Sons of Lyra: Runaway Hearts Read online

  “To running away,” she said and a flicker of surprise crossed his face and then disappeared again.

  It hadn’t been hard to figure out. She was running away after all. It was easy to spot someone doing the same.

  He eyed the drink, sniffed it as though checking to see whether it was poisoned, and then knocked it back in one go. She watched him closely. He didn’t even flinch. She drank hers, letting it ease down her throat and enjoying the hot burning trail that followed it. Her head felt a little lighter.

  She picked up the plate of food—small titbits of various meats and pastries. She offered it to him. He declined so she helped herself. It was hard to eat delicately when she was hungry and was trying to get enough food in her stomach to stop the spirit from knocking her out.

  Her eyes widened in surprise when he leaned forwards, uncrossed his legs and shifted to the edge of the seat. He refilled their glasses.

  “Minervan, I presume. It tastes much like Koji.” He held the glass out to her. She went to take it but he moved it out of her reach. His gaze burned her as he raked it over her, from her eyes down to her knees and back again. She swallowed and blinked slowly. He was more universe-wise than she’d given him credit for. He knew it was Koji. “They call it Koji for a reason. Do you know what that reason is?”

  She shook her head. She did know, but she wasn’t about to make him suspicious by admitting it.

  “Koji means death in Minervan. They say it’s so strong that it has been the death of men... and women.” He offered it to her again, and again moved it out of her reach when she tried to take it. “Come, let me serve it to you in a very Minervan way.”

  There was a hint of darkness and anger in his voice. She hoped he didn’t suspect what she was up to. He shouldn’t be so disturbed to find a popular Minervan drink on a Minervan ship, heading to a Minervan space station. She was overreacting.

  Before she had time to refuse his offer, his hand was against her back. He ran it up to the back of her neck, tickling it when his fingers cradled her and sending another wave of tingles racing down her spine. She fought the temptation to close her eyes over the warmth and sensuality of his caress, and stared at him. She’d forgotten just how seductive a Minervan way of serving it could be. He held the glass between his index finger and thumb and brought it to her lips. His little finger brushed her jaw line. She closed her eyes now, unable to stop herself. The cold glass touched her lips and she drank the liquid down. It went straight to her head. Her eyes opened when he lowered the glass, tracing it down her neck to her chest, teasing the curve of her breasts. She swallowed hard and stared into his eyes.

  He smiled.

  Her heart pounded.

  Damn him.

  She pushed him off her and straightened herself out. “You’re a little presumptuous to think you can do that to a woman you don’t know.”

  He knocked back his drink and refilled the glasses. She looked at him. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of it affecting him. His feelings were stable—calm and collected. She couldn’t detect any change in them. Two glasses of Koji should be enough to start getting him tipsy. Was his stomach made of Varkan steel?

  She ate a little more food to bolster her defences against the drink. There was no way she was going to get drunk before him. She had to make it go to his head somehow.

  He picked up his glass. She took it from him, making sure that her fingers touched his in the process. He looked at her. She smiled and wet her lips. His gaze fell to them, darkening with desire.

  “I know another Minervan way of serving,” she said in a calm whisper, gunning for seductive and succeeding. “Would you let me show you?”

  He nodded. She knocked her own drink back to give herself a little courage and ignored the hot fire that swept through her veins. She just had to hold it together a little longer and then she could get out of here.

  She stood and he raised a brow at her when she handed him the drink. “Hold this a moment.”

  His eyes shot to her legs when she hitched the long front panel of her dress up, gradually exposing herself. His gaze followed the hem of her dress as it rose, revealing her shins at first and then her knees and finally her thighs. The visible hunger painted on his face was enough to make her give him a brief flash of her underwear before she regained control and lowered the dress to cover them. She wasn’t supposed to be actually seducing him. This was just about getting away. None of this was real.

  His eyes fixed on one spot and his brow rose. He was looking at her thigh. She traced her fingers along the band around it to the small knife it held. His gaze darkened. Did the thought of her carrying a weapon affect him in a sexual way? He looked positively hungry for her now. She undid the buckle and removed the knife and holster from her leg. With a smile, she tossed it onto the table. His attention flicked there for a moment and then focused on her exposed thighs again.

  She walked over to stand in front of him, her dress still hitched up. He leaned back when she pressed one knee into the couch beside his thigh. His eyes were wide now, dark but fascinated. Her heart raced, sending her head spinning with the alcohol. Nerves made her tremble. She just wanted to get away. If she fed him the shot this way, the alcohol would go to his head. It had nothing to do with wanting to feel his hands on her, or his lips against hers.

  She brought her other knee up, pressed it into the couch beside his other thigh, and held his gaze as she lowered herself to sit on his lap.

