Page 52 of Fire Forged

“Hot cocoa has too much sugar.But I guess, cocoa, steak, sauce, pizza… With your advanced medical technology, whatever you do to your body can be cured.Except for a broken heart.”She offered him a cup, then sank onto the bench to sip her hot chocolate.

Nerx grinned at that bit of nonsense.“Our hearts cannot break.”

She chuckled.“No, it’s a metaphor, silly.”

“I am not silly.”He drew his cup closer.

She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, catching a droplet of hot chocolate.“I didn’t intend it as an insult, babe.”

His focus snagged on her mouth, remembering how incredible it was to kiss her.“I am not adamueither.You will cease with these endearments unless they have meaning to you.”

She opened her mouth then snapped it shut.“You’re serious?”She grinned.“So only Nerxie?What about ‘honey?’”

“No.”He snorted at her absurd idea that he was sweet.

“Sweetheart?Sugarplums?Sexy Stud?”She giggled.“Pumpkin?Dreamboat?Snookums?Darling?”

He swallowed a bark of laughter, raised his hot chocolate and peered at her over the cup’s rim.“All no.”

She huffed, although her pursed lips hinted at a smile.“Well, then no calling me ‘minus cesu’or whatever.”

“Little cat?”He smirked, licking his lips.

“Yes.”Her cheeks flushed.“None of that.”

He placed his cup on the table, snatched hers to join his, then lifted her.Spinning her, he pinned her to the bulkhead.With her face so close to his, he caught and held her gaze.“I will call you whatever I want,ensa.”

Her sensual smile hit him hard.

He snatched a kiss while layering his body over hers.

“Double standards, huh?”she said, trailing her nails down his upper arms.

“I mean‘ensa,’you do not mean any of yours.”He planted kisses from her collarbone to her earlobe, enjoying the way her body arched into him, her feathered breathing, her erratic heartbeat, and that beautiful explosion of peach across her cheeks.He pretended to kiss her but stopped an inch from her lips.Using the bulkhead to push off, he abandoned her, choosing instead to stride away, when what he wanted was her beneath him…again.

“‘Ensa’means ‘brat,’ doesn’t it?”she called.

“Get some rest.I will find you when I have news.”

Her string of curses made him laugh.

ThegrinNerxtossedat her and his laughter echoing from the comm weakened Britta’s knees.She dropped to the nearest bench.Fainting would give him an idea of what he made her feel and garner a full medical check-up.

How could she explain her symptoms stemmed from madness?Finding Nerx attractive—though that word lacked oomph—stole her voice, burned her cheeks, turned her bones to jello,andmade her shy.The latter the worst in her book.

When he’d given her a chance to run, she should’ve said yes, postponed the inevitable.Not knowing how good he was in bed meant she could function and wouldn’t confuse lust with affection.Maybe if she rubbed out an orgasm, she wouldn’t want to seduce him, to beg him to thrust into her, stroking her very insides with his ridged cock.She shuddered.But screaming in ecstasy so close to the common didn’t sit well with her, either.

Nerx would come to the rescue, charging in to find her fingers between her thighs.

Her senses exploded into a thousand tingles at the thought of him…intruding.Would he lick her, dominate her with the power of his thrusts, steal a kiss when the taste of his lips unraveled her thoughts?

Yup, she was mad.It was official.Certifiable.

She should be worrying about Mom.Disappointment should be in control of her thoughts and emotions, like a rogue rollercoaster.Instead, the news that Mom was alive, well, and defiant had flooded Britta with hope and happiness.

She veered toward Nerx’s quarters.Although Aldur’s was closest to the communications room and Nerx, she’d be there if Lily awoke.Stripping off her jeans, T-shirt, and underwear, she slipped into the baggy sleepshirt and climbed onto his bed.She lay there, snuggled under the blanket.The silence was deafening.She left her warm cocoon to check on Lily, tucking in her leg where it hung off the bed’s edge.She picked up a stuffed elephant and stacked it with its zoo friends.

No one knew, not even Mom, how much Britta wanted children.So how had the Ethera known to match her to a readymade family?She tiptoed to Nerx’s bed and settled again, pulling the blanket to her chin.He’d been right to mention the future.Once Mom was safe, she’d be busy with Aldur, doing doctory stuff.Which left Britta twiddling her thumbs.And by the sounds of things, Nerx’s home wasn’t on Etteria.Where he’d let his brother die?Now that had been revealing.And since it had been decades since he went home, she had to assume that was when he lost his brother.He mourned still, that was clear.She’d be far from Mom, unable to make sure she ate, slept, didn’t throw herself off a cliff… That sort of thing.

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