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“Well, no.” Hux’s thumbs stroked soothingly over my face again. “But I wasn’t managing two ops at once all day long on my very first day. You got thrown in the deep end. And I know I keep saying this, but—”
“But I don’t have the training,” I sighed, closing my eyes again. “I know.”
I felt Hux nod. “It’s a big deal, Kev. But still…” He hesitated. “You did amazing. Really. And what you did at the end, putting the success of the op above your pride and pulling me in here when you got overwhelmed? That’s…” He coughed lightly. “Well. Some of us still have trouble taking help when it’s offered, let alone asking for it, as some smart-ass recently pointed out to me. Two sets of eyes are better than one, he told me. That’s why we have redundancies. So… maybe he needs to take his own advice, huh?”
I sucked in a breath, opened my eyes, and forced myself to look at him. The double divot of worry between his eyes. The late-day shadow on his cheeks. The still-bright eyes that always seemed to be hiding some kind of mischief. And… the tiny black dot of the tragus piercing in his left ear.
Before I realized what I was doing, I’d reached out with my finger to trace the little earring. I’d always been curious about it. “Is this for migraines?”
Hux’s whole body went still. Watchful. And when I lifted my eyes to his, I realized just how close we were.
He frowned, like he was trying to read my mind and figure out what I was thinking. If he found an answer, maybe he’d be so kind as to let me know, too, because right now, I felt like I was stepping out onto a rickety bridge over a deep valley with nothing to hold on to.
“Uh…yeah,” he said in a rough voice. It was more like a guttural grunt of agreement, the kind that deepened the vibration in my solar plexus and brought back the bead of sweat running down my back.
“Does it help?” I asked.
Hux’s eyes dropped to my lips. I could feel the warmth of his breath against my cheek.
“A little.” His breathing seemed to hitch just before the tip of his tongue came out to wet his bottom lip.
I moved my fingertip slowly down from the tragus piercing to his earlobe. He was even closer now. Too close for my gaze to focus on him properly… or at all. “No other piercings?” I whispered.
Hux tilted his head slightly until his nose grazed against my cheekbone. “Not up here.”
His lips curved up, and I stopped breathing entirely. What… what exactly had he meant by that? “Huh?”
My brain shorted out, imagining other places he could be hiding piercings. I wanted to see them. I wanted to enjoy the investigation itself.
My fingers twitched against the skin of his neck, a slight, grasping little movement. Maybe that movement was somehow responsible for triggering what happened next. Hux’s head turned, causing his lips and nose to skim against my cheek. I turned reflexively after that and brushed my lips across his. Would I have done it on purpose? Heck, no. I would have overthought it and held back. But my brain wasn’t functioning enough for intention.
And once I felt his lips on mine… it didn’t matter why I’d done it. It didn’t matter who’d done it first or how it had happened. It only mattered that it was the most exhilarating feeling I’d ever had.
Hux pulled back slightly and froze, giving me that watchful, mind-reading look again. His eyes roved over my face, assessing me with the same care and utter absorption he’d had while monitoring the op earlier, and I could practically see the gears turning in his brain. Is this okay? Is this what Kev wants?
I wasn’t sure what expression my face was making, and speech was entirely beyond me, but I hoped he could read my mind and could pick up the message I was trying to convey.
Yes, it’s okay. So very okay. More, please. More, now. Show me how it could be.
Hux’s whole body seemed to come alive at once. He surged forward and clasped my face between his hands again. Strong fingers tilted my head exactly where he wanted it, and his warm, firm mouth took charge of mine.
Our knees knocked together, Hux wrapped one strong arm behind me and yanked, and I found myself half-sprawled across his lap, still kissing him. I linked my arms behind his broad shoulders and held on tight, because if I fell on the floor and caused this kiss to end prematurely, I would never forgive myself.
I needed him. Needed him like a honey troll needed firefly moss to complete its den. Like a mage needed greenberries to complete his Eternity Quest. Like a… fuck. Like a very human man who’d just discovered, for the first time in his not-quite kiss-less life, why so many musicians sang songs about this.
