Page 40 of Zayrik

I just moved.

My hands fisted in his jacket, the material rough against my palms, yanking him down to me... Crashing my mouth against his like I was drowning and he was oxygen. Like every wall I’d built was crumbling, and I didn’t care anymore.

He caught me.

Like he knew it was coming.

Like he’d been waiting for exactly this moment.

One hand slid into my hair, fingers threading through the strands, tilting my head, deepening the kiss—

Stealing breath.

Ruining me.

Making me forget why I ever thought walking away was the answer.

His other hand gripped my waist, pulling me hard against him. The heat of his palm burned through my clothes, marking me.

No space. No escape.

And for the first time in my life...

I didn’t want one.

Zayrik

THE SECOND SHE KISSEDme, I was gone.

Lost to the taste of her, the soft sound she made when our mouths met, the way she felt finally,finallyin my arms.

I lifted her, pinned her gently but completely to the nearest bulkhead, felt the way she arched into me like she was made to fit there. The metal was cold against my knuckles, but she was fire against my chest.

She wasn’t gentle.

Neither was I.

This was frustration. Want. Everything we hadn’t said—

Everything we couldn’t say—

Spilling out in heat and hands and mouths.

In the way her breath hitched when I traced her lower lip with my tongue.

In the desperate grip of her fingers on my shoulders.

Her hands found skin beneath my jacket, tracing muscle like she needed to memorize me. Like she was afraid this might be her only chance.

I let her.

Gods, I needed her to.

Needed to feel those clever fingers mapping every inch they could reach.

I slowed the kiss, just enough to take control.

Dragged my mouth across hers, slow and deliberate.

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