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I realize she has her eyes on the pilot of the interstellar vessel we just boarded.
“Josie… don’t…”
It’s too late. She has taken the pilot by the ears and is tugging in a vertical fashion.
“What the…”
I pull her off the pilot, nearly taking his very natural ears with her.
“Sorry,” I say. “She’s never been off her colony before. She doesn’t know how to behave.”
“If she’s going to act like that, she’ll have to travel in the cargo hold,” he growls. “That could have crashed the entire ship. It’s a privilege to be allowed on the bridge, but if she can’t be civilized, there’s crates in the brig where we put feral little animals.”
“Hey, go to hell,” she spits at him, not sorry in the least.
“Again. Apologies,” I say. I’m tryin’ to be civilized now. I didn’t think it would be as hard as it is. These ships are small. There’s walls one side and walls the other. Not what I’m used to, the wide open plains, sleeping under the stars, never being hemmed in. The only time I saw walls as an outlaw was when I was caught and in jail.
“Come on,” I growl at Josie. “We’re going to our cabin.”
I’d hoped to avoid the cabin, for the same reason as before. Walls. Close walls. Tight walls, and outside ‘em, nothing but space stretching out into eternity. The cabin is supposed to be what people call “nice”, but I find it overstuffed. The bed is too soft, there’s about a mile of fabric between us and the floor. There’s screens everywhere with pictures moving on them, but they’re not real and they don’t interest me.
There’s only one thing in the universe which interests me: Josie.
I get her safely back to our box without her assaulting anyone else, which is a win. She bounces onto the bed and makes a sigh of satisfaction which would be cute if she wasn’t creating havoc on this vessel. I knew it would be hard for me to adjust to a lawful life. I didn’t figure Josie would be even wilder than I am.
Josie
“Now you listen to me,” he says, all stern and commanding. “You cannot try to take people’s heads off. It’s rude, and it’s going to get us thrown off this ship.”
“Sorry,” I say. “But he seemed suspicious.”
“Did he?”
“Well, maybe not. But I get the feeling there’s more of them around us, you know? They can hide in plain sight like… anyone.”
I look at Orion.
“Like anyone,” I repeat, thoughtfully.
“Girl, if you try to pull my head off my shoulders, you will feel my belt across your ass so long and so hard you won’t sit for a month,” he growls.
“See, you sayin’ that makes me think you’re hiding something.”
“Don’t,” he growls, leaning down to take my outstretched wrists in each of his hands. He pushes me back down on the bed, pinning me easily with his strength. He’s so damn powerful, and yet almost always gentle with me — at least, until he’s not.
I try to squirm out of his grasp, not because I want to be free, but because I want to feel him clamp down and make me stay.
“You know what you need, missy?”
“Nu uh, tell me.”
“Two things. You need to get into some trouble, and you need to be spanked for it.”
“Do I?” I let out a laugh. “I’m supposed to get in trouble on purpose, and then let you punish me for it?”
“Uh huh.”
“I don’t think I’m the one who needs to be in trouble. I think you are. I think you’re sick of being lawful already. You’re lucky I’m keeping you on your toes.”
“Uh huh.” He drags his teeth lightly over the soft skin of my neck, sending thrills running through me. He nibbles my collarbone, making me gasp softly as my legs spread for him.
“You’re going to be my bad girl,” he purrs softly.
“I always was, Orion.”
“I reckon you was,” he agrees, kissing me deeply.
Outside the window, space whales are cavorting amongst the waving beds of interstellar petunias, grazing calmly as our vessel drifts through them. There’s a whole universe of weirdness waiting for the pair of us, and I’m ready to discover it all, with Orion by my side.
But I’m still going to keep checking heads. Just in case.
