8. Chapter 8
Marissa stiffened when Cooper stood up and took the few steps to close the distance between them. His hand was raised before she ducked back, sliding to keep her back to the divider.
“You first,” she said.
Her heart was lodged in her throat even while it threatened to pound out of her chest.
She didn’t think he’d agree and he hesitated before he dropped his hand and stepped back. His eyes were glued to her face when he took a deep breath and changed.
It was subtle at first. Nothing like the CGI assisted werewolves she’d seen, just a slight relaxing in his jaw, then a shift of color that could have been a bit of cloud passing across the sun. Each tiny, subtle shift brought more contrast in colors, more definition around his face and neck until the shape of his nose changed and his jaw lengthened just slightly.
His skin was made up of tiny, almost translucent jade-colored scales, with patches of a darker gray on his cheeks and chin, and down his neck. His posture didn’t change but his shoulders seemed to straighten and fill out more of his uniform jacket. The cap that was part of the uniform seemed jarring and she wondered if he had hair or if his head was just covered with more of the delicate scales.
“Oh,” she said. “You can change color.”
He smiled and it looked better, more natural, than when he’d done it as a human. And he’d had a great smile as a human.
“Of course I can change color. How did you think I managed to blend in so well?”
He raised his hand and she saw the delicate scales she’d remembered seeing in the truck. Then she noticed that his fingernails had been replaced by trimmed and polished claws and she stared.
“May I?” he asked gently.
She nodded, shifting her gaze to his face, and her breath caught in her throat.
Cooper was concentrating on her so intently, looking at her with so much need, that she couldn’t look away. When the pads of his fingers touched her cheek, desire and need slammed through her so hard, she closed her eyes to hold off the torrent of emotion.
His skin was smooth and cool against her cheek which suddenly felt like it was burning with the heat of her flush. The tip of one claw pressed against her skin just before he stroked his fingers down her cheek. She bit her lip at the feel of the claw grazing along her skin with his soft scales.
She wasn’t prepared for how intimate this felt, how bare that simple touch made her feel. Her palm pressed against the divider behind her and she let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. His thumb brushed along her chin and she took in a sharp breath.
He smelled amazing. Beneath the dirt and desert smell that permeated everything in the region, she could smell sandalwood and vanilla, and a faint hint of something she’d always associated with soft leather.
“You are so soft,” he whispered, his voice breathy. “Like flower petals and cotton.”
His fingers brushed over her cheeks again and down her neck to her pulse. She felt it fluttering against his thumb, the tip of his claw pressed lightly into the skin beside her neck. He moved it back and forth, gently drawing circles around the delicate flesh, and parts of her body suddenly ached with need.
“How are you doing that?” she asked.
“What am I doing?”
“You’re making me feel things. Is that part of the psychokinetic thing you were talking about? Can you force my body to respond a certain way?” Her voice was breathy and soft and Marissa swallowed to try to reign in her response to his touch.
“I can’t make you feel anything,” he said. “I can feel what you feel, your emotions, hunger, fear, desire. You might be able to feel mine if you try but I can’t change you or your responses.”
“So this is all me?”
“I’m afraid so,” he chuckled. “Scared?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“Every day.”
He leaned toward her and pressed his nose against her hair. His deep inhale told her he was sniffing her and she wanted to protest but couldn’t. She loved the way he smelled and hated that she had to push him away soon.
His exhale sent a gust of gentle air over the shell of her ear and she shivered.
“Do you mind?” he whispered against her ear. “You smell so good.”
She shook her head because she didn’t trust her voice to answer him.
His cheek rubbed gently against hers and he buried his nose against her on the opposite side from where his thumb continued to drive her crazy. The feel of his breath over her delicate skin made her tremble and she could swear she felt his lips curve against her.
“Can I taste you here?” he asked, and pressed his lips against her collarbone.
“Why?” she asked.
“I smell better with my tongue,” he said, his voice a breathy growl. “And I find myself desperate to know everything about you. Let me taste you.”
Marissa swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay.”
His tongue flicked out, quick and soft, and she could only feel where he had left a damp spot when a gentle gust of breath blew over it.
Her shiver had nothing to do with the cold.
