Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) by Bevan Greer

The taste is bitter yet it pulses through my body like tiny heartbeats. I can feel it in my belly.”
    Jace grinned. “It’s been known to have that effect.” He studied her face and stared into her eyes. “Now why would Koneru think you’re not from Seven?”
    She watched him form the words, taken with the firm yet sensual quality of his lips. Her body felt foreign to her, attraction for Jace overloading her senses. So different from anyone she knew, so handsome and filled with secrets. She should stay far away from him. She knew his danger. Instead she leaned closer.
    “The one thing you can always count on in life is Bitter Blue,” he said in a low voice and put his glass down. “Naria?”
    “Yes?”
    “That’s what I wanted to hear.” Without another word, he leaned forward and kissed her.

-6-
     
    Jace covered her lips with his own and watched Naria’s eyes drift shut. Her scent seemed to fill him from the inside out. A soft, feminine perfume that spoke of power and secrets. He took a last look at the dark smudges of her lashes against her fine, pale skin, marveling at the glow of life that sparkled under her skin.
    He closed his eyes and deepened the kiss, and she seemed to soften under him. He sensed her curiosity and desire, as well as her innocence. He trembled at the contact, aroused beyond belief, and contented himself with no more than a kiss. Any more than that would be too soon, too fast.
    He knew this intense attraction should worry him, but he couldn’t stir himself to bother. Not when he finally had a taste of her.
    Beautiful beyond a doubt, Naria stirred something deep within him that no one had ever touched. Giving himself to the pleasure of the moment, he teased with his tongue. She gasped, and Jace stole into her mouth, penetrating and sliding against her. Her body stiffened, and then she melted against him, turning his tentative taste into a feast of the senses.
    She returned his kiss, touching his tongue with hers. Awash in sensation and uncomfortable with its intensity, Jace broke the kiss and tried to catch his breath.
    Naria opened slumberous violet eyes and looked at him with that other part of her he recognized on the psychic plane.
    “You are hurt?” A pulse of color lit her purple gaze, turned her eyes black, then evened out into the sparkling violet he recognized.
    “It’s a sweet pain.” One from wanting you , went unsaid.
    They stared at each other in silence, and just when Jace decided to go in for another kiss, Nesham’s voice interrupted through the intercom.
    “Jace, a Legionnaire patrol approaches. They have words for the captain only.”
    “I’ll be right there,” he said absently. He lost himself in Naria’s thoughts, her echo of bewilderment and lust broadcasting clearly, though she probably didn’t realize it. Not wanting to alarm her or let her know he’d read her, he delicately withdrew back into his own mind.
    “I’ve got to go to the control room.” He brushed the pad of his thumb against her mouth and swallowed a moan of need. “We’ll finish this another time.” Definitely.
    He stood, aching at having to let her go when his body clearly needed satisfaction. Naria collected herself and projected an air of disinterest, at odds with the warmth she’d previously shown, adding another layer to the complex female. She intrigued him on so many levels.
    “Perhaps our discussion is best left finished,” she said coolly, as if she hadn’t just burned up in his arms. Her gaze stayed firmly on his face, a flush of embarrassment staining her cheeks as she refused to look below his chin. “I’ll be in your library, if that’s allowable.”
    “Fine.” Jace watched her leave. Then he gulped down his remaining ale, needing to steady his pounding nerves.
    Calmer and once again in control of himself, he met Nesham in the control room.
    “The Legionnaires are on comlink two,” Nesham informed him. The Fenturi stared fixedly at a spot just beyond