Etana watched Areg return to the cave and lay down beside her. “Sounds like both of us are leaving here tomorrow.”

She took his face in her hands and kissed him, whispering “thank Aheya” between hot kisses. When he wiped her cheeks with his thumbs, she realized she’d been crying. But those were happy tears—tears of relief and hope and promise of a future.

Areg’s eyes were sad, though, filled with a deep melancholy that made Etana’s heart clench.

“What is it?” she asked, kissing his palms. “You can tell me.”

“Nyssa.”

“Your late sister?” She blinked, then frowned, confused.

“Nyssa is alive,” he said. “She’s at Commander Heidd’s house.”

“What?”

“I don’t know if he can protect her from Ultek and Boggond.” Areg swallowed, before adding, “Or if he’s trying to.”

Etana searched his face.

Please, don’t say you’re staying behind. Please, please, please!

“She’s in too much danger,” he said. “Right now, I’m not in a position to help her, but I’m coming back as soon as that changes.”

Etana nodded.

He stroked her cheek. “It’ll be my priority, sweet pea.”

“I understand.” She smiled faintly. “You wouldn’t be you if it wasn’t. What do you plan to do?”

“Depends on what I can do, on where I’ll end up… But, first off, I’ll need reliable intel on Heidd. Hopefully, Colonel Yaggar will help with that. If the intel is good, I’ll contact Heidd and we’ll figure something out together. If it turns out he’s no longer the man I once knew, I’ll need a well-trained team to help me get Nyssa out.”

“Enforcers?”

He shook his head. “They aren’t at liberty to sign up for unsanctioned operations like that. I’m thinking mercenary cyborgs.”

It sounded dangerous and difficult, but Etana pushed it out of her mind. She’d worry about it when the time came.

They’d just received wonderful news. She wanted to bask in it. There’d been too few good tidings, too little hope for Areg—for her and Areg together—lately, to scorn a huge one like this.

She kissed him.

His lips parting, he teased her tongue with light, fleeting strokes, then pushed in more deeply. She responded by opening up and meeting his delicious invasion with equal ardor.

It happens tonight, she decided.

Sometime over the last twenty-four hours, the promise they’d made to Rhori had simply become moot.

Pressing her naked body into Areg’s, she reached down and wrapped her fingers around his fully erect sex.

He groaned with pleasure against her mouth.

She began to stroke him.

Soon, his fingers found her center and began to rub and pump.

She bit his lip.

His touch grew rougher, more urgent. Shifting, he bent toward her breasts and took a nipple into his mouth. She arched to give him better access. He sucked, all while stoking a fire in her loins.

She wanted to tell him, “Take me,” but all words were stolen from her when he pressed a fingertip between her folds, beyond her little pleasure bud, and her flesh gave in. Tentatively, he moved it a little farther, then withdrew, then pushed in again, setting into a deliciously fast rhythm.

Etana tossed her head to one side then to the other as pleasure flared, building up.

“Spread your legs,” he said, shifting.

She obliged immediately.

Moving between her legs, he settled on top of her, his finger still pumping.

He was heavy.

Etana had never been pinned down, almost crushed by something—someone—so large.

But she loved it.

She loved his weight along her length, from her thighs to her tummy to her chest, loved how he surrounded her, how his torso flattened her breasts, and the hard press of his manhood against her hip.

Gripping his neck, she spread her legs a little more, letting his finger stretch her a little more.

Soon, her eyes glazed over and her breathing grew loud. Her sex was drenched again, but it didn’t bother her anymore. She knew what it was now. Her body readying itself for him, craving him.

“Etana,” he murmured, working her, “Sweet pea… You have no idea how I want you…”

Oh, I think I do. Pleasure grew another notch. It was intoxicating. He was intoxicating. Warm, big, hard in every place where she was soft. Strong. Every muscle of his taut body, every inch of his velvety skin gave off a maleness that was as vigorous as it was tender.

That heady maleness triggered a wild, visceral response in her. It made her want to give, give, give. Everything. Anything he wanted.

She felt free, soaring.

She needed him inside of her.

“Take me,” she said. “Take me completely.”

He halted, drew back a little and gazed into her eyes.

She lifted her head. “Please?”

He rolled off her and onto his back. “There’s nothing I want more right now, sweet pea, but…”

“But?”

“I’m not in the habit of breaking my word.”

Etana rolled her eyes. Impossible man!

