Core turned on his back and floated. His body was relaxed, even if his mind refused to calm. He stared up at the sky, watching the clouds as they passed by, and following an occasional bird as it swooped from one tree to another on the other side of the river.

He moved his arms and legs back and forth to keep his body from sinking while his mind swirled with an endless list of arguments to get Avery to accept their destiny. His latest thought was that he could try kidnapping her.

And end up dead. Still, it might be worth the risk if I can at least touch her just once before I die, he mused.

No, kidnapping was out. He’d learned a very painful lesson when it came to kidnapping human women: they fight back and they don’t do it fairly. When he and his cousin, Merrick, had impulsively decided to kidnap Hannah Bell to learn more about her species and where they had come from, she had knocked him out and escaped out into the forest. His heart still pounded every time he remembered her running through the trees. His groin still hurt every time he thought about how it had felt when her knee had rammed into it.

He had to find some way to convince Avery. All he needed was to touch her once. If the mark of the mating ritual appeared—and he felt sure it would—there would be no denying that they were meant to be together.

He was so lost in thought that the sudden splash of water over his face startled him. He whirled around, briefly submerging, then kicking upward. He broke the surface and wildly looked around.

The sound of a husky laugh drew his attention. His eyes widened when he looked into the vivid blue eyes of the woman he had been daydreaming about.

“You know, for a Prime warrior who is supposed to be so big and bad, you really aren’t that difficult to sneak up on,” she teased with a mocking smile.

Fire licked through Core’s veins. His eyes glittered in response to the challenge in her eyes. He slowly swam toward her, and she didn’t move away.

“Why are you here?” he demanded, pausing less than a foot from her.

They both treaded water, maintaining the distance between them as they moved in a graceful circle. Her expression was determined. A glimmer of suspicion coursed through him. She was not here to admit that they belonged together. He could still see the unmistakable wall of reserve in her eyes.

“I have a proposition,” she announced.

A frown of confusion creased his brow. “A proposition? What type of proposition?” he warily asked.

“Three days—no strings, no demands, no expectations beyond those three days of mindless sex and each other’s company,” she calmly replied.

A fierce, swift denial rose to his lips. He stopped the words before they were uttered, replaying her words in his mind. His focus returned to the words ‘mindless sex.’

“And if I refuse this proposition?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked away. “If that is what you want,” she replied.

Before he could say anything else, she slipped beneath the water. He looked around him, trying to find her, then turned when he heard her draw in a breath. She was several yards from him.

As Core watched as Avery cut through the water with strong strokes, it suddenly dawned on him that she thought he had rebuffed her. He kicked out with powerful strokes of his own, and reached the shallow edge of the water just as she was wading onto the sandy beach.

He stood up in the waist-deep water as she paused to pick up a colorful piece of cloth from the top of his pile of clothing. Her lithe body was extremely distracting. He noted her slender shoulders, long waist, and smooth buttocks before taking in her long legs. He frowned when his gaze reached her ankles.

“Are you wearing a blade?” he asked, wading out of the water.

She looked over her shoulder at him as she tied the fabric around herself. There was just a slight curve to her lips. His body immediately hardened when she gazed at him with an appreciative expression, pausing on his groin. He might have maintained a portion of his dignity if she hadn’t licked her lips. A soft groan slipped from him as his cock responded to her tease. Damn that recording of Tink telling J’kar’s crew about oral sex! Now he wanted to know if one of the things J’kar’s mate had shared was true!

“I did not say that I would not accept your proposition. I merely asked what would happen if I did not. What if I wanted to add some conditions?” he demanded.

She turned to face him. “What kind of conditions?” she asked.

He stopped a foot away from her. “Touch my hand,” he instructed.

Core held his hand out to her, palm up.

She lifted one delicate eyebrow before she reached out. Her hand hovered above his for a moment before she pressed her palm to his. A startled hiss escaped her, and she jerked her hand back with a scowl.

“Static electricity,” she muttered, clenching her hand and holding it against her chest.

He looked down at his own hand. A sense of awe swept through him when he saw the intricate patterns forming in the center of his palm. He looked up at her and shook his head.

“No, not static electricity,” he contradicted with a wry grin. “This is something far more powerful.

He turned his palm toward her so she could see the mark. “I knew we were destined to be together the moment I saw you,” he quietly said.

She looked at his palm and frowned, then slowly uncurled her fingers and stared at her own hand. Her jaw tightened, and her lips pursed together.

He waited for her to respond.

“This was a mistake,” she finally replied, looking up at him.

He watched in stunned disbelief when she turned and started walking away. Bending, he grabbed his trousers and pulled them on before gathering the rest of his clothing and his boots. It didn’t take him long to catch up with her.

“That is all you have to say? That our bond is a mistake?” he demanded.

“There is no bond,” she retorted, pausing briefly to slip into her shoe.

