Free Morningstar by Robyn Bachar Page A

but enough to draw blood as he dragged her to the floor. Jace fumbled with the zipper to her coverall. The damn thing stuck halfway down her chest, and he grabbed either side of the garment and tore the rest of it open. He tugged it down over her hips until it tangled below her knees.
    “I’ll get it. Take care of your own clothes before I tear your pretty jacket,” she warned.
    He frowned at her practicality, but he obeyed. As he shed his clothes she finished undressing and then lay back, bared before him. Once naked, he descended upon her, hungry to taste her again. Bryn wrapped her arms around him and stroked her hands down his back to settle at his waist.
    “It’s like swordplay,” she murmured. “You thrust, I parry.”
    Jace barely heard the comment as he bit her. Bryn gasped and shuddered, her fingers digging into his hips. The rush of her blood was intoxicating, heady and addictive like nothing he had ever experienced before.
    “Usually you thrust, then bite,” Bryn advised in a low, breathy voice.
    She nudged him back, then reached down and guided his cock to her sex, and as he slid into her he found Bryn not only wet but almost dripping with arousal. Closing his eyes, he moaned at the pure pleasure of it, but then she grabbed him and rolled him beneath her.
    “But then again, it is your first time. I’ll drive.” Bryn grinned as she straddled him.
    He opened his mouth to argue but gasped as she shifted atop him and began to ride him. Pleasure raced through him, feeding the need ignited by the phase pheromones. Bryn was relentless, but it wasn’t enough. Her eyes were closed, her expression empty—nothing like the defiant fire that she’d shown while dueling him.
    “Not today.” Jace gripped her hips and smirked. “As I said, I have a problem with authority.”
    She scowled up at him when her back touched the deck, but then Bryn wrapped her legs around his waist and held on as he pounded her. Crazed, he took her fast and hard. Much to his surprise, this time she met him move for move. Bryn cried out and tensed around him. Jace threw his head back and let go as release shuddered through him.
    Spent, he collapsed atop her. Bryn slid her hands up his back in a light caress, and then grabbed a handful of his hair. This time she bit him hard enough to leave a mark but without breaking the skin.
    “Not bad for your first time. You’ve got potential,” she said. “We should go. The doctor doesn’t want to keep Sabine sedated longer than necessary.”
    Jace nodded, unable to form a coherent reply. As they redressed it became apparent that Bryn’s coverall wouldn’t be covering much above her waist anymore, and he winced with guilt.
    “Here.” He draped his jacket around her shoulders. She looked up at him in surprise, but then shrugged it on and buttoned it closed.
    “Thank you. I’ll bring Sabine to your quarters. Don’t want you to snap in the med bay and take her on a diagnostic bed. Your poor doctor would be traumatized.”
    Jace scowled. “I’m fine.”
    “No. You’re hard again already, and you haven’t even had a real dose of the pheromones. We’ll meet you in your quarters. I’d suggest stripping beforehand, to save any further wardrobe malfunctions.” Bryn eyed him with a dry expression, and he nodded.
    “Very well. I’ll see you there.”
    He watched her as she sauntered out of the room. Had her hips swayed like that before? Jace took a deep breath but found it did little to quiet his racing pulse. Bryn was right—he was hard again, and when the full effect of the phase hit him he’d be of little use to anyone but Sabine until it ended. He should warn the captain to take him off the duty roster for now, though Captain Hawke had been right that they couldn’t afford to lose the manpower at the moment. Thank the gods they were in transit to Cyprena and not headed into another battle.
    Sabine burned. The sickly heat never left her—sometimes it simmered, but usually it