Chapter 24
LYN
I don’t even think about it before I kiss him.
No…of course I don’t, because I haven’t had a single rational thought in my stupid little brain ever since this man—this infuriating, perfect, honorable, reasonable, absolutely perfect man—found me coming on the floor of his lab.
All I’m thinking as I look at him in that office is that he actually gives a shit about me.
He gives a shit. He’s given a shit for years. He’s been obnoxiously careful and cranky and mean because he wanted me safe and he…he respects me.
And good lord, is there anything sexier than a man who respects your work?
No. There’s not.
And now?
Now I want to fuck him.
And apparently, I want to do it right now, in his office, on this very desk.
He only kisses me back for a splits second before he yanks his face away, his tendrils flicking against my cheeks, my neck, like even though he’s holding his composure he just can’t stop himself from caressing me.
I ignore his hesitations, putting one knee on the desk, then the other, kissing down the column of his throat, dragging my tongue over his pulse—
He takes my face in his hands and pulls me away, looking me in the eye.
“Lyn,” he says.
My breath catches. “...I love it when you say my name like that.”
That clearly catches him offguard. “You—what?”
“Like you’re mad at me,” I purr. “Like…like you’re gonna tell me what to do. Like you’re gonna punish me.”
“You’re filthy,” he rasps, but I don’t miss the smile curling the corner of his lips.
I smile back, reaching down to find exactly what I expected. “And you’re hard.”
He groans as I palm him through his slacks. His eyes flutter shut for a fraction of a second before he forces them open again, like he’s trying to reassert control.
“Walker,” he says, even as I keep stroking him…even if he doesn’t stop me. “I won’t keep you a secret. If you…fuck, if you do this—if we do this right now, I’m telling the department right away.”
“Freaky,” I laugh. “You’re gonna tell them you fucked me while your dick is still wet?”
That makes him grab my wrists with one hand, keeping the other on my face. He acts like he’s keeping a rabid animal at bay.
…he’s not entirely wrong.
“Listen to me,” he says. “If we do this now…we’re doing this. And I told you I do not do casual.”
I swallow hard, staring into his golden eyes, desperately wanting to keep being crazy and horny and slutty and knowing—knowing—I have to be serious.
Damn it.
I slump down, still kneeling on the desk, but relaxed now.
Kaelion lets go of me.
“Why can’t this be easy?” I sigh.
He frowns. “How do you mean?”
“I just want to…” I growl, shaking my head. “I just want to fuck you and have a good time and take it slow and casual and easy and—”
He grips my chin again, tilting my face up to his. “It is easy,” he says. “Being with you…it is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It’s worth doing the hard things for.”
My throat tightens, but not in the fun, kinky way I was aiming for a few minutes ago.
It’s something else. Something worse. Or better. I haven’t decided yet.
“You can’t just say shit like that,” I mutter. “That’s not fair.”
“I mean it,” he says, serious as a fucking heart attack.
“Lyn…being with Shahar was always hard. But you? It’s easy.
You make me crazy…but it has always been easy to work with you, to talk with you, to care.
I don’t know what that means, but it’s the reason I want to be honest about it.
Because this feels too right to keep it secret. ”
I gulp. “You…this should be freaking me out.”
“Is it?”
“It’s not.”
His thumb glides across my cheekbone and I lean into his touch. “Do I have your permission to tell the advisory board about us? I promise I won’t let them touch your research. That you won’t have a single stumbling block toward completing your project.”
Maybe I shouldn’t, but I believe him.
And more than that…I want him. Not just to fuck him. I want him, I want to be with him…and I want it desperately.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Tell them.”
He releases my wrists, then uses that free hand to press a button on his desk. The windows frost over, giving us privacy, then he lowers his voice.
“Go lock the door,” he growls.
“Lock the…”
“Do it, Walker.”
I do as he says, racing to get off the desk, whipping around to lock the door. The office is small, and I feel him at my back before I’ve even had a chance to turn around—feel his hands on my hips, his lips at my throat, his voice a hot whisper at my ear.
“I’ve never wanted anything like I want you,” he rasps. “You’re driving me mad, Lyn Walker.”
I whimper, grinding back against him, and his hands tighten on my hips. Not enough to bruise—yet—but a clear warning: don’t push unless you’re ready for what happens next.
