Aelyx used a sweater sleeve to dry his dewy forehead. He hadn’t felt this nervous since his Sh’ovah hearing at age fifteen, when the Aegis panel had debated for an hour before finally deeming him worthy of the sacred rite of passage. Tonight, the cool spring breeze did nothing to halt beads of sweat from forming along his upper lip. Aelyx scrubbed away the moisture while staring at the shuttle’s hangar door, cast in shadows from the setting sun.
Any minute now…
David stood back ten paces, leaning against the armored car to give Aelyx some room when he greeted Cara. But he shook his head in sympathy and shouted, “Dude, chill. You look like your heart’s about to explode.”
That’s precisely how Aelyx felt.
The week had practically gone in reverse waiting for Cara to arrive. Now she was here—finally—a mere twenty yards away with nothing separating them but the thin metal walls of the hangar. But he didn’t know what to do when she stepped outside. Should he run to meet her and sweep her into his arms? Hold back and give her some space? These past few months, they’d spent more time apart than they’d ever spent together. Cara might need a period of readjustment. But he only had one night with her before the military whisked her away to Midtown, where she’d stay until the alliance ceremony.
And Aelyx had high hopes for tonight.
He brushed back his hair, not yet long enough for a ponytail, and smoothed the wrinkles from his sweater. He’d worn the cream-colored pullover Cara had always liked, paired with the jeans she’d once said made his posterior look “crazy hot.” Ironically, she would be wearing the L’eihr uniform, their roles reversed. He didn’t care if she was dressed in a hemp sack; he simply wanted her near.
The hangar door swung open and a group of passengers filed outside, mostly uniformed soldiers and the shuttle crew. Aelyx’s eyes moved over them until they settled on a cap of braided red hair. He locked on to Cara’s blue gaze, and his heart gave a painful leap. It took all his strength to stand in place and not bolt across the tarmac, knocking down the soldiers in his path like bowling pins.
Cara’s smile was timid, her gaze unsteady as she strode toward him and fidgeted with the strap of her shoulder bag. When she reached him, she stopped just outside his personal space, blushing and clearing her throat.
Aelyx extended his hand and recited the same words he’d used during their introduction last fall. “Cah-ra, your name is the Irish word for friend. I hope you and I will be great friends.” Funny how last year he hadn’t meant it. Now Cara was his whole world.
Her lips curved into a warm smile. She placed her tiny palm inside his and gave it a hearty shake. “Your name means ‘son of Elyx,’ which doesn’t give me much to work with, but it’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Get over here.”
With a rough tug, he sent her colliding into his chest, then wrapped both arms around her waist to crush their bodies together. She relaxed into him and rested her cheek near his shoulder, then made a sound of contentment that was satin to his ears. Sacred Mother, she felt so good, all soft curves and heat, the sweet scent of her hair filling his space with oranges and cloves.
When she tipped her ivory face toward his, he brushed her mouth in a gentle kiss. He took her lips tentatively at first, just a light, inviting sweep that let her set the pace. She rose onto her toes and hooked her arms around his neck, then tilted her head and ratcheted up the passion by a thousand blistering degrees. She kissed him like he was a soldier heading to war, never to return. It went on for several heart-pounding minutes until their breathing turned choppy and they broke for air.
“Gods,” he said with a groan. “I missed you.”
Clutching his sweater, Cara panted and licked her swollen lips. “Me, too.”
“Show me.” Aelyx took her face in his hands, relaxing his focus to experience her rush of sentiment for him. He had to feel it; he craved it more than he could stand.
Cara shook her head, glancing around them in an unspoken message that there were too many witnesses to risk Silent Speech. Then a mischievous twinkle gleamed in her eyes. “Take me to the penthouse, and I’ll show you a lot more than that.”
His lips parted while a jolt of excitement lit him up inside. Did that mean what he thought it meant? Was she finally ready? He lifted his brows in a question.
“We only have ten hours together until I leave again,” Cara said in a voice that made her intentions clear. “I can think of better ways to spend our time than kissing in the parking lot. How fast can you get me to your place?”
The answer: twenty-three minutes and thirty-seven seconds, a new land speed record set by David, for which Aelyx was infinitely grateful.
In an epic display of restraint, Aelyx managed to keep his hands to himself long enough to get Cara behind his bedroom door, and then it was a free-for-all as they clawed at each other in an unchecked compulsion to get closer. They stole clumsy kisses while tugging off shirts and shoes, pants and socks, tossing their clothes to the floor in a haphazard trail toward their final destination.
Once there, they fell to the bed in a tangled heap.
The sensation of Cara’s body beneath him, her heated skin fused to his own, was the purest form of pleasure Aelyx had ever known. He didn’t think it could possibly feel any better, but then she used her hands to explore him, sparking to life a thousand nerve endings that had once lain dormant.
He touched her, too, discovering the secret places that made her breath catch and her muscles tense. It was heaven. Lacing their fingers together, he pinned both hands above her head, then whispered against her lips, “You still have the implant, right?”
She drew a shuddering breath and nodded, so flushed and beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. “You won’t get me pregnant.”
“And you’re sure this is what you want?” Gods, please let her say yes. If she changed her mind now, the pressure building inside his body might actually cripple him.
Cara squeezed their linked hands. Her face glowed with the certainty he’d hoped for. “I’m sure, and I love you. I want you to know that.”
He nuzzled the tip of her nose and murmured, “Show me.” He wanted to connect with her on every level, body and mind, to share their sensations and create a unified memory. Their first time together might not be perfect, but it was theirs.
But instead of meeting his gaze, Cara slid her mouth over his throat and wrapped both legs around his hips. He tried to catch her eye, but with each attempt, she arched and shifted against him while hiding her face. Aelyx kept her hands fixed on either side of the pillow and rose onto his knees, beyond her reach.
“Why won’t you look at me?” he asked.
Cara squinted her eyes shut, shaking her head. “Not now. After, okay?”
Something was clearly wrong. Cara had rarely shied away from Silent Speech.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Slowly, she opened one eye, then the other, but stared at his exposed chest instead of his face. “Nothing. I just want one perfect night with you. After everything we’ve been through, don’t you think we deserve it? Let’s talk in the morning.”
Aelyx didn’t like the way that sounded. The desperation in her voice implied this “perfect night” would be their only night. He reminded her of what she’d told him months ago when he’d struggled to reveal his own secrets. “If we can’t be honest with each other, we’re no more than strangers.”
She met his gaze, pleading with her eyes. “I want to be with you. Please? I swear I’ll tell you everything after—”
“No,” he insisted. “Or I won’t be able to stop thinking about it.” When she hesitated, he promised, “You can trust me.”
She sank into the pillow as if to disappear. “I’m afraid you’ll hate me.”
Hate her? Fear snaked its way up the length of Aelyx’s body and settled in his heart. “Did you meet someone else? At the Aegis?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Elire, you have to show me, or I’ll imagine the worst.”
After several long seconds, she gave a resigned nod and locked her watery blue eyes with his. A single tear spilled down her temple, disappearing into her hair as she opened her mind to him. Aelyx lowered to his elbows and peered deep inside, holding his breath in cold fear. When he felt the swelling of her love for him like a billow of heat inflating his lungs, he sighed in relief.
But right on the heels of relief came a chill of dread.
Now he understood what she had tried so hard to hide. Cara had changed her mind about the colony. He would return to L’eihr after the alliance ceremony, but she planned to stay behind. The certainty within her was almost tangible. Cara was no happier on L’eihr than he was on Earth.
Which meant they couldn’t be together.