“Oh?” I said. “And what is the custom to say thanks?”
We stood so close it felt awkward but I for one wasn’t about to back away.
“Usually, a meal,” Emma said. “Or a gift. But as we’re in space and I’m not hungry, I guess that leaves us fresh out of options, doesn’t it?”
“How…” I cleared my throat. “How about a kiss?”
Emma cocked an eyebrow at me.
“A kiss?”
She pursed her lips and took her time as if she really needed to think my suggestion over.
“Yes. I suppose that would be acceptable.”
The situation had turned me as hard as a rock and the front of my pants strained against the fabric, threatening to poke her in the abdomen if she moved even half an inch toward me.
She licked her lips.
“Well? Are you going to give it to me or not?”
“Now?”
All my dreams were coming true on the same day.
Now, straining a little harder at the fabric of my pants, my cock made landfall and prodded her gently.
She must have felt it.
In fact, I knew she had by the upward quirk to her lips.
“Are you going to make me stand here all night?” she said, emphasizing the word ‘stand’ with just the right amount of tease.
I didn’t mean to lurch forward but I couldn’t help it.
How I managed to control myself for as long as I had was beyond me.
I thrust my lips against hers and explored them with my tongue.
She reacted in kind, and although shorter than me, met me just as fiercely.
I wrapped my arms around her tight body and felt her ass in my hands.
It felt so good, so firm and soft at the same time.
I’d wanted to grab her like this ever since I first laid eyes on her.
And now I had, it felt wonderful.
A sharp explosion erupted from my lips and spread across my skin like a supernova that’d waited a million years to erupt at just this moment.
I felt her respond in kind, one of her hands gripping my ass while the other ran through my hair.
Unbelievably, incredibly, we both managed to maintain our feet without pitching over.
I pressed forward harder and she leaned back.
She would have lost her balance if I didn’t shift the position of my arms to hold her suspended in mid-air as I continued to bury my lips on hers.
She didn’t panic, didn’t think I would lose my grip.
She let me hold her and use her body the way I wanted, and boy, did that turn me on more than anything else.
Finally, with our lives still firmly in place, and Emma leaning so far back she could have been reclining on a bed, she grinned at me.
She arched her head back.
“What do you think about this, Computer?”
Computer.
I’d completely forgotten about that little peeping Tom.
For the first time I’d ever know him, Computer was silent.
Probably in an attempt to compute what we were doing.
I chuckled as I straightened up and put Emma back down on her feet.
I smiled at Emma but the look of jubilation on her face had already soured and disappeared.
“What?” I said. “What is it?”
“There’s something else,” Emma said. “Another signal. It’s Iav. He… He feels closer.”
Her brow furrowed at this sudden revelation.
I pressed my throbbing golden glow into the pit of my stomach.
All I could feel was her.
“Where?” I said.
“I think… I think…”
Her eyes rose and met mine.
Then they bulged, swelling to twice their regular size.
“You!” she said.
She stumbled back and collided with the glass wall.
“You’re linked to me!” she said. “Like Iav!”
Shit.
I had lost complete control of myself when our lips pressed together.
I had let go of all my inhibitions and given myself to her.
I raised my hands and approached her.
She backed away from me.
“Emma, it’s nothing…” I said.
“How can it be nothing?” she spat. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? You’re working with Iav!”
“I would never do that!”
“Then why didn’t you tell me we shared a bond?”
I didn’t answer, and it was all the confirmation she needed.
“I can’t believe this. All this time, you’ve been lying to me!”
“No! I would never lie to you.”
“Not telling me something you know I should know is the same as lying!”
I followed after her as she backed further from me.
“Emma…” I said.
“Don’t come near me!” she screamed.
She stood with her back to the door.
“I thought I could trust you,” she said, her voice catching. “I thought you were one of the good guys!”
“I am. I am one of the good guys.”
“No, you’re not. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have lied to me!”
She backed away, tears already shimmering in her eyes.
I said, “Emma, it’s not what you think—”
“No. It’s always far worse.”
She turned and took off at a run down the hallway toward her room.
As her footfalls clattered on the hard floor and bounced off the walls, it sounded like someone chasing her.
It should have been me.
Instead, I let her go.
I pulled my fist back and slammed it hard into the thick glass of the observation window, wishing, at least for a fraction of a second, for it to crack and spill me out into the frigid icy depths of space so this nightmarish scene I suddenly found myself in could come to an end.
Emma
I couldn’t believe he hadn’t told me.
I knew there was a connection between him and his Shadow but I never thought it was that I was also his fated mate!
And why wouldn’t he tell me?
All it would have taken was a little word about his true intentions.
Was honesty such a big thing to ask?
I stomped into my room and took a seat.
Unable to get comfortable, I stood up and marched to the desk on the other side of the room.
It was plain and without so much as a sketchpad for me to distract myself with.
I marched back across the room to the bed.
I curled my hands into fists and stamped my foot.
My growl was loud and made my throat feel scratchy.
I was surprised by my own sense of shock.
Why did it