“I told you I don’t do casual,” he murmurs against my neck. “But I do intense. I do thorough. I do obsessive.”
My knees go weak. “So do I.”
“I know.” His voice is choked as he reaches in front of me to unzip my pants…as his hand slides beneath my underwear, as his fingers find my—
“Oh, fuck,” I curse, bracing myself against the previously transparent walls.
Fuck, this is dirty.
Fuck.
“It what makes you so irresistible,” he drawls, slipping one finger inside while his thumb rubs relentless circles around my clit, working me up fast to an orgasm—too fast, too fucking fast. “Even now…gods, I shouldn’t be doing this. But I want to give you everything you ask for.”
He keeps me right there—braced against the frosted glass, panting, shaking—while his fingers keep up that slick, ruthless rhythm. His tendrils slither beneath my collar, flicking at my nipples. I didn’t wear a bra. I had a plan coming here.
I had a plan, and it’s not panning out exactly like I expected…but god, it’s so much better.
“You don’t play fair,” I gasp.
“I never said I did.”
I cry out as he slips another finger inside me, but he doesn’t tell me to hush. He doesn’t even remotely try to shut me up. No…he wants me loud.
He wants people to know about me.
About us.
“So wet for me, Walker,” he growls in my ear. “Still want me to…what was it? Destroy your pussy?”
“God, yes—”
He pulls his fingers out of me when I’m right at the brink, and I’m about ready to tell him to go fuck himself when he turns us both around around so I’m facing his desk.
One hand grips my hip; the other slides up my back to push me forward, my fingers splayed out on the desk.
I rock my hips back toward him as I hear him deftly undo his pants, as I feel his cock fall out and rest on my ass.
I’m still fully dressed other than this…other than his cock, now dragging up my seam, now catching at my entrance—
“Please,” I whisper.
That’s all it takes.
He thrusts inside me to the hilt, hitting right on that spot that feels just perfect…and fuck it, I come. Of course I do. I’m still having some weird reactions to him, and I just…
“Yes!” I cry out. “Fuck…fuck me…fuck me, please, please—”
He sets a punishing rhythm right away, his hips slapping against mine, destroying my pussy just like I asked.
I keep coming, clawing at his desk, stretching out to grip the other side of it and hanging on for dear life.
He leans over me, hand fisting in my curls to tug my head back, his mouth dragging over the exposed line of my throat.
His voice is guttural in my ear. “You feel so good…feel like…feel like mine…”
Somewhere in my stupid, orgasm-drunk brain, it suddenly occurs to me that he’s an alien. That Thalara warned me the Nyeri’i have stronger pheromones. Different mating practices. That I just agreed to go public about us, that I accepted that he doesn’t do casual, whatever the hell that means—
“Yours,” I gasp, the word popping out in what feels like a total accident. “Give it to me—”
“Give you whatever you want…”
“Yes, fuck yes…”
His rhythm stutters.
Just for a beat.
Then he snarls, more alien than he’s ever been, and fucks into me like the word mine was a trigger. Like I said some hidden command I didn’t know existed. His tendrils lash over my shoulders, holding me in place, pulsing and possessive, and I feel it in my bones—
I feel him losing control.
I feel myself giving in to it, letting it happen, wanting it to happen.
“That’s it,” he growls, fangs grazing my shoulder. “Say it again.”
I don’t even know what I said.
But I say it anyway. “Yours. I’m yours, I’m—fuck, Kaelion—”
And then he’s coming, hard and guttural, dragging me with him one last time—and I feel everything. His release. Mine. The aching, all-consuming rush of it. The shudder in his chest. The way he wraps around me, holds me there like he can’t bear to let me go.
This…it’s happening.
I don’t know if it can be stopped.
I certainly don’t want it to stop.
He pulls me up, still inside me, pinning me to his chest and pulling my face around to kiss him hard. His tongue thrusts inside my mouth, exploring me, claiming me.
And when he pulls back…his eyes are brighter, pupils dilated…
…I think I’m in love with him?
What the hell is going on with me?
“Tomorrow,” he says. “I’ll tell the board. Today, I tell Shahar. Tonight…tonight, I want you in my bed.”
My breath hitches, not out of fear or anxiety…but surprise. Because I can see it now.
This isn’t just about honesty. It’s about pride.
He wants to tell the world I’m his.
And I want them to know he’s mine, too.