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‘Seriously,’ she said, sitting on the edge of the bed to toe her shoes and shimmy out of her dress. ‘I’ve changed beds so many times in the last few weeks I feel like I’m on a never-ending trip away from my home on Dunia. But I don’t mind, especially if you’re by my side.’
His gaze turned into liquid gold as he watched her undress.
‘Do you mind changing beds often yourself?’ she asked, sliding off her earrings.
He shook his head, shifting the dark locks of his flowing hair. ‘Khamila, I’ve slept in the worst places, from underground bunkers to desert dunes. But I don’t care where I sleep and am comfortable moving around. I often bed down on my ship when I’m away working, which is about ten months of the eleven months year. The rest of the time, I’m in my real bed, in my real home on J’Urg Mihòr.’
She looked out of the holo screen that displayed Eden II’s silvery radiance and city dome in the distance. Just a few clicks above the moon rock where the Phantasm was parked on Eden II’s orbital space station.
For a moment, she wondered what life might look like when everything, and she hoped everything, had settled down.Where would they live? Would they live apart, part of the time together, or do the long-distance dance between Eden II and Dunia?
‘You’re leaping too far into the future, beautiful,’ Kainan said, gazing at her keenly.
She turned and gave him a soft smile. ‘How do you read me so well?’
‘Your face is Pegasi’s most expressive, my love,’ he told her. He crawled across the bed to envelop her in his hot naked heat. ‘You might as well be shouting out your thoughts.’
‘Would I win at poker?’ she cheekily asked, looking up into his molten eyes.
‘Depends on who’s playing,’ he said thickly, nibbling her shoulder and slipping a hand under one generous breast. He blew on the nipple, watching as it hardened. ‘You’d never win against me,’ he said, leaning down to lick the hot tight bud.
She moaned, sinking her hands into his long hair. ‘That’s because you’re a cheat. You use my passion for you to break down my barriers.’
‘So true,khamila,’ he murmured against her skin.
‘I forget everything when I’m with you. Even the crazy rescue mission we’re about to go on -.’
‘More truth, my love,’ he whispered before genuinely making her forget herself. ‘As our elders say, when our love is deep, there is no need to fear the storms.’
Six hours later, Phantasm broke free from Eden II’s orbital station and rumbled into space. Then with a flick of Cilia’s controls, they leapt into hyperspace.
The sleek battle cruiser barely shuddered as it entered the jump. Selene felt her stomach churn momentarily as the stars outside the window stretched impossibly and then winked out of view. However, her tummy eventually settled as the vessel smoothly thrust forward on its powerful hyperdrive engine.
‘Seven standard hours to our destination,’ Mirage called out.
Phantasm’s cabin lights brightened, signalling it was safe to walk around after the jump. Selene didn’t hesitate to strip off her chair straps and head for the lower deck.
She passed by Kainan, Riv and Kage. They were hunched over a screen, deep in an unspoken discussion. There was no point disturbing them, so she left the bridge and wandered towards the mess.
There she ordered a hot kahawa to go from the smiling mess officer. She had a chat with a few of the crew. She also checked her messages while she waited. There was nothing of note from Rina except a long-winded whine about the extreme boredom she was experiencing attending Selene’s appointments on her behalf. She’d also attached cheeky notes and commentary on the people she met to her comm message. Selene choked at her uncanny characterisations.
She then spent a few hours on her comm tab reviewing her extensive list of things to do, chugging down endless cups of kahawa and snacking lightly on a salad.
When she was done, she ordered another brew with her takeaway mug in hand, she headed back to the bridge, still smiling at Rina’s clever quips, which kept landing in her comm box.
Just as she was about to round the corner onto the bridge’s main corridor, strong arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her into a dark storage hold hidden in the corridor wall.
She gasped, squirmed, and then relaxed, instantly recognising Kainan’s scent.
Immediately she was overcome with longing.
She hadn’t been alone with him for a moment since they’d left his quarters to begin prepping for the mission. That had been hours ago. Her soul danced at his touch after what seemed like a lifetime away from him.
He must have flicked a switch because a light came on in the tiny space.
‘Where did you go without me,khamila?’ he griped, leaning down to nibble at her lips.
Since their reconciliation, he’d turned into an assertive, insistent lover. Who loathed to let her anywhere out of his sight.
