Page 185 of Stars in Aura

It started slow, with a press of lips and an unspoken promise. Then, it deepened.

He slid his palm down her spine, lower, massaging her ass, loving the tremor in her exhale as she arched into him.

Her hands moved over his broad chest, spreading over the muscles that flexed beneath her touch, the heat of him soaking into her skin.

She pulled away just enough to whisper, ‘Say it.’

His pulse slammed against his ribs.

He understood what she meant.

His hand glided to the back of her neck, pressing into her warm flesh, keeping her close as he lowered his forehead to hers.

‘I love you, Issa.’

Her lips parted on a soft, broken inhale.

She gave a small laugh of pure joy, and hell, he loved the sound of it

A rare vulnerability, a rawness of emotion, flickered in her eyes as she gripped the fabric of his shirt, fisting it as she exhaled, whispering the words back.

‘I love you, Sable, more than light, life, and time itself.’

His insides fractured, so gone for her.

He crushed his mouth to hers, and the kiss was different now.

Fierce, consuming, a collision of souls rather than bodies.

His hands swept over her curves, claiming, revering, as he walked her backward until her spine met the cool steel of the bulkhead.

Her breath hitched as she took a slight jump, so her legs wrapped around his waist.

He carried her to the sleeping quarters, melding together, his mouth devouring hers as if starving.

They tumbled onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and urgent touches.

She tore at his shirt, revealing the shifting gold-and-silver metanoid tattoos that glowed like constellations over his muscled chest.

With a sigh of pleasure, she traced the patterns, her touch searing, branding.

‘You are like discovering an uncharted galaxy,’ he murmured into her throat, kissing the delicate curve there, feeling her pulse flutter beneath his lips. ‘A celestial wonder I never want to leave. I want to be lost in you, Issa. Always.’

She moaned, her fingers tightening in his hair as she arched into him.

Her tongue outlined his ear, her breath a whisper of heat snaking down his spine.

And then, she spoke in the ancient poetic tongue of Sacran High.

Words of endless skies, collapsing stars, and two infinite souls’ bodies locked in eternal orbit.

Of a warrior who found his home not in a place but in the arms of the woman who could burn him to ash.

His throat constricted.

Gods.

She was wrecking him.

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