The Tour Stop
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![]() The Mercenary
-- EXCERPT:
He swam towards the shore, wading out of the water to where she sat watching him. Saakshi watched her large warrior arise unhurriedly from the tranquil lake, the water spearing off his hard body causing his myriad colorful tattoos to gleam brightly on his gray skin in the light reflected off the plasma torches. He shook his head gracefully, sending an arc of water off his dark hair. The scattered droplets hung over him like a short-lived halo around his large muscled frame. Saakshi stared at him, frozen in place and unable to take her eyes off him. In that moment suspended in time, to the young Budheya girl gazing up in awe at her warrior, it felt as if the Pura herself had sent him for her – her own personal guardian angel charging in when she’d needed him the most. “Like what you see?” inquired the husky voice she remembered so well from before. Saakshi flushed, looking away from those molten dark eyes. He came down gracefully on one knee beside her, gloriously unselfconscious in his nakedness. “I do, too. Like what I see, that is” he said scratchily, his voice like sandpaper. He used a large finger to gently nudge her chin until she met his eyes. “You have me at your feet, tseriya. I hope you will show mercy.” Lost momentarily in the burning eyes and mesmerized by the husky voice, Saakshi realized dazedly that he seemed to be kneeling before her. She scrambled up with a muffled sob to throw her arms around him, smothering his face and neck with little kisses. “Tseriya” he asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. “Why are you crying?” “I’m just so happy that you came back” she sobbed into his neck. “Of course, I came back” he reiterated in some confusion, trying to dislodge her from his neck to meet her eyes. “Why wouldn’t I?” “I thought you were off doing more important stuff now that I was safe with the Alliance” Saakshi hiccupped into his neck, resisting all his attempts to get her to meet his eyes. “Tseriya” he cajoled. “I could never stay away from you.” He cupped the back of her head with one hand. “Tseriya” he said urgently. “Haven’t I proved already that I cannot stay away from you? That is what I cannot forgive myself for.” It was the note of despair in his voice that finally got through to Saakshi. She loosened her clasp around his neck to lean back and scan his expression. A callused finger brushed away her tears carefully as they spilled over from her eyes but Saakshi barely noticed the tender gesture. “Forgive yourself? What do you mean …” she trailed off uncertainly. He said nothing, but what she saw in the dark eyes had Saakshi straightening her spine. “You helped a stranger who came to you for assistance. You could have chosen to walk away. Without you, the Unta-Golar …” she stopped mid-sentence, her words cut off by the large finger Zoran laid gently across her lips. The expression on his handsome face shuttered right before her eyes. “I’m no hero, Saakshi” he said steadily. “I shamed myself – I took advantage of a young and desperate girl.” It was Saakshi’s turn to lay a gentle finger on his lips to prevent him from further self-reproach. “No” she shook her head forcefully. “Nothing happened between us that I did not want. Believe that if you believe nothing else, Zoran Hadari-Begur-Kor.” She withdrew her finger from his lips. He remained silent but did soften enough to allow her to see the regret and despair in him. “You came for me every single time” she reiterated a tad desperately. “When no else did.” Zoran shook his head, clasping her hand to plant a soft kiss in her palm. “Yes” he acknowledged. “But I also took advantage of you.” Saakshi shook her head vehemently, desperate to make him believe that she had never felt coerced into an intimate relationship with him. “You … you loved me like no one else had, Zoran” she whispered, shyness and embarrassment forgotten. “I was drawn to you, even before I went to you. I just … I was too inexperienced to know it.” His expression twisted subtly at her soft admission. “I was not.” ![]()
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