CHAPTER 10
Xaviara waited for Nicholen to appear at her door, but he didn’t. She waited… and waited… And finally, she pushed back from the desk and hurried toward the kadyyza section. A lone aide sauntered past her, and she pretended to keep going past the red trincaar’s door. When she was alone, she scurried back and pressed the doorbell.
“Come in.” The door slid open to reveal Nicholen hunched over the desk, multiple screens open on the console open in front of him. Is he doing paperwork? He was staring at it like it contained all the secrets of the universe, but he didn’t flip a page or type anything. The prince’s jacket and cape were tossed on the bed, and he wore only a shirt made of light, thin fabric that clung tightly to his chest muscles.
“Sometimes,” he said, “the worst part about the humans thinking I’m trincaar is them thinking I dated that… that…”
Before someone could wander past and see her inside the room, Xaviara pushed the door close button. She sat on the bed, pushing aside the clothes, a thrill coursing through her at being in proximity to where he would sleep tonight. “You and Camlan are close.”
Nicholen ran a hand over his hair. Xaviara’s fingers curled into her leg. In such close quarters, the sexual energy was back. She wanted to reach over and run her fingers over it herself, but instead, she waited for him to respond.
“Yes, we’re close,” he said. “We grew up together. My father is head of the trincaarit’s security force—retiring soon but still going strong. I admired him so much growing up. Still do, of course. So when I came of age, I went into the military to train. When my tour of duty was finished, I became part of Camlan’s security force and now I’m the Captain of his Guard. It’s an honor to serve this way, especially for a man who’s been through so much.”
“Being trincaar isn’t easy, I suppose. Especially after losing your older brother and being thrust into the position.” Xaviara knew all about Willex’s drowning death.
“You know our backgrounds well.” Nicholen swiveled toward her. “It’s my duty to protect him, and I couldn’t. Not from that. Not from this crash. And not from Lianndra.”
Xaviara’s heart broke a little for the prince who was stranded on a planet, but it broke more for a man who seemed to be carrying the weight of his solar system on his shoulders.
“It all happened when I was away.” Nicholen closed down the program he was working on. “She cheated on him soon after I left. They broke up, of course. She told him she was sorry, they got back together… Then it happened again. I told him not to get back together with her! I told him but he didn’t listen. And I was halfway across the system. I couldn’t do anything.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to do anything if you were there.” Xaviara spoke quietly, unsure how her words were going to be taken, but wanting to do something to help. Beneath the gruff exterior and fiery temper, Nicholen had a heart of gold. If only she could soothe away his stress… But they’d agreed not to pursue a relationship. Hadn’t they? The second kiss had muddled things, especially since she found herself wanting things she shouldn’t.
“Maybe I could have stopped him from getting hurt. I tell myself that this is partly my fault.”
“The sabotage?”
“No, no…” He sighed. “I don’t think she did it.”
Xaviara sat back. “Really?”
“She’s definitely a manipulator, but she has a coveted job. Why would she risk it? What would she gain? She might not be with Camlan any more, but she cheated on him. And then he gave her a great job. Most qualified, pah. What’s she got to be bitter about?”
“So what do you blame yourself for?” she asked.
“Everything. He says he forgave her, but after his brother’s death, he was embracing being the oldest, learning how to be trincaarit. Then that happened once, and then again. The way he treats women now—the goofing around for the neural net vids, the flirting—it’s not Camlan. I should have stopped it. I’m his oldest friend, his protector. He should never have taken her back.”
“Nicholen, this is not your fault. You couldn’t have stopped it. It was his decision. If you’d been there in person, it might have caused a rift in your relationship. People have to make their own decisions concerning love.”
His face was anguished, and Xaviara soon found herself on her knees, taking his hand in hers.
He said, “I’m his Captain of the Guard. If I couldn’t stop it, who could have?”
“It wasn’t your job to stop it.”
Xaviara wasn’t sure he’d told her everything. “What is this really about?”
His gaze flickered downward. She didn’t think he would answer, but then he said, quietly, “I’m responsible for the future trincaarit. What if the same thing happens to Camlan that happened to Willex?”
“It won’t.”
“But what if it does?”
“It won’t,” said Xaviara, “because you’ll be there.”
The relief on his face was like a ray of sunlight breaking through a cloud. “You really think… ?”
“I do. Look how hard you’re working to find the saboteur. You’d do anything to protect him.”
“I would.”
“And so you will.”
His hand was warm and large, enveloping hers even as she tried to comfort him. He squeezed her fingers gently, shooting waves of desire through her core. She looked up at him, eyes wide, drinking in his handsome face and dark hair. She’d never have thought she would fall for a man of another species, but he was so strong and earnest, hard and soft in equal measures, though perhaps he would never want to admit it.
The door was closed. No one knew they were in here. He’d kissed her even after telling her they shouldn’t. He wanted more.
