Beyond Galaxy's Edge (21 page)

A Hydraen woman in bright skirts of blue and green appeared beside Justyn. She shooed the
small boys away and said something to Justyn, making him laugh again. The way she spoke with him, placing a hand on his arm, tilting her head…it spoke of intimacy, friendship.

Nissa frowned. They knew each other. Well.

“Any luck with the diary?”

Rynan appeared out of the shadows, making Nissa start. “Oh, hey. I finished reading it. Nothing concrete. He talks about green gases and—” she grimaced
“—space monsters.”

Rynan’s expression mirrored her own. He handed her some delicacy wrapped in a green leaf.

She took it from him and nibbled the edges. It tasted delicious.

“Well, I’ve arranged for you and Justyn to meet with the local Memory Keeper tomorrow. If anyone knows anything about the
Nero
stopping here, it’ll be him.” His gaze drifted past her to the fire. “Do you dance?”

She
gave a small laugh. “Not well. You?”

“Nope. Never.”

She laughed again. Rynan didn’t seem like the dancing type. But as she noted his gaze following someone with dark intensity, she casually turned to look.

A small group of convoy members and crew had cleared an area in front of the bonfire to dance. She recognized the two female colonists from the
Nomad
, twisting and shaking to the music.
No, he wasn’t watching them.

Ah, three of his security team were with Aurina. Two men and a woman. The men had muscled builds that screamed “ex-military” and the woman was tiny, with a mass of dark curls. She danced along with one the men, laughing hard as she did, then she spun away. The other man grabbed her hand and spun her around in some intricate dance steps. Then she and Aurina bumped
hips, the woman’s rich, full-bodied laughter reaching all the way to the shadows.

“Some of your team?” Nissa asked.

Rynan made a murmur of assent. “They like to blow off steam when they can.” Then a smile tugged on his lips. “Here we go. Justyn’s about to liven up the dance floor. No idea where the guy got his moves.”

Nissa spun…and saw the woman in the blue skirts was now dragging a feigning-reluctance
Justyn onto the impromptu dance floor.

The two of them danced, not particularly closely, but they were smiling as they did. Their bodies brushed here and there as the jaunty music filled the air.

There it was again. That closeness, that intimacy.

An intimacy that was hers, damn it.

Nissa looked at Rynan. “Sure you don’t want to join your team for a dance?”

“I’m sure. Think I’ll check
in with our convoy members.”

And possibly the curvy blonde from one of the convoy ships who’d been watching him the entire time. Nissa saw Dare reclined on a blanket with two women beside him and the colonist from the ship shooting him hot glances every time she whirled past.

The Phoenix men were like black holes for women, drawing them in.

Well, Nissa damn well wasn’t going to flit around
waiting for someone to notice.

She was taking what was hers.

She strode through the throng of revelers and onto the dance area. She tapped the Hydraen woman on the shoulder and smiled. “I’m cutting in.”

The woman grinned back. “You must be Nissa.”

Nissa blinked. “Ah…yes.”

“He’s been talking about you for nearly three years now. I feel like I know you. I’m Arlessa.”

“Hi.” Nissa raised
her gaze to Justyn. He grinned and swiped a hand through his hair. Goddess, was that color in his cheeks?

“The kids are always retelling the stories Justyn’s told them about you.” Arlessa waved her hands around. “Captain Sander this, Captain Sander that.”

Now Nissa frowned. “Kids?”

Arlessa spun to face Justyn. “You haven’t told her?”

He shrugged. “We haven’t really had a chance—”

Arlessa
grabbed Nissa’s hand. “The man is a saint.”

A laugh burst out of Nissa. That was one word she’d never attached to Justyn Phoenix.

“Hey,” he grumbled.

The Hydraen rolled her eyes and smiled. “Okay, maybe not a saint. I run a small orphanage for abandoned and abused children. Justyn funds it.”

“Arlessa—”

“Shush.” She waved him off. “When I started the orphanage, I could only take in a
few kids.” The woman’s smile dimmed for a second, but then it returned full force. “Then Justyn here heard what I was doing and he started giving me money. I’ve expanded, got more staff, taken in more kids. Not just from Hydrae but from the surrounding planets. And Justyn has a real soft spot for the teenaged boys, helps me with them whenever he’s on-planet. Without this man, there’d be a lot of kids
without anyone to look out for them.” Her gaze shifted between Justyn and Nissa. “Well, I’m going to find my husband. Bye, Nissa. Have a wonderful evening.”

