Page 16 of Starfighter’s Salvation

“You have the mark on your neck, too?” Her question distracted me from my foolish thoughts.

"Of course." I turned so she could see, baring the back of my neck to a woman I had known in the flesh for less than a day. Her fingertips brushed the mark at my nape. Heat moved through my skin and down my spine, straight to my cock, which hardened so quickly I was nearly groaned. Her touch was light, fleeting, the gentle contact lasted mere seconds. My body counted every one of them, greedy for more. If she could have that effect with one touch, I was in serious trouble. And she had no idea what she did to me.

“It's warm,” she said.

“The marks react when a bonded pair is close to one another.”

“How close?”

“This close.” I'd been able to feel her from another star system. But that truth was for another day.

“Useful answer.”

Her fingers traced my mark for another second, and I held still, unwilling to give her a reason to move away.

“You knew about me this whole time? Since I started playing the game?”

“Since you began your training," I corrected. This war with the Dark Fleet was not a game. Not to me. Not to anyone from the Vega system.

“You watched the missions?”

“All of them.” I watched her more carefully, trying to read the shift in her moods.

Her hand froze in place on my skin. “All?”

“Yes. Multiple times.” The admission cost me nothing. She did not need to know I'd watched her, not the training. The way she moved. Smiled. Laughed. Focused. I had every detail of her committed to memory before we met.

“Could you hear us talking? Me and my friends, Priya and Alisha?” Curiosity slid off her face. Horror took its place.

“The training feeds included audio.” Fascinating, wonderful audio. I'd had her voice memorized for just as long as she'd known mine.

“Oh no.” The slight pink to her cheeks darkened to a shade of red that made me want to laugh again. But her hand had stilled on my neck, and she was in my arms. Two facts she seemed to have forgotten.

“You discussed my body often.” Dumb ass male that I was, I couldn't resist baiting her, just a little. Her female friends had teased her mercilessly about my appearance in their simulation. As Gina had recognized me instantly in the parking garage on Earth, I knew the portrayal was accurate. Even better, that Gina approved.

“I had a fever. I had no idea what I was saying.”

“For fourteen months?”

“Chronic condition. Very serious.”

I smiled at the playfulness in her eyes. They practically sparkled with mischief. With happiness. How long had it been since I'd seen anyone look at me like that?

Never. At least not that I could remember.

I was supposed to be keeping my distance, protecting both of us from a future choice I instinctively knew she would not forgive me for making.

Instead, I held her. Teased her. Let her caress my neck like I was truly hers.

Gina’s eyes dropped to my mouth and stayed there, and I felt that look like a brand against my skin. I had to remember how to breathe normally.

I failed.

Her lips parted on a soft breath, and the last of my restraint snapped.

I caught the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to mine.

The first contact was supposed to be brief. One taste. One stolen moment I could lock away with every other thing I wanted and had no right to keep.