He came back and licked her again; slow, soft, sensual flicks of his tongue against her pulse had her trembling against him. She didn’t realize she’d wrapped her arms around his head until he chuckled against her. “Good girl,” he said.
Pleasure streaked through her at his words and her head snapped back into the divider.
“Ow, fuck,” she said, reaching back to rub where she’d hit. His hand beat hers there and he stroked gently over the tender part of her scalp.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“I’d like to kiss you,” he said.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to do that.”
“I think it’s almost unavoidable at this point,” he said. “We don’t have to but I need to know if your lips taste as soft as they look. Your skin was better than anything I’ve ever imagined.”
“Have you ever kissed someone before?”
“Never,” he said with a grin. “But I’ve seen people doing it. I think I can figure it out.”
“Can I teach you?” she asked.
“Can you show me how you like to be kissed?” he asked. “Show me how to start pleasuring you? Do you intend to torture me, creature?”
“Creature?” she asked, and forced her eyes up to look at him.
His eyes twinkled with mischief. “Alien?”
Her lips twisted with amusement and she shoved her hand against his chest. He caught it and pulled her into his arms, his lips hovered over hers for the briefest hesitation, and she stretched to close the distance between them.
It was the gentlest kiss she’d ever received from a man and it made her melt against him. They moved apart briefly for a better position and came back together with a bruising intensity that pushed away all her questions for the moment.
Marissa’s arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders to pull her closer, an effort Cooper assisted by sliding one powerful hand under her thigh and lifting while the other slid behind her neck to keep her mouth sealed with his. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he pushed her into the divider she’d been leaning against hard enough to feel his arousal.
It soothed an ache inside her to feel how much he wanted her. When he pressed against the part of her that craved him the most, that ache turned into an inferno of need and she couldn’t help but writhe against him.
A desperate keening noise intruded on her thoughts and she was surprised to realize she was the one making it. Her body burned with need and she knew she needed to stop what they were doing right then or risk making a mistake they couldn’t come back from.
She turned her face to protest, to tell him they needed to stop, and groaned when he licked his way to the base of her neck. He licked and sucked the tender flesh just over her pulse and she swallowed her objections.
“Cooper,” she gasped at one sharp pull.
She needed something. More friction, more space, something, anything to ease the ache in her core.
Then he bit.
Marissa threw her head back as the orgasm crashed through her, the aching parts of her body clenched around nothing and let her know exactly what they wanted instead. He pulled her hard against him and she felt him pulse and writhe between her legs while he spilled.
When they were both done, he opened his mouth from the bite and helped her lower her shaking legs to the floor. Cooper held her steady while she regained her balance, then stepped back.
He looked shocked, tired, and as satisfied as she felt. Which is to say, not satisfied at all. As good as the orgasm was that they’d both had, it was just as obvious that it wasn’t enough for either of them.
“What the hell was that?” she asked.
“Funny,” he said. “I would have thought you’d recognize an orgasm when you had one. Maybe I’m getting my romance training from the wrong person.”
She smacked his chest and he laughed. A moment later, she joined him. It felt good. Much better than panicking about having the best orgasm in her life from a kiss.
“So, what happens next?” she asked.
Cooper shrugged and looked away. It wasn’t fair that he looked so cute without his disguise. Or that she didn’t feel like she was finished yet.
“What do you want to happen next?”
She was tempted. So very, very tempted to demand he show her where his bed was. Instead, she took a deep breath and savored the scents that had permeated the room for a minute.
The decision she wasn”t sure was even a decision clicked in her brain and a deep feeling of peace settled behind her breastbone. It didn”t stop her concerns but it did give her a direction. It felt right.
“I think,” she said slowly. “That we need to figure out what’s going on with the drone and your ship. I know you said it’s hidden but I don’t trust that to last, especially when you’ve got the Orvax searching for you, too. Then make a plan for you to survive until your ride or refuel or whatever gets here.”
“That’s not-”
“Not what you were expecting to hear?” she said and shrugged. “I’m not saying it’s the best plan but I don’t want to get you killed. And I get the feeling you’d planned to manage on your own until your call was answered.”
“For as much as I had a plan, yeah,” he said.
“Well, now you’ve got me. And I have things I want to do that require you to be alive.”