Page 87 of Star Bringer
“And here I was, thinking you must be remembering the kiss. But then I remembered there is no kiss, because we’ve both forgotten it already.”
She swipes her tongue over her lower lip, biting it with sharp white teeth. Obscenely hot.
I pull her up so that we’re standing face-to-face, so close together that she has to tilt her head to look into my eyes. So close I can see the black rings around her silver irises.
Her eyes draw me in, just like they always do when I look at them. I even see something in them before she gives a little shake of her head and they go blank.
“Back off, Ian.” She slaps a hand on my chest and pushes. “You’re right. We should forget the kiss. This—you and me—isn’t going to happen. It can’t.”
That’s exactly what I’ve been telling myself, but the problem is—I’ve never been very good at following orders.
I lean down, and this time she doesn’t back away. “I hate it when somebody tells me Ican’tdo something,” I whisper close to her face. “It makes me want to prove them wrong.”
“And how would you do that?” she murmurs, her head tilting up to me so that her warm breath caresses my cheek. At the same time, her breasts brush against my chest, and I’m not sure which one of us sucks in our breath harder and faster.
I slip one hand around the back of her neck, beneath the silk of her hair, and tilt her face up farther. Every muscle in my body clenches.
I touch my lips to hers and—
Something slams into the ship. It lurches to the side, sending us flying. We land on the bed with Kali on top of me.
Then there’s a loud crash and the lights go out and the ship lurches again, and we’re on the floor and Kali is beneath me.
“What just happened?” she whispers in the dark.
I have no fucking clue. But I have a really bad feeling. Which becomes ten times worse when Beckett’s voice breaks through the comms.
“Captain, report in. I repeat, report in. We’re being attacked.”
Chapter 31
Kali
As I follow Ian out the door, another blast hits the ship and we both collide with the wall. For a second, I wonder if this is it—the end—and my body clenches, waiting for another hit. But then the ship seems to drop, and we crash to the floor.
“Stay still for a minute,” Ian whispers.
I’m more than happy to oblige. Beckett said we’re under attack, but from whom?
And fuck it, if we’re about to die, I would have actually liked to have that kiss.
Maybe kissing me isn’t a big deal for Ian, but for me? Every time he gets close to me, it just makes me more desperate for him—for the feel and smell and taste of him.
Sometimes I feel like if he doesn’t kiss me again, I’ll implode, like a star that’s burned itself out.
I’ve never felt this way before. Not for any of the people my mother paraded in front of me in the hopes that I’d make an appropriate choice for my royal Askkandian consort. And not for any of the ambassadors’ and Councilors’ kids I’ve had crushes on through the years.
Maybe it’s because Ian was the first person to truly touch me. Or maybe it’s because Ian is a man, not a boy. Sure, he isn’t more than a couple of years older than me, but age isn’t everything. All I have to do is look in his dark eyes to know that he hasn’t been a boy for a very long time. And when Ian touches me, he makes me feel like a woman who can match him kiss for kiss, adventure for adventure.
I like being that woman—probably a lot more than I should.
Several seconds pass without another crash before Ian jumps to his feet. “Come on. Let’s get to the bridge and see who’s attacking my ship.”
I don’t bother to correct him, even though I know in my bones theStarlightis mine.
Ian holds out a hand to me and I take it, letting him pull me up.
When we make it to the bridge, everyone is strapped into their seats, even Beckett, who normally never uses her harness.
