Page 12 of Pursuit of Honor

As they wove in and out of the crowd, Law steered her with his arm in a strong, yet gentle maneuver, stopping at each of the tanks in the underwater exhibit. The conversation picked up as they took in each tank, with Law telling her about his travels and Piper talking about her love for art.

Piper was used to her family giving unsolicited advice whenever she talked about her passions, but Law didn’t do that. He asked her questions and listened, as if he was genuinely curious. She was so caught up in their conversation that she barely noticed when they started to leave the underwater exhibit. Next thing she knew, they were walking into the academy’s planetarium, a light show of stars and galaxies overhead.

The swirl of white, silver, and blue starlight was so dazzling that it rendered her silent. Again, Law took her hand. She let him. Everything was so beautiful that it felt like they had left the world entirely, the pair of them in their own reality where time had stopped and they were the only two people in existence.

“It says here that this is a live look of the night sky over Sweden,” she finally said, taking in the breathtaking spectacle of stars and flashing meteorites.

“Sweden, huh? I’ve been there,” he told her, looking upward.

“You have?”

“Yeah. For a training exercise,” he explained. “You ever traveled?”

She had never even left the state of California. “No, I haven’t. I want to, but I swear my family would try to bar the exits or something.”

“They’re that overprotective?”

“Yes. Honestly, I think they’re trying to protect me from myself. Between my art and being unlucky in love, I’m sort of the black sheep of the family,” she confessed. “Though considering my artistic tendencies, I think I’m more of the multicolored sheep.”

He laughed. She couldn’t see the look on his face in the darkness of the planetarium, but she heard his laugh. A real laugh, not one of the low chuckles she’d heard before. And even though she’d confessed something kind of embarrassing about her love life, he wasn’t laughing at her. This was something else. A laughter of recognition. A warm, rich sound that didn’t leave her trying to decipher what it meant. For the first time, there was no mystery between them. Here in the dark, they were just two souls who understood each other.

“You might need protecting, Piper, but not from yourself,” he said in low tones.

She felt him move closer to her, then saw motion in her periphery as he dropped his rucksack to the floor. They were facing each other now, though she couldn’t really see him clearly. Piper didn’t need to see him to feel his all-encompassing presence. Somehow, without him saying so, she knew he wanted to kiss her. She felt his desire, her heart pounding in anticipation as the silence stretched on. There were people around them, but they had long disappeared into the background. This place was for the two of them and no one else.

Gently, but firmly, Law reached out to tilt her head back, his fingertips brushing against her jawline. Her entire body trembled as she lifted her hand to touch his cheek, silently encouraging him. Answering her silent plea, his firm mouth lowered to hers. Exhaling a gasp, Piper’s lips parted the moment she felt the pressure of his kiss. Their tongues collided, the exquisite sensation making her legs shake.

With his large, calloused hand sliding to the nape of her neck, his fingers burned her skin like a brand. Heat rippled outward from his touch, billowing through her trembling body. When the spark of heat flared into a wildfire, she reached out to clutch his shirt. Flames consumed her. In her desperation to steady herself against the force of his kiss, Piper pressed her body closer to him. Sensing her need, Law wrapped his free arm around her, pinning her against his solid, muscular frame. In that moment, she felt the telltale hardness of his desire and she released a breathless moan.

Law growled in response, an animalistic reaction. That sent a shiver down her spine. Her body tingled as she began to understand how much he had been holding back. One kiss was all it took to unleash his hunger. All it took for Piper to truly know that he wanted her with the same intensity that she wanted him. This ache she had been feeling since meeting him wasn’t one-sided. For the first time in her life, she knew that a man truly desired her. And she knew all this without needing words. Law had been blunt and direct when talking about his attraction to her, but no words could express what his kiss could.

Even with her head spinning and her thoughts dissolving, Piper realized that if they were in a private, secluded place, he would have already asked to rip her clothes off. The only thing stopping him was their location. Truthfully, that was the only thing stopping her, too.

His tongue stroked hers as he deepened the kiss, turning it into something wicked. Carnal. Somewhere beneath the burning force of his kiss, there was also passion. As if part of him was indulging in something forbidden, while the other part of him wanted to leave her with pleasure she would never forget.

With most of the guys she had briefly dated, kissing was solely a prelude to what they actually wanted. Law might have wanted more, but she knew that his ultimate goal was to make her feel good. To make her feel what he felt. Piper had never been kissed like this before in her life. It was like he was telling her everything without words. Revealing exactly what he wanted. What he had in store for her if she dared to ask for more.

She felt so fragile and vulnerable in comparison to his strength. Yet vulnerable and exposed as she felt with him, Piper sensed that she was finding parts of herself she hadn’t realized were even there. As if baring her soul and her desires to him wouldn’t make her weaker, but stronger. As he kissed her, she felt more certain of herself. More confident in what she wanted and who she wanted to be.

When he tore his mouth away to press his forehead to hers and catch his breath, her entire body protested. What she wanted now was more. So much more. But she’d never get that in a public place. So she asked the only thing that she could ask. “Do you want to come over to my place tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I want to,” he said, quickly answering as soon as she’d posed the question. “What time?”

Piper was amazed she could hear him over her rapid heartbeat. “Seven o’clock? I’m going to make you a homecooked meal.”

“I haven’t had one in ages.” He was breathing so heavily it was obvious to her that this was more than physical exertion. That kiss had taken his breath away the same as it had hers. Desire was affecting them both.

“I figured,” she said, recalling that he’d been surviving on military food. “You deserve a meal before...”

Piper couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. Overcome with a sudden rush of emotion she’d never experienced, she buried her head against his shoulder. For a split second, she thought he’d pull back at her display, but he didn’t do that. Instead of pulling away, Law wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

“Before I ship out,” he finished for her.

Her heart sank at the reminder. He was leaving on Valentine’s Day. That meant that all they had now was tomorrow. Part of her wondered if she could dare hope for something more. But more would only lead to her expecting him to commit to a long-distance relationship. Which was a crazy thing to hope for, considering that they had known each other for less than twenty-four hours. At best this was going to be a whirlwind romance that ended tomorrow. A future wasn’t in the cards, and even if it was, Piper was getting way ahead of herself by imagining them together.

“Yes,” was all she could say.

His hold on her tightened, his strong arms securing her. “Thanks for the invite.”