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“Nothing could ever be called something as paltry as ‘normal’ if I’m touching you, my soul’s breath. You make everything special. Beyond special.” His fingers brushed my forehead. “Touching you is transcendent.”
Oh. My heart skipped, my breath catching. No one had ever said anything close.
Something rustled the greenery, and a voice called out, “Can I come in?”
“I’ll come to you.” Wrin pressed a kiss to my lips and slid to the side of the daybed. After throwing the sheet over me, he stood and pulled on his pants, his fine ass flexing with the movement. As soon as he had them fastened over his tail and in front, he walked to the opening in the greenery and turned the sharp corner, disappearing from view.
He came back, carrying a tray, which he brought straight to me.
“Not just breakfast.” I sat up, wrapping the sheet over my chest and tucking it under my arms. “Breakfast in bed.”
Wrin popped a berry into my mouth with a pleased grin.
Oh. My heart fluttered. This whole night had been amazing. I’d never had a guy do anything like this for me before. College hookups had been a shared pizza at best, everyone a broke college student. And after that I’d spent the next couple of years working too hard to have a serious boyfriend. By the time I got a little more settled in my career, a lot of the guys I’d met were intimidated by my position or my drive.
None of them had the confidence Wrin had. None of them had been willing to see me as an equal. And by doing that, he was also able to treat me like this, like I was special without it feeling like some kind of weird one-upmanship.
Refusing any help, he prepared a bowl of sweet porridge for me, mixing in various types of fruit. He waited until I took my first bite and ummed my approval before making his own more savory breakfast.
As I took another bite, I made another happy noise.
His eyes met mine, and that earth-shattering smile lit his face, the one with the unexpected dimples. The expression was filled with so much joy it tugged at my heart.
I’d never done it before, but I still knew what this feeling was.
I was falling for him.
As much as I’d hated the thought of how much that magical night cost, I ended up damned glad Wrin had done it. We were two days out from Breyva, with another day to go, and the privacy and peace of the glen felt a galaxy away.
“No, you can’t go to your playroom,” Cara said as Space Kitty yowled a protest. “Because it’s not safe.”
“It might be,” Gravin muttered, glancing around the mess hall. “We could try it and see.”
She rolled her eyes at him and poked his arm. “Stop being grumpy.”
He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth, nipping gently at her finger with his fangs until she giggled.
Ella, Tark, and Sofie had coated the inside of the largest room on theDaredevilwith zurilium foil. The silver metal hid the light-blue walls and Mollie’s lovely mural of a flowering tree. It covered the floor, the ceiling, and all of the built-in lights. We lived inside a mirrored bubble lit by temporary lights.
And filled with too many people and pets.
Wrin and I had cut things down to only essential crew for this mission. The mess hall and its attached bathroom were the only places on the ship protected from the Grug telepathy field. We’d metal-lined a section of hallway outside as well, capping it with temporary doors. Racks of protective helmets lined one of its walls. We could go into other parts of the ship wearing those, but to eat and sleep, we had to come back here.
Cara came because of her experience fighting the Grug, and Mollie acted as one of our pilots as well as the person who’d been exposed to the telepathy field and could talk about it. All of the rest of the mated human women had insisted on coming as well.
“I’ve got a wealth of Grug info buried in my mind. Things float to the surface all the time,” Hazel had said. “I need to be there. I might remember something crucial.”
“Might need a hand fixing something,” Ella said. Tall and solidly built, the mechanic had watched me closely, her light face twisted in a scowl, as if she’d expected me to disagree. I hadn’t.
“I can fight!” Frankie had said. Scrappy and tough, her light-brown face had worn a determined expression that resonated with me.
“I can’t fight.” Sofie had shrugged. “But I’m also the expert on zurilium.”
So here we all were. And all of our pets.
We’d left half the tables in place, so we’d all have somewhere to sit. Mattresses covered the other half of the room. A few of us were at the long, rectangular table that stood in front of where Mollie’s covered mural was. It had turned into the “human” table before I’d ever joined the ship.
“Bored now.”Max came and plopped down by my feet.“No fun.”