Sometimes, she had the impression he was his own worst enemy, punishing himself over and over for some old sin. Well then, she, laundry maid Etana Tidryn, was here to hand him his absolution. She sat up and straddled him.

His hands went to her waist even as his hungry eyes roamed her body. They feasted on her breasts and her tummy and lingered on the dark triangle between her legs. But he didn’t touch it.

Fine.

Etana began to slide along the length of his shaft, forward and backward, pressing against it, the pull inside her growing unbearably urgent.

His eyes burned into her mound.

Feeling wilder than ever before, she pulled herself up and guided his member to her entrance. Her intention had been to bear down, but her maidenhead resisted more than it had done to his finger.

“A little help, please?” She pouted in frustration.

“What if you get pregnant?”

“I won’t. My friend Gullie—she and her husband are trying to have a baby—told me the days just before and just after a woman’s period aren’t fertile. My bleeding is due any day now.”

He watched her for a moment. “I have a condition.”

“Oh?”

“If the rescue attempt fails tomorrow, you go straight to the Orogate Temple, and you take the money I have left.”

“Half of it.”

He nodded.

“It’s a deal,” she said.

“I’m not done.” He arched an eyebrow. “If, for some reason, the enforcers can’t take me along, you’ll go with them.”

“Why shouldn’t they be able to—”

“Those are my terms.”

“Lord Sebi!” She drew her brows together and tut-tutted theatrically. “Are you trading your sexual favors?”

He blinked once. Then an open, winsome smile spread across his face. “That’s exactly what I’m doing, Dame Tidryn.”

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll do as you asked.” She hoped to Aheya she wouldn’t have to.

His eyes bore into hers. He was no longer smiling.

With renewed energy, she started pushing down, so turned on and hungry for the feel of him inside her, she didn’t care if it would hurt when her hymen tore.

His grip tightened as he held her steady and thrust up into her. Her sheath stretched a little more—and yielded.

Etana sucked in a breath, realizing that the crown of his member was inside her.

He stopped moving, stroked her thighs and backside, then brought his hand to her mound and began to rub her pearl. Pleasure grew, rising in tidal waves and making her part her lips and lean forward to clutch his shoulders.

She lowered herself a little more, then more, gasping each time she took in more of him. He began to rock into her. Beads of sweat glistened between his pectoral muscles as he strained to pace himself.

Gradually, discomfort let up and only pleasure remained.

She rode him faster, harder, rushing toward something she didn’t have a name for. Their hot breathing mingled. When his thrusts picked up intensity, sending delicious jolts through her, she moaned. And then, suddenly, he was inside to the hilt.

“Is this how you wanted me to take you?” he asked, his voice low, husky.

She gave him a slow nod.

His eyes riveted to hers, he pulled her up until only his tip was sheathed, and then slammed into her, hard.

Her head lolled, and a strange, low-pitched sound escaped her. Such pleasure!

He did that again, and again, and again, and she lost all control, moaning, shaking, and racing toward her release. And then, without warning, her inner muscles tightened and spasmed around him. She shuddered with bliss. Another powerful thrust, and Areg growled his own climax.

When she came back to herself, she whispered his name.

“Yes, sweet pea.”

There was so much she wanted to say to him!

But she couldn’t find the right words to describe the intensity of how she felt in her heart and in her body after such a short acquaintance. It would’ve sounded pathetic and shallow to confess that she knew she’d never feel like this about anyone. She’d come across like a drama queen if she told him she’d happily agree to spend the rest of her life paralyzed like Mayka if she could have a year with him…

“I love you,” she said.

His chest heaved. “That’s… unfortunate. My advice is to backtrack and fall in love with someone more dependable. Someone less likely to lose his head, literally speaking. Young Geru, maybe?”

She half giggled half sobbed. “Much too late for that, I’m afraid.”

“Pity. Well then, if it’s any consolation”—his gaze grew solemn—“I love you, too, sweet pea. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone before.”

Their bodies still joined, she bent down and kissed his lips, his bearded chin, his jaw, his nose, his eyes. She traced his features with her fingertips, smelled his skin, and drank his face in with her eyes.

It was as if she wanted that face branded into her heart, forever, so that she could always see and feel him, whether he was with her or far away across the galaxy. Or even farther away in the Eternal Garden.

A long while later when they lay on the pallet beside each other with their bodies entwined in a snug embrace, Areg’s commlet emitted an unusual sound.

He reached over and picked it up. “Dammit!”

The device had turned completely off.