I didn’t retreat. I angled my head up to meet him.
It was coming. The kiss.
Finally.
He grabbed me by the shoulders and buried his lips on mine, hard and fierce and strong. A Titan’s kiss.
I melted beneath his fearsome power, his brute strength, his weeping desire. I melted into him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
And he responded.
The kiss was every bit as hot and fierce and passionate as I knew it would be.
I never wanted it to end. When it did, he pulled back barely an inch. I felt his breath on my face and I wanted more.
He held me in his arms—literally held me, with one arm bracing my upper back and head, the other scooped up around my ass. My feet were off the ground.
I felt the huge throb in his pants pressing against me, promising a wild night of fulfillment.
“Done with me already?” I said, daring him into a second round.
He smiled at me.
“Not by a long shot,” he said.
He lowered his lips toward mine again—
And someone cleared their throat.
I leaned my head back and peered at the man standing behind us. He was upside down from this angle. His starched suit and precise manner were always the same. After the long climb up the stairs, he wasn’t even out of breath.
“It’s time for the birthday speech, sir,” Aunzika said.
If he was surprised by catching us like this, he didn’t show it.
“Very well,” Kal said as if we hadn’t been caught in the act.
He lowered me to my feet and brushed the hair back from my face.
“I think you cast a spell on me with your song, Sirena,” he said.
“No magic,” I said. “Just passion.”
He raised my hand to his lips. “Perhaps you might sing for me again later tonight?”
As he pressed his lips to my fingers, a bolt of pure ecstasy zoomed into my brain and froze me in place.
“Two presents in one day?” I said. “I’m not sure you deserve it. I mean, I wouldn’t want to spoil you.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” he said, his eyes not leaving mine. “You’ll be getting plenty of presents too.”
I didn’t know where his sudden spike in confidence came from, but damn, I liked it.
Sirena
Aunzika handed me the skin cream and told me it was from Emana’s collection.
“Are you sure she won’t mind?” I said.
Aunzika waved away my concerns.
“She has so much she won’t notice it’s missing,” he said.
Emana. I’d completely forgotten about her.
“How is she?” I said.
“She’s… recovering,” Aunzika said. “I’m afraid the mojitos and vast quantities of meat didn’t do her any favors. Too much of a good thing, I’m afraid.”
I flinched at what I’d caused. She’d never been anything but kind to me.
“Does she need help?” I said.
“She’ll be fine,” Aunzika said. “She’s experienced worse.”
He sighed with the air of someone used to having to deal with worse.
“Well, thanks for the cream,” I said.
“It was my pleasure,” Aunzika said.
He nodded politely, turned on the spot with greater poise than a military commander, and marched away.
I shut the door and moved to the full-length mirror. I squirted a little of the cream on my fingers. It smelled good and felt even better. I rubbed it into my skin. It was as refreshing as any of the creams back home, I thought.
I changed into my silk negligee and checked myself in the mirror. It barely reached my thighs. No underwear. My nipples poked at the fabric. They strained at the material because I was recalling our little scene in the tower.
We shouldn’t have kissed. I never should have gone up there in the first place. He probably thought I knew he was there.
Fat chance of that. I knew nothing about the castle’s layout. Still, I couldn’t help smiling. He looked so at ease, so calm in his little mancave. Completely different from the stiff guy he was forced to be when surrounded by guards and townsfolk.
And absolutely, totally irresistible.
The funniest thing was I didn’t need to kiss him at all. Not after I’d already slid the device in his computer for the Changelings to track and trace his correspondence. The mission was complete. I didn’t need to get closer to him.
And yet, the kiss had felt good, hadn’t it?
Better than good, I thought, smiling at the memory. I rubbed my arms where he’d stroked his fingers and recalled the firm and gentle press of his powerful hands to the back of my head and back, supporting me, holding me right where he wanted.
Right where I wanted.
I envisioned the press of his lips against mine, and the endless hunger and yearning he felt for me. I couldn’t help but fall into his insistent and urging need. He consumed me, and I consumed him in return.
It gave me goosebumps just thinking about it.
It was just a kiss, I thought. An explosion of light and color to my senses. So what would… other things feel like?
I shuttered the line of thought and forced it into a tiny box. Thinking like that wasn’t going to help anyone. Least of all me.
Thud.
Thud. Thud.
I approached the open window and peered down as the last of the well-wishers climbed into their pods and zipped off home. The party had ended about thirty minutes earlier. The stragglers were always difficult to get rid of. Kal bid the guests farewell and must have felt relieved it was all over.
All over.
It would soon be over for me too.
I wondered where the Changelings were. What was taking them so long? I’d done as they asked and they hadn’t responded. I checked the communicator the moment I returned to my room.
Still no word.
Nothing.
Maybe they would go back on their word. Maybe they would toss me aside after they got what they wanted from me. Why did they have to carry out their side of the deal? They didn’t.
I suddenly felt very alone. I’d been a victim ever since that bright light appeared in the sky, when they bottled me up in
