Chapter Fourteen
Nerves tight, Savannah gazed out the window, feigning interest as the vehicle wove among towers and spires and swerved away from other vehicles. She assumed an AI timed the flight paths of the auto-piloted personal vehicles to prevent them from colliding.
A potential midair crash was the least of her concerns. From the moment she’d opened her door, Stratos had exuded a weird vibe. Not preoccupation, not disapproval…not exactly.
She forced herself to ask, “Am I dressed okay?” Maybe she’d missed the mark. Maybe her outfit was inappropriate—too dressy, too formal, too skimpy—but she was only showing an arm!
“Fine.” He shrugged.
Fine. That was the sole word he’d uttered since she’d climbed into his luxurious vehicle.
I knew seeing him out of the office would make things awkward!
She tried not to stare. She’d never seen him dressed up, suave and debonair in formal attire.
The suit emphasized the breadth of his shoulders, his muscular physique, and his alienness.
While she didn’t consider him handsome in the classic Earth sense, she couldn’t ignore his commanding masculinity or his spicy, warm musk.
Her skin, particularly her bare arm, tingled with awareness of his nearness, registering every slight movement.
This is work, not a date. Act like you always do.
She would never date him. Banish the thought. First, he was her boss, and she’d learned her lesson the hard way. Once burned, forever shy. Second, he definitely wasn’t her type. She desired a good conversationalist, an honest and faithful man who would be as committed to her as she would be to him.
Stratos checked the honesty box; she had to admit that. Plenty of times, he could have fudged the truth to make it easier for himself, but he never did. Honest to a fault, he spoke the truth without euphemism.
But the other boxes? There would be no long heart-to-heart discussions with this man, who guarded his words like he’d been born with a limited quantity and had to ration them. As for heart? Well, his only pumped blood. She doubted he was capable of affection or tenderness, let alone love.
But if he loved anything, it was OberTech.
She snuck a peek and found him gazing out his window. She squinted. Were the markings on his head pulsing?
He turned his head then, and his gaze collided with hers. “What?” he growled.
She scrambled for something to say. “The city is pretty at night. All lit up with light.”
“Light does light things up,” he mocked.
She flushed. That’s the Stratos, I know.
She returned to staring out the window. He is such a jerk. Well, at least things are back to normal.
“I’m sorry.”
Jaw dropping, she stared at him.
“That sounded rude. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m not good at small talk.”
She didn’t realize her mouth still hung open until he tapped a finger beneath her chin and gently closed it. Instead of removing his finger, he slid his palm over her jaw and cupped her face under her hair.
Her breathing hitched. What is he doing?
His eyes blazed, a groan rumbled in his chest, and then he ducked his head and kissed her.
In shock, she froze for a second before recovering and raising her hands to push him away. But a traitorous desire consumed her, and she palmed his muscular chest and parted her lips, inviting his possession. She melted against him, her tongue seeking out and caressing his.
His growl of satisfaction reverberated through her, causing her pussy to contract.
This is Stratos! My boss. My asshole alien boss. What the hell am I doing? A voice of sanity brought protest to her lips, but under his devastating kiss, it sounded like a purr of pleasure.
She pressed closer, grabbing his shirt in her fists. He tasted like exotic wine and masculine spice, and smelled oh, so good. There was no coldness or reserve in his kiss, just heated strokes and a sensual slide that decimated her common sense, good judgment, and lessons learned.
He blazed a trail from her mouth to her sensitive throat, finding her leaping pulse point. Her head lolled as he homed in on a key erogenous zone. He flicked his tongue against the throbbing pulse point, and she shuddered.
The entire vehicle seemed to rock.
No seem, it was rocking. With a slight bump, it landed.
And Stratos leaped out like the vehicle had caught fire.
What. The. Fuck.
Shaken to the core, embarrassed beyond belief, she remained inside, uncertain if her legs would support her, but quite sure she couldn’t face him ever again.