The Challenge (11 page)

Again he used that commanding word choice that she disliked. She watched him use the utensils, one of them a combination of a spoon with tines on the end, and followed his lead. But despite the strange tastes and textures, she barely paid attention to the meal.

They ate in silence with her thinking hard. She’d asked him to touch her and he hadn’t. She most certainly didn’t intend to beg.

After he finished his food and sipped the last of his drink, she cocked her head to the side. “If you want me to work to attain this psi power, wouldn’t it be a good idea to tell me how to go about doing so?”

“Your first task is to cover your nudity.”

She crossed her arms under her breasts and palmed the eating utensil. “You keep issuing orders, but you aren’t teaching me how to go about following them.”

His amber eyes twinkled with secrets. “I cannot tell you more than I already have without hindering your progress, but if you would prefer my touch to the suit, you must give me more details why.”

With the meal over, all of the marvelous gadgets he’d revealed began to slide back, fold, and hide themselves into the walls and floors. While he was distracted with his task, she eased the utensil she’d palmed to the floor and shoved it with her toe next to the raised platform.

And she answered his query with a question of her own. “Have you ever been in love?”

She bit her bottom lip in hesitation, then blurted, “Yes. Kindness. Offering your friendship and sharing mutual passion is another way.”

“What happened to the man you loved?”

Pain clouded her eyes. “He died.”

Before they’d made love.
No wonder she seemed both innocent and experienced. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a loved one. “On Rystan we would have found you a new husband to ease the pain.”

“No one will ever replace Mike in my heart,” she spoke fiercely. “But that does not mean that I will never love again.” She looked him straight in the eye. “Human beings have the capacity for much more life than we give ourselves credit for.”

Was she speaking about herself or him?

“What are you asking from me?”

She spoke simply. There was no begging in her tone, just a desire for understanding. “I’m asking for all that you have to give.”

All that he had to give
. She’d given the answer of a warrior. Her words struck him like a direct punch to his gut. This Earthling had courage. Not mere physical bravery, but a deep abiding belief in herself that came through despite all the setbacks she’d found.

When he said nothing, she continued, “We have done things your way. They have not worked. You’ve asked me to adapt, now I’m asking you to do the same.”

Honor would not allow him to do less. “Agreed.”

With no knowledge of how the Federation manual’s instructions clashed with Rystani customs, she could not fully comprehend what she’d asked a warrior like him to do, but her words of courage made him realize that because she was much stronger than he’d believed, he had to push her much harder than he’d planned to cause her psi powers to emerge. Because as awful as it sounded to his own sense of honor and sensibilities, he would befriend her, make her believe she’d receive exactly what she’d asked him for, and then he must deny her.

She would hate him for it.

But he could handle her hatred. He had to. He beckoned her to take his hand. “Once we begin, you cannot change your mind.”

“I understand.”

She didn’t. She couldn’t, and although one part of him was reluctant to begin, another part of him hungered to discover more about her. Never had he known such a woman, and his heartbeat sped in anticipation of touching her, holding her. Arousing her.

He led her to the platform, placed his hands on her slender waist, lifting her until she stood once again and faced him eye to eye. He searched her face but saw no sign of panic or regret, just a firm determination.

He threaded his fingers into the hair to either side of her cheekbones and stroked the silky strands back from her face. Her eyes darkened, and she swallowed hard, but she remained still, except for the palm which she placed on his shoulder to steady herself.

“Kiss me,” she demanded.

He almost complied. Almost.

“I will,” he promised, but he didn’t. Instead, he placed one finger on her forehead and traced her finely arched brows, the straight line of her nose, her eager lips. She nibbled on his finger, and he pretended not to notice.

“I want to touch your chest,” she told him.

With a thought, he banished his vest, leaving his skin bared to her eyes and her palms. When she skimmed her fingertips from his shoulders, over his pectoral muscles to his stomach, his breath caught in his throat. Rystani women were not so bold. They didn’t touch their men unless instructed to do so, but the Earthling hadn’t waited for his permission. She’d simply done what came naturally to her. Ever mindful of evoking her emotions, of making her feel comfortable with him, he accepted her touch . . . for now.

Kahn could have turned off the sensors in his suit to avoid feeling her skin on his, but she would have immediately known. A psi shield felt nothing like bare flesh. Which meant she wouldn’t be the only one suffering at the end of this session.