  He swallowed. She smiled and took the glass from his hand. His hand fell to the couch. She pooled the front part of her dress between her thighs and cocked her head to one side, waiting. He didn’t react as she thought he would. She’d expected his hands to go to her thighs, to touch her. Presented with so much flesh, most men would have reacted that way. Not him though. His eyes didn’t leave hers.

  She bit her lip and brought the glass up, taking a sip with half closed eyes. His gaze was intent, powerful. Her head felt light and spun a little. The Koji was getting to her, enough that she didn’t care that she was sitting on his lap in an intimate position about to do the most sensual and seductive thing she’d ever done.

  Her tongue poked out, capturing a stray drop of Koji on the rim of the glass. His lips parted.

  Leaning towards him, she pressed one hand against his chest and was surprised at the hardness of it. She’d been right. Hidden beneath the shirt was a toned body. A voice at the back of her mind said she’d give anything to see it. She shooed it away and focused on him. He was feeling aroused. Good.

  Time to turn up the heat.

  She ran her hand up and around his neck, burying her fingers into his dark hair. His eyes narrowed, fire burning brightly in them. She brought the glass to his lips, skimming it across them, lacing them with the Koji. He closed his eyes. Perfect.

  Her heart thundered with adrenaline and her eyes zeroed in on his mouth. She denied her own rising desire and ran the glass along his lips again. This time he licked them after she’d made a pass. Her own tongue ran over her lips, mimicking his. She took another sip of the drink and told herself to get on with it and stop teasing him. She wanted to tease him though. She wanted to torture him until he snapped and some primal instinct inside him took over.

  She shifted on his lap and his jaw muscles tensed. He liked that. She glanced at his hands. She moved again and his fingers flexed and inched closer to her thighs.

  She brought the glass to his lips. He parted them and she tilted the glass, slowly tipping the liquid into his mouth. He frowned. His hands went to her thighs, sending a jolt through her that electrified every nerve ending in her body and made her groin throb. He slid them higher. She pressed her cheek against his, trying to steel herself against the effect he was having on her. Her fingers tipped the glass up and then it fell from them, tumbling to the floor as his hands reached her backside and pulled her closer.

  She breathed hard into his ear, struggling for control, and dragged her cheek against his as she drew back. Her eyes
met his for a moment, long enough to see all the desire and sense it in him, and then she closed hers. Her hands captured his cheeks. She kissed him.

  It wasn’t gentle or sweet. It was rough, demanding and passionate, and she couldn’t stop herself. Her mind screamed that she was supposed to be escaping now, that the Koji had done its work and he was beyond tipsy. Her heart screamed that she had to stay right here, where it felt so good and warm, and where she felt so safe. Her body cried out for his touch.

  She leaned forwards, pressing him into the back of the long seat and pinning him there with her hands. They pushed against his shoulders, restraining him. His hands caressed her thighs, stirring the fire inside her until she felt a slave to her desire. Her teeth clashed with his as she kissed him, their tongues tangling and breath hard against each other’s lips. She didn’t care. She needed more. He tasted sweet like Koji but he felt strong. His fingers flexed against her backside, drawing her closer still. He raised his hips and ground against her, eliciting a moan from her that she didn’t even try to contain.

  Her hips moved against him, her heart pounding when she felt the evidence of his arousal rubbing her crotch. She kissed him harder, lost in the hunger and the feel of him.

  This wasn’t supposed to have happened.

  She pushed off him but his hands went to her back, stopping her from escaping.

  She stared into his eyes. This wasn’t right. She’d had it with men. They were nothing but trouble. She had to get away.

  His hands locked against her, holding her tight. She frowned at him, pushed against his chest and then pleaded him with her eyes to let her go.

  “Stay,” he whispered and she stilled in his arms. There was such an earnest look in his eyes and no trace of lust in his feelings. He wanted her but it wasn’t empty desire feeding his hunger. She touched his cheek, trying to decipher his feelings and needing the contact to make them clearer. “I can protect you... whatever it is that you’re running from, we can run together.”

  They were tempting words, an alluring promise that spoke to her heart and provoked a response. It told her to stay. He was strong. Perhaps he could protect her.

  But he was Lyran.

  She turned her head away from him, needing to see something other than his face in order to make her decision. He was too tempting, too handsome and powerful. She closed her eyes. Could he really protect her? Could anyone?

  She grabbed the bottle and swigged it, needing the numbing affect to kill off the part of her brain telling her that she was insane. He took the bottle from her and she opened her eyes. He drank some and then leaned towards her. She breathed in sharply when his tongue brushed her neck and he kissed it. It sent tingles racing across her skin. Her eyes closed again and she tilted her head back. His free hand tightened against her upper back, supporting her as he kissed across her chest.

