Chapter 26 #2
He hummed as if giving it actual thought. “Well, considering Derek and his husband are on a beach somewhere this week, Ashley was working, and I happened to be off—and at Crescent—you’re kind of out of options.”
Right. He’d been there because he’d been following me. Dropping my hands, I closed my eyes. Maybe if I didn’t move, he’d disappear.
But when I opened them, he was still very much there, leaning against the stairwell wall.
His jeans sat dangerously low, framing his tapered hips and the hard cut of his abs disappearing beneath the waistband.
I hadn’t thought that V-shaped hipbone thing was real.
I’d been sure it only existed on romance book covers.
But there it was.
Then I realized I was staring at his hipbones and hastily dragged my gaze to his face. Unfortunately, his raised brow and faint smile told me he knew exactly where I’d been looking. Great.
He pushed off the wall, moving toward me until he was close enough to touch.
I didn’t. Touch him, that is. But I wanted to. The way he looked at me, eyes glinting with laughter and…something like interest, my belly flipped.
Alien. Sky was an alien. I shouldn’t still want to—
“Things probably don’t even work the same, right?” I blurted before I could consider the words. The second they slipped out, I stiffened.
What the actual hell was wrong with me?
“Uh.” Sky drew back. “What do you mean?”
I stared at the wall over his shoulder. “N-never mind.”
I could see him studying me from the corner of my eye, though. Intently. Like he, too, was wondering what my problem was.
Then he leaned in—so suddenly, I gasped. He kept leaning until he braced one hand on the door above me, crowding me back a step.
My heart skidded to a stop. He still smelled like rain. Like Sky. Like a mistake I very much wanted to make.
A heated thrill settled low. I dragged my gaze up past his perfectly sculpted pectorals to his face, only to find the humor had drained from his features, replaced with seriousness.
He wasn’t gazing passionately at me. My cardigan had slipped down, and he was staring hard at my upper arm. At the marks left by the Enil.
I balked when he reached out, but he stopped just shy of touching me, fingers hovering above my skin.
His frown deepened as he took in the bruising wrapped around my bicep.
The six, individual fingers drawn in blotchy purple and blue.
The clearly defined handprint stood out, thanks to my skimpy tank top.
Along with my very obvious, very chilly nipples, which was just great.
“Is this from the Enil?” he asked quietly.
I assumed he wasn’t talking about the nipples. The mention of the killer robots chased away the awareness, replacing it with coldness. I bit the inside of my cheek. “Yeah. From when it grabbed me. Right after I pulled the tablet—the halix, I mean, out of the box.”
I was lucky it hadn’t snapped my arm in two. I shuddered at the memory of shrieking metal, the storm of electricity, and the sheer terror. That painful grip.
But it all faded when Sky’s gaze lifted back to mine.
Warmth prickled up my neck. He was near enough, his chest nearly brushed mine when I sucked in a deep breath.
And he was—lord—so stupidly attractive. The awareness was back, and the liquid ache in my belly made it excruciatingly clear I was still affected by it. By him.
Despite everything I knew, despite everything he’d said, I still wanted him.
Alien, alien, alien, I chanted silently. It didn’t help.
I shouldn’t still want to kiss him. I didn’t even know what parts of him were…well, human.
But I sure wanted to find out.
I was willing to explore the possibilities on behalf of the entire human race.
My mouth went dry.
Clueless to how deeply I was spiraling into inappropriate interest in his physiology, Sky sighed.
“I know I’ve apologized a million times, but I never meant for you to get caught up in this mess.
The lab…everything just happened so fast.” That was regret shining in his eyes now, when they slid from the bruising and found mine.
“But I should’ve done better. They never should’ve touched you. ”
There was that protectiveness again. It made me all soft and gooey inside. It didn’t help that his gaze sparkled with that alien light, like it held swirls of nebulae.
“It’s okay,” I managed to whisper.
“It’s not.” His murmur came out hoarse. “I hate that they hurt you.”
I blinked, caught off guard by his vehemence. “It’s just a bruise.” One that still throbbed if I laid on it wrong, but still. “And it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known I’d be there.”
He gave his head a little shake. My attention slipped down and caught on his lips. They were awfully close. Mere inches from mine.
And they looked human enough.
There were a thousand reasons why thinking that, standing this close, and noticing how easy it’d be to smash my mouth against his were all terrible, terrible ideas. But I couldn’t recall a single one. Common sense had fled the scene.
