In the Devil's Nebula (Phoenix Adventures #2) (13 page)

“Yeah. Now. Finding Eos soothed something
ragged in him. Dad had done a number on him, but for a while he
wasn’t okay and I won’t ever forget that Nik and I left him
there.”

“Maybe being in the Guild wasn’t that much
worse than family life.”

Zayn fiddled with her hair. “Families can be
a challenge but my brothers…they’re always there for me. No matter
what. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Now siblings were something Ria didn’t know
anything about. Her fellow Guild assassins were just as likely to
assassinate her if ordered. “I always thought that at least the
Guild gave me a sense of belonging. But the level of trust and
loyalty I see you have with your brothers…I’ve never experienced
that.”

“Yeah, but family can drive you crazy as
well.” His voice sounded lighter now. “Belonging is good, too. I
had that with the Strike Wing.”

“You miss it?”

“The ships, yeah. The camaraderie,
sometimes. But Nik, Dath and Malin and now Eos, they give me that
and more. But the Wing, we weren’t the same as family. Vik used to
say we were family…but it always came down to the chain of command
and the rules. She and I…we never explored our connection because
it was against the rules. And the more I think about it, I’m not
sure I would have trusted Vik to pick me over her damned precious
rules.”

They both fell into silence and Ria stared
hard at the trees. Then she noticed the trees were getting taller.
A twinkle of light off the side of the track caught her eye. “Zayn,
look.”

He peered over her shoulder. “Hot damn.” He
directed the horse off the track and they stopped at the edge of a
waterhole.

It glimmered under the light of the twin
moons. It wasn’t large and was fed by what looked like an
underground spring that bubbled at one end. A small cave was carved
back into the cliff face.

Zayn slid off the horse. Ria was pleased to
see his pain was under control because he moved with his usual
sleek movements. He gripped her waist and set her down. Then he was
striding to the edge of the water. He slipped off his shirt as he
went.

Ria’s mouth went dry. There was enough light
for her to make out the hard ridges of muscle in his back. He
squatted at the edge, scooped up a handful of water and splashed it
over his face. It ran down his bare chest and she watched a trickle
arrow down toward the waistband of his jeans.

She managed to get her brain functioning.
“Don’t drink it. We don’t know if it’s contaminated.” She pulled
the scanner from her boot and strode forward. She swung it over the
pool.

His eyes had narrowed. “I thought I told you
no technology.”

The scanner beeped. “Water’s drinkable.” She
slipped the device back in her boot. “Lucky I’m not so hung up on
rules.”

He pushed to his feet. “Lucky no one found
it. I’ll scout around, collect some wood for a fire and if we’re
lucky, I might find us something to eat.”

“Okay.” She tried not to let her gaze linger
on that sculpted chest.

He touched a gentle finger to her temple.
“You should give this a good wash. Don’t want it to get infected
before we get back to the ship.”

She managed a nod. How could one small touch
turn her insides to mush?

Then he was striding away and even after the
darkness had swallowed him up, she still stared after him.

***

With an armload of small branches, Zayn made
his way back to the waterhole. Attached to his belt was a large
lizard-type creature. He admitted to himself that he was glad Ria
had brought the scanner. It could tell them if the ugly reptile was
edible. His stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly. He really
hoped it was. It had given Zayn a merry chase before he’d managed
to catch the damn thing.

Stepping out of the trees, he instantly
scanned for Ria.

He didn’t see her anywhere.

His heart gave a hard thump. He moved closer
to the pool.

And spotted a pile of discarded clothes.
Then he heard a splash of water.

He froze.

As she rose out of the water, the branches
dropped from Zayn’s arms and smacked against his boots. Her wet
skin glistened in the moonslight and maybe he should have thought
of poetic descriptions of goddesses but he was no poet and instead
he thought she looked like a she-devil. Come to tempt him and bring
all the dark fantasies stewing in his head to life.

Her breasts were round and high, her nipples
tightened to hard points. As she flowed out of the water, he noted
the way her waist nipped inward before it flared out again to full
hips. Her legs were long and toned, all of her firm muscle. And
lord help him, there was no hair between her legs, just bare, bare
skin.

