His cock hardened, pressing tight against the fly of his pants, but he forced himself to stay exactly where he was instead of pouncing on her. He had hours to formulate a plan for the rescue, but now, in this brief window of time, he wanted only Mara. To brand her however he could.

“You’re good at being in charge?” He eyed her up and down, a deliberate provocation. “Prove it.”

She naturally rose to his goading, even as she sent him a look that said she knew exactly what he was doing. “The flyboy wants substantiation? That, I can provide.” After locking the autopilot, she rose from the captain’s seat.

Kell watched with hooded eyes as she slipped between him and the control panel. A change came over her, so subtly that he felt more than saw it. A freeing of herself, the deliberate choice to be as physical and unrestrained as she wanted. This was different from what had happened between them at the lodging in Beskidt By. Then, she had succumbed to the desire between them. Now, her choice to go wild was deliberate. His arousal burned hotter.

She bent down, placed her hands on his knees and pressed them apart, giving her more room and giving him an incredible view of the soft shadows between her breasts. Her nipples beaded against her blouse, tight points beneath the silk. She leaned close, keeping her mouth a bare inch from his own.

“This feels like proof.” She reached out and cupped him through the front of his pants. “And this.” Her whispered words were punctuated by the movement of her hand, grasping his shaft and running up its length.

He thought he might lose his mind when she unfastened his pants and took his cock into her hand.

Her slim fingers wrapped around him, stroking him, bare flesh to bare flesh. She caressed him as if he was more than a means to pleasure. As if he truly meant something to her.

Then she sank down to kneel between his legs. Kell’s breath ripped out of him as he stared down at her. The sight of her grasping his cock as she licked her lips made him fight for reserves of discipline—otherwise, this would be over far too soon.

“This,” she murmured.

“Yes.”

She lowered her head. Ran her tongue around the ridge of his cock. Around and around. And then she took him into her mouth, as much as she could fit. What she could not get into her mouth, she grasped with her hand, so that no part of him went unattended.

He lost the ability to form rational thought. Words, impressions, spun through his mind and body as Mara sucked him. Hot. Wet. Ruthless. Clever. Perfect.

The ship continued on its course, and he saw through slitted eyes the land passing beneath them.

The distant landscape rolled away, and no one below had any idea what went on in the ship flying overhead.

This was about her control, but he couldn’t stop himself from threading his fingers into her creamy hair, both guiding and being guided as she moved. Her eyes met his for a moment before closing in satisfaction. To give him pleasure gave her pleasure, aroused her.

When her free hand came up to stroke her nipple through her blouse, he groaned.

It was good. Too good.

“Stop, me luna. Before I— fuck, yes.”

She sucked at him harder, moving faster. His hand dropped from her head, and he grasped the edges of his seat, his grip steel-tight, as his hips surged.

He came with a harsh groan. On and on it went, his orgasm streaming from him in bolts stronger than the lightning above. His climax felt drawn from every part of his body. She swallowed him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes closed, as if wanting to know only the taste of him.

Wrung dry, he collapsed back against his seat, panting.

“See? Command comes naturally to me.” Though her words were a taunt, her expression was tender. She had selflessly given him ecstasy—something a casual fuck would never do.

“Sometimes it’s better to let someone else take control.”

Before she could say another word, he had her up against the control panel. This time, he knelt between her legs, his hands on her thighs. Her calves pressed against his shoulders as her feet braced on the chair behind him. The look on her face was one of shock and fierce arousal. And gratitude. She did not expect him to return the favor.

“Beginning to see the wisdom in that,” she gasped.

He hiked up her skirt, then growled when he noticed that she wore no panties. All he saw was her bare skin, her slick, swollen pussy. Gods, she was beautiful. He had to taste her, brand her with his body by giving her the most intense pleasure possible, as she had done for him.

