SHE WAS PLEASED to find she was a natural, and by the time they’d reset the holograms for the twentieth round, she could hit all the targets on the head one after the other without a pause. It was very Wild West feeling, and she found herself more and more comfortable with the fritz in her hand with every calculated shot.
He let her keep the fritz, and she ran the fingers of her right hand over it as she and Ruckus walked down the hall toward her room hours later. It could only be activated by her left hand, so there was no risk of her smoothing over the thin metal now. The band was smaller than his, only about a third-of-an-inch wide, more chic than the one on his wrist.
She’d been so excited and high off the rush the fritz had brought, she’d actually forgotten about the Uprising.
The moment she started thinking about it again, her excitement ebbed, and by the time they came to her door, she was sick to her stomach. When she stepped into the room, he was close at her heels, and she moved over to the window, taking a deep breath.
“Delaney.” He moved up behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“I forgot about the ceremony for a while there,” she admitted. “And now I’m back to freaking out about it, that’s all.” She tried to laugh it off, but the sound was forced even to her own ears.
“So, you’re saying I made you forget?” There was a hint of a smile in his voice, and when she turned, it was to find him standing less than an inch away. “Mission accomplished then.”
She frowned, trying not to stare, even though it was impossible with his yellow-green eyes so close. “I thought the point was to teach me how to use a fritz?”
“That, too.” He intensely held her gaze. “I also wanted to get close to you. Take your mind off the responsibilities you’ve been forced to have.”
“And you thought getting close to me would do it? Distract me for a few hours?”
“Don’t look so surprised,” he drawled. “I know you feel it, too. Every time I do this”—he eased into her personal space even more so that she was forced to press herself flush against the window—“get close to you, your body reacts.”
“Uh, duh.” She swallowed, forcing her breathing to remain even despite the heavy thumping of her heart. “There’s a massive alien crowding my space. You wouldn’t react any differently.”
“Not to you,” he replied smoothly, “no. No, I wouldn’t. My body does the same thing when I”—he smirked—“crowd your space, as you so delicately put it.”
“I’m pretty sure this”—she waved a finger between them—“is a big Ander no-no.”
“You aren’t actually my Lissa, Delaney,” he reminded her, “and we aren’t doing anything wrong.”
“Not yet,” she mumbled, realizing her mistake when his grin turned wolfish. Had she thought Trystan the more dangerous of the two? How had she overlooked that Ruckus was just as feral as the Zane? And possibly even more of a threat to her, because what he was saying wasn’t wrong.
She did feel something when she was around him. She just didn’t quite know what that was yet.
“So you admit it.” He reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “You do want something to happen between the two of us.”
“We hardly know one another,” she pointed out. “Remember? This is insane.”
“Doesn’t make it any less real. I like you, Delaney.”
And then he kissed her.
It shouldn’t have, but it caught her off guard. For a moment all she could do was stand there, frozen in his arms while his firm lips pressed against her own. When his tongue darted out, demanding entrance, she came out of it, responding with a fervor she hadn’t known she was capable of. Maybe it was the need for contact; maybe it was simply the need for him. Either way, she welcomed it, linking her arms around his neck to pull him closer.
His tongue grazed the roof of her mouth, and she sucked on it when he went to retreat, holding him in for another few precious seconds.
He was an inferno around her, setting her skin ablaze everywhere their bodies touched. Her front was squished to his, her breasts rubbing against his solid chest in a way that made her moan.
The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, not recalling how she’d gotten there. He’d settled himself between her spread legs, pinning her to him as his hands roamed up her back frantically and his mouth devoured hers feverishly. He was breathing hard, and she was panting, thighs squeezing around his hips to keep him close.
He ran a hand through her hair then, and she remembered Olena.
Even so, pulling away was a struggle. She pressed her hands against his chest and turned her head sharply to the side, separating them.
“You don’t even know what I look like,” she said, annoyed when her voice came out husky. His brow furrowed, and she shoved him away. “This”—she waved a hand down her body—“isn’t me.”
“I’ve never been attracted to the Lissa before,” he told her.
“That doesn’t make it better. And besides,” she rushed on, “the second the real Lissa is found, I’m going home.”
He reached for her, taking her hands in his larger ones. “Hey, I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend.” She made a face and he paused. “That is what it’s called on Earth, right?”
She nodded.
“Okay, well good. I’m not asking you to be mine; I’m only asking that you let this play out between us. Let us see where it goes.”
“Ruckus—”
“I don’t care,” he said, stopping her, his voice firming some. “I don’t care that I don’t know what you really look like, don’t you get that? It’s not the package that I’m interested in here. It’s you. The girl who fought off three Tellers with nothing but her smarts. And who stood up to the Basileus.”
“Yeah?” She lifted a brow. “Pretty sure you hate whenever I do that.”
“That is also the case,” he agreed, struggling, and failing, to hold back a smile. “But the fact that you’re constantly willing to fight past your fear? That I like. A lot.”
Delaney closed her eyes, and his grip tightened. When she reopened her eyes to look at him again, it was obvious that he was worried. About her rejecting him? Or about her ability to continue this ruse, to convincingly be Olena?
“I’m not doing the best job being the Lissa,” she pointed out. “I’m too brash.”
“Everyone attributes that to your time spent on Earth,” he said, shrugging it off. “Just”—he lowered his head closer to hers—“tell me you’ll give it a try. You’ll give us a try. If you’re lucky, you’ll only have a few more days here anyway, and then it’s back home for you. What do you have to lose?”
He was right, wasn’t he? If everything worked out, she’d get to leave soon and then nothing that happened here would matter. At least, she hoped it wouldn’t.
Before she could let her doubts get in the way again, she gave a single nod and then sucked in a breath when his mouth dropped to hers once more.
CHAPTER 18