Justyn stood there, grinning at Nissa. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She flowed into his arms. “An orphanage, huh?”

“I do what I can to help.”

“You give all the money you make from smuggling to Arlessa and her kids.”

He leaned down and nipped her
ear lobe. “Of course not.”

“Right, just most of it.” Would she ever discover all the facets of Justyn Phoenix?

“Like you said, I’m not a saint—” he nipped at her again “—and I’ve never been arrested for smuggling.”

The music changed, the cheerful beat given way to something slower, with a heavy drum beat. Like a primal heartbeat.

Nissa looked over his shoulder and saw Arlessa sitting with
a man, her head resting on his shoulder. “I like Arlessa.”

“She’s a good friend.” He nuzzled Nissa’s neck, mouth hot against her skin. “But I don’t want to talk about anyone else now.”

She arched into those clever lips. “Okay.”

“Just you and me now, Nissa.”

Finally
. As they moved to the beat, their bodies plastered against each other, she felt something click inside her. Like some missing
piece had finally been found.

The music, that addictive beat, drummed deeper inside her. Firing her blood, pounding alongside the need she already felt for the man pressed against her.

“This is a Hydraen mating song.” Justyn wedged a thigh between hers and she barely swallowed a moan. His hands stroked over her bare back. “I love this top.” His hands dipped lower, cupping her buttocks.

Goddess, they must be putting on quite a show for the crowd. But Nissa didn’t care. All that filled her mind was Justyn and the desire making her damp.

His mouth travelled up her neck, nipped at her ear. “I have to be inside you. Now. We’ve waited long enough.” He dragged her off the dance floor and into the darkness.

“Where are we going?” The shadows wrapped around them as Justyn pulled her down a narrow path through the trees. Desire was a hot, insistent thump under her skin.

“I have a cottage down here by the lake.”

She spotted a white-washed, domed building close by.

He paused a second to tug at the strings on her top. “This scrap has been driving me fucking crazy since I saw it.”
Another tug and the halter top dropped to her waist.

As the cool night air brushed over her already hard nipples, the vague thought of being embarrassed flitted through Nissa’s head. But the hunger burning in Justyn’s steel-gray eyes obliterated it.

“Are you cold or turned on?” he asked.

“Do you really need to ask?” She grabbed his T-shirt, bunching it in her hands and yanking it up. He
helped her pull it off. They stumbled along the path, tearing at each other’s clothes.

He tweaked one of her nipples and she moaned.

“With that cool blood of yours, I don’t want you getting cold. I’ll have to find a way to keep you warm.” He palmed her breasts. “Fuck. These are so perfect. High and firm.” He lowered his head and sucked one nipple into his mouth.

She moaned, her hands tangling
in his hair. His hot lips were so good. Desire raced through her, pooling between her legs and soaking her panties. His cock was pressed against her belly, hard and insistent.

His lips slipped down her neck, teasing, his teeth nipping her flesh, and she dropped her hands. She found the zipper on his cargo pants and worked it down. His long, thick cock sprang into her hands.

“Nissa!” Part shout,
part hiss. His fingers dug into the flesh at her hips. “I’m going to come right here if you touch me.”

“Really?” She gave him a long, hard stroke. His long groan was music to her ears. The Goddess had blessed him. Nissa was going to feel every inch of him going in.

“Payback’s a bitch, sweetheart.” With an experienced flick of his fingers, he had her trousers undone and off before she could
blink.

Now she was practically naked,
outside
, pressed against a half-naked Justyn.

If her crew could see her now…

He kicked off his pants, and scooped her up. She wrapped her legs around his lean hips. His cock brushed her black panties and they both groaned. She moved against him, saw his eyes turn molten.

“Fuck, you’re so wet for me. I’m going to slide right into you.”

She undulated
her hips against him, that hard bulge rubbing across her swollen clit. “I don’t know, there’s, um, quite a lot of you to take.”

