I’m lost in what I’m doing when I hear a footstep outside. I go completely still. With any luck, whoever is outside the study will go away.
The door cracks open, and Naomi sticks her head inside. “Danek,” she hisses. “Are you here?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” She slips inside the room, her eyes flashing urgency. “Rannzar was looking for you. I think we need—”
Another footstep. Without thought, I press her against the wall, and my lips crash down on hers. Then her tongue is in my mouth, and her fingers are in my hair, and she tugs me closer and kisses me with passion and heat and reckless abandon.
I know I’m bad for her.
I know I should leave her alone.
But the instant her lips touch mine, just like it has every time I’ve kissed her in the last ten days, all thought disappears.
Nothing is left but Naomi.
23
Naomi
I’m talking to Resi and Afain when I see Rannzar look around, his expression puzzled.
Shit.
He might not be looking for Danek, but I can’t take the risk. I mutter something about needing a drink to the two miners, and sneak into the house before the administrator can catch sight of me.
It’s a large house, the largest in the dome. I bypass the rooms we’ve already been in and start to search for Danek.
He’s in the second room. “Rannzar was looking for you,” I tell him urgently. “I think we need—”
He doesn’t let me finish the sentence. He lifts me off my feet and presses me against the wall, and then his lips crash onto mine.
Every time Danek kisses me, my brain short-circuits. Every single time. Even now, when Rannzar might be looking for us, when danger nips at our heels, the second his mouth finds mine, nothing else matters.
I whimper in pleasure and slide my tongue into his mouth, boldly seeking his. In response, he nips my lower lip, groaning in pleasure, a groan I echo. His arms tighten around my waist, drawing me into the warmth of his body. “What about now?” he whispers. “Am I allowed to wrinkle your dress? Am I allowed to kiss the stain off your lips?”
“Yes.” Yes, to everything. Just don’t stop kissing me.
“What if someone hears us?” he teases.
“I don’t care.”
His voice is light, but I can hear the desire threading through every word. He’s pressed into me, I can feel his thick erection against my hip, and the events of this afternoon seem very far away.
I want to bury them even deeper. I want to forget my reaction and lose myself in this. In him. In the pleasure he gives me so freely.
I know I’m using sex as a crutch, but so what? I’m painfully aware that whether we find the prison or not, we’ll be departing Noturn in four days. Mirak and Diana are already in range. The instant we give word, they’ll get us out.
And then my life will go back to normal, and this little interlude will end. It has to. I’m not delusional. Danek’s desire is real, but I have no reason to believe his heart is involved. When we return to the Rebellion, there will be other women. Younger, prettier, less broken.
Our affair has an expiration date, one that’s rapidly approaching. Call me reckless, but I’m determined to make the most of what little time I have left.
I reach down and slide my palm against his cock. A growl rumbles in his chest and he drops his head to my shoulder, sliding my dress’ tiny strap down with his teeth. He does the same to the other one and peels the top of my dress down below my breasts. My chest is heaving, and I clutch at his neck as he lowers his head and swirls his tongue around my left nipple. I arch helplessly against him.
“Danek.” I keep my voice down, fighting to remember that there are partygoers outside. People might be looking for us. But I can’t stop my hand from delving into Danek’s pants. My fingers find his cock and close around its thick weight. It throbs in my palm.
I don’t have much room to maneuver, but I slowly move my hand over his erection. Danek sucks my nipple into his mouth and I gasp, pressing my face against his neck to muffle the sound.
I tug at his pants, trying to jerk them down. He shifts his hips and I’m able to free his cock. Yes! I close my fingers around his thick length and pump him, savoring every delicious shudder of his big body against mine. His smoky scent rises around us and his chest rumbles. His dragon growls with need.
Danek leans back, still propping me against the wall, and rolls my nipples between his clever fingers. It’s my turn to shudder and moan, even as I work his cock faster. I can’t get enough of him. I can’t get enough.
“Naomi,” he growls and grips my wrist, stilling my hand. He’s hard and jutting and so close to spilling his seed all over the midnight folds of my dress. My fingers strain, still reaching for him. But he sets me on my feet and drops to his knees instead.
“Got to taste you,” he murmurs. “Lift your skirts.”
I blink down at him, dazed. He grins up at me, his big hand gliding up my bare leg, past my knee, heading straight to my pussy. Oh yes! I grab handfuls of the frothy skirt and hold it up.
Danek lays a forearm over my lower belly, pinning me to the wall. His head bends and
