6. XRYOX
XRYOX
A vibration woke me, along with warm air against my throat. Every other part of my body was freezing. I cracked open an eye. White. Everything was white and shadows—except for a strip of tawny skin resting on my shoulder. I blinked, trying to bring everything into focus. Where was I?
After a long few seconds, my synapses began firing.
I was in an ice cave. The female bounty hunter was curled up on my body, her cheek resting on my shoulder, my arms wrapped around her.
She vibrated with cold despite our thick coats.
I flexed my fingers. My hands were still free, and they were now clasping the fascinating female against me.
I tilted my head down to look at her. She really was beautiful—when that mouth wasn’t running.
I smirked. Though I hated to admit it, I enjoyed our banter.
She was tough and smart. Had we been in another situation, I would’ve liked her.
By all the suns, even though I was her prisoner, I liked her anyway.
There was something about her that intrigued me. Something that stirred a feeling of protectiveness in me that made no sense. She was hunting me, and she’d proven time and again she didn’t need my protection. Yet, I couldn’t shake the unfamiliar feeling that pulsed through me.
Even as I told myself I shouldn’t, I brushed my lips across the soft skin at her temple. A shiver ran down my spine at the contact—one that had nothing to do with the cold. My lips registered the temperature of her skin well before my brain caught up a moment later. She was cold. Too cold.
Looking over her shoulder, I saw the heating unit was dim.
It must’ve run out of fuel. Blast! “Agent?” I ran my hands up and down her back, trying to create some heat and wake her, hoping she wouldn’t go for my junk as soon as she realized I was touching her.
“You need to wake up. We need to get warm.”
She didn’t speak but wriggled deeper into my embrace.
I gulped. Both my lingams began to jerk and harden under my tight breeches with her movement.
The closer she got, the stronger her earthy, spicy scent penetrated my nostrils.
My tongue lashed out to taste more of her deliciousness from the air. I groaned, and all good sense fled.
Telling myself it was imperative I get her warm, I worked my hands between us and undid the fastenings of our coats so we could be closer together.
While not exactly skin to skin—she still wore the thin sleeveless top from Rykantos—we were close.
My hands snaked around her and under her top, rubbing circles along the silky smoothness of the lean muscles of her back.
I pressed her tighter to my chest as I stroked her frigid skin willing the heat back into her.
To my shock, my entire body was aflame at the mere feel of hers.
But her violent shivers put a damper on my ardor, even as my lingams grew ever harder and pushed uncomfortably against the fastenings of my pants.
The lubricating fluid that is released for our partner’s pleasure was starting to dampen my leather, but I ignored my mindless body’s inappropriate workings.
My unruly lingams would have to wait, no matter how desperate they became. I had to get her warm.
A soft moan brought my attention back to the female in my arms. Fekk! I should have learned her first name. What was wrong with me? I only knew her surname, but it would have to do. “Um, Agent Veylora? Can you hear me? Don’t blast me, okay? I’m trying to get you warm. Our heater’s run out.”
“Mmm, warm … yes …” Her hot breath across my naked chest was nearly the end of me. My skin burned where her sweet exhale left her lips. Of all that was holy under the two suns! What was that about?
Shifting her a bit, my hands continued roaming across her skin until heat began to build within our little nest of white coats.
She stretched, sliding her arms around my neck. Her fingers crawled through my braids, and my scalp tingled from her touch. My eyelids fluttered closed, a little moan escaping my lips … until Agent Veylora’s fist tightened in my hair and pulled.
“Exactly what in all the blazing suns do you think you’re doing, fugitive?” her raspy voice growled in my ear. I froze.
Was it wrong that I thought her threatening question sounded sexy as hell? I swallowed. “You were unconscious from cold, Agent Veylora. I was warming you up. Nothing more.”
“Oh.” She tipped up her chin and those disconcerting violet eyes studied me carefully.
I couldn’t help but notice she didn’t move from my arms. And those stunning eyes were glowing from within.
Her expression wasn’t as hostile as it had been either.
Holding her gaze, I let my hands slide up and down her back again under her shirt, smoothing away the gooseflesh and warming the satiny skin under my palms.
“It looks like the heating unit ran out of fuel.” I helpfully informed her. “Your skin was like ice,” I said, my low voice barely above a whisper.
“Oh,” she said again, then cleared her throat.
I was beginning to wonder if the cold had affected her more than I had thought. That was the second
“oh” I’d received in a row. She’d never before been short of words. Maybe I should ask something simple to allow her neurons to warm up slowly as well. “I never got your first name Agent Veylora. Do you mind sharing it with me?”
“Peace,” she answered, her voice sounding more like a contented sigh than speech.
As my hands continued to caress her bare flesh, and she rested her head back on my chest, I thought I’d never heard a more perfect name.