His mouth was dry and he couldn’t move.
Didn’t want to move. Except maybe to storm into the water and yank
her into his arms.

Suddenly, she lifted her gaze and
stilled.

She didn’t hurry to cover herself or drop
back into the water. She just watched him. After a long humming
minute, she made her way out of the water. As she got closer, Zayn
reckoned she couldn’t miss the raging erection straining against
the zipper of his jeans.

“I started washing my wound and decided I
may as well wash all over.”

He swallowed, not letting his gaze drop from
her eyes. “Isn’t it cold?”

“No. It’s not hot but also not cold. The
spring must retain some heat from wherever it comes from
underground.”

He needed to touch her. Might die if he
didn’t. He touched her temple and studied the now-clean wound. “Not
as bad as it looked now the blood’s gone.”

“It’s fine.”

He brushed a finger through the damp strands
of her hair now plastered to her head. “It’ll scar if it isn’t
healed soon.”

“Not my first scar and probably not my
last.”

As she said it, his gaze now drifted down.
He saw a thick ridge of scar tissue on her shoulder. He let his
fingers drift over it.

“A Crossfire gambler on Vegas III stabbed me
with a shard of broken glass.”

Zayn spied another scar on her toned bicep.
A starburst that could only have come from a projectile weapon. He
remembered Vik had a similar one on her arm from a mission into the
Wolff Nebula. Even though scars could be removed, she’d kept it as
a badge of honor. “And this one?”

Ria’s brow wrinkled. “I’m not sure. I don’t
remember. I have so many I lose track.”

“You could get them removed.”

Her chin lowered. “That’s not the assassin
way. And besides, they don’t bother me. They’re a reminder of what
I’ve survived.”

He tipped her chin up. “They don’t bother me
either. I like a woman whose life shows on her skin. You’re a
beautiful woman, Ria.”

“No one’s called me beautiful before.”

Unable to stop himself, he let his hand
drift lower and cup the full weight of her breast. Her lips parted
and he felt the slight tremor through her body. “There’s more to
beauty than the rail-thin actresses on the holovids. There’s
strength and determination. A body honed to perfect fitness. The
way a woman moves that body.” He flicked a thumb over one taut
nipple. “The way a woman trembles under a man’s touch. That’s true
beauty.”

Her eyelids fluttered. “I wouldn’t have
guessed a flyboy would have such pretty words.”

“I just say things how I see them.” He slid
both his hands over her shoulders, tugging her close until those
glorious breasts pressed against his chest. She felt like heaven
and her small gasp shuddered through him. Desire was a hot,
insistent fire in his gut.

He’d been lost for so long, coasting,
running from the past. Now Ria had blazed into his life, making him
think of the now, and maybe even of the future, for the first time
in two years.

Zayn speared his hands into her hair. Then
he ran his fingers down her intriguing ridges. She shivered.
“They’re sensitive?”

“Yes.”

He traced them up and down again before he
let his hands slid down her sides, following the curves and indents
of her body. She moved under his touch, a sinuous undulation. She
wanted this too and he saw no reason to keep denying them.

He cupped her buttocks, his fingers kneading
flesh. “I want you, Ria. You. I want to touch you. Taste you. I
want to sink my cock inside you and drive us both crazy until you
come all over me.”

Her breath hitched. “Are you sure?”

He knew what she was asking. One hand slid
back and gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You, Ria.”
With his other hand, he dipped between her muscled thighs, touched
the heated damp flesh that begged for his touch. She jerked against
his hand, but her gaze stayed on his.

He parted the petals of her sex, forcing
himself to go slow, to not throw her on the ground, tear his
clothes off and take her. He slid one finger inside her heat.

“Zayn!”

Using his thumb, he flicked at her swollen
clit. “Just you and me, Ria. No one else. Do you understand?”

She nodded frantically. He eased another
finger inside her, stretching the delicate tissues and this time
she moaned aloud.

Now he kissed her. He took her mouth in a
hard, firm kiss and she instantly lit up. Her tongue was on his,
her arms wrapping around him.

