A broad smile graced my face as I rode him faster toward ecstasy.I forgot everything for a few moments until an intense wave of pleasure crashed over me from head to toe.
 
 Maxx’s grip tightened on my hips as he heaved a low growl, continuing his passionate thrusts even after he climaxed.He wasn’t done with me yet.Thank god for damn sexy miracles.
 
 He pulled me down to the floor and turned me around so my ass stuck up in the air.Then he slowly entered me once more, stretching me, savoring me, worshipping me.He kneaded my ass in time with his pumps and his deep groans.
 
 As though energized by the sounds and smells of sex, his kaxxui grew fevered.They pressed against my clit and stroked Maxx’s slick cock.
 
 I cried out at the building sensations, so close to coming again, and he pulled me to my knees with my back to his chest, still thrusting inside me.He angled my face toward his and kissed me, pouring every bit of love I felt for him back into me.
 
 Between his kiss and his quickening pace, his kaxxui and the glorious friction of their tongues and bodies, I turned into a feral animal.I ground against the writhing serpents and then back into Maxx, my whole body an electric storm.
 
 Then I came violently once more, so hard that I thought I might have slipped out of this universe and into another one.Soon after, Maxx followed me over that blissful edge, exploding while he devoured my mouth with his perfect kiss.
 
 Both of us breathing hard, we collapsed to the floor of the bridge, my orgasm still pulsing shockwaves throughout my entire body.
 
 “We’re alive,” I reminded myself, curling into him while I traced my fingers over his twin hearts.
 
 He clasped my hand and brought it to his lips.“It surprises me too.I’d like to keep us alive, but I don’t think I can do that while lying here naked with you.”
 
 “Keep trying,” I said with a grin.“Because you just never know.”
 
 He chuckled into the top of my head.“What now?What’s our plan?”
 
 “We fight.We win,” I said simply.
 
 “I like that plan.It’s short and to the point without any of those annoying details.”
 
 “That’s all I’ve got at the moment.If Earth Space Fleet didn’t see us falling out of the sky, I bet they heard us.They know we’re here.”
 
 “And yet…” Maxx waved toward the silence of the ship then tipped my chin up to meet his kiss.
 
 “And yet,” I agreed with a sigh into his mouth.
 
 We were on a ship full of stuck doors that was connected to another ship full of my armed crew who had open communication with me.We had time, if only a little, before we had to fight our next battle.We had time for each other.
 
 Maxx speared his fingers to the back of my head and touched his forehead to mine.“If I had lost you, Nera…”
 
 “You didn’t.”
 
 “I mean, if you had never decided to speak to me again, which you would have every right to feel that way, I didn’t know what I would do.I am yours.You are mine.There is no one in the entire universe who even comes close to what I feel for you.”His purple eyes glinted with sincerity and the murderous planet’s gorgeous sunset outside the viewscreen.“You set me on fire, and I burn for no one else but you.”
 
 I grinned as I tilted my head for another kiss.“Your sweet words will get you everywhere.”
 
 “As long as you believe them,” he breathed against my lips.“Because they’re the absolute truth.”
 
 “I do.Every word,” I assured him.
 
 “Good.”He swept his mouth over mine, kindling a fresh wave of desire as he settled his hips between my legs.“I’m done hurting you.I just want to love you.”
 
 “And I want to love you.All of you.”I grazed my fingers over the scales on his temple, thinking about the Faid tech that lay inside.
 
 Could I eventually love that too?The reason he was here with me now, loving me, protecting me, instead of buried six feet under?
 
 Grim thoughts to have while his hips rolled so deliciously into me, and then he filled me up to the brim for yet another round of hot sex.Instead of following that thread in my mind any farther, I focused on getting lost in another moment with him.
 
 Fully on board with that plan, his kaxxui coiled their slim bodies around my breasts.Their tongues flicked over my tight nipples, making them harder, making them pulse and tingle in time with Maxx’s thrusts.Moaning loudly, my back arched toward him as I dug my heels into his ass.
 
 “So perfect, my beautiful star,” he murmured against my lips.