Page 6 of Holiday with the Aliens

This time his laugh was much more natural. “No one hiding in the cargo hold or waiting for me at some other port.” He leaned in close, until most of the space between them disappeared. “I’m free to find whoever I like and do whatever we want.”

If he touched her, she was going to kiss him. Hell, she’d probably grab hold of his collar and yank him back into her room. Sure the bed was tiny, but that just meant they’d have tostay close. She liked close. Especially when it came to him. She darted her tongue out to lick suddenly dry lips and watched as his eyes dipped to take in the motion. He sucked in an unsteady breath and his gaze darkened with desire.Oh, yes, this would be good. Exactly what she needed.

A buzzing alarm cut through the moment, and Dash scowled. “We’ve been cleared for takeoff. If I don’t initiate the procedure we’ll be chucked to the back of the line.”

Not even her desire for his kiss could make her want to stay on Mars for one second longer. “Then I guess you’d better get moving.”

He stood frozen above her for another few seconds, but the buzzer kept sounding, and finally he pulled back. “Keep me company in the cockpit?”

Ro nodded before she could think of a reason not to. There wasn’t one. “I’ll join you shortly.”

They didn’t kiss. If they kissed there’d be no hope of getting off the planet, though a good chance at getting off in general. But he did run his finger down her arm as he turned away, and Ro shivered. How could she be so consumed with want this soon? It was almost like he was one of those aliens she’d heard about in media reports, the ones who saw a person and from that second knew they had to claim them as a mate. But as far as she knew, Dash was human. Inhumanly cheerful, but she couldn’t hold his good mood against him. Not too much.

Instead of following him directly to the cockpit, she went into her quarters and strapped in for take off. She wanted to get a few of her things unpacked before she went to find the alluring captain. She doubted she’d want to leave once she was there. Why would she?

While she was waiting, her communicator buzzed. Her sister again? Ro didn’t want to talk, even as a part of her wanted to prove she was on her way to Earth and making good time. But alook at the ID proved it was her boss, Derrell. “Hey, boss, what’s up?” She’d been working for the man for years and they had a good relationship. He expected a lot, but not more than Ro was eager to give, and the pay more than made up for busy weeks and sleepless nights.

“I sent you a message earlier but I haven’t seen a response. Were you having an issue with a client? Need me to put on pressure?” The man had been raised on Mars, and his accent was a strange mix of a dozen languages, both human and not. As far as she knew, he’d never been to Earth and had no desire to see the homeland. He’d once told her the thought of vast plains and vaster oceans sounded terrifying, and he was much more comfortable on the sanely terraformed planet.

“I told you I was taking time off. I’m shipping out right now, as a matter of fact. Comms could be spotty for the next week until I’m on Earth. Was this an emergency?” She pulled up her messages while they spoke and read through what he’d sent.

“Just thought we could get ahead of things while everyone’s lazing about because of the holiday. I knew you were taking time, but really? Three weeks?” He wasn’t angry so much as confused.

“Vacation timeisprovided as part of my benefits, Der, just because I haven’t used much of it doesn’t mean I can’t. I’m excited to see my family.” She really was. Despite her sister’s thorniness, despite the difficulty in finding a way home, Ro was ready to see Earth again and hug her nephew, and even her sister. It had been too long.

“You’re going to be bored out of your mind after a day. I’ll send you some extra work to keep you busy.” He wasn’t joking. Der didn’t take vacations. He lived for his business and thought everyone was wired the same.

Normally Ro was, but not today. “I’ll look at it if I have time, but no promises. I want to spend time with my family.”

“You have a week before you get to Earth,” Der pointed out.

And Ro wasnotgoing to tell him she wanted to spend the next week getting into the captain’s jumpsuit. “You’ll barely miss me. And maybe you can take a day or two for yourself. Live a little?”

“I’ll live when I’m dead,” he scoffed. “Now don’t go getting any ideas about staying on Earth. I expect to see you back after the new year.”

Ro laughed. “Why the hell would I stay on Earth? My life is on Mars.”

“Holidays are weird.” And there was a story behind that statement that Ro didn’t have time to delve into. The ship had begun to move and her connection was getting fainter.

“I’ll see you in a few weeks, Der. Have a good holiday.”

He just sighed and disconnected the call.

Ro looked at her communicator for a solid minute before finally putting it away. Der’s weird ideas about the holidays weren’t any of her concern. Once the flight evened out and they were well on their way to the moon, she unpacked a few days of clothes and then headed out. She had a captain to see.

After nearly an hour of flying, Dash wondered if Ro had changed her mind about spending time with him. The autopilot had taken over now that they were safely away from the planet, but he didn’t like to leave the cockpit until they were a bit farther away. The ship wasn’t that big, and if she’d gotten lost she’d find him eventually. But he wanted hernow.

Desire had never been so insistent before, and Dash had a nagging feeling he knew why. But it would be impossible to confirm in his human form, and the ship wasn’t big enough for a reilendeer. Even if he could manage to squeeze into the cargohold, he didn’t want to risk either of his passengers seeing him. If what he thought was true, he’d have to tell Rowan about himself, but he didn’t want to scare Kiki.

Would his antlers glow? It was the sure sign that a reilendeer had found his mate, and the glow wouldn’t fade until he claimed her or she repudiated him.

A mate. He’d always known it was possible, but he’d never expected it to happen to him. Not for any particular reason, but it just seemed so strange. His own parents had been mates, of course, and plenty of his cousins had met their matches. But he’d made it to the age of thirty-seven with no one tripping his instincts, and he’d thought he’d outgrown that.

Apparently not.

Bringing good cheer to a mate was the highest calling a reilendeer could aspire to. And he had a feeling that Rowan needed a lot of good cheer.

But what happened when the week was over? The sudden doubt assailed him and Dash was glad he couldn’t exude sadness in the same way he radiated happiness. His mate—hispotentialmate—wanted him to take her to Earth and that was it. They were to be together for one week and then part. He would need to return to Mars and find another client to transport, she would eventually return on some other ship, and though they’d be on the same planet some of the time, there was no guarantee they’d see one another again.

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