Core skidded to a stop. He reached out and wrapped the hand holding his clothing around her waist to keep from knocking her over. She turned her head and glared at him. He couldn’t stop the crooked grin that curved his lips.

“You need to call out a warning before you stop,” he teased, trying to lighten the moment.

She released an inelegant snort and finished slipping on her other sandal. “You should not follow so closely behind me,” she snapped.

He released her when she pulled away. With a soft curse, he bent over and picked up the vest that he had dropped, then strode after her, his narrowed eyes focused on her stiff back. The sheer wrap did little to cover her. He could clearly see every detail of her delectable body underneath.

“What are you planning to do?” he asked when he realized that she was heading straight for his home.

She glanced over her shoulder at him before she refocused on where she was heading. Her expression was regretful… and haunted. His stomach tightened in response. She shook her head and stepped onto the path that led to the front of his home.

He reached out and grasped her arm, uncaring that the items in his hands fell to the ground again. This time he used both hands to gently turn her around so she was forced to look at him. She tilted her head and stared up into his eyes.

“I’m going to gather my clothes, get dressed, and return to my world,” she quietly stated.

“What about us?” he demanded with a frown. “You cannot ignore that we are bond mates, Avery. The mating mark would not have formed if we weren’t.”

“I don’t believe in mating marks, bond mates, or the boogeyman. I don’t do bonding. I came for sex—three mindless days of anything-goes-before-we-go our-own-way sex. Obviously that isn’t something you are interested in. It was worth a try,” she said.

He tightened his grip on her arms when she tried to turn away, realizing that she meant what she was saying. She had no idea that their being apart would be impossible from now on. There was no going back now that they had been matched. She would feel the intense need to be near him as much as he would. He had to make her understand.

“Avery…” he began.

“Let me go, Core. This was a mistake. I should have listened to my gut,” she ordered, stiffly pulling out of his arms and turning away.

“I agree to your proposition,” he said.

She froze before slowly turning to look at him again with a suspicious expression. “You agree?” she repeated.

He gave a sharp nod of his head. “Yes, three days of mindless sex,” he quietly said.

The look of suspicion slowly melted from her eyes and a surprisingly excited smile lit up her features. Her gaze ran down his body. His cock immediately reacted to the hungry look in her eyes.

“Starting now,” she murmured, walking toward him.

Core groaned when she pulled off the strip of material from her body and let it fall to the ground. He immediately reached for her breasts. This was so different from everything he had learned. Females were supposed to be indifferent, accepting of a male, but not aggressive, and not passionate until she had been driven mindless by the bite and her lover’s skill. This was more like what Tink and Tilly had talked about.

It was definitely much more exciting this way. Core slid his hands along the sides of her breasts before he held them in his palms. They fit perfectly. He brushed his thumbs across her swollen nipples. She softly moaned and stepped closer to him.

“It’s a good thing everyone loves Tilly’s romantic weekends, otherwise this could be a little hard to explain,” she chuckled, sliding her hands down his chest to his pants. “You are way overdressed.”

“Sweet Goddess! How can a warrior ever be this honored?” Core hissed when she released his trousers and wrapped her hand around his engorged cock. He tightened his hold on her breasts.

He had discreetly watched the affection the Bell women bestowed upon their Prime mates, especially their curious habit of pressing their lips together in what they called a kiss. Now, he was experiencing the unimaginable rush of pleasure when Avery leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

He parted his lips in surprise when she ran her tongue along his lower lip. She immediately slipped her tongue inside his mouth, deepening the kiss as she stroked him with one hand and wrapped the other firmly around his neck.

He rocked his hips in rhythm with her movements. As the haze of desire and pulsing need thundered through his body, he impatiently kicked off his trousers. He slid one arm around Avery’s back, the other behind her knees, and picked her up.

She leaned her head back against his shoulder and wickedly smiled up at him. His silver-colored eyes flashed with suppressed emotion. His body was taut with the need to join with her.

“Please note that I like my sex hot and often,” she murmured, pressing open-mouthed kisses to his neck.

“Sweet Goddess, you’ll have me coming before I reach the lift,” he growled.

She leaned back and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Have you ever made love in a lift before?” she inquired.

He paused in front of the entrance to his home and looked down at her. His body was demanding that he take her, yet his mind wanted to treat her with the respect that she deserved. The doubt raging through his mind disappeared when she reached up and bit his neck.

“How often do you want to make love?” he demanded in a strangled tone.

“That is a loaded question,” she teased. “I think it depends on how fast you can reload.”

It took a second for her double meaning to sink in. This was a side of Avery that he’d never expected. The Ice Queen hid a woman that captured his imagination with her fiery passion.

“I hope you can keep up,” he bit back with a challenging gleam in his eyes.

“Open the door and find out,” she dared.

Core shifted her in his arms and pressed his palm against the panel next to the door. He stepped inside the moment it opened. Before the doors closed, he was pressing her up against the wall of the lift.