And so did she.
Excitement shivered down her spine at the idea of how forbidden this was. She sat up, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him toward her. He complied with the unspoken command, and she lifted her lips to his and softly brushed them together. Tingles shot through her, warming her to her toes.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she stood and slid into his lap, straddling him.
His tongue found hers, and she placed her hands on either side of his chest and ran them up his neck to the sides of his face. “But,” he mumbled, “what if—”
“Shhhh,” she whispered back and kept kissing him. She wanted to do something to comfort him. She wanted to make him feel better. She couldn’t stand to see him suffer.
He smiled against her mouth and went back to kissing her. Beneath her fingers, the tension fell away from his shoulders, and he leaned back in the chair.
“Should we… ?” he started.
“Do you want to?”
Violet eyes held lust for her, and his bulge answered for him.
“I can leave right now,” she said.
“I don’t want you to.”
“Neither do I.”
Their mouths met. His tongue battled hers. But she’d already decided: No, saucy boy, this is for you. Xaviara was emboldened. She was falling for this man, despite how much trouble it might cause her, and he was hurting. She needed to do something. No matter how this turned out—if they ended up together or had a one-time fling—she wanted him to know that he was unique and special in this world of cheaters and saboteurs.
Her hands slid down his torso.
* * *
Nicholen’s blood roared as Xaviara kissed him. He was used to being in charge—but he loved that she was taking the lead. Her hands slid slowly down his chest, heating him up from the inside. His member raged to attention, straining against where she straddled his hips. She shifted, allowing him to spring up, and then pressed herself against him, trapping him with delicious heat.
He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted another woman, rules be damned. Perhaps the forbidden nature of this tryst made him want it all the more. He’d given his life to this career for so many years, it was time he took something back.
Her hands finished their journey. She rocked her hips back enough to catch him and encircle his length with deft, strong fingers. She paused only to wrangle him free of the light fabric pants. With his manhood exposed to the cool air, she continued the up and down strokes. He tried reaching for her pants, but she batted his hands away.
Her intention was clear: she wanted to pleasure him. “Umm,” he said.
“Shhh,” she replied. Her scent was fruity and floral, intoxicating to his psy-sense. She was aroused and pleased, and he wanted to devour her.
No, he couldn’t simply let her… But she was amazing at that…
She stood and the heat of her vanished. With one hand on his shaft and one hands on his pants, she tugged at the fabric. “Lift your hips.”
Still fighting for the right objection, he obliged. Soon they were pooled around his ankles.
In a flash, she was on her knees, kissing his torso without removing a hand from where she gripped him. Every stroke sent waves of pleasure from his belly to his balls.
“I can’t let you,” he said. “Let me. Please.” Forebears, he didn’t want her to stop, but he wasn’t used to taking without giving back.
“Don’t be silly,” Xaviara said between kisses. “I already know you’re a gentleman. My turn will come. Won’t it?” Her mouth was moving closer to his cock, and her hand never stopped moving on his length.
“But what does it mean?” he managed to gasp out.
“It means I want to do this for you. Lean back.”
And with that last admonishment, her warm, soft lips covered his head, her hand squeezed down his shaft, and her other hand rolled his balls back and forth between her fingers.
He’d run out of protestations. Xaviara was a force of nature. She got what she wanted, and what she wanted, apparently, was to—
“Ohhhh,” he growled. Her tongue was amazing. Just like the rest of her.
The rules only covered an active delegation. Once the treaty was signed, they could pursue a relationship. And he badly wanted to see more of this woman. She was strong, smart, sexy, bold, and—
She sucked in his length, and all thoughts of anything but Xaviara’s mouth fled from his mind. He was lost in her, all focus on his rigid cock. It had been so long since he’d been pleasured in this way, he’d almost forgotten how delicious it was. Her mouth was so hot… Her grip was so tight…
Xaviara grabbed his hand and put it on the back of her head, sending waves of pleasure searing through him. She bobbed up and down, faster now, tongue swirling in complex patterns that sent him higher and higher. He wanted to draw this out—the feel of her mouth on him, the look she was giving him from between his knees.
He couldn’t hold on. He was rising, testicles contracting. “I’m going to…”
She squeezed and sucked hard, and he came into her mouth, seed bursting from his manhood. His hand groped through her hair as the rest of his body went rigid. She was swallowing, sucking, swallowing, as he pulsed and groaned and threw his head back.
And then he was relaxing—looking down at that saucy glint in her deep brown eyes. She let him drop from her mouth and said, “I certainly hope that made you feel better.”
Coming back from the haze, he let out a strangled laugh. “Oh, it did. It definitely did.”
But it wasn’t only the blowjob. It was her belief in his capability. Her actions spoke as loud as her words: they would find the saboteur together and stop whoever it was. She had absolutely no doubt in him.