Page 61 of Captain's Treasure
Fuck.
She had to get out of there. She swung her leg up and around as she pivoted on the bed. Once free of him and off the bed, she grabbed her discarded clothes. “I have to go.”
Dez didn’t say anything. His face impassive, but his gaze held disappointment and determination. Tension squeezed Cyra’s shoulders. He was a man still on a mission—one that wasn’t going according to plan. What was she going to do with him? No idea. She fastened the final clasp on her top and walked out the door without another word.
Since she couldn’t talk to him, she went in search of Veda for a reality check. Maybe the situation wasn’t as dire as she imagined. Maybe it was worse.
“I should have known to look for you here first.” Cyra told Veda when she found her in the makeshift greenhouse in the cargo bay.
Veda shifted her focus from her plants and smiled. “I seem to spend more time here than in the med lab. After Dez helped me set it up, the work really began. I had no idea that growing things from seed would be so challenging.”
At the sound of Dez’s name, as a series of images of them together flashed through Cyra’s mind. She mentally kicked herself for leaving when they were just getting started and again for ever starting at all.
“What’s wrong?” Veda pulled off her gloves and moved to Cyra. Veda took Cyra’s hands in hers and led her to the bench at the back of the room. “What happened?”
Cyra tried to tell her friend what she’d done but the words wouldn’t form.
“Just tell me from the beginning.”
“Bodi was in Dez’s quarters.” Left over rage sizzled up briefly.
“Were they together?” The shock in Veda’s voice made Cyra feel a little better about her own reaction—a tiny amount.
“No. Bodi was propositioning Dez. She wanted him to submit to her. Sexually.”
“What was Dez doing?” Veda asked. How could she be so calm?
“I don’t know. Nothing? I didn’t wait long enough to find out. I lost my shit and kicked her out of the room. Then I closed us in there and took advantage of him.” Cyra dropped her head in her hands and stared at the metal panels of the floor.
“You had sex with Dez?” Veda obviously didn’t believe her. And maybe she was kind of right.
“Not exactly, not intercourse.”
“Were you naked?” Her doctor voice had kicked in.
Cyra gulped and met Veda’s gaze. “Yes.”
“Was he naked?”
Another image flashed through Cyra’s mind. All those beautiful markings. His thick, veined cock glistening with desire. “Yes,” she answered breathlessly.
“Ok, so aside from wishing I owned that memory, I need you to explain. What exactly happened that has you so upset?”
Cyra dropped her head again unable to face her disastrous actions. “I took advantage of him. I told him he was mine and no one else could have him.”
Veda rested a hand on Cyra’s shoulder. “Does Dez think you took advantage of him?”
“I don’t know.” Cyra put aside her pride and shame and faced her dearest friend. The only person she trusted to help her. “After he, after we— Afterward, I told him we couldn’t do this, and I left. He looked sad.”
“Of course he’s sad.” She tilted her head and her gaze softened. “His body knows you’re his mate. He is convinced of the validity of this. You finally gave in and had a sexual encounter and then immediately rejected him again. He’s going to be sad.”
Veda’s words stabbed Cyra in the gut. “It sounds so bad when you say it that way.”
“I’m just explaining it from his perspective.” Veda barely lifted a single shoulder, a hint of a shrug, as if all of what she said was obvious.
“I can’t do this Veda.” Cyra stood up. She paced the short distance to the tables where palettes of growing medium held a smattering of tiny green shoots. “If I give into my lust or mating or whatever this is, I lose everything. Am I supposed to just toss my life away with no concern about your future or my future or the rest of the crew? Am I supposed to just parkThe Treasureat Cassan and let Varik have it? What would I do then? Live on a jungle planet, dependent on my in-laws making black and blue babies that look like bruises?”
“Just because you’re blue and he is charcoal doesn’t mean your babies would look like a bruise. You’re just being dramatic.” Veda laughed.
