Bride for the Space Cowboy (Match Made in Space #2)

4. Kayden

Chapter Four

KAYDEN

Nadine’s small hand is warm in mine as I lead her down the hallway and through a doorway. I turn to close the door behind me. The latch clicking is loud in the small room.

Before I even turn to face Nadine fully, I can feel the reverberation from her presence in my own body. It’s like an echoing pull, drawing me toward her. The connection between us is powerful.

I take a breath to steady myself, squaring my shoulders as I face her. I’m not accustomed to this feeling. It’s a sense of vulnerability, of being in thrall to this woman.

She’s quiet as she waits. Her cheeks are flushed, and I can sense her nervousness. My eyes dip down, and I notice her fingers are laced together and one thumb rubs the other. She swallows, and the sound is audible in the space.

This room is unremarkable. Four square walls, the color white. It’s an office. I’ve been in here before. When I was a boy, they used to have summer activities in this building for the children when we had our lessons. Now, the space is used for various community events.

The room’s simplicity is a contrast to the connection vibrating between Nadine and me. I now understand why it’s called an infinity pulse. Because it’s a true pulse. Without knowing with scientific certainty, I believe her heart beats in tune with mine, an echoing drumbeat through my system.

She clears her throat, and my eyes lock to hers instantly. It feels as if electricity is snapping in the air, crackling and sending sparks in a shower around us.

“You wanted to speak with me privately?” she asks. She slides her tongue across her bottom lip.

The mere sight of her tongue is like a whip cracking through the air, sparking my arousal. My desire for her is like sky fire just before the clap of thunder, the air heavy and weighted.

I’ve traveled all over the galaxy. Every planet has storms, and every planet has something like thunder and lightning. Ours is most similar to Earth in terms of our environment and the way the storms work.

“Sky fire,” I say, not intending to speak aloud.

“Sky fire?” she prompts.

“It’s like lightning on Earth but a little different. It sizzles and makes a loud sound afterward. There are actual flames. That’s why we call it sky fire,” I explain.

“Oh. We get lots of lightning, but it almost never rains on Earth anymore. Do you get rain here?” she asks.

I nod. Without thinking, I’m stepping closer to her. The pulse is strong with a magnetic pull to it. I must be closer to her.

I stop just shy of touching her. Her eyes widen slightly, and her pupils dilate. I hear the sharp intake of her breath as her lips part slightly. “You haven’t claimed me,” she whispers. “So someone else may.”

She lifts her chin a little, and I feel the dare. I also feel the uncertainty behind it and a sassiness that I love. She’s annoyed with me.

“No one else will have you,” I state.

“How do you know? What if I feel this way with someone else?” she volleys back to me.

I know logically that an infinity pulse can only exist once for anyone, and not everyone even experiences it. After years of watching my father grieve my mother and telling myself the infinity pulse isn’t worth the potential pain, I can’t even tolerate the mere idea that Nadine could be with someone else. A fierce sense of protectiveness surges inside me.

“That’s not possible.” I step closer, erasing the small distance separating us.

I can feel the warmth of her body and savor the way her cheeks flush deeper as she tips her head back to peer up at me. My tail twitches slightly, and my shaft lengthens and fills with need.

“Just like our princess said, you’re all mine.” My gruff whisper laces my words with the command rising inside me.

I can’t hold back. I have to feel her lips underneath mine again. I slide an arm around her waist, coaxing her incrementally closer as I let it curve over her sweet bottom. She lets out this little “Oh!” when my arousal presses against the curve of her lower belly. I want her so very much. I can already feel my arousal leaking from the tip of my swollen cock.

I have experienced passion, need, want, and desire before, yet I’ve never experienced this need to claim a woman, to mark her. My eyes study her face for a moment, lingering on the faded bruising on her cheek. Thinking about who put it there sends a jolt of fierce anger through me.

Nadine blinks quickly, and I see pain flash in the depths of her gaze. An unfamiliar pain pierces my own heart. I feel as if I literally share her pain in my own heart. My hand tightens where it rests on her back.

“The bruising will fade,” she says quickly.

“I will avenge you when I return to Earth,” I vow.

Nadine shakes her head sharply. “No. I don’t want you to do that. I want to leave my past behind me.” I sense the steely strength underlying the pain she’s experienced.

I force myself to take a breath. As much as I want to push the issue, I won’t. It’s her right. I would never try to control her that way.

“You’ll be safe here,” I say.

She swallows and blinks. “I hope so.”

I’ve gone and gotten distracted from my very purpose. To kiss her, to assuage the need pounding like a fist inside, clamoring to be set loose to run wild.

I shift incrementally closer just as she places a palm on my chest. My heart lunges toward her touch as if it senses her claiming me.

“I don’t want you to kiss me again if you’re going to change your mind,” she announces.

I study her for a long moment. “What do you mean?”

“You kissed me before, and you’ve ignored me since. Jane said you haven’t spoken further about us since we were on the ship.”

I cock my head to the side, realizing she doesn’t know my history. Yet this connection between us tells her something about me.

I steady myself inside. “I’ll explain more later, but I have my reasons for thinking I would never experience this.” I gesture back and forth between us before placing my palm over hers, where it still rests on my heart.

