I could ask him to turn around but there’s no space. And part of me wants him to see.
“Okay,” I whisper. The privacy shield prevents people from seeing us, but not from hearing us. I’m still wearing the last outfit I tried on, a tempdress, made out of a material that’s soft, comfortable, and designed to keep me warm, no matter what the temperature is. Enough waiting, let’s do this. I pull it over my head, and I’m clad in nothing other than the bra and panties I have on. Despite the padding, my nipples are very clearly outlined. If I take a step forward, I’d be in Danek’s arms, close enough to rub against his firm chest.
Danek growls, low in his throat, the noise possessive and male. His fingers play with my bra strap. “Take this off too.”
I stare up at him, my stomach knotting in need. I know this is for Xeni’s benefit. I know this is an act. I know he doesn’t really mean any of this, and I can’t bring myself to care. “Okay,” I whisper again. I reach behind my back and undo the clasp and slowly shrug out of the bra, freeing my breasts. Then I stand tall, shoulders back, because I might be over forty but I’m proud of my girls. The question is, will Danek like what he sees?
He inhales sharply.
I stop breathing.
The air goes still around us. Everything fades to the background. The boutique. Xeni. The mission. Everything falls away. I take a step toward him. The bra falls to the floor, and my hardened nipples brush the fabric of his shirt.
“Naomi,” he murmurs. He places his hands on my hips, his thumbs grazing the waistband of my panties. “You are—”
Before I lose my nerve, I rise to my tiptoes and kiss him. I press against his chest and tilt my head up, enticing him. He responds with a low growl, his big hands cupping my bottom. He kneads my ass and I gasp into his mouth. Yes.
My own hands are busy pulling Danek’s shirt up. I need to touch him. I slide my hands under the fabric. My eyes flutter closed at the feel of his smooth chest. Acres of sexy muscle, all mine to touch.
We’re still kissing; our lips are still locked together. Danek growls into my mouth and hitches me higher, his fingers biting into the cleft of my ass. I’ve got my bare legs wrapped around him now, and I’m rocking slightly against his hard torso—
Xeni appears beside us, and I push Danek back instinctively before realizing she can’t see us. More specifically, she can’t see me try to climb Danek like a tree.
“One moment,” I cry out.
“Ah, the newly bonded,” she says indulgently. She knows exactly what we’ve been up to. Gah! “I should have known. Take your time.”
Heat flares in my cheeks. I just felt up my fake fiancé in the middle of an alien boutique. I can’t believe it.
I lean down to grab my bra and accidentally brush against something very large and very hard between Danek’s legs. He hisses and half turns away. “Sorry,” I whisper. Bra, then dress. My fingers aren't cooperating. I fumble with the clasp.
Very slowly, Danek turns me to face away from him. He hooks my bra and reaches around to make sure it’s on properly. Is it just me or did his fingers linger on the curve of my breasts? Is it just me or did I lean in and stifle a moan?
I’m too jumpy. I need to calm down. I throw the dress over my head and gesture to Danek to tuck in his shirt. Once I’m dressed, I do my best to finger-comb my hair into something decent that does not scream ‘just had hot sex with a Draekon.’ Xeni is smirking enough as it is.
At least I kept my panties on.
As soon as I’m ready, Danek deactivates the privacy shield. “We’ll take all the lingerie,” he declares. “And now, if you will forgive us, we need to go somewhere more secluded.”
Xeni chuckles knowingly. “Of course you do,” she says. She packages up the clothes and the lingerie. Danek picks up the tab—keeping up my cover identity, I don’t offer to pay—and then he picks up the bags, declining my offer of help.
We make our way to the skimmer. We get inside. Danek turns to me. His eyes are still hot with desire. “Give me a minute,” he murmurs. “You are so very beautiful, and my mind is a fog. If I attempt to drive the skimmer right now, I’m going to crash into something.”
For a second, I believe every single word. Then reality crashes into me. “What are you doing?” I hiss. “Nobody is watching us any longer. You’re laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think?”
He exhales slowly. “I don’t understand. You don’t think my desire is real?”
Hope blooms and withers in the space of an instant. “No, I don’t,” I reply bluntly. “I’m a forty-year old woman who discovered her first grey hair last month. When I wake up in the morning, I feel stiff all over, and my knees creak. I’m not sure when that started to happen, but I don’t like it. In the meanwhile, you look like this.” I wave an arm at him.
His forehead furrows in confusion. “Like what?”
Argh. Does he really want me to spell it out? Danek is gorgeous. Sleek, sculpted, and lethal. If we could travel back in time, Leonardo da Vinci would have used the Draekon as a model for his drawing of the idealized man. “Have you looked in a mirror recently? Nobody is going to believe you’re hot for me.”
Where is this insecurity coming from, all of a sudden? I didn’t have a crisis of confidence when I learned the details of the mission. When Dariux filled me in on the cover story, I didn’t question that Danek would fall in
