Page 175 of Alien Burn

“What else?”

He drew her shirt over her head. His shirt. Hers now, he suspected, along with several other things he had once considered his alone.

He kissed the hollow of her throat and settled his hands at her hips.

“Your weight. On me. Like this.”

She rose onto her knees, holding his shoulders. He touched her between the thighs and felt her breath catch beneath his mouth.

“And knowing you want me,” he said.

“I would have thought that was becoming apparent.”

She reached between them, opened his trousers, and freed him. He was already hard in her hand. She stroked once, then positioned him and began to lower herself.

Slowly. Watching his face.

He held her hips without guiding her. She chose the pace, taking him deeper until she was fully seated and they both had to stop for breath.

“That,” he said, “is my favorite thing on any world.”

Her smile broke into a gasp when she moved.

There was no hurry this time. She rocked against him, finding the angle she wanted. He kissed her breasts when she leaned close and her throat when she arched back. Her hands returned to his horns, and he lost the thread of every clever thing he might have said.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

He looked up.

“What you're thinking. You keep stopping before you say it.”

He could feel her around him, warm and wanting, her body moving with his. Her eyes stayed on his face.

“I love you.”

She went still.

There. Said. No careful timing, no better circumstances waiting for him to arrange them.

“I love you, Sereya.”

She kissed him with both hands against his face.

Then she moved again, and whatever remained of his restraint went with the sound she made. He met her, lifting into her as she came down to him, and felt her tighten around him when pleasure took her.

He followed with his face against her shoulder. The knot formed and held them close. She clung to him through the last shudders, whispering his name until she could say the rest.

“I love you too.”

He lifted his head.

Her eyes were wet. She was smiling.

“For the record,” she added.

He laughed, and she caught his face and kissed him again before he could answer.

The reeds remained on his desk all afternoon.