  Her hand found his and she took the bottle again. She drank another mouthful and then reached out behind her and placed it down on the table.

  Even if he couldn’t protect her, she still wanted this time with him.

  His mouth reached her breasts and he made fast work of the laces holding her dress closed. She stared at the ceiling with a wide open mouth as he exposed her to the cool air of the room. His fingers grazed her nipple as he pulled the material away and then she moaned when his lips fastened around it. She arched into him, her hand settling against the back of his head while her other one went to his shirt. She wanted it off him. She wanted to see him and feel him.

  She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed the two sides apart, exposing his body. It was a struggle to get him off her, but she shoved him until he gave up and leaned back into the seat. Her eyes raked over his body. It was stunning. Golden smooth skin stretched tight over pronounced muscles that made her mouth water and her pussy throb.

  She didn’t care if he was Lyran or a criminal or that she didn’t know him. This attraction was too strong to ignore. She had to have him. It would ruin her, but it didn’t matter. Perhaps if she was tainted by another man, her father wouldn’t be able to give her to the highest bidder. Perhaps no one but this man would want her then.

  She’d be happy if that were the case.

  Her fingers traced down his chest to his stomach and from there to his trousers. She unbuckled them, ignoring his weak protests, and slid her hand inside to find his hard cock. It was bigger than she’d imagined it would be. The skin was silken and hot. She kept one hand against his chest as she wriggled out of her underwear, having to shift onto one foot at a time to get them off. It was a farce and she was thankful he didn’t laugh at how ridiculous she must have looked. His eyes never left her face.

  When she was free of her underwear, she tugged his trousers down enough to release his cock. It rested flat against his belly. She met his gaze and ran her fingers down the length of it. His eyes darkened and narrowed. She smiled, swallowed her nerves, and stroked it again. This time his eyes rolled closed and he sighed.

  She’d been taught well about how to pleasure a man but all that knowledge was rapidly leaving her as she sat astride his legs, treading the fine line between going forwards and running away. If she did this, she would spoil herself. No man would want her. Her father would kill her.

  If she did this, she would be a woman and she would be happy that her first time hadn’t been with a man she had been given to.

  He was a man of her own choosing.

  He opened his eyes as she took hold of his length, wrapping her fingers around it. His lips parted as though he was going to say something and fear lanced through her when she sensed he was going to tell her to stop. She kissed him, silencing his words and distracting him. He couldn’t stop her. She didn’t want to stop.

  His hands wrapped around her back, tight and strong, as she raised herself up and moved forwards. Nerves fluttered in her stomach when lowered herself and the tip of his cock pressed against her slick arousal. She kept going, driven by desire and a need to escape her old life completely.

  Their sighs combined when she bore down on him, his cock sliding into her. It stung but she didn’t let it show. She didn’t want him to know that this was her first time. She’d been told everything, shown everything. She knew what to do.

  He stopped kissing her and pushed her backwards, his eyes searching hers. She kept the answer to their question hidden inside. He didn’t need to know. Closing her eyes to hide from him, she grasped hold of his shoulders and raised herself up the length of his cock. She moaned at the delicious friction and then eased back down. It felt so good. Her teacher had never told her how good it was.

  She moved again, slowly building a rhythm that had him breathing hard and her heart thundering. He grabbed her hips, assisting her, and slid further down the chair. Her pussy hit his pelvis on the way down and she groaned at the sweep of pleasure that spread from her clit.

  Her eyes opened and she stared into his, losing herself in him and the feeling of their joined bodies. It was divine. His breath was hot against her skin, washing over her, his fingers grasping her waist. He tensed beneath her and she moaned hoarsely when he bucked up inside her, hard and rough. She moved faster, sliding up and down his cock, riding it into oblivion. He dragged her back to him and kissed her so deep that she lost all sense of who she was and who he was. They became one inside her, one mind and one heart, one soul and set of feelings. She clung to him, moaning into his mouth with each thrust of his cock into her. Her whole body tightened.

  So did his.

  He groaned against her lips, deep and strained, as he came, shooting his seed deep into her. She pressed her cheek against his and kept going, reaching for her own orgasm.

  It came swift and fast, rushing through her like molten lava and leaving her breathless. Bright white sparks burst against the darkness of her closed eyes. She buried her face into his neck and stilled, keeping him inside her and breathing hard against him as she trembled.

  That definitely wasn’t like her teacher had told her it would b
e.

  His arms wrapped around her, holding her close. She nuzzled his neck and leaned hard against him, sagging in his embrace and memorising how comfortable she felt.