Chapter 41 Task
TASK
SFS POLARIS
Task pushes his hands through his hair, trying to get a handle on his anger as he strides down the corridor to Kit’s lab.
He’d been off all day, his thoughts racing as he sparred with Caelinus in the hangar.
The closer they got to Nexarium, the more off-kilter he felt, knowing that he’d be expected to deliver Kit to Draven immediately.
Instead of paying attention to Caelinus’ surge-saber, he’d been thinking about ways to convince Draven that they didn’t have to kidnap her.
Distracted, he’d not dodged a blow he should have, and Caelinus’ surge-saber slashed right through Task’s energy-shield, carving a burn into his right bicep, which pounded now with every beat of his heart.
He could go elsewhere, he knows. Nevis will be in the medical bay now and could patch him up easily. But he doesn’t want to go to the medical bay; he wants to find Kit. Wants to feel her hands on him, be near her.
He’s in deep now, and he knows it. So much deeper than he ever expected.
His thoughts are filled with her all the time, wondering what she’s doing in her lab, who she is spending time with if she’s not with him.
He feels insane half the time, fixated on her the way he is.
And yet, he can’t stop himself. Doesn’t want to stop himself.
He appears outside her door, pressing his hand to the biopad outside.
It glows green and slides open, revealing her bent over the scope, scribbling something on the pad next to her.
She uncurls herself, a little smile appearing at the edge of her mouth as she sees him.
It turns into a frown as she sees the wound on his arm.
“You’re hurt!”
“It’s fine,” Task says, a refrain he repeats so often, he almost believes it.
“You’re not,” she says, putting her hands on his arm.
His bicep tingles where her hands press against him, a warmth surging through her palms until he feels calm, settled, the wound patched. He glances down, sees the dead flower clutched in her palm. She’d used it on him, again.
“You didn’t have to…”
“It’s good practice,” she says softly, wrapping her arms around his waist, drawing him to her. He closes his eyes, trying to breathe, trying not to lose himself entirely. He feels her lips touch his neck, slide up to his earlobe, biting down gently.
“Fuck,” he mutters, stepping back from her, needing to disentangle himself from her, lest he take her on the lab table.
“What?” she asks, innocently, though he sees in her eyes something else, something deep and wanting.
“You’re very bad for me, Kit,” he says, finally, knowing he’s lost this battle. Will continue to lose every battle he wages when it comes to her. He draws her back to him, wraps his arms around her, feels the way her body lines up with his.
She relaxes into him, her head against his chest. “I just healed you, major. I can’t be bad for you.”
He closes his eyes again, wrangling with what to say. With what he wants to ask her. It still feels new, enormous, like if he says the wrong thing, it might make her run. Like he doesn’t have her, all the way. But he wants to. So badly, he wants to.
“Stay with me tonight,” he whispers into her hair, his heart pounding as the words fall from his lips.
She looks up at him again, her green eyes tracing his features, and she threads her hands into his hair, pulls his face down to hers so she can kiss him. He sinks into it, the feel of her lips on his. When she pulls away, she whispers, “Okay.”
He unlaces her fingers from the nape of his neck, tugging her behind him out of the lab and down the hallway. He feels feverish, unsure this is real. That she’s real. That he hasn’t somehow imagined her.
They wind through the corridors, up a set of stairs, until they’re outside his room and he’s breathless, hardly able to wait for the door to open before he’s pulling her through, pushing her up against the nearest wall, breathing her name as if it’s a prayer.
Then he’s slanting his mouth over hers, kissing her hungrily. His tongue pushes into her mouth and she sighs as it tangles with her own. His hands run down her sides, over her ass, and he picks her up, her legs locking around his middle. He slams her against the wall and her head knocks into it.
“Sorry,” he says gruffly, though he doesn’t stop. His hands are beneath her jaw, tilting her face to his so he can deepen their kiss. He can feel himself hard against her, and she shimmies her hips a bit, rolling against him, making him grunt. “Kit.”
“Mmm?” she says, smiling against his lips.
“I — I need you,” he says, moving her away from the door, walking them towards his bed in the center of the dimly lit room.
