Page 128 of Shadows of Stardust

He’s standing with Rhevar—his unlikely beach bestie—and a few other contestants, but steps away immediately when he sees me coming.

“Sorry,” I say to his companions, not feeling contrite in the slightest. “Can I steal him from you?”

They murmur their agreement, but Zan’s already moving, taking my outstretched hand and letting me lead him away from the pavilion.

Hovers follow us out into the night. Can they see the sparks between us? Is my skin glowing as bright and incandescent as it feels, just as luminous as those canopy flowers?

We barely make it two steps away from the pavilion before Zan tugs at my hand and pulls me into the shadows. Pushing me up against the side of the high wooden platform, he buries a hand in my hair and kisses me deep, tipping my head back and demanding an entry I do nothing at all to resist.

God, he tastes good. Like moonlit dew and crisp midnight air, like a hint of smoke and musk I want to devour, to take so deep I’ll be able to taste it even when I’m back in the hot, miserable Severin desert.

We’ve still got cams on us, but I don’t care.

It just makes it easier to sink into the fantasy.

The fantasy where, despite all odds, Zan and I will leave here tomorrow to face the whole wide universe together. The fantasy that we’ve actually fallen for each other in this insane set of circumstances, that what the audience will see when the show airs won’t just be smoke and mirrors.

The fantasy that all of this—everything, every last thing—has been real.

Without warning, Zan picks me up into a bridal-style carry and sets off through the sand, heading back toward the bungalow.

I can’t stop kissing him, can’t stop running my lips over his jaw, the strong line of his throat, using my teeth in teasing nips until a deep warning rumble echoes in his chest and I have to tip my head back and laugh up at the stars.

Back at the bungalow, he swings the door wide and steps us inside, dealing quickly with the locks before taking me all the way to the bedroom.

My back—exposed in the backless, flowing dress I wore tonight that puts my scars and tattoos on full display—hits the soft down of the comforter, and my front is immediately covered by Zan.

He presses me into the impossible softness, repays every bit of teasing I gave him on the way here with kisses and nips and sucking caresses of his own. He does away with the flimsy straps of my dress, baring me to the waist before rising to his knees and looking down at me with satisfaction and lust written all over his face.

My pulse jumps and my pussy throbs, body coming back to life in a way I’m surprised it still can.

We haven’t had sex since the night before we went to find Savvie.

To say I haven’t been in the mood would be the understatement of the millennium, but tonight is… different.And maybe it’s just the uncertainty and desperation of knowing that tomorrow everything changes, but… I don’t think that’s all it is. Not entirely.

Even if I’m nowhere near ready to admit what it really is.

“Roslyn,” Zan says, and I think I can hear it.

The frayed threads in the fantasy we’ve been weaving today. The doubt. The sharp, unwelcome reality demanding we talk about it.

“Not now,” I murmur. “Not yet.”

Zan leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Alright. Not yet.”

It’s gentle, that kiss, so gentle it makes my eyes water.

But his kisses don’t stay that way, and I’m so damn grateful for that. I’m grateful for the urgent press of his lips against mine, for his hands on me, demanding I get out of my head and back into my body.

And holy hell, do I get into my body.

Every place Zan kisses me, touches me, bites me, hums and sparks with pleasure. My core aches with warm, liquid anticipation, and no matter where I kiss him, touch him, bite him back, it’s not enough.

He maps a path down my body with his lips, tongue, teeth, and I grab for his horns. Not to stop him, exactly, but because I want… I want…

“I believe I won our wager,” Zan murmurs into my skin.

“Did you?” I gasp when he reaches my breasts, drawing hard on one peaked nipple.

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