Page 5 of Radiant Exception
I retained eye contact with him as I staggered to my feet, watching as the realization of his predicament—ourpredicament, hit him with full force.
If he had only met me for our scheduled debrief, none of this would have happened. I was about to tell him about the exception when I heard a light, feminine humming coming from down thecorridor…Natalie. An idea struck me—one that would make it impossible for him to force me off the ship.
“Forgive me,” I whispered, before grabbing the lapels of Vaughn’s uniform and pulling him down to me as I stood on my tiptoes, meeting his lips with my own in a crushing kiss, only to be utterly gobsmacked when he opened his mouth to me and returned the gesture with the same fervor, his hands sliding down to my ass and squeezing me against him, as if lost in a trance.
Holy fuck.
I had expected him to shove me away the moment the shock wore off, but instead he only pulled me closer, his mouth claiming mine harshly, as if the desire to possess me was out of his control and instead he was forced to give into his baser desires, grinding his hips against me obscenely, his hands still firmly planted on my ass.
It had been a long time since I had been so thoroughly ravished…maybe never so dominantly, as most of my previous lovers had been softer in nature, more intellectual than intense. I felt immediately overwhelmed by Vaughn, his stubble scratching the smooth skin of my face, his scent rugged and musky, and his touch bold and relentless.
It was easy to get lost in the kiss. So easy that I forgot why I had initiated the exchange in the first place, because any reasoning ceased to matter.
But the moment Natalie cleared her throat behind us, Vaughn’s body went rigid, the spell broken in an instant.
“I can come back,” she half giggled.
Vaughn pulled away from me almost violently, his gaze full of confusion and perhaps a hint of betrayal as he stared down at me before turning to regard Natalie. I tried to pull myself from the haze of the kiss as I came back to reality piece by piece.
“Captain, you should have told us you got an exception.” Her eyes were alight with amusement. “The crew’s gonna be so excited.”
Vaughn visibly flinched at her words, and before he could ask Natalie what she was talking about, blowing our cover before it had even started, I slipped my hand into his, squeezing it, falling into the character of Vaughn’s long-distance lover and now wife. “We didn’t want to jinx it—it was a long shot.” I could feel his gaze boring a hole into me, while my focus remained solely on Natalie—a challenge, as it was nearly impossible not to notice the warmth emanating from his big mitt of a hand, worn with calluses, contrasted against the softness of my own.
“They’ll want to throw you a party.” Natalie grinned, folding her arms over her chest.
“No parties,” Vaughn barked, his voice rough and ragged. At least I wasn’t the only one completely unraveled by our kiss.
Natalie’s grin grew wider. “Aquarius and an Aries—air and fire—indeed a great match. She’ll give you a run for your money, Captain.”
Without having to look up, I could feel Vaughn rolling his eyes beside me, his annoyance with her astral diagnosis palpable.
“I haven’t had a chance to give her the full tour yet,” Natalie diverted the conversation. “Would you like to show her around? I asked Rion to put her things in your quarters.”
I could feel Vaughn bristling, so before he could ruin everything, I chimed in, “He’d love to,” squeezing his hand again for good measure.
Vaughn’s gaze drifted down to meet mine, raging with pure malice.
Natalie seemed to completely misinterpret his hate for passion and chirped, “I’ll leave you lovebirds to it then.”
To Vaughn’s credit, he waited until Natalie’s footsteps had faded down the hallway before turning on me, ripping his hand from mine in the process. “What the fuck was she talking about!? An exception!? Are you out of your goddamn mind!?” he hissed.
“Blame Darren,” I growled. “I thought I was working this alone, same as you, until he tells me five minutes before I leave that I have a mission partner and an exception for cover. If you’d bothered to meet me for our scheduled debrief this morning, we could have discussed this without you assaulting me.”
“I told Darren I’d be going radio silent.” He shook his head. “I don’t—” Vaughn’s dark gaze caught mine. “I’m not working this mission with you. I don’t need your help.”
“But you need an engineer,” I countered petulantly. “You’re stuck with me.”
Vaughn’s jaw ticked. I wondered what panicked thoughts were running through his head as I watched the gears turning.
But suddenly, without another word, he spun on his heel and stormed out.
“You’re supposed to give me a tour!” I called after him, but by the time I made it to the door, there was no sign of him. “Nice to meet you, too, asshole,” I muttered.
“Captain?” Jordan’s brows were pinched with concern when I stormed up to the bridge.
“Not now.” I circumvented her entirely and stalked into my office, aggressively engaging the locking mechanism, guaranteeing I wouldn’t be bothered for a while.
An exception? What in the world had Darren been thinking?
