Chapter 20
LYN
Waking up after sleeping with someone you really weren't supposed to has a certain kind of charm.
First…it's mortifying. You get that hit right in your chest that squeezes your heart and says, Hey you. You fucked up. You've got to get out of here.
But then…damn it.
It's warm.
It's nice.
And he is…fully on top of me.
Kaelion Rhyss sprawls over me, an arm outstretched across my chest, his tendrils relaxed across the pillows, his leg slung over me. His breath disturbs the curls at my nape every time he exhales, his cock still half-hard against my hip.
And I'm not coming uncontrollably, which is nice. Though I don't know what's going to happen when he stops touching me.
I don't want him to stop touching me.
I should wake him. I can't imagine he wants me wandering around when Solvi could catch sight of me.
But he's honestly adorable when he's asleep.
“Hey,” I whisper. “Hey…you.”
What am I supposed to call him? Dr. Rhyss doesn't seem right anymore. Or…it seems right, but in a deliciously wrong way. Kaelion is long and clunky. But I also can't say “babe” because that would be incredibly weird.
His eyelids flutter.
“Lyn…?” he drawls.
Then his eyes open wide.
“Lyn,” he hisses.
He sits straight up, frantic. “What time is it?”
I frown as I sit up too, glancing at the clock. “Uh…just after dawn. Sixish? I didn't want to wake you, you looked—”
He presses a finger to my lips, which makes my pussy clench like the horny bitch she is.
…but then I hear it.
Humming, running water…and footsteps.
Solvi.
He closes his eyes and curses under his breath.
“She's an early riser,” he mutters. “I meant to send you away while it was still dark out…”
That makes my gut so something mean and ugly, twisting and tightening. This is just a hookup born of necessity, nothing else…but I'm still offended for some reason. “Right…sorry,” I say. “I'll get dressed and you can sneak me out—”
He reaches for my cheek without warning, cupping it softly…then he kisses me hard. His tongue slips past my lips and I can't help but moan, melting into his touch.
“I wanted you to stay,” he breathes as he pulls away. “You are not a thing to be hidden away.”
I blink up at him, stunned stupid for a second.
“Oh,” I say. Brilliant, Lyn. Top marks. Just… oh.
But it short-circuits the defensive script I was already writing in my head—the one where I smirk and make some throwaway line about walk-of-shaming back to my place, where I act like this didn’t matter because I couldn’t let it matter.
Not if he was going to act like I’d snuck into his bed and overstayed my welcome.
But that’s not what he’s doing. At all.
Kaelion brushes his thumb along my jaw, and for a second, he looks like he might say something else—something dangerous.
Something relationship-shaped.
But then we both freeze as Solvi’s voice floats up the hallway: “Baba? Are you awake?”
I launch out of bed.
“Fuck,” I whisper, tripping over my own feet as I stumble toward where I think I threw my stuff.
Kaelion’s already out of bed too, moving way too calmly for a man who’s still half-hard and covered in sex sweat.
He grabs his shirt, tosses it to me, and I realize it’s not mine at all—I’m holding his button-down, the one he folded so neatly last night like the dignified professor he pretends to be.
“What do you want me to do with this?” I ask, eyes wide.
He looks from me to the door, then back again.
His brow furrows.
“Give me a moment, blossom,” he calls to the door.
Then he comes closer to me.
“I don't want to hide you like a shameful secret,” he says. “But Solvi…she gets attached, and Shahar and I always agreed we would talk before I introduced anyone to—”
“Closet,” I interrupt, not even remotely ready to be introduced to his very cute daughter as his girlfriend. God no. That would be totally awful…right? “I'll hide in the closet.”
Kaelion blinks, visibly relieved. “Thank you.”
He ushers me into the closet with more grace than panic, but still—it’s a close thing. I barely manage to grab my scarf from the tangle of bedsheets on my way in. The door clicks shut behind me just as the bedroom one swings open.
“Hey, blossom,” he says, voice soft and affectionate. I've never had a thing for dads, but the way he talks to his kid…it triggers my id in a very big way.. “You’re up early.”
“I was hungry,” she says. “And Flicker has been sassy all morning.”
As if she was waiting to be announced, I hear the rapid shuffle of six little feet on the floor a moment later, then the snuffling of a small nose right outside.
I freeze, catching sight of Flicker's green fur through the slats in the closet door.
Shit.
Keeping this secret might not end up being our choice after all. It might be up to a small, extremely obnoxious snake-rat.
Flicker’s fluffy tail disappears for a second, and I almost let myself relax. Then I hear a thump…a jostle.
A distinct click.
The closet door cracks open.
Just an inch. Barely enough to count. But I see her nose. Her ears. Her beady little traitor eyes.
Flicker meets my gaze through the gap in the door slats and lets out a triumphant, threatening growl.
No. No no no.
I hold my hand out, desperate. No. Bad. Go away. Be a fucking mammal for once.
The door creaks wider.
And then—
“Flicker,” Solvi says from the other side of the room, “what are you doing?”
Shit.
Kaelion is already moving. He scoops her up and laughs with fake innocence I didn't know he had.