“You have me,” she whispers, breath hitching as his lips attach to her neck, biting and sucking as he lays her down, crawling over her.
She tilts her head, allowing him more access, and he nips her again.
His hands move under her shirt, over her stomach, and she arches up into him.
He moves higher, cupping her breast as she lets out a little moan.
He moves his lips back to hers, sliding the cup of her bra aside as he caresses her nipple, then tweaks it beneath his thumb and forefinger.
“Task,” she breathes out, moving her lips from his as she sighs. He presses his thigh between her own, widening her legs as he reaches down for the hem of her shirt.
“Can I?”
She nods, sitting up so he can pull it off her. He reaches for his own, drawing it up over his head and discarding it. He catches her gazing at him, teeth digging into her lower lip. He feels self-conscious, aware of the scars that line his body, the newest zigzag down his abdomen.
“Are you okay?” she asks. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, and even in the midst of this, she’s looking at him with concern.
His heart breaks at the tenderness in her eyes, the way she’s touching him.
He’s longed for someone to touch him like this, look at him like this, for what feels like an eternity.
Task shrugs. He is absolutely not okay. He’s falling in love with the woman Draven is still expecting him to capture and bring back to Nexarium so she can be used like a battery, recharging Draven’s life force.
And Draven, Nexarium — they mean everything to him.
His entire life has been meaningful only because of what he has been to Draven, what he’s done for Nexarium.
He can’t tell her any of this, though. Instead, he says, “I’m more than okay, Kit. I’m with you.”
“Then be with me, Task,” she whispers.
He moves toward her again, an arm curling around her back and laying her down.
He braces a forearm beside her head as he runs his thumb along her jaw, his lips just hovering over hers.
He kisses her gently, first, but quickly becomes heated, his teeth tugging on her bottom lip as his hands move up her body.
He doesn’t think he’s going to survive this, survive her.
He doesn’t have enough self-control to stop any of the things he’s put in motion, even though he knows he’s tempting fate at every turn.
His cock is pressing into her stomach and he shifts his hips, rubbing against her.
The friction sends a lick of pleasure through him, and Kit makes a small sound, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, her legs tangling in between his as she pulls him closer.
His fingers graze the underside of her breast, her breath hitching as he moves to unclasp her bra, pushing it down her shoulders, leaving her exposed to the chilly air. He cups her more fully in his hand, his fingers trailing over her nipple and then pinching lightly until she’s arching into him.
He pauses for a minute then, drinking her in. She lays on the bed before him, bathed in starlight. His eyes drift over her swollen lips, her collarbones, her breasts, the dip in her waist, the scar on the inside of her left knee that he’s only just noticed.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathes, before bending down to take one of her breasts in his mouth.
He runs his tongue over her nipple, gently biting it and she gasps, threading her hands through his hair to keep him there.
He shifts so he’s hovering over her, forearms on either side of her, and he presses his knee between her own, coaxing her legs open, continuing to worship her with his mouth.
She makes a small sound in her throat as he trails his hand down her stomach, running it along the sensitive place between her hip and thigh.
She jolts, pressing her hips up as if trying to get closer to him.
“Patience,” he chuckles.
“Fuck you,” Kit says, though there isn’t any venom in her tone.
“In a minute, love,” he says, his hand moving back to her waistband as he blows across the spot he just licked across her breast. She whimpers, lifting her hips so he can pull her trousers off.
He tugs them down, placing a kiss on her stomach, a finger teasing back and forth along her underwear line.
She sighs, squirming under him, and he smirks a bit at the way he has her unraveling in his hands. He runs his fingers down her thigh and back up, inching closer to her core each time he does it. She sucks in a breath when he finally presses against her over her panties, feeling her wetness.
“You’re dripping,” Task mumbles, his fingers still rubbing against her, his cock hardening even further. He wants to do this for her, but he’s not sure he’s going to make it, not with her moving like this, looking like this. “That all for me?”
She tries to press into his fingers, and he stills, teasing her. “Answer me, love.”
“Task.”
“I asked you a question,” he says, fingers hovering over her.
“Yes,” she manages, arching up into him, her breasts brushing against his chest. It sends a shudder of pleasure through him.
“Good girl.”