But I can’t go to back to sleep for a good, long while.
I wake up the next morning to Piper slathering cream all over my face. I blink as the lights turn brighter, annoyed to find that the dissipating headache means my libido’s roared back to life.
The memory of last night’s dream crashes over me and I groan, squeezing my eyes shut, my body aching with the need for release.
And all I can think about is how good Nydo felt against me in my damn dream.
“Oh no, are you still in pain?”
“No,” I answer Piper, forcing myself to smile. “I mean yes, but it’s not bad at all.”
“Oh good, that’s so good. You look way better this morning. Which is great, considering how horrible you looked last night. Just some makeup on you, and then you should be ready to go. Well,” she crinkles her nose, “that and maybe a shower. You smell like barbecue.”
“Yuck.”
“No kidding,” she agrees, standing up and peering down at me.
“What do you mean, makeup?” I finally latch on to something besides the phantom memory of Nydo’s fingers sliding inside me. “Who cares?”
“Considering you have to be on planet today, at the Roth settlement. We made good time. We’re docking in an hour.”
“Fuck,” I say, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “I don’t feel like it.”
“Well, you can at least shower and look nice. I’ll do your makeup and help get you ready,” Piper says. “It will be like… I don’t know, before the Roth invasion. When we could get ready to go out and party with our friends.”
“Piper,” I say slowly, gingerly testing the side of my face with my fingertips. “Do you just… are you okay with this? I mean, their species fucked up our entire world. And now we’re… dressing like them, and we’re with them, and we’re helping these three.”
Her smile disappears, and her blue eyes turn serious. “I have to believe that Nydo and his brothers are the solution they’re trying to be. I have to believe that we’re doing the right thing, and that by overthrowing the Overlord, we will stop any more humans from being murdered by them. Or enslaved, or bred, or whatever else.”
“But do you really believe Nydo and his brothers are a better option? You saw what he’s capable of.” I shiver, the memory of the vid making me queasy.
“I saw him protect you. That’s what I saw, Leigh. I saw a Roth who killed his own kind to keep you safe. I don’t think anyone has seen that before.” With that, she motions for me to get up. “Now go shower.”
The door hisses open, and my heart thuds faster against my chest as Nydo walks in. He still seems somewhat disheveled, and his gaze fastens on me and doesn’t let go.
“You look… well,” he says, his tone formal.
“I’ll be back to do your hair and makeup,” Piper promises me.
“She will do it herself,” Nydo tells her.
I scowl at him, then stop, blushing furiously as my brain slips in the memory of how good his mouth felt on mine, his fingers inside me.
“Fine,” Piper says, clearly annoyed with him. “I’ll see you when we’re ready to go planetside, then.”
“Lyko is in the gym,” Nydo tells her.
I blink at Piper. Why would she care where he is?
Then she leaves, and I’m left alone with Nydo.
And I have no freaking clue what to do.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NYDO
My heart beats louder when Leigh is around. Every cell in my body seems to work faster, better, with her by my side. I scour her face for signs of her wound, but other than a purple-green bruise yellowing across her temple, she seems well.
“How did you sleep?” I ask her, worry still choking me every time I see the evidence of my idiocy marked across her face.
Her face flames crimson, and I catch the faintest hint of her arousal in the air.
I raise an eyebrow, skating my gaze across her body. Her nipples prick beneath the thin sleepshirt she wears, and her delectable perfume grows stronger.
Interesting.
I wet my lips, struggling to remain on topic.
“Why did you tell Piper she couldn’t help me? You know, it’s dangerous for a person with a head injury to shower alone. I think.” She frowns, as if even she doesn’t quite know if she’s telling the truth.
A smirk lifts one corner of my mouth. “You are afraid to shower alone?”
Her mouth twists to one side. “I mean, no, but—”
I cut her off there. “No but. If you are afraid to shower alone, then I will assist you. That’s why I sent your friend away, because as your mate,” I draw out the word, eliciting a scowl from my little flame, “as your mate, it is my honor to prepare you for your first official outing as my queen.”
“Um, no,” she snorts, but her eyes dart around nervously, resting anywhere but on my face. Her arousal scent heightens.
“As you wish…” I shrug one shoulder, but I don’t turn to go.
“It’s…” She pauses, licking her lips. Leigh’s gaze finally meets mine, and there’s a desperate, heart-stopping quality to it.
“I will stay here in case you need assistance,” I tell her, even though acting honorably is the last thing I want to do around this female. But I will try.
I do not want to.
Her face turns a deeper pink, her green eyes wide and somewhat glassy. I peer at her, trying to suss out whatever it is she’s trying to work herself up to admitting.
“I do… need assistance,” she says, and one red eyebrow raises. White teeth bite at her bottom lip, and a low growl begins deep in my chest. My cock surges to full attention, and I grit my teeth, attempting to ignore the renewed lust raging through me.
“Then I will give it to you, however you require.”
“You can’t… make fun of me. Or… like, I don’t know, be an asshole.”
“That’s what you need?” My brow crinkles as I stare at her, utterly confused. “For me to be nice?”
“Fuck!” she shouts, then winces, rubbing her forehead. “No. I mean, yes. Be nice to me too, for crying out loud. But what I need, Nydo, is for you to get me off and not be an asshole about it.” Her chin juts out, and I blink at her, not quite believing what I’ve just heard.
“Get you off the bed?” I manage, trying my best to understand.
“You said you weren’t going to make fun of me,” she mutters.
“I am not making fun of you. I am, however, trying to understand what you’re asking me to do. Get you off the ship?”
She throws her hands up in the air, and I’m momentarily distracted from getting to the bottom of this mystery by the way her breasts move under her sleepshirt.
“You know, help me out.” She widens her eyes and tilts her head at me, as though this gesture will help me deduce the nature of her request. “Ugh! You know, play me like DJ Tom Diddleston. Find the pearl in the oyster. Pet the moist folds. Hell, what would Bex say? Probe the love channel. Make me see stars, fireworks in the sheets, get freaky-deaky with it.”
She speaks faster than usual, her face getting redder and redder, and I blink, trying to process her words. When she stops, she briefly squeezes her eyes shut and carefully pinches the bridge of her nose.
I stare at her.
She stares at me.
Seconds tick by.
Only when her arousal scent intensifies do I realize what she’s saying.