Chapter 20
DAWN
Hal sits me down right outside the bubble, only to decide to follow me through. I see him wince at the heat in here, so I walk over to the control center and lower it into the low forties. I know it’s still extremely warm for him, but it has to be better than the seventy I have it set at now.
My fingers start hitting the many buttons that seal up my super suit, and as the material loosens, I turn back to him.
“Next time, I get to plan the romantic, life-threatening trips.”
“I was terrified.”
“You hid it well … especially with all that fancy driving. I will say, even though some rather remarkable things happened while we were out on that adventure, I am truly damn sick and tired of the universe trying to unalive me.”
While the suit detaches from my legs, I stand there looking at him.
He is beautiful, in an almost old-world Viking way, if you can overlook all the fur.
Pulling the hood off, I finger-comb my hair, then slowly start wiggling out of the rest. HaL’s eyes get big, but they never leave me as his voice comes out rough.
“You were naked this entire time?”
“Yup, nothing between me and the super suit or it would mess up my superpowers.”
He moves so close that I can still feel the cold coming off his skin. I step closer.
“Are you going to kiss me, or are we just going to stand here the rest of the evening?”
“Dawn, if I touch you right now, I will not be able to stop.”
“Who is asking you to? I am tired of waiting for the right time because there is no such thing. I want you, and I want to be with you.”
“I do not know what the mate bond will do, if anything, with us being different species.”
“Honestly, HaL, I don’t give a shit one way or another. All I need to know is, do you love me?”
“Love is a metaphor. Something your kind speaks of easily. Some use it with genuine meaning while others use it carelessly, with nothing behind the words. What I feel for you is more than words. It is something that resides deep in here.”
He presses a hand to his chest, his expression tightening as though the admission physically hurts.
“The thought of never holding you again, never hearing your odd words, never smelling the scent that is currently driving me wild…” His voice drops. “It is not something I ever want to experience. Still, when I hold you in my arms, there are moments when I still cannot believe you are real.”
“Oh, sweet-thing, I am real.”
I reach up, tracing my fingers along the strong line of his jaw. The faint rasp of his fur brushes my fingertips, while his skin remains cool beneath my touch.
“Come be real with me,” I whisper. “Make me yours, HaL.”
His larger hand closes around mine on his chest before he lifts it to his lips, pressing a kiss into my palm, then my wrist, lingering over the sensitive skin of my inner forearm where my pulse races beneath his mouth.
With every kiss, he draws me closer, until he bends slightly, scooping me into his arms. Instinctively, I wrap my legs around his waist.
His lips find mine.
At first, the kiss is soft. Careful. Almost reverent.
Then his arms tighten, pulling me flush against the hard length of his body, and the kiss deepens. His mouth is warm against mine, such a startling contrast to the coolness of the rest of him. Yet somehow, he feels familiar.
Like home.
Our first kiss had been rushed—a collision of emotion, fear, and desperate need that I truly didn’t get the chance to savor.
This time is different. This time, I feel every second.
His hand slides into my hair, his fingers curling around it just firmly enough to tilt my head the way he wants. If my senses were overloaded before, now they are completely overwhelmed.
I can feel his hunger.
The years of restraint.
The longing he has kept buried beneath all that control.
It pours into the kiss through every movement of his mouth, every tightening of his arms, every low vibration rumbling deep within his chest. And I meet him with every bit of fire in me.
I am not fragile.
I don’t need him to treat me like I might break. I crave his strength, the way he holds me, the way he wants me, and the way he makes me feel completely claimed without ever making me feel small.
I want him—all of him.
His hands release my thighs when he realizes how tightly I am holding on to him. He stumbles backward through the living area, our mouths fused, hands roaming freely over my waist, my ribs, the curves of my breasts. His legs hit the edge of the bed.
“Last chance, little Roja.”
I grab a handful of his hair. “If you put me down and walk away, you had better be prepared for the fallout, because it will not be pretty. I am a grown-ass woman, HaL. I know who and what I want. Don’t question me again.”
Apparently, the threat works because I swear I feel the threads holding him together snap. With a low growl, he turns, laying me down gently, but the moment my back hits the bed, his mouth is on mine again, hot, demanding, devouring.
I feel him reach down, loosening his loincloth, then the sound of it hitting the floor.
