by Ashley West
Still, when Cullen came to sit next to her, she didn't get up, and he seemed fine with sitting there. They lingered in the quiet for a moment before Cullen spoke.
"How are you doing?"
Sadie laughed. Such an awkward small talk kind of question, though she was pretty sure that Cullen, with his usual genuine nature, actually wanted to know how she was doing.
"I'm okay," she answered, and was surprised that it was more or less the truth. After everything that had happened over the last few months, she'd never expected to be able to say that. "Largely thanks to you, of course."
Cullen shook his head. "You were doing fine before we got there."
She laughed again and shot him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding? I would have died if you and yours hadn't shown up. You didn’t see the way he was looking at me when they caught me. He wanted me dead, but after torturing me first."
"K'varot isn't used to being stood up to," Cullen explained. "He is used to people cowering in front of him, begging for their lives. The fact that you did neither of those things probably threw him. He didn't know what to do with you."
"Seemed like he had a plan to me. It involved me being killed eventually," Sadie insisted.
Cullen just smiled. "Perhaps. Or perhaps he was just going to keep you so he could figure you out. I understand the compulsion."
"To keep someone and figure them out?"
"You, specifically."
Of all the things she'd been expecting him to say, that was definitely not on the list. "What do you mean?" Sadie asked, head canted to one side in confusion. "What's so interesting about me?"
"Tell me, is it all humans who don't see themselves clearly, or is that just you?" Cullen asked, which was in no way an answer to her question.
"I don't know," she replied. "I'm not qualified to speak for every member of my kind. We're all different."
Cullen smiled, and it lit up his handsome face. "I know," he said, and there was delight in his tone. "It's wonderful."
"It is?"
He nodded. "You've seen how my people are. We're so similar, and we take pride in that. We like being the same. We like being closed off from anything different."
"Why?"
"It's just our way. I'm not sure when it started, honestly. It's been like that for as long as I've been alive, and as long as my parents have been alive and their parents before them. We trust no one that we don't understand, and we only understand ourselves."
Sadie turned that over in her head, thinking about it. She didn't know what it would be like to live like that, honestly. A part of her life had been dedicated to meeting new people and learning new things and the thought of closing herself off from that as a way of life seemed almost suffocating. But she supposed if she didn't know anything else, then she would be just as content with being closed off and shut in.
"This must be really different for you," she remarked after a bit. "Being outside of that environment like this."
Cullen nodded fervently, and there was something almost adorable about it. "Everything is so vibrant here."
Sadie couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sorry," she said. "But it's just...this is hardly vibrant, really. This is humans defeated and scared. You should have seen us before this. We were much better."
"I think you're just fine as you are."
She glanced up to find him looking at her intently, and Sadie couldn't help the blush that stole over her cheeks. Cullen had this way about him that made her feel like the only person in the room when he spoke to her. It didn't really matter that at the moment she was the only person in the room, the effect was the same. He was just so earnest and genuine and kind, and she wanted to spend most of her time aboard his ship talking with him.
It helped, she figured, that he was very attractive. Those icy blue eyes and his startlingly dark hair worked so well with his pale skin, and the fact that he looked like he could easily bench press four of her didn't hurt at all.
"You didn't answer my question," she pointed out, hoping that the fact that she had been staring at him wasn't obvious.
"Which question?"
"What's so interesting about me?"
"Ah, that question." Cullen smiled. "I could just say what's not interesting about you, but I don't think you like it when I answer a question with a question."
"It's not my favorite thing, no," Sadie replied.
His smile only widened. "You're fascinating," he said. "And I don't completely know how to explain why. There's just...something about you that makes me want to be close to you. It makes me happy when we can spend time together like this."
"Is that why you volunteered for 'watch the human' duty?"
"We don't call it that."
"Your people may as well call it that. I know the others don't trust me. Even though that doesn't make any sense because I'm definitely not working for the bastard who's trying to kill my people."
"We don't trust anyone as a general rule."
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
"But...I trust you."
"You do?"
Cullen nodded. "Yes. I saw how afraid you were when K'varot was threatening you. I saw you when you were finally freed from him and how relieved you were to be safe. I don't think anyone could fake those reactions. Not even humans."
"We aren't trying to trick anyone here," she told him. "We just want to be safe again."
"I promise that we will do all we can to make you safe once more. And then we will take out K'varot and his army once and for all."
Sadie smiled. The kind of conviction in his voice was reassuring, but... "There aren't very many of you, you know."
"I know. But we don't need numbers when we have what we have."
"Spirit?" she teased.
Cullen just looked confused for a moment and then held up his hand, palm up. As she watched, ice collected in the center of his palm, gathering there for a moment before growing into one solid shape. When Sadie leaned closer, she saw that it was a perfect sphere of ice, with spectral flowers etched into the surface of it. It was an amazing sight, and even more amazing was the fact that apparently he could just do things like that without even breaking a sweat.
