Page 14 of Hijack!
Hope. He had come to hide, to escape the message cube still in his pocket. “And I thought I was just making sure we didn’t run into any moons.”
“That’s important too. You’re still the captain, after all.”
He wondered if he had bigger worries now.
Or maybe just one small, delicate one.
Though she boosted herself up to her tiptoes, she was too short to reach him, so he obligingly lifted her to the bench. She let out a startled little laugh, clutching at his shoulders, though he didn’t—wouldn’t—let her falter.
Despite the added height of the bench, she still had to look up at him, just a bit. And she didn’t let go of his shoulders, even when she steadied. “So, the Earther kiss is simple. Areyouready?”
Why was his heart beating so fast? He outweighed her. He outranked her, even though she wasn’t command crew and thus not a direct report. If worse came to worse, he could outrun her. “Does it need so many words?”
This time her smile was wicked. “Just your yes.”
“Yea.”
She stroked her hands up his shoulders to his neck, then higher, into his mane. “Mm. I’ve been wondering…”
“Wondering what?” His voice was rough from the pleasure of her touch.
“What you would feel like. So thick but silky.” She was an Earther, so why did that judgement sound like a purr? “Are your whiskers sensitive?”
“Very.”
Her fingers spread through his mane the same way she’d mirrored the silent explosion of the second moon’s light. “I’ll be gentle.”
Like she didn’t want to frighten him so she would take only the utmost care. As if he didn’t outweigh and outrank her. As if he were many delicate pieces, scattered across lonely lightyears, that she would gather up in her hands.
With tender traction, she brought his mouth down to hers. When her soft lips yielded beneath his, the moment of first contact seemed to go on forever, and he reveled in the eternity. She tilted her head, just a tiny degree, and yet that sent the kiss tumbling on a whole new course, unfamiliar sensations zinging through him.
And the taste of her… Just as he’d imagined, but richer. His whiskers ached with shimmering need, almost electrified at the infinitesimal friction as they merely breathed each other in, their mouths molding, tempering, shaping to each other.
Helplessly, his fingers tightened on her hips… And after this intoxicating eternity, if he kissed her another zeptosecond, his claws would go right through the sturdy fabric of her uniform, and he would bare all her fragile skin to his ravenous mouth.
He did not, after all, have the strength to run. It took everything he had merely to lift his head enough to break the kiss. And even that tiny distance seemed too much; he had to pause with his forehead bent to hers. His mane, curling from the atmo-hall’s humid warmth, curtained their faces, but the little lights gleamed through the strands, leaving shadows across her face, as if he’d marked her even though there’d been no biting.
She flattened her palms on his chest, half in the open neckline where his ruff was too voluminous to cram under clothing. When she flexed her hands, her fingertips sank into his fur, revealing the lines of scars where he had been marked by cold fire. He shuddered, not at the old wounds, but she let out a little sound of dismay.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Was that too much? I know sometimes I’m too much. Sometimes—”
He clamped his hands over hers and swooped down to kiss her again.
Her mouth was partly open, and the oof of her breath as he hauled her against his chest flooded into him, exhilarating as Alferian ale—and more dangerous. He rumbled low in his throat when her arms went around his neck, holding him even tighter.
And she growled back. But when her tongue flickered out to touch his lips, he knew he had to stop. “Felicity… Azeeli, wait.”
She jerked back, so fast and hard she almost threw herself into the arch of flowers. He grabbed her, and she grasped his forearms, both of them holding on too tight even as they pushed apart.
Her eyes were wide, the innocent blue ringed in startled white, more lovely than the blossoms around them. “Ellix… Captain. I’m so…”
He wanted her to keep going, but the reminder of his position evoked an essential distance.
And yet he did not release her. “We need to talk about what’s happening on this ship.”
+ + +
Felicity held back a horrified laugh. Yeah,something had happened. Her lips were hot and swollen when she curled them inward, biting down to stop the hysterical sound.
