Page 64 of Stripped By the Alien

Then Krix'vorr reaches out and touches the side of my neck. The gesture is brief and casual, but my body reacts as though he kissed me.

His thumb brushes my skin once before his hand falls away again. The contact leaves a trail of warmth that spreads through my chest and downward from there.

"We still have time before we arrive," he says.

I know exactly what he's offering. The tension that's been building since the battle, since the wreckage, since the Queen's summons, suddenly feels much harder to ignore.

I swallow and meet his eyes. "That's good. Because I have some idea about how to spend that time.”

His gaze darkens, and I know he understands precisely what I mean.

I fall into step beside him as we leave the command chamber. Around us, the Beast continues her endless work. Crew members hurry through the organic corridors carrying tools and bundles I don't recognize. The activity barely registers.

I'm electrically aware of the locust walking beside me.

Every few steps his arm brushes mine. Each accidental contact sends another pulse of warmth through me. It would be easier if he seemed unaffected. Instead he walks with the same confidence he always has, which only makes me more suspicious.

"You planned that," I say.

His antennae tilt toward me. "Planned what?"

"The neck touch."

For a moment I catch amusement in his eyes. "I don't plan everything, you know."

I snort. "Not everything, just nearly everything."

He walks on. "You keep saying things that should make me furious. And yet you’re still alive and well. Indeed, you’re thriving. It’s most puzzling."

I choose not to feel threatened by that. This guy lives a brutal life, and everything he says must be filtered. “I think you like it when I say those things.”

“Oh?”

I point to his crotch, where the shield is absolutely moving. “That keeps giving you away.”

The corridor narrows ahead. Krix'vorr places a hand against my back and guides me through a cluster of approaching crew members that scramble to get out of the way and drop to all fours. He keeps his hand there, and I like it.

"I enjoy that sound."

I look up at him. "What sound?"

His gaze settles on me. "You laughing."

“Oh.” I don’t know what to say. “I didn’t know I was laughing.”

He walks on. “See, laughing in my presence is one of those things that should be dangerous.”

I glance at his midsection, where the shield is twitching. “So I see.”

He looks down at me with a hint of mirth in his alien face. “In a moment you’ll see it up close.”

Heat floods my face. “You sound very sure.”

He glances down at the tape wrapped around me. His eyes travel from my shoulders to my legs and back again. “It feels like I just told you about Chief Harrowers and being sure.”

“So maybe I wanted to hear it again,” I admit.

"You have no idea how difficult it is to stay patient." The low note in his voice sends a shiver through me.