by K. T. Flores
“Cyril,” she whispered.
He sucked at her jaw, whispering against her skin, “I understand.”
And she didn’t doubt him.
Her hands slid under his shirt, pulling it up until he sat straight. She raised his arms, and he allowed her to toss it aside. A palm rested against his chest as the other trailed down to his waistband.
Her hips shifted, and they both groaned at the sudden contact.
His husky timber echoed in her mind, and Tauri moved before a million reasons could convince her otherwise.
She led him to the master bedroom, collapsed onto the mattress, and he easily followed. His fingers skittered over her stomach as they lay down, pressed against the underside of her breast.
She was both glad and mortified that she hadn’t worn a bra. She’d changed the moment she’d come home, chucking the offending undergarment into a lone corner.
She pushed down at his sweatpants, and he backed away to kick them off. Immediately, she missed his warmth, sitting up and admiring his toned thighs and calves as she shifted to take off her sweatpants.
When was the last time she had shaved? She didn’t own a single pair of risqué panties, but she suddenly wished she had. Simple gray cotton seemed like such a waste. And her hair. Was it frizzled around her face like an angry storm cloud? Was her forehead unnecessarily shiny in this light? What did—
“I love the look you get when your mind wanders,” he muttered, pressing his index finger against her slightly open lips. “It makes me want to know what you’re thinking. And then kiss you and then make love to you until the only thing on your mind is me.”
The domineering shine in his eyes made her weak in ways she hadn’t thought possible. Tauri nodded dumbly, suddenly wanting exactly what he did.
He pressed a knee back onto the bed between her thighs, taking her shirt off with care. When the cool air hit her skin, she shuddered, eager for him to warm her.
He tugged her to sit up, then scooted her forward so that he found a place behind her. He pulled her against his chest, and she gasped at the contact as she settled between his legs.
He placed his chin on her shoulder, directing her gaze into the mirror in front of them.
“What do you see?” he muttered into her ear.
She shivered at the feel of him but made herself focus. Tauri scrutinized their reflection for too long, noting every place her skin wasn’t smooth, skirting over scars and the tracks of her legs.
He raised a brow as her chortle rebounded throughout the room, too bright and too sharp.
“It sounds silly”—she leaned her head against his—“but I see two people that just… fit in ways that are hard to describe but are felt.”
“A part of me has always felt I don’t deserve you. Did you know that?”
She spun in the space between his legs. The sheets were cool on her knees and shins, and she distantly wondered if he was cold like her. She tilted her face up to his, her index finger carefully following the silver markings on his cheeks.
His eyes never left hers.
“You’re joking.”
“I promise I’m not.”
She began ticking off fingers. “You’re handsome, demanding, frustrating, smart, and—my personal favorite—rich!”
He threw his head back and laughed, so calm and carefree. It seemed to unfurl from within and spread around. It was unlike anything she had ever heard before. But there was curiosity in his gaze as his laughter subsided. Questions in the gentle squeezes on her thighs and hips.
She was afraid of looking at him, but even more so of looking away. It was difficult to put her feelings into words, but she wanted to be the comfort that he was for her.
“It’s the way you treat me as your equal. You don’t coddle me, and you always know how to say the right thing.”
She feathered her finger over the points in his ears, and he shuddered. His breath ghosted across her face. When had they moved so close to each other? She licked her lips tentatively.
“And”—her quivering hand dropped to his knee—“it’s the way you look at me. Like there’s no one else in the world. Like everything around us could fall apart, but it wouldn’t matter because we would be together.”
His nostrils flared, and he held her face in his hands. His grip was a strange combination of gentle and unforgiving. Cyril urged her around to their initial position, with her back against his chest, his insistent prods on her waist. Her hands instinctively crossed against her chest, and she was surprised to find her nipples hardening against her arms.
He was firm and silky against her back, and she suddenly wanted to feel his weight on top of her. Wanted him to press her into the bed. Learn all the different ways their bodies fit with one another.
Her blood pounded wildly.
He tugged her hair from its ponytail, his fingers a relief against her scalp. He brought fluidity back into her limbs, helped her relax her shoulders and jaw.
“You’re so beautiful.” A reverent admission.
She snorted, narrowing her eyes at their reflection. She wanted to see what he saw.
Beautiful.
She had never felt that before. Pretty, sure. But beautiful? It felt different from his lips and under his glowing gaze, she believed him.
He carefully coaxed her hands away, and she turned to the side, anxiety locking her in place.
“I’m not sure what you see in me,” she admitted.
His considering hum was like comforting water along her parched throat. The pads of his fingers grazed against her nipple, and her sharp inhale caused a wicked smile to grow across his face. She moved her head, resting it against his shoulder.
“I see someone with unshakable courage despite the fear I know is festering.” He trailed across the lines of her stomach, and the hunger within her eagerly followed. “I see someone who will fight until they can’t. And even then, they’d keep on.”
His teeth sank into her ear as his hand snuck beneath her underwear and pressed against her bundle of nerves. Her legs fell open in eager response, and her breath caught.