I only realized I’d been staring when his mouth curved into a crooked, knowing smile.
“Rae…” he said softly, a tinge of that regret coloring his tone. His voice had deepened, though. Enough a shiver passed through me.
“Yes?” I yanked my eyes upward to meet his again, cheeks scorching.
Something had changed. Beneath that ghost of a grin, I read a struggle in his tightening jaw, the sudden tension in his shoulders. I had the reckless urge to raise up on my toes just enough to wipe it away with—
I should be running far away. Calling the FBI. Hiding. Not leaning in.
But I didn’t want to do any of that. I wanted to press my lips to Sky’s.
He broke eye contact and looked down at the bruise again. This time when he reached for me, he didn’t stop. His knuckles grazed the discolored skin, light as butterfly wings and reverent. I bit back a gasp.
My belly tightened. It was my arm, for God’s sake. Not exactly an erogenous zone. But my mouth was a desert anyway as I asked, “What are you doing?”
He didn’t look up. “Not sure. Not keeping my distance like I’d said we should, though.”
Sky raised his head. His expression was impossible to decipher.
The stairwell seemed to melt away, like we were floating in soft shadow. The sound of the storm outside was muffled beneath my shaky breathing, my racing pulse.
He didn’t move. Neither did I. His heat made me want to lean in, but because he wore a faint frown, I didn’t. I’d give anything to know what he was thinking right then. Because it seemed like he was feeling this, too, this electricity. But that was clearly conflict—
I nearly gasped when he cupped the side of my face. My heart stopped beating as he bit his lip and gave his head the tiniest shake, eyes darkening.
“Just this once,” he murmured, gaze lowering to my mouth. “You make it really hard to follow my rules, Raven.”
Before I could even grasp what he’d said, what he was saying, he kissed me.
Sky Acosta was kissing me.
Time slowed. My soul left my body.
I decided I also hated rules because I never wanted this to end.
His mouth brushed mine in a gentle, teasing slide, and I gripped his shoulders for balance. To catch myself because my legs went weak and my head was a spinny, dizzy ball of fluff. No thoughts. Only feelings.
He captured my lower lip between his, giving it a slow and deliberate tug, and I stopped breathing.
How many times had I dreamed of this moment? Too many. More than I’d ever admit. The reality was better than I’d ever imagined. So much better.
Like he’d registered my blazing green light, Sky tilted his head, deepening the kiss. I met him in it. Sparks spread and heated my blood.
I knew there was a reason not to do this. An extraterrestrial reason.
But right now, it couldn’t hurt to just…try it out.
You know, for science.
Tentatively, I brushed my tongue against his.
With a muffled curse, he pulled back. An invisible bucket of ice water dumped over my head, and I collapsed against the wall, breathless, gaping.
Holy crap. He’d just kissed me.
Like he, too, was shocked by it, Sky backed up a step. Mouth slack, eyes wide. I flattened my marked hand over my pounding heart, as if that’d stop it from leaping out and chasing after him. My lips tingled.
“I’m sorry,” Sky muttered huskily, dragging his fingers through his hair until it stuck up in wild tufts. He sank his teeth into his bottom lip again and turned his head, closing his eyes. “I shouldn’t have done that. I…I crossed the line.”
I was struggling to form coherent thoughts. My attention kept wandering back to his mouth, captivated by the way it moved. It’d been so soft. “Line? What line?”
“What line?” he echoed, breathing a laugh that sounded a little pained. That mouth twisted as he turned an incredulous stare on me. “Rae, I just told you I’m an alien. That I’m the reason you’re being hunted by the Enil.”
Oh. Right. That. If only that did anything to silence the Marvin Gaye chorus coming from my nether regions.
When I didn’t reply, only gazed up at him, he frowned. Nobody should make confusion look that good. But with that flush riding his cheekbones and his kiss-swollen mouth, here we were.
I could still taste him. I was having trouble thinking around it.
And I wasn’t the only one affected. His breathing was a little ragged. His pupils were blown. The stairwell’s shadows played over the dips and swells of his lean upper body and his taut face as he studied me almost warily. Like he didn’t trust me—or maybe himself.
God, I hoped it was the latter.
Screw it. I pushed off the wall, and he stiffened.
I had Sky Acosta half-naked in my stairwell, thick hair mussed, eyes glassy with what I was praying was lust, and this would probably never happen again.
After this, I’d go back to being sane, careful Raven.
The logical one. I’d remember that he was an alien and I was possibly radioactive just from touching him.