TESSA ENJOYED touching Kahn much more than she’d thought possible. His heat, his muscles, his attempt to listen to her had pleased her. And Kahn had let down his guard enough for him to seem very human. Apparently, his decision to touch her had been difficult for him to make, which made his compliance all the sweeter.

“Kiss me,” she requested again. Although she stood on the platform and he on the floor, she had to raise her mouth to his.

“Soon.”

He curled her hair behind her ears then tenderly kissed her brow, her cheeks, her chin and finally, he claimed her mouth. For a giant, his kiss was surprisingly gentle. He didn’t demand, but tenderly angled his lips to hers, meeting her halfway.

Aware of her bare breasts, she didn’t lean into him, so no other part of her brushed against him. Only their mouths fused.

Oh my
.

The star man could really kiss. Tender, yet demanding, he kissed with a heat that stoked a matching fire within her. To think that she’d actually thrown in his face that he’d sent a machine because he couldn’t do the job seemed ludicrous.

She didn’t know exactly when she’d wrapped her hands around his neck or risen onto her toes. She only knew that he was pulling back, taking her arms from around his neck and her eyes flew open. “What’s wrong?”

“Too fast,” he said.

“Not fast enough,” she countered, trying to haul him back to her.

But he countered her move by braceleting each of her wrists in one of his huge hands and placing them behind her back. She arched into him, eyes wide and slightly breathless.

As she stood before him naked and more vulnerable than she’d ever been, her nerve endings fired all over again. When he lifted her chin with his free hand and delayed another kiss, she gazed into his amber eyes that darkened with gold flecks.

She read the hesitation and questions in his expression and allowed herself a lopsided grin that would urge him on as much as her words. “Yes, Kahn. You know what I want.”

She lost the battle of controlling her ragged breath, and she couldn’t ignore the shivery excitement raising goose bumps on her flesh.

She didn’t know this man. Didn’t understand what made him tick. Yet, his stiff reserve hinted at his deep reluctance to go forward, and she didn’t understand why. If their union would somehow create psi power in her, he should have been all for it. If their union would prove she could accept an alien partner and win the Challenge, he should also be for this.

His breath fanned her face, but he didn’t drop his head to claim her mouth again. Instead he held her gaze while he grazed his fingers down her throat, his fingertips causing rippling heat. Damn he was good. Eyes locked, he ever-so-lightly skimmed his palm over first one breast, then the other, only touching the sensitive sides of her breasts, ignoring the yen of her puckering nipples, never dropping his heated stare from hers.

“You have wonderfully responsive breasts. Do you crave more?”

At his question, her mouth went sand dry, and she licked her bottom lip. “Yes.”

“Keep your hands behind your back,” he demanded and then released her wrists.

She didn’t move, wondering what he’d do next. Where he’d touch next. Would he tweak her nipples as he’d hinted? Her lips hungered for his kiss, her breasts ached for more caresses. But he placed his hands on her hips, slid them around her back, and let them slowly rove over her bottom in warm, wonderful strokes.

“I want to touch you, too,” she told him, her voice low and husky.

“No.” His denial took her slightly aback. She stared at his face, but his expression revealed nothing but his pleasure at touching her. When he stroked her back and bottom like delicate porcelain, he made her feel revered and special, especially when he softened his tone. “Tell me how you feel right now.”

She didn’t hesitate to speak the truth. “I want you to kiss me.”

“What else?”

“My breasts need more of your touch.”

“Part your legs.”

She did as he asked but knew better than to hope he’d touch her where she wanted him most.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

She tilted her head back, which thrust her breasts upward. His eyes stared at her, and wanting to draw him closer, she almost forgot to keep her hands behind her back. Instead, she straightened her spine and steadied herself by drawing in a deep, ragged breath.

“Open your legs wider,” he demanded, his hands still stroking her bottom.

Looking right at him, she parted her legs and had never felt so wanton in her life. The aching tension inside her stretched taut. Dampness pooled between her thighs.

Ever so slowly, he traced a path over her hips, past her belly, upward until he cupped her sensitive breasts, until she overflowed his hands. He teased her aureoles, but left her aching nipples craving his attention.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Please what?”

“Don’t hold back.”

He cocked his head to one side like a hungry cat about to pounce on prey. “Are you saying that you would now welcome a pinch, here?” With the feather-soft tip of his fingers, he flicked her nipples.

“Ahhh . . . yes.” Pure pleasure made speech difficult.

He plucked the tips hard, harder than she expected. Surprised at the zinging combination of pain and pleasure, she gasped. To keep her balance, she tried to fling her hands wide.