The apprehension had ebbed away. Something new had replaced it. Something wild and needy in her gut.
“I see my tomorrow in you.”
One finger rubbed against her. Then two, then three. His other hand pinched her hardened nipple, and Tauri wiggled against his hardness.
She fell back onto the bed and pulled him on top of her. Her arms went above her head and sunk into his hair. The pose made her look wanton and needy in the mirror.
He slipped a finger into her, and she groaned, jerking back against him in surprise when it curled upwards, choking on air as a second joined.
There was something wild in watching him play with her. Nails ghosting along her side, sinking into her calf, and guiding her to open more.
“Enough!” Tauri cried out. She covered his hand with hers and pulled him closer, her chest heaving as she crooked a finger at him. “Enough playing.”
He was eager to oblige. His lips closed around her breast. His tongue lapped at her, and she shifted to try and contact his lower body with hers.
“More,” she demanded, arching her back as his nails rasped along her lower back.
“More what?” The gleam in his eye was dangerous, daring her to take all that she wanted.
“Everything.”
He groaned against her throat, and her stomach flipped in anticipation.
There was carnal pleasure playing within her. The vibrations of his chest against her, the teasing open-mouthed kisses and quick laps across whatever skin he could access. But it was intensified by the realization that she had caused this in him.
He moved back up to reclaim her mouth with his own.
Touch me, touch me, she chanted. And he did. Her knee, fleeting and searing.
Her hands skimmed over his shoulders and down his sides. One crept up his back, curled along his shoulder and neck. The other moved down to grip his member, and his breath
stuttered.
She stroked him a few times, her mind going haywire at his airy grunts. Then, she guided him to her entrance, licking the beginning hints of his dimple.
“I need you,” she puffed against him.
He nodded jerkily and slipped into her with a grunt. Her head fell back as she cried out, hips shifting. He pressed a palm against her abdomen, keeping her still.
“Give me a moment,” he gritted, his eyes screwed tightly.
But she didn’t have a moment.
She leaned up to kiss the tips of his ears, and he jolted further into her with a strained, “Tauri!”
“Like that,” she encouraged, her hips stuttering to meet his own. “Right there, Cyril. Fuck.”
His words slipped into a language she didn’t recognize. But they tasted sweet as she swallowed them, her mouth meeting his again and again. She tossed her head, her back arching as his breaths became desperate grunts and moans.
She glanced down, marveling at the place where he disappeared into her. His expression melted further and further into bliss with each thrust. His lavender body shimmered, and she loved the contrast of their skins.
He was starlight, shining for her and her only. Warming her. Pulsating in time with her.
She was driven wild, her touches scampering along his body by the power that came with knowing she had caused his inner mayhem.
“Look at me,” he demanded huskily, and her eyes snapped to his.
Her thighs tightened around him, and he slid deeply into her.
“Oh, gods.”
She couldn’t tell who had said it.
She wanted him to stop, allow her a moment to catch her breath. But she also wanted him to keep going, to stretch out the wonder building within her like it was taffy.
Her breath sped up along with her movements.
“More, please,” she begged, digging her nails into his shoulder and hip. He was sinew and power above her.
And she couldn’t get enough.
“Fuck, fuck,” he hissed against her jaw. His teeth scraped along across her as they moved, catalyzing the pleasurable turmoil within her.
They strained together as he pushed her leg higher, opened her further. His name devolved into moans. Words had left her. All that remained was their bodies.
She began to throb around him, and she knew the end was near. “I—I’m… I—ugh,” she stumbled out, an arm locking around his neck as her other hand wrinkled the sheets.
“Me, too. So close.”
“Almost.”
The tightness within her was growing, nearly painful as she neared the precipice of pleasure.
“With me, Tauri. Don’t stop moving with me,” he heaved into her ear.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she moaned, a nearly sanctified mantra that beat in sync with her core, her veins, her heart.
“Don’t be afraid to let go. I’m here.”
She distantly wondered how he managed to string so many coherent words together, but then she dissolved beneath him, their voices a meaningless tandem. She threw her head back, tingles skipping down to her curling toes.
Cyril collapsed against her, and she hugged him as tightly as she could. She enjoyed the way they slid against one another, his strength and hardness pressing into all the places she was soft. She licked at his shoulder and neck, sweat sharp and tantalizing on her tongue.
He rolled slightly to the side and drew lazy circles on her body.
“Hi, Sparkles,” she whispered, tucking some of her hair back shyly.
He poked her nose, grinning. “Hi, my little bully.”
“Just so we’re clear, we’re never sleeping in separate beds again, right?”
“Never again,” he growled, clutching her closer.
She liked the sound of that never.
Chapter Fifteen
Tauri blearily blinked awake, squinting at the lavender filling her vision. She wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep, but she and Cyril had both ended up on their sides, facing one another.
Her breath caught as a ray of light hit his head, illuminating the brilliant midnight blue undertones of his hair and the subtle shift in his skin. He looked so young and serene. The minute hardness in his face slipped away to some unreachable corner of his mind, waiting to settle on him once more when he woke up.
