.”

He looks shocked, one eyebrow cocked.

“You don’t know how incredible your voice is? Why did you get up to sing?”

“To give you the opportunity to heckle me. I wanted you to get back at me so we could get beyond last night.”

My gaze drifts toward his brand, still fiery red although mine has dulled to rose. “We’re even.”

The corners of his mouth tip up, and his thumb returns to brush my lips. This time, though, I still have my sanity.

He orders the soft lighting to turn off and I hear him settling into his covers.

“I know you’re not Sibyl, Elyse,” he says into the pitch darkness “My mreen, buttons as you call them, are an evolutionary tool. I can detect people from a hundred fiertos away in the dark.”

He leans toward me and unerringly places his nose at my temple. After breathing in a deep huff of my essence, he says, “You’re Elyse. Good night.”

Chapter Four

Elyse

I didn’t sleep well last night. I tossed and turned and scolded myself with a thousand self-recriminations. For four years I’ve been deprived of affection, gentle touch, words of encouragement or praise, but why did I allow that kiss? That embrace? I can be so foolish—and stupid and needy and selfish.

What we are going to need for us to not only survive but be happy for the next fifty or so years is a firm foundation to the marriage based on friendship, not lust. What’s worse than having to be in enforced intimacy with a mate you just met? Being in enforced intimacy with him and miserable forever.

I need to back the fuck down, put this relationship in its place, and figure out where we’re going to live after Paragon.

Wrage isn’t an ogre. He’s smart and can be nice. I need to keep him sane and agreeable so we can figure out how to manage the shitstorm that is at the center of our lives. The last thing either of us needs is to have a quick fling and then nurse hurt feelings for the next half-century. That won’t do.

Of course, I wake to a naked someone’s arm slung across my waist, his morning woody poking the small of my back.

I know he’s awake when he jackknifes so his hips are chastely separated from my body, then his warm breath drifts across my face. After rubbing one of his buttons across my cheek, he rumbles, “No one smells as delicious as Elyse.”

A long and loud debate commences in my head. The part of me that’s instantly aroused by just his proximity wants kisses—and more. The sane part wants to inform him that we need to keep this partnership all business. There’s whining, begging even, as my weaker self wheedles for just a few more kisses, but reason prevails.

I turn to face him and heave a sigh. The look on his face would be comical, except it telegraphs his disappointment. He slams on brakes, morphing in an instant from lusty arousal to apprehension at what’s obviously coming next.

“I’ve been giving this a lot of thought . . .” I can almost hear him thinking ‘that’s never a good sign’. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea for us to develop a harmonious relationship? If we are going to be together forever, we need a good foundation, a solid working relationship, based on mutual trust and respect, not lust. So, I think we should be platonic friends and not let emotions get involved.”

Clang. If my hearing was better, I think I could actually hear the walls being erected inside his mind. Those muscles in his face that relaxed last night during the kiss become hard as steel before my eyes.

The golden glow in his gorgeous eyes dims, leaving a pale imitation of what he beamed at me last night.

“If you say so.”

“It’s just—”

“We should get dressed. We meet the males in thirty minimas,” his voice is hard and emotionless as he rises from the bed and walks to the shower. He doesn’t bother to hide his nudity. My mouth goes dry at the beauty of the globes of his ass.

Wrage

I’m an ass. An ignorant,