Page 33 of Tanin's Treasure
It was a line she had clearly drawn – playful flirting was okay, serious was not. Tanin didn't like that Trove was flirting with her at all, but he didn't do anything to stop it. She wasn’t his. He had no right to intervene. Even if seeing and hearing it on the cameras made his quills stand on end and his fists tighten with the urge to land them across Trove’s pretty face.
The day that the generators were due to be finished recharging, Tanin left the upper bridge and went down into the ship. He could pretend that he was just taking a walk, but his feet didn't even hesitate to head towards the length of hall Garnet was cleaning that day.
No one else was around her right now. There was no one to interrupt as he approached while she hummed happily, using a mop to clean the highest part of the walls. She was too short to reach up high, so she’d found herself a tool to do it instead.
She had really devoted herself to this task no one asked her to do. She was a hard worker. And someone with morals. He told her that she owed him nothing for this ride, but she insisted on giving back to him anyway. That was something else no one from the station would have done. Well, no one would offer a free ride, regardless of the reason they were there, but if they did, no one would have insisted on paying anyway.
She was different from what he was used to. Precious. Adorable.
Tanin approached her quietly, entranced by the way one of her wavy strands of hair fell from its tail and framed her face. She blew it away with a quick breath, but didn't stop in her task. Not even as he came to stand behind her, admiring the way her body moved.
Her hips created the perfect handles for him to grasp, and her round little ass would fit neatly against him. She had large breasts, enough to fill a male’s hands quite neatly as he held her from behind, driving into her as she gasped and moaned, those stray little hairs bobbing around her face.
She brought the mop down and turned, probably to clean it off, but then caught sight of him. She let out a quick scream, immediately followed by laughter, as she covered her heart. Then, to his surprise, she smacked his arm. Not hard, but it was unexpected.
“You scared me!” She admonished, still chuckling. “Almost had a heart attack.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“No, not really.” She set the mop down, leaning the handle against the wall. She turned back to him with a smile, reaching up to try to fix her hair. He watched the movement of her slender, little fingers, envious of their trek through those auburn tresses.
Dangerous. These were dangerous thoughts.
But he couldn’t back away.
“Did you need something, boss man?”
“Boss man?” He repeated.
Having fixed most of her hair back in place, her hands dropped, and she grinned. “Oh, right. I guess you’re not really a man, right? Boss… guy? No, that’s not that good. How about just boss?”
“You can call me Tanin.”
She smiled. “Good to know. But did you need something?”
“I was just going to tell you that we should start our swing today.”
To his surprise, her smile dimmed. “The subspace swing thing? The one that will take us to where the keepers are?”
“That’s the one. It’s not far, relatively speaking, for a subspace swing. But it will still take us about three days in subspace before we reach the location. Our generator isn’t that powerful, so it takes longer to move through subspace.”
“Three days, huh…” She bit her lip before a look of determination crossed her face. It was gone in an instant, however, replaced by a smile. “So, Tanin. Boss man. I wanted to talk to you about something, if I could.”
Tanin blinked, giving her a look. He knew that tone. That was a salesperson’s tone. She was trying to get him to buy something. Maybe not with credz, but she was certainly selling.
“About what?” He asked, his own tone even and neutral.
“See, Goldie and I were talking, and we agreed that we have been having a wonderful time on your ship. Really. You’ve taken such good care of us. This has been a wonderful experience. I mean, wewerekidnapped, but as far as kidnappings go, I’d say this one is easily a ten out of ten. Could not have asked for better treatment.”
“I’m glad you’ve been comfortable,” he said simply, concealing his amusement. She was winding up her sales pitch a lot, and it was rather adorable to watch.
“More than comfortable. I mean, if it weren’t for the fact that I have to wash my clothes by hand each night, I’d say this was pretty dang sweet. And even then, I’m certainly not complaining. As I said, for a kidnappee, this could not have gone better.”
“I’ll be sure to add that review to my business listings.”
She giggled. “So, it rather got us thinking. We have enjoyed our time here so much, and I can see there is a definite need for some extra hands. Certainly not big ones. You guys have all the strength positions down. But things like this.” She turned, gesturing to the half-finished wall.
He could see, even now that the chemicals were dry, the line between what she had already cleaned and what needed to be cleaned next. The shine had returned to the metal walls. He didn't think they looked that good when he bought the ship. Admittedly, he got it secondhand, but that just meant it had likely been many, many years since anyone wiped down those walls.
