“I’ll be with you, it will be fine.” Kelby gently rubbed my back. “But we have to move fast.”
“I’m going too.” Malton snuggled again my chest.
“No. You can’t. He’ll sense you even more than her.” Darto reached for the dog. “I’m sorry, but that is a neon-negotiable.”
“But I’m her protector. I have to be with Angie.” Malton buried his face in my chest.
“You can protect her more by staying with us. Make sure he can’t find her.”
“Okay.” He lifted his head. “Okay, I can do that.”
“Good.” Darto reached for me again. Malton shook his head and jumped down to the floor. “I can walk on my own.”
“I’m going to be okay, Malton.” Clearly I didn’t know that, but I didn’t want him to worry. Why I cared so much about the feelings of this dog I didn’t know, but he was definitely growing on me.
“We need to go.” Kelby linked his arm with mine. “We go all the way down?”
“Yes. The large closets on the lower level. The code is my brother’s name.”
“You used me as your security code?” Darto’s eyes widened.
“We can discuss that later.” Gamble frowned. “Go now.”
I gave a quick wave to the others before Kelby whisked us down the stairs.
Everything was a blur as the alarm went off again right as the doors to the closets opened and then slammed closed behind us.
“You okay?” Kelby asked once my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the small storage area.
“I’m fine… thanks for doing this with me.” The situation was frightening, but I was grateful I wasn’t facing it alone.
“I’ve already told you I’ll protect you from anything.” He stood beside me.
“I don’t really know why, but I appreciate it.” I took in our surroundings. The room was mostly empty aside from a stack of crates on either side of the room.
“If you’d like to have this conversation now, we can have it.”
“No, it’s okay.” Having the conversation I knew he was referring to when stuck in a small space while in danger didn’t seem like the best idea.
“You know I care about you, Angie.” The way he said my name… why did it get me so much? No one saying my name had affected me that way before.
“I care about you too.” Had I just said that out loud?
“I care for you as more than my charge.” He took another step toward me.
“Your charge? I wasn’t aware I was your charge.”
“Sorry. Sometimes translations fail. What I mean is I care about you for far more than protective reasons.”
“Oh. Well thanks, I guess.” I forced myself to meet his eyes.
“You guess?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m so confused. This whole situation.” I fought the urge to look away.
“Angie?” He said my name again. It had the exact same reaction.
“Yes.”
“Are you really confused about this situation?” He put his hand under my chin. “Give me the most honest answer you can.”
“Yes, and no. I know how I feel about you. But I shouldn’t feel that way.”
“Because we were born of different planets? Because that doesn’t matter. The research has been done. We are fully compatible in every way…” he trailed off.
“We don’t have to talk about that kind of stuff now.”
“Then what is it that bothers you?” he released my chin.
“We are so different.”
“And different is bad?” He took my hand. “I believe different can be good. I am seeing that more and more the longer we are together.”
“Different is good.”
“Then what is holding you back?” He tugged lightly on my hand, pulling me closer.
“Holding me back? It’s not as if you’ve asked me to date you or something.”
“Date?” His brow furrowed.
“Yeah. Go out or whatever.”
“I believe we are experiencing another translation issue.” He ran his thumb in small circles over my hand.
“People date before choosing who they want to be with for life, if they want to be with someone for life. And even then they can fall apart.” I would spare him the divorce statistics from where I was from.
“Well, why don’t we date?”
“Because neither of us has asked.” It was getting much easier to make eye contact.
“Then I’m asking you. Date me?”
I laughed. There was something about the way he said it.
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. Not at all.” I shook my head.
“Then what is your answer?” He continued his small circles.
“Sure. I don’t think we have time for a date. But when we do the answer is yes.”
“Can’t this be a date?”
“Here? In this storage area?” I pointed to the ground.
“Why not?” He gestured around with his free hand.
“Because you usually do things on dates.”
“We can do things here.” He leaned in, and before I could even compute what was happening his lips were on mine. They moved against mine perfectly, and the heat was immediate. I responded without thinking, my arms reaching up and wrapping around his neck as I pulled him closer. He pressed for access to my mouth, and I gladly let him in. His tongue tangled with mine, and time stood still until we eventually broke the kiss.
“Wow.” I stared at him in the dim light.
He grinned. “Wow is right.”
“I’ve never. Wow. I didn’t know a kiss could be like that.”
“I don’t believe they usually are. At least one never has been for me.” His grin was even wider.
“I probably will regret asking this, but have you been with many women before?”
“A few. Have you been with other men?”
“One.”
“You’ve only kissed one other man?” There was genuine surprise on his face.
“No... I’ve kissed plenty. I meant.” I could feel myself blush. “Oh. Never mind.”
“Oh. I get it. Don’t worry. But why don’t we stick to talking only about us.”
“That’s a good idea.” I smiled. “A very good idea.”
“Or better yet. Why don’t we stop talking all together?”
“And just stand in silence?”
“No. I have a better idea.” His lips crashed into mine, and once again I got lost in his kiss.
17 Angie
The second kiss was intense. The third kiss was outrageous. By the fifth kiss I wasn’t sure if I could stand up straight anymore.
“How’s the motion sickness?” Kelby ran his thumb down the side of my face.
“Gone. Completely gone.”
“And my hand isn’t even on your neck.” He smiled.
“I have a feeling your lips having been on mine has helped.”
“We will have to remember that in case we decide to take another boat trip.”
“If we do one again, perhaps we can choose less choppy water.” I took a seat on the edge of a crate.
Kelby sat down beside me. “You rarely get to choose the nature of the water.”
“Then maybe we won’t spend too much time on boats. Spaceships and I get along a whole lot better.”
“That works for me.” He put his hand over mine.
“How are we going to get out of here?” I looked at the closed door.
“In a hurry to get away from me?” He put his arm around me.
“No, certainly not. But when we reach our destination we will have to get off.”
“We can let Darto and Gamble handle that with their illusions.”
“Wait.” A thought occurred to me. “Couldn’t they have used their illusions this whole time?”
“Even their illusions cannot work that long,” he explained.
“But couldn’t Gamble have kept him from getting on the boat?” That would have solved a bunch o
f problems.
“I don’t know Gamble, or his abilities, well enough to answer that question, but we will get off this boat in one piece. I can assure you of that.”
“Well, at least hiding out had its benefits.” I couldn’t resist.
“Oh, yeah?” He put a hand on my leg.
“Yes.”
“Then we should hide out a lot more.” He grinned.
“Is this only possible when we hide out?” Normally I would have kept that question to myself and let it eat at me, but that was the old me. The new me needed to know. “I mean do you want to keep me a secret?”
“What?” His eyes widened. “Are you kidding me?”
“I don’t know… I guess I don’t know.” Where was my confidence going?
He put his hand under my chin again and made me look into his eyes. “Angie. I will never hide that we are together unless it is to protect you. You understand?”
“So you are going to tell Darto and Gamble?” It’s not that it mattered. I shouldn’t have even cared. I just didn’t want to be anyone’s secret.
“They’ll figure it out, but I’d be happy to scream it from the roof of the boat if you’d like.” He wriggled an eyebrow.
“Nope. That won’t be necessary.”
He brushed his