Page 23 of The Quoram Effect

I stared across the vacuum outside, at the tiny windows on the other side of Delta Ring, wondering where Torz was, if he was asleep, if he was wide awake, trifling through solutions to solve the dilemma he was facing. With the Q in my system, I was numbed to our connection—I couldn’t sense him in this state. It had been another reason why I kept using it all those years ago.

“I need to move on,” I muttered.

The deity released an exasperated sigh, drawing it out incessantly. “Then perhaps, Remi, my dear, you should.”

It wasn’t something I expected him to say. A part of me was horrified by his quick resolution. And when warm hands rounded my waist, a flash of dark hair catching in the window’s reflection, I questioned if this wasn’t a dream after all, and I was still high.

Tender, moist lips trailed down my neck and across my shoulder. I was disgusted at myself for not learningCute Guy’sname. He was young, but he was sweet, and from what I could remember from earlier that evening, he was smart and made me laugh.

Gods, have I even told him my name?

Closing my eyes, I leaned back into his warmth. “My name’s Remi, by the way.”

Nudging my ear with his nose, he chuckled. “I know what your name is. It’s carved across my soul.”

Every muscle froze.

That voice…

Those words…

My heart palpitated, afraid I was imagining who was standing behind me. But how couldhebe here?

With desperation seeping through my bones, I turned to find eyes so familiar dancing in a storm of brown and caramel and green. A sultry desire poured from them as he tucked a piece of hair behind my left ear before trailing his hand down the column of my neck.

“I love it when you wear your hair down.” He smiled, his gaze searching my face with a tenderness ten times more fervent than I’d ever witnessed from him. “You’re more beautiful than you give yourself credit for.”

Pfft. Torz would never say that.

Would he?

“Shut up!” I pushed at his chest, confused…no,terrifiedwith what was happening. I’d never had a dream like this before. Itfelt so real. I could feel the warmth of his breath, the heat of his hands. And those hands reached for me again.

“Rems.”

“No.” I knocked them away. “Get out of my head!” My eyes frantically searched the room behind him, unable to find the deity adamant to bring me to my knees—the interfering god who wanted me to accept he was right, that I needed this man standing in front of me.

But didn’t I know that already?

“Rems.” Torz cupped my face, bringing his lips so close I could taste them. “You need me. I need you.”

I quivered, allowing those soft, warm lips to touch mine. I savoured the two seconds of heaven, but a part of my mind screamed, and I pushed him away, only for him to stop my hands with his, eyes flaring with a mixture of confusion, anger, and heated longing.

Every time I pushed, he blocked my aim with his forearm. Every time I stepped forward, he took a step back, never once breaking eye contact. Never once backing down.

His growing smile doused me with a frustration that brimmed on hunger, and,oh fuck!The temptation…

The back of Torz’s legs hit the table, and he caught my advancing left fist, then my right. The strength of his arms pulled me into him, and my breath hitched as he peered down at me with a hooded twinkle in his eye. His warmth radiated through my vest top, the hardness of his abdomen pressing into mine with defiance.

“Do you ever stop fighting?” His gravelly tone lit a fire within me, and in one swift move, he swung me around and leaned in, my ass now on the glass table, my bare legs straddling his hips.

I’d never felt dominated by him before, but right now, his presence prowled over me with a formidable power that both scared and excited me. Heat pooled between my legs, a coil ofwant tightening deep inside me, and I knew…I knew I had to have him.

“For you?” I locked my eyes with his, my fingers reaching round his neck and clasping his hair. “I’ll never stop.” Pulling his face to mine, I devoured his lips, groaning as he opened his mouth, plunging his tongue into mine.

His hands groped my hips, yanking them to the edge of the table, meeting his covered arousal with a force that made me gasp. He teased and rubbed, and I panted for air, my head lolling backwards, leaving his lips to kiss and suck at the skin of my neck. His left hand scaled my torso, lifting my vest top and sweeping his thumb over the swell of my breast. A tingling lay in its wake, heightening every sense, every emotion, every breath.

I cursed on a whisper as my muscles gave out, my back becoming flush with the cold surface of the table. Torz’s lips travelled lower over my now exposed breasts, and I arched into him, powerless under his touch. The warmth of his fingers trailed over my hip, slipping the fabric of my knickers down my thighs, and my hips bucked and writhed as those torturous lips moved closer to where I wanted them.