Drakkal unbuckled his harness and shut off the hovercar’s main engines. The displays went dark, the holograms vanished, and the vehicle settled closer to the ground. “Ready for the next step?”
“Yeah. I am.”
With a nod, Drakkal opened his door and climbed out of the hovercar. Shay unfastened her harness and exited the vehicle as well, swinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder as she looked around.
She was familiar with many makes and models of hovercars back on Earth, but she couldn’t identify any of the vehicles stored in this garage. Still, she didn’t need to be familiar with them to know they all looked expensive, and she guessed at least two or three of them were armored—there was a certain universal look to discreetly armored hovercars that she couldn’t quite define but which had become almost second nature to spot over the years.
She looked at Drakkal as he approached her. “I guess saying you were loaded was putting it lightly.”
He glanced at the surrounding vehicles. “Most of these are…company assets. I’m loaded because I don’t usually buy stuff like this.”
Shay smiled. She hadn’t missed his discomfort when they’d talked about money in the borian restaurant.
He’s humble.
“So what do you buy?” She parted her jacket enough forhim to see her tactical utility belt and wiggled her eyebrows. “Toys?”
His eyes dipped to the belt, but they didn’t stop there—and he took his time bringing them back up to hers. “Bought a terran recently.”
Her smile fell.
I’d forgotten about that.
She pressed a finger to his chest. “I’m not for sale, azhera.”
“Not anymore,kiraia.”
“I never was.”
His mouth stretched into a wide grin, and the light in his eyes seemed mixture of mirth and lust as he gently wrapped his hand around hers. His thumb brushed along the outside of hers and down to her wrist, sending tingles across her skin. “Best money I’ve ever spent.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. As serious as she was trying to be—okay, so maybe she wasn’t trying very hard—she couldn’t win against Drakkal’s playfulness. “You might have buyer’s remorse soon enough.”
He leaned infinitesimally closer, nostrils flaring with a slow, deep inhalation that he released several seconds later as something close to a sigh. His grip on her hand tightened just a bit, and she swore she felt his body heat increase.
“Not possible,” he rumbled.
She didn’t know how or why he affected her this way, but Drakkal completely and utterly disarmed her when he was like this. The blasters and knives she carried were useless against his words. They couldn’t shield her from the way he looked at her, the way he treated her like she really mattered. She wasn’t used to this kind of flirting. There was a raw sexuality to it—Drakkal had never tried to hide that—but it was built atop a foundation so genuine and caring that part of her mind still couldn’t believe it was real.
Heat suffused her cheeks. “So, uh, are we going in or what?”
“In a minute. Not ready to share you yet.”
“Share me?”
Drakkal nodded. “The crew’s eager to meet you.”
All Shay could do was watch as Drakkal lifted her hand to his face, pressed her palm to his cheek, and rubbed it against his soft fur. Though the action reminded her of a cat leaving its scent on something—marking its territory, its property—there was something deeply arousing about it that turned up the heat inside her even further. She couldn’t stop one of her earlier thoughts from surfacing again.
Would it be that bad to be his?
“You do realize I haven’t accepted your other offer, right?” she asked a little breathlessly. She told herself it was because of her pregnancy, not because Drakkal made her heart flutter. And still she didn’t pull her hand away.
Drakkal lowered Shay’s hand, slipped his left arm around the small of her back—beneath her jacket—and drew her closer. She settled her free hand on his prosthesis. For a time, they stood with their eyes locked like they were about to start a slow, sensual dance, and Shay’s heart pounded in anticipation. She should’ve pulled away. Should’ve stopped it. But as he dipped his head and grazed her jawline with his lips, she tilted her head aside, allowing him access to her neck.
Releasing her hand, Drakkal settled his right palm on her hip and brushed his cheek and mouth along her neck and shoulder, his fur a combination of soft and scratchy that sent thrills across her skin. She clutched his arms, sinking the fingers of one hand into fur and pressing the fingers of the other against warm metal. Her breath hitched. Liquid heat pooled between her thighs, and she leaned into him, relishing the slightpricks of his claws through her clothing as he tightened his hold on her.
“Yet,” Drakkal purred, his voice vibrating into her through his powerful chest. “And it wasn’t an offer, just the truth.”