While basking in the morning light, she realized she would do anything for him. She couldn’t imagine a life in which he was absent, nor did she want to.
Cyril flipped onto his stomach, softly murmuring into the pillow as he settled into the mattress once more.
He was not the same person that had strolled into her shop. He would deny it, but he cared more about the world around him. She had seen the way his eyes had darkened when she talked about the farmer and what Fili had said about the underworld.
They had spent too much time together, she noted with dry amusement. They had begun to pick up each other’s habits.
She brushed her lip over his cheek.
Her holowatch dinged on the nightstand, and she sighed while the database updated Fili. At least the guardians hadn’t figured out they hacked into the database.
Tauri sat against the headboard, reaching for her holopad. Zooming into various pictures taken at the warehouse, she hoped she could find something helpful. The robots looked familiar, which made her uncomfortable, but that wasn’t helpful information. She had looked at plenty of robots over the years. It would be more uncommon if she hadn’t recognized them.
It was something about their shape. Maybe the metal that had been used? Most were older models, but they looked well-maintained.
She put the holopad on her lap. Tauri ran a finger slowly down the skin of Cyril’s back, satisfied with his small twitches at the contact.
“You’re awake,” he mumbled into the pillow. A lone eye opened lazily, roving across her face with interest.
“So are you.” She gave a half-smile, delicately using her nail to continue her tracings.
He erupted into goosebumps, and dark satisfaction warmed her cheeks.
Her hand shook with his laughter. “You’re in bed with me, and you were thinking about Fili, weren’t you?” he asked.
“No,” she said quickly.
He raised a brow at her defensiveness, wrapping his hand around her leg. His index finger played along her inner thigh, and she shot him a look.
“I’m not even going to kiss you right now.” She made a face. “Morning breath.”
“Mhmm,” he hummed, knuckle rubbing against her through her shorts.
“Cyril,” she said, lightly raking her nails across his back in warning. She shifted her hips, not sure if she was trying to encourage or discourage him.
“Tauri,” he countered matter-of-factly.
She loved the way he said her name. His voice always dipped slightly, encouraging her to do dangerous things.
“Polaris found another holding place in the underworld. It looks like a chunk of apartment complexes are kept vacant. The Coalition sent word to the Navarian oligarchs. They’re sending out a collection squad to seize the candy and apprehend the list of guardians from the connector stick.”
Cyril groaned, turning onto his back and throwing an arm across his eyes. “Can’t I just stare at you for a little bit longer and not think about anything else?”
“You’re not staring at me, though,” she pointed out.
He was quiet for a moment before he pulled the blanket over his head. He squiggled down the bed, his breath hot against her legs. Between kisses, he grumbled, “They want us to go with them.”
“I’m not sure why you sound so surprised.”
“Not surprised. Mildly inconvenienced. Last time we went somewhere with Aneel, we were nearly blown to pieces. And I wanted to follow up another lead on Kira. We haven’t heard from her since the junkyard—”
“I think I remember her explicitly telling you to wait for her.”
He nipped at the skin around her knee. “I am waiting for her. Doesn’t
mean I can’t keep my eyes peeled.”
She laughed, placing a palm against his head. Intending to push him away, she bit her lip as she instead threaded her fingers through his hair.
Traitor, she thought at her hand.
With all the strength and resolve she had, she jerked out of bed, taking the blanket with her. Cyril fell into the mattress with a sigh. He pushed himself to his elbows, narrowing his eyes at her.
“I don’t believe that was necessary,” he said steadily.
She pulled up the strap of her camisole and readjusted her sleeping shorts. “Oh, it was. We have work to do, and I’m not losing my morning to your seductions!”
He reached out like lightning, pulling her to his chest. He rained kisses along her, fleeting and unsteadying.
She could feel her determination weakening with each deliberate and sizzling scrape of his teeth against her. Fuzziness began where he touched her, travelling across her body.
“I…”
Moments from crumbling to his teasing, he let her go and fluidly rose from the bed.
“Well, let’s not waste the morning,” he said.
But she noticed the way his shoulders quivered, the way his palms strained when he wiped them across the tightness of his boxers.
Traitor, she thought again, dazedly smirking.
But she couldn’t decide if she was thinking about herself or him.
∆∆∆
Tauri tried to quell the dread and panic twisting through her mind. A weight had settled against her chest over the course of the morning. She couldn’t breathe properly, but every inhale made the stone sink lower and lower in her gut.
Aneel had rented one of the rooms on the block where the guardians supposedly kept some of their candy. Each of the apartments they used made it difficult to raid and seize the drugs without alerting anyone of the breach.
All except the most recent purchased apartment. It hadn’t been an apartment at all. Instead, it was a duplex on the edge of a cul-de-sac. One of the officers had gone to the other half of the duplex to see if it was occupied. When no one opened the door, he’d broken the lock and examined the inside. It appeared as though it was still on sale. Or, if it had been purchased, it hadn’t been moved into.