Her hand turns, her fingers lacing with mine. I can feel the beat of her pulse against my palm.

“What is this ? Infinity pulse?” she asks, her voice breathy and soft, sending tendrils of silk around my heart.

“Yes. Not everyone gets to experience it.”

She studies me, her fingers tightening around mine as she squeezes gently. It almost feels as if she is trying to comfort me. This abused, bruised woman is trying to assure me my heart will be safe with her. She can and will bring me to my knees.

“I cannot deny it, so I won’t. Someday, we will talk about it,” I say.

She’s quiet, and for a split second, I wonder if she’ll deny me this kiss and all that it means.

As my fear begins to rise, she whispers, “Kiss me. We can talk later.”

She leans toward me as I bend low to bring my mouth to hers. The initial touch is a brush, a scattering of sparks through the air. I hear the guttural groan rising inside me as I angle my mouth over hers, releasing her hand and palming her cheek as my fingers slide back to tangle in her hair and tilt her head to deepen our kiss.

It’s everything I remembered and more. Touching her feels as if I’ve come home. There’s a sense of rushing inside, water bursting forth, something breaking free inside me. The momentum of emotion and need spins faster and faster as I tumble into our kiss. I savor the way her tongue teases boldly against mine. My palm slides over the curve of her bottom as I pull her against me. I’m aching for her, down to my very bones.

The need drumming through me is unlike any I’ve ever experienced. It’s primal and visceral. Yet there’s a comfort in it as if we are spinning together in time.

Nadine makes a sweet, needy little sound in her throat, and I rock my hips against hers, desperate for her, desperate for more.

I want to luxuriate in her. I want time to slow and to absorb every increment of this kiss. Yet this competes with an overwhelming need to devour her. She tastes so good; she feels so good. It feels as if I’ve come home to a being rather than a place.

The need for air eventually forces me to lift my head. We stare at each other, our ragged breathing filling the room. Need beats the drum of my heart fiercely. I take an unsteady breath and scramble to find some control, but it keeps slipping. I cannot step away from her. I know I have to wait. When it comes to this infinity pulse, it’s important to wait until after we are married to consummate.

I force myself to take a step back. I’m actually unsteady on my feet. That’s how close I’ve come to losing control. Nadine stares up at me, her eyes wide and dark with passion.

“We will marry,” I say.

“So…” She seems uncertain what she means to ask.

“In one week.”

Her pretty eyes study mine. “You won’t change your mind?”

I shake my head firmly. I’ve always known I must marry at some point. I thought perhaps after the storm that killed so many women on our planet that I would get a pass.

Now that I knew what it felt like to be with Nadine, no one else would do. I would either torture myself for the rest of my life or accept my fate.

“This isn’t my planet,” she says quietly and solemnly. “I have nowhere to go. You have to promise me.”

“I always keep my word. I promise.” I close the bit of distance between us. I have to kiss her again. I have to taste her again.

Everything is imbued with a deep intimacy twined within an intense arousal and passion that I’ve never experienced before.

I’m accustomed to feeling in control and like I can handle things. With Nadine, my control slips free instantly. Her tongue glides against mine, and she tastes so good and feels so soft. I hear the growl in my throat and the groan when her hand splays on my chest. I need more. Something to tide me over, something to carry me through the week until we can marry.

I nudge her back slightly until her hips bounce against a table that runs the length of the wall. I slide my hand down her thigh, reaching for her skirt. I fist it in my hand and drag it up. Her skin is soft and silky, and I cup my palm over her mound. She lets out this little whimper, a needy little cry.

I break free to stare into her dark eyes. “I need to touch you,” I rasp.

Her audible swallow is like a lash of the whip, spurring me along. It’s fuel poured on the fire of my desire, sending the flames licking higher and higher.

I tease my fingers over the silk covering her sweet pussy, gratified to find it wet. I hook a finger in the edge of her panties, pushing them out of the way as I delve my fingers into her slippery wet folds.

“Oh!” Nadine cries out.

Fuck me. Every sound she makes swells my cock even more.

I bury my fingers knuckle deep inside her. Her pussy clenches, and I watch as her breaths come in ragged gasps. Even though I didn’t mean to take it this far, I must feel her come apart.

Her eyelids begin to drop. “Stay with me. Look at me,” I say.

She drags her eyes open again, her gaze heavy and hot on mine. I pump my fingers, teasing my thumb over her swollen clit.

“I want to feel you come all over my fingers,” I rasp.

She takes a shuddery breath, her hips rocking as I add a third finger, stretching her a little more. I feel her quickening, her breasts rising and falling rapidly.

“Now,” I order as I swirl my thumb around her clit.

She cries out, her hips rocking to meet my touch. Her pussy tightens around my fingers. She shudders all over, and one of her palms slaps the table behind her.

My arousal is straining. It’s all I can do not to yank my breeches open and lift her until I fill her with my seed. But I can’t. I have to wait.

Her breath comes in ragged bursts. I keep my fingers inside her as I bend low to kiss her again. My tongue briefly tangles with hers before I lift my head.

“One week,” I say.

I slowly withdraw my fingers and lift them to my mouth, tasting her nectar.