“She’s been extra curious lately,” he says, petting her head as she tries to twist out of his grip and back toward me. “Sniffing around everything. You’d think she’s the one with the science background.”
“Baba…is there something in there?”
I can see his face through the slats, his golden eyes downcast for a moment. He doesn't want to lie to his daughter. I respect that about him…more than he knows.
Then he kneels in front of Solvi, still holding tight to a wriggling Flicker.
“There is something in there,” he says, taking me by surprise. I panic a little; I wasn't ready for this. “But…it's something I'm trying to figure out, and I can't tell you about it right now. Do you understand that?”
Solvi's eyes dart toward the closet, brow furrowing. “I think so.”
Holy shit.
Comin’ in hot with the gentle parenting.
“I appreciate you giving me the space to deal with this,” he says. “And I promise I'll tell you eventually.”
“When?”
“I'm not sure yet.” He pauses. “Can you give me a week for an update?”
She considers him for a moment, clearly skeptical, clearly curious—clearly her father’s daughter, with that same species of thoughtful pause, the same laser-focus in her gaze.
Finally, she nods. “Okay. But it better not be a surprise party. I hate those.”
Kaelion chuckles. “Me too.”
“And if it’s something weird,” she adds, narrowing her eyes, “like an experiment? I want in.”
That…might be a problem later.
But Kaelion just smiles and says, “Duly noted.”
She looks like she’s about to ask another question—probably a very good one—but the growl of her stomach derails the moment. She scowls. “Can I make breakfast?”
“You can help me make breakfast,” he corrects gently, rising to his feet. “But let me get dressed first, all right?”
She sighs. “Fine.”
And then, as Kaelion starts ushering her out of the room, she glances over her shoulder one last time toward the closet.
“Whatever it is,” she says, “you don’t have to keep it secret. I’m not a kid.”
And then she's gone.
The door clicks shut behind her, the hallway fills with retreating footsteps, and the instant they're out of range, I collapse back against the wall of the closet and whisper, “Holy shit.”
My heart is hammering. I’m sweating again.
That child is terrifying.
The door creaks open a few seconds later, and Kaelion appears, looking sheepish—and beautiful, and unfairly rumpled.
I narrow my eyes at him. “So. Something you have to figure out, huh?”
He holds out a hand. “I won't lie to my daughter.”
I take it. Let him pull me out of the closet like some shame-drenched walk of contrition, even though I know that’s not what this is anymore.
Still. My legs are bare. I'm wearing his shirt. My whole existence is a mess. “Your daughter is going to be the head of a planetary ethics council someday.”
“She’s already written four petitions.”
“I believe it.”
He looks at me—really looks at me—and then brushes a strand of hair out of my eyes with this incredibly gentle little touch that makes my chest do the worst thing.
Hope. Stupid, inconvenient hope.
“You don’t have to hide again,” he says, voice low.
I swallow. “Yeah?”
“I meant what I said, Lyn. You’re not a secret.”
It would be easier if I didn’t believe him. If I could laugh it off, file it under temporary chemical insanity. But he’s looking at me like I matter. Like we might matter.
And…goddammit.
I want that.
“I’m still not ready for her to know,” I admit.
He nods. “That’s okay. She gave me a week.”
I stare at him. “What if she uses that week to gather evidence?”
He just smiles. “Then we’d better be careful. And thorough. And extremely, extremely boring when she’s awake.”
I grin. “So…more lab time. Less straddling your cock during cortical mapping.”
“Exactly.”
“…I’m going to fail that test miserably.”
He actually laughs. “Me too.”
And then he leans in and kisses me again—gently, like we’re not just breaking rules and rearranging neural pathways and screwing our way through theoretical models—but like we might have just started something real.
Which, unfortunately…
Might be true.
I pull back and look up at him. “You're actually a really great dad.”
“And this surprises you…?”
“Well, you being a dad in the first place was a surprise in and of itself, so…” I pause, my lips curving. “Plus, you’re kind of an asshole.”
His brows lift. “An asshole?”
“You’re constantly yelling at me about safety protocols.”
“Because you’re constantly being unsafe.”
“And you won’t let me use the laser cutter—”
“Because you set your lab station on fire.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t know…that’s some pretty enemies-to-lovers shit.”
He hums, then pulls me in by the waist, leaning in close. The extended touch last night certainly helped, but his touch…it still drives me crazy, makes my pussy clench.
And he knows it.
“I have never been your enemy,” he murmurs. “Annoyed by you? Frequently. Distracted by you? Inconveniently often. In awe of your intellect? Always. But not once have I opposed your work.”
“So you were never my enemy…” I stop, biting my lip. “But what are you now?”
He glances toward the door.
“Give me a week,” he says. “A week of being a secret. Then…I’ll get back to you.”
“And until then?”
He frowns. “Meaning…?”
I try to play it cool, but I’m blushing. “I’m…kind of used to an orgasm a day. At least one.”
He lowers his voice. “Understood. In that case…I’ll message you tonight after Solvi goes to bed.”
And it really, really shouldn’t be hot…
…but it is.