He needed more. So much more.

Like she read his mind, her hands were at
his belt, fumbling with the catches. Seconds later, he helped her
shuck down his jeans and tear off his shirt. Both naked, he cupped
her bottom again and urged her up.

She wrapped her long legs around his hips,
his cock brushing against the hot skin at her entrance. She moved
against him, teasing him, her teeth white in the dark of the night.
He liked seeing her happy, seeing her smile. He wondered what else
he could do to make her smile.

She moved again and the head of his cock
lodged between her lips. They stilled.

“Zayn.” His name was a violent whisper.

His fingers dug into her hip bones. “Take
me, Ria. I’m yours.”

She lifted her hips and in one solid move,
thrust down on his cock. He slid inside her in one perfect move.
She was hot and tight, and a curse slipped from his lips.

“Not such pretty words now,” she managed
with a laugh.

“My brains cells are drowning in pleasure.
Can’t manage pretty sentences.”

“I don’t need them. I only need you.”

He supported her as she lifted herself up
and down, a tantalizing slide that wound the tension higher in both
of them. There was nothing in his head—no ghosts, no past, no
present or future. Just Ria.

It was a long, slow ride. Desire curled like
a hot fire at the base of his spine.

They moved together, straining against one
another. Then Ria stiffened and her head fell forward. Her body
trembled as orgasm crashed through her. Her teeth bit into his
shoulder, her scream muffled against his skin.

Nope, he’d never get enough of her. Zayn
slammed into her one more time and then his own release took over,
taking them both into oblivion.

It was the cool night air on her bare skin
that woke Ria.

She blinked in the darkness. Her back was
cozy warm but her front was chilly. She realized Zayn was curled
around her, one palm pressed possessively to her lower belly. His
fingers lay just above the juncture of her thighs. She remembered
now their fiery, intense loving. They’d collapsed on their pile of
discarded clothes, exhausted from the adventures of the day and
their own very private adventure. He’d been stroking her as they
fell asleep. Which hadn’t made it easy for either of them to
sleep.

But they had. And now the deepest part of
night had fallen and the desert air was damned cold.

“Okay?” He moved behind her, pressing a kiss
to her shoulder.

“Cold.”

He moved, standing and before she could
speak, he scooped her into his arms.

Ria slipped her arms around his neck. No
assassin or modern woman would ever admit it, but she really liked
the way he carried her. So strong and self-assured.

When he stepped into the water and it lapped
at her bottom, she squeaked.

He strode in waist deep, then sank into the
warmth. The water wasn’t hot but it was warmer than the outside
air.

“How’s that?” he asked.

“Better.” She shifted, wrapping her legs
around his waist and letting go of her arms. She drifted on her
back, the warm water lapping at her skin. She watched him, watching
her.

His gaze was like hot coals, skating over
her breasts. Their peaks bobbed above the water and hardened to
points from the cold air and his gaze. Except Ria definitely wasn’t
feeling cold anymore.

“You are so damned delectable.” His fingers
dug into her hips. He unhooked her legs but held her thighs in a
tight grip as he floated her out on the water.

He shoved her legs apart and Ria felt her
stomach tighten. He looked wild, intent on devouring.

Leaning forward, he lowered his head and
pressed a kiss to her belly.
Oh, God
. Ria let her head fall
back in the water, felt her hair drifting out around her. His
tongue dipped into her navel, lapping at the water pooled there.
Then his mouth travelled down her body, his teeth scraping over her
hipbone.

He pressed a hot kiss to her mound, right
between her thighs but a whisper away from where she really wanted
it.

“Do you remove your hair to drive men
crazy?”

She shook her head, the water rippling. She
licked her lips. “My race doesn’t have hair there.”

With a groan, he lowered his mouth again,
shoving her thighs farther apart. This time there was no gentle
exploration. His hot, hard mouth was a shock to her system. He
sucked on her clit, then lapped at her with his tongue.

Ria’s hands flailed in the water. The
sensations rocking through her were stronger than anything she’d
experienced before. When had she ever trusted a man enough to give
up her control and just enjoy the pleasure? When had she ever just
let herself go?