Page 37 of Fire Forged

“Yes, please.”With boundless energy, Lily bounced, almost spilling the milkshake in her hand.Thankfully, she slid the shake onto the table before Britt had to lunge for it.

“Good, if Nerxie can spare Ziot.”Britt offered him an innocent smile.

“I will join you,minus cesu,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“Yay,” Lily squealed, jumping off the bench to dance across the blue mat.She didn’t hide her yawn when she climbed up beside Britt minutes later.

“Hand in front of your mouth,” Britt said, tugging Lily against her.

She nodded even as she nuzzled into Britt’s side.

“I hear it’s quite a long journey to reach Etteria,” she said, then swallowed hard at the heated expression Nerx leveled on her.

She wanted to fan herself or empty the water bottle down her cleavage.She’d read somewhere that space was cold; well, she was far from it.

“Fourteen days.”

“And I used to complain when something took longer than fourteen minutes to drive to.”She smiled.“Aldur told me about your hair.”All right, she was desperate for safe topics.Especially when Nerx stared at her like he’d been doing since he’d seen her in this dress.

He caught his braid and unclipped it.“Malia pado.”

She gaped when it began to unravel itself until it swayed around him as if he was underwater.“It moves?”she whispered.Squeezing her eyes shut as if she was seeing things, she opened them to the same scene.“It’s beautiful.”She caught a strand, then squeaked when it wrapped around her wrist like silk sashes caressing her.

His chuckle was husky.“It likes you.”

“Oh?”She arched a brow, meeting his gaze before hastily looking away.“How can you tell?”

“It is trying to draw you closer.”He cleared his throat.“To me.”

Yup, it was, tugging on her wrist as if to drag her across the table.Visions of his hair tying her hands and feet to the bedposts dried her throat and sent a spasm of pleasure to her core.

“Malia pa,” he said then waited as it rebraided itself.He caught the ends and clipped it.

“Um, thank you…for showing me.”She took a gulp of water.

“Come, it is time for bed.”

“What?”she gasped, a warm flutter exploding from her chest to much, much lower.

He scooped a sleeping Lily into his arms, his hands brushing parts of Britt in passing.Alone in the common, she stared at the table.Just like that, dinner was over.No goodnight kiss for her, but the ‘date’ had been a decent start.Not once had they argued.She cleared the leftovers, tossing them into the waste receptable before heading to her quarters.

Once inside, she leaned against the door while kicking off her heels.Her efforts hadn’t gone unappreciated.Though, she doubted she’d be able to sleep anytime soon.With a cry, she spun on a heel and opened the door…to Nerx.

“Thank goodness.I…” She hitched a thumb at her back.“I need to be unzipped.”

He crossed the threshold, nudging her aside.She offered him her back and waited.Nothing happened.Peeking at him over her shoulder froze her in place.A tsunami of need crashed against her resistance, crumbling it.That intensity was still in his narrowed eyes.His nostrils flared, his jaw clenched.

He gripped her zip and ripped it down, cool air rushing across her shoulder blades.

“What’s wrong?”she asked, facing him.

“Wrong?”he rasped.“You in this garment, your undergarments, that footwear, and scenting of arousal while calling me Nerxie?”Each step he took pushed her back until she bumped her ass against a wall.

She grinned.“Yup, well, Nerxie has a nice ring to it.”

“Oh.”A wicked smile twitched his lips.“When I want you screaming it.Demanding I thrust harder, faster.”

She swallowed past the lump in her throat even as her cheeks burned.Okay, maybe testing his boundaries wasn’t such a good idea.He splayed his hands beside her ears, trapping her in the circle of his arms.His focus remained on her face, not once dipping to her cleavage.

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