"Wow," she breathed, and Cullen reached for her hand with his free one, taking it gently in his before transferring the cold globe of ice to her palm. It was actually frozen, that was for sure, but it didn't seem to be melting against the heat of her palm at all. When she glanced up from the little piece of art, Cullen was looking at her just as intently as she had been looking at the ice, and he was very close.
"Hi," she said, voice soft.
"Hello."
Sadie had never had a problem with going for what she wanted. She wasn't one of those girls who was afraid to ask a man out because it would make her seem unladylike or something like that. She accepted that she was already pretty unladylike, what with the welding and all, and went from there. If there was someone she thought was attractive, she'd talk to them. If she wanted to go home with someone she met in a club, she'd do it.
But for some reason, Cullen was making her shy.
She was curious about him, honestly. Curious about how someone who seemed so warm could produce such icy wonders. Curious about what his lips might taste like, if his palm would be cold if she were to hold his hand.
Ever since the night when he'd pressed her close to his chest and let her cry and rage and fall apart, she'd wanted to be that close again. Honestly, she couldn't explain it.
She'd never thought that being attracted to an actual, literal alien would be something she had to deal with, but there it was and there he was, and she wanted to kiss him.
"It's beautiful," she said, meaning the ice, though she didn't look away from his face. "Going to make a bunch of these and then throw them at K'varot?"
"You're beautiful," Cullen replied, not missing a beat. "And no, I plan to slice his head off with my sword. This is just me showing off."
...Oh.
Well.
Sadie had never assumed she was attracted to violence or violent men, but there was something about the complete confidence in Cullen's voice when he said it that made her want to pull him closer or climb into his lap.
"I can respect showing off," she said, and the tension between them was thick and heavy. She could feel her heart beating faster in her chest and the anticipation swelling. Apparently that was a universal enough thing because Cullen seemed to be feeling it, too, leaning in closer to her, his fingers still brushing against hers.
"Can you?" he murmured. "That's good. It seems we have some things in common."
Sadie nodded. "Seems like. And that's...that's a good thing."
"It's a very good thing."
Her breath caught when he closed the distance between them, and it felt like the moment lasted forever. She knew he was going to kiss her, and she wanted to be mentally prepared for it.
His palm was rough to the touch and just a little chilled as it came up to touch her face, and she shivered the slightest bit before leaning into his touch, letting him know on no uncertain terms that she was fine with this. That she wanted it.
"Beautiful," he said again, and she smiled.
"You're not so bad yourself."
"Thank you."
Before she could make a comment about how polite he was, Cullen was kissing her.
It was a much less chaste kiss than she would have expected from him, and it caught her off guard immediately. He kissed with the same confidence he seemed to display in everything, apparently, pressing close to her and letting his mouth show her how much he liked her.
Their lips brushed and crashed together, and Sadie couldn't help but let the ice sphere roll to the ground so she could get her hands involved, gripping the front of Cullen's shirt and pulling him even closer to her like she couldn't get enough.
It built between them, growing in intensity and heat until they were near frantic with it, pulling at each other’s clothes. Cullen's fingers found their way into her hair, and she raked her nails down the back of his shirt, wanting to get at skin.
It was only heading in one direction, but before that could happen, the main door to the ship banged open with a metallic crash, and the two of them jumped apart.
Sadie was sure that her face was heated and red, and when Cullen pressed a cold palm to her cheek to help cool her down, she smiled gratefully at him.
Overon, one of the Ithilir who had come with Cullen strode into the ship and immediately looked up to where the two of them were sitting.
Sadie only hoped that she didn't look as flustered as she felt, or it would be really obvious what they had been doing up there.
Of course, Cullen was as cool as the proverbial cucumber, looking like they had been doing nothing more than sitting together and having a light conversation.
Overon looked between them for a moment and then made a face. "Cullen, we need your help," he called.
"I'm off duty," Cullen called back.
"No such thing," Overon said. "We got one of them, and we need you to question it."
No need to ask what exactly they had gotten. "You captured one of K'varot's army?" Sadie asked, sounding incredulous.
"Yes, we did. It's not like they're smart or stealthy. They're just hired muscle, following that freak's every whim. We led it right into a trap."
"Impressive," Cullen said, getting to his feet. "I'll be right there."
Overon saluted and exited the ship once more, though he left the door wide open in the process. Sadie rolled her eyes. She remembered how vocal he had been about throwing her back where she belonged, as he'd put it.
Cullen remembered too, obviously, because he set a hand on her head gently. "He means well."
"I'm sure," Sadie replied, voice dry.
Cullen just laughed. "I will come see you later tonight."
"Is that safe?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
She didn't know how to ask her questions about him betraying his people and their insularity by being like this with her, so she just shook her head instead. "Never mind. Go question your captive."