I trace the lines racing across his abdomen and the scars I hadn’t noticed before, tracing them carefully.
He stills beneath my touch for a second before his talented mouth moves to my throat, sucking and biting gently as he works his way down.
Massive hands cup my breasts, thumbs brushing against my nipples until they tighten up into aching peaks. When his lips close around one sensitive bud, I arch off the bed, my fingers threading through his hair, holding him there.
“HaL!”
He doesn’t stop; if anything, hearing his name on my lips only encourages him more. His tongue flicks, teeth graze, while his hands slide lower, stroking over my stomach, hips, and thighs that I eagerly spread wider. When his fingers finally part my folds, finding me more than ready, he growls.
“Oh, little Roja …”
He doesn’t say anything else, simply presses two of his beefy fingers inside me slowly, curling them just right, and my hips buck against his hand.
He works me open further with devastating strokes while his mouth continues to attack my breasts.
My collarbone, my neck, any available skin he can reach while I gasp out his name as I reach for him.
His huge velvety cock is hot and heavy in my hand. He nips at me, a soft growl on his lips, when I stroke him from base to tip, still slightly concerned about how that’s all gonna fit. Pre-cum covers my hand as his hips jerk, and his breathing becomes irregular.
HaL settles his massiveness between my thighs, the blunt head of his cock nudging my entrance from a different zip code, and when I giggle, he looks at me.
“You know the math ain’t adding up, gorgeous, so you’re gonna have to sweet-talk the teacher if you want entrance. Take it easy on her; she has never done this before.”
His large hand palms the back of my head, pulling me up slightly.
“I am going to use your human words because I have no other way to explain all this, but Frack Dawn, I love you. I love that smart mouth, the twinkle in your expressive eyes and the feel of you in my hands. I have no idea how I got this blessed, but I will never take this for granted.”
He pushes against me slightly, and my body shoves back. Just when I think there is no way, my body opens up with a tight pinch, and I grimace as he continues to push in slowly. The stretch is exquisite, full, deep, a little painful, but the ridges and bumps I feel deep inside my core are perfect.
“Breathe, Roja, I have you.”
When I am convinced I can’t take another inch, he stops, giving me time to adjust, only to push one more time, and I catch myself squirming under him, rocking my hips, begging for more.
HaL moves in longggg, deep strokes and all the extras attached to that battering ram he calls a cock are dragging against every sensitive place inside of me.
The pleasure builds fast and overwhelmingly as I tighten my legs around him, meeting every thrust with my own. Our rhythm grows frantic. Skin against skin our bodies are slick with our essence and HaL’s sweat.
His hand slides between us, his thumb circling my clit in tight, perfect strokes while he drives into me harder and harder.
“Little Roja, let go.”
And boy do I! I don’t know if it’s the sound of his voice, the pressure building in every cell that makes me …
me, or the palpable love in his blue eyes, but when it crashes over me, it comes in waves.
I hear a scream, a moan, but it’s like I’m not even in this body any longer.
And apparently, my body tightening around his was all he could take, as HaL follows behind me with a bellow that I know the entire compound heard.
I feel the hot pulse of his release inside me, his body shuddering against mine as he empties himself completely.
I pull his slick warm skin against the coolness of my own, feeling our hearts beating in sync.
HaL rolls to the side, pulling me along with him so that I lie draped across his chest, still joined.
His massive hands stroking my back possessively.
“Frack, it is hot in here!”
I can’t help but giggle. “That’s all your fault, and just so you know, I will never walk straight again because Goliath has ruined me.”
A beautiful smile softens his face as he spanks me lightly before reaching down, pulling one of the covers over me.
“You are already too hot and I can handle being chilled for a little bit.”
“No, I can feel the goosethings rising on your skin, so I know the temperature is not adequate.”
“Hmmm, it’s amazing how I didn’t notice the cold a minute ago, must have been all that extracurricular activity.”
I reach up, wiping the sweat off his face, noticing he is really flushed.
“Sweet thing, maybe you should go cool down; the heat coming off you is starting to worry me.”
“I will in a tic.”
He pulls me down on his chest, and I find myself suddenly itching all over, but I’m so tired that suddenly I can’t hold my eyes open.
“HaLLLL, I don’t feel so good.”