His teeth flashed in the darkness. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I won’t be gentle but I promise you’ll like it.”

“Rogue.” She bit his lip but then his mouth captured hers. Their tongues tangled and sensation rippled across her as he stumbled toward the cottage, his fingers
digging into her bottom.

“I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll think of me every day for a week.” He whispered his dirty words in her ear and slammed the cottage door open.

Nissa had never wanted something so much.

***

Justyn had never felt this driving need, this overwhelming urge to possess a woman, to brand his claim on her.

But that’s what the hell he intended to do.

The cottage
was one large room with a tiny, cordoned-off alcove for the bathroom. A small lamp beside the bed glowed, giving them soft light. The space wasn’t anything fancy, except for the view. Through the large glass windows, there was stunning view of the lake and the moons shining above it.

But all he could see was the way the light kissed Nissa’s fine skin. And the giant bed that dominated the room.

Don’t rush it. Don’t rush it
. He wanted this moment to last forever. Not to rut on her like an animal.

He’d never been this out-of-control. Ever.

He set her down and scrounged to find a tiny scrap of control. He forced himself to sink into the nearby chair and not throw her onto the bed and pound into her like he wanted.

She watched him for a second, blinking.

“I want you to take off
your underwear for me. Nice and slow, Nissa.”

She hooked a finger in the waistband.

“No.” He held up a hand and twirled a finger. “Turn around. Bend over as you do it. Give me a show that’ll make my already bursting cock harder.”

Color filled her cheeks, but desire burned hot in those yellow eyes. She turned, and he drank in the long length of her spine, the diamond pattern on the skin on
her lower back. And sweet Jesus, that ass of hers gave him a hundred different fantasies.

She tossed him a look over her shoulder, a feminine grin flirting on the edges of her luscious lips.

Slowly, she bent over and dragged the underwear down.

She stepped out of the satin and his gaze was glued to the succulent pink skin bared to him between her legs. He circled his cock with one hand and
pumped.

This time it was her gaze that zeroed in on his movement. When she licked her lips, his cocked jumped against his belly.

“Are you wet for me, Nissa?”

“Can’t you see from there?”

“No. Come closer.”

She spun and sauntered toward him, her hands cupping her firm breasts, her fingers flicking over her nipples.

“Christ, Nissa.”

Only a meter away, she stopped and turned again. Her
upper body flowed gracefully downward and she was once against bared to him.

She was so wet it was dripping down her slim thighs.

Justyn couldn’t hold back any longer. He gripped her hips, leaned forward and pressed his mouth to her.

She cried out and seconds later was grinding against his face. He lapped at her, nipping at the swollen, needy flesh.

“Justyn! Don’t stop.”

He wasn’t stopping.
Ever. He sucked on her, thrusting his tongue inside her. He felt her body tightening, her climax racing at her hard and fast. He slipped a hand around her thigh, thumbed her clit and tossed her into the orgasm.

She stiffened, her head lifting, and she screamed his name. If he hadn’t been holding her hips, she would have collapsed.

He tugged her back to him. “That’s just the start, Nissa. I’m
going to make you come so many times tonight. Every way I know how.”

She moaned. “Be warned, Phoenix. I plan to do the same to you.”

She was still flushed from her climax, but there was his Nissa, always giving as good as she got.

“Didn’t expect anything less.” His fingers tightened on her hips, digging into smooth skin. “Are you protected, sweetheart?”

“Yes. Namah implant. Mandatory for
all Patrol crew.”

To protect against pregnancy and disease. “Good. Now, sit down and take my cock inside you.”

She hissed out a breath, but the way her breathing quickened, he knew she was already turned on again.

She sank backward and the head of his cock disappeared into her hot folds. They were both moaning and when he tugged her all the way down, he sank into her in one long slide.

“Justyn!”

He wrapped his arms around her. Finally, he’d claimed her the way he’d dreamed about on so many sweaty nights twisting in his sheets. She was so damn tight, fisting around him like a glove. “You feel so good. Made just for me.”

She shifted, the movement shooting sensation through him. “I have to move.”

“Ride me, Nissa, and make us both feel good.”

She braced her hands on his thighs
and lifted up. His cock dragged out of her until just the head was left inside her, then she sank down.