At the first touch of his tongue to her folds, they both moaned. He teased her at first, tracing her, playing lightly along her sensitive flesh, circling her entrance. She writhed beneath him like living energy, gasping wordless demands. He knew what she wanted, and he wanted to give it to her. His strokes deepened as he licked her.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since forever. The moment I saw you.”

Spice and sweetness. Nothing more delicious. He swirled around her clit. She thrashed at the sensation, yet held him closer. Two of his fingers plunged into her, and he felt her clinging heat pulling on him.

His lips fastened on the bud of her clit, and he sucked as he worked his fingers in and out. Coiling tension vibrated through her body, her thighs on either side of him.

“Kell…yes…gods…” She came with a scream, flinging her arms out, pushing up from the control panel. Her taste flooded his mouth, the primal fire of her essence. He needed to give her this—

pleasure that was hers alone, that showed she meant more to him than simple physical gratification, that even when they parted ways, he would never be apart from her.

He would not relent. Not until he licked and sucked her through two more climaxes, his fingers deep within her. Rather than diminishing, her releases built atop one another, lasting longer each time, her cries filling the cockpit and the whole ship with sounds of pleasure.

Sprawled and gasping, she barely had strength to open her eyes and gaze down at him kneeling before her. “We’re both very good at being in charge.”

“A good commander knows when to quit, but an even better commander knows when to hold firm.”

She shifted and her eyes widened when she saw that his cock had hardened again, standing up thick and ready for more of her. Pleasuring her, marking her, had done that to him.

“Flattering.”

Relaxed as she was, she didn’t protest as he sat her in the captain’s chair long enough for him to strip. They both fumbled with her clothing, and by the time they’d removed everything but her gauntlets, he was tight with need. When those, too, fell to the cockpit floor and she was entirely naked, he gathered her sleekness up in his arms and carried her the short distance to the galley.

“The bed might feel slighted,” she noted when he sat her on the galley table.

“Too far.” Even the few yards away to her quarters seemed an insurmountable distance when he needed inside her so badly.

He positioned her at the edge of the table, her legs surrounding him as he stood. Instead of thrusting into her, he found himself slowing, giving himself time to touch her. And he did. He ran his hands over her, relearning the shape and feel of her, the textures of her satiny skin. She sighed and purred beneath his touch, her own hands roaming over his body. Everywhere she touched became bright with awareness and need. He plucked at her dusky nipples and she arched into his hands with a cry.

Within moments, they both shook. Their eyes met and held. Her gaze went straight through him,

sharp as an energy blade, but the wound felt good and he would not look away. She knew who he was and what he’d done, and, in exchange, had given him secret, guarded parts of herself. They saw each other at that moment, removed from their demarcated roles of 8th Wing pilot and scavenger. Street brawler and outcast princess. Kell and Mara. Themselves alone.

Emotion shone in her gaze. Yet she did not turn away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his taut shoulders, her legs around his waist, and held him tightly.

“Be inside me now,” she said, her words soft and hot against his mouth.

He slid into her. Deliberate, slow, feeling every silken inch of her take every thick inch of him until he was fully within her, hips cradling hips. Their gasps of pleasure mingled. For a few heartbeats, neither moved. They stared into each other’s eyes. Intimacy wove between them. Stillness could not last, not when she felt so good and her cheeks flushed and her lids lowered and he had to move now or else explode. He dragged his hips back, nearly pulling out entirely, before sinking back into her. Again and again. Her eyes closed, her head tipped back.

“Kell.” Her movements matched his, sleek and hungry.

His intent to take this slow burned away. He could not stop himself, his pace increasing, until the sounds of flesh meeting flesh joined with her gasps and his groans.

She was so tight, so flawless. Liquid and flame. It had never been this good, not with anyone but her.

He reached between them, finding her clit with the pads of his fingers, then stroking, rubbing.

Her legs clasped him as she bowed up to scream her release. Control shattered. His climax tore through him, a fiery annihilation that scoured him from the inside out. At the moment of his release, he bit her neck. Mine.

Her quick yelp of pained shock turned to a moan of pleasure.