He smiled at her once more, and she watched as he headed down to do just that.
Despite what he’d said, Sadie didn’t actually expect him to come see her. She didn’t know how long it took to interrogate someone or what his people would want him to do afterwards. She didn’t expect that he’d remember that for one split second, he had wanted her.
So when she came back from the showering rooms, wrapped in a large towel and humming while she carded fingers through her hair, to see Cullen leaning against the wall outside of the door to her small room, she stopped dead.
“Hi,” she said, a bit on the confused side.
He smiled at her and pushed off from the wall. “Hello. You weren’t expecting me.”
It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t see any point in lying, so she shrugged. “I wasn’t. I figured you had more important things to do.”
“The important things are done already,” Cullen pointed out, and Sadie snorted a laugh.
“Oh, thanks.”
“What?”
“I’m not important?”
It took a moment, but then he seemed to realize what he’d said and the meaning there. He stepped forward and took her hand in his gently. “You’re very important. Just different. Can we go in now?” Cullen gestured to her closed door.
“Eager?”
He blinked at her, not seeming to know how to take that. Honestly, it made her feel good to be able to throw him off guard. Keeping men on their toes was one of her things, one of her tried and true methods to find out if someone was going to be able to keep up with her or not. Usually they liked it for a while and then wanted her to back off and start being easier to deal with. And she always refused. If they didn’t want her as she was, then she didn’t want to have anything to do with them.
So this was a test for Cullen. If he couldn’t handle her take charge sort of attitude, then they wouldn’t work even for one night if that was all this was going to be.
“Yes,” he said finally. “I have been thinking about you for a while now.”
A slow smile spread over her face, and she stepped past him, taking her hand back so she could use it to push open the door to her small room. She turned, arching an eyebrow at him before crooking a finger. “Come on, then. In we go.”
The smile he shot her in return was brilliant.
The playing field was a bit uneven, considering the fact that she was already pretty much naked, and he was fully dressed, but that didn’t stop Sadie from feeling like she had a good grasp on the situation. Here was a warrior, someone who was well over a foot taller than her and built like a tank. Surely he would be able to keep up with her without getting intimidated or feeling like his masculinity was being threatened.
It was...almost adorable how eager he was, but he still seemed out of his depth. Given how the Ithilir were, Sadie was willing to bet that he'd only done this with other women of his own race. There was something immensely flattering about being the first human woman to get to see him naked and writhing in pleasure, and she definitely intended for that to be what happened here.
"Sit down," she said as they moved into her room, making it clear that it wasn't a request. She pressed her hand to the flat of his chest when he hesitated, and pushed him until he had no choice but to flop onto the bed.
Sadie smiled at the picture he made, sitting there looking just a little bit confused.
"I've never..." he admitted, and Sadie held up a hand, not needing him to finish that sentence.
"I figured," she said. "I've never done this with someone who wasn't human, so it'll be a learning experience for both of us." She grinned and walked over to him, nudging his legs apart and moving to stand between them.
His hands came up to rest at her waist, and she smiled down at him, her fingers lifting to card through his hair. "I like learning," Cullen said, and Sadie rewarded him by leaning down and kis
sing him soundly.
Their bodies might have been different sizes, but their mouths seemed to fit together perfectly, meeting again and again, brushing and then pressing and then parting to let their tongues tangle together. Cullen didn't seem to know what to do with her tongue in his mouth, so she taught him, coaxing his to come slide against hers. When he moaned into her mouth, she counted it as a victory.
His hands tightened on her waist, and he pulled her in closer like she didn't weigh anything. Sadie could feel the bulge in his pants, and it felt like it was definitely going to be something to see when she finally got his clothes off. For now, though, she was enjoying the imbalance. She liked the way his hands felt on her skin, liked the image this conjured in her head of the alien warrior and the woman he'd saved. Some sort of spoil of war, maybe. Given to him to do with what he pleased.
"What are you thinking about?" Cullen asked, one eyebrow arched as he looked at her. Even with him sitting down, he wasn't shorter than her, and she shook her head in amazement at his height.
"Nothing," she replied, not knowing how he'd take her fantasy thoughts.
"Tell me," Cullen breathed, leaning forward and rubbing his nose against hers. "I want to know."
It was hard to say no to that, and so she swallowed hard and then pressed closer against him. "I was just thinking about how it would be if you were a conquering alien hero from another planet, come here to save the humans and you saved me and kept me for yourself."
Cullen blinked for a moment and then laughed softly. "That is what happened, you know," he pointed out.
Sadie arched an eyebrow at him. "Are you keeping me for yourself?"
"I'm not going to share you," Cullen replied.
Somehow that, even said in Cullen's usual neutral and polite tones, was really, really hot. Sadie felt herself getting slick between her legs, her nipples already high and tight with desire. She leaned in (and just a little bit up) to let her lips linger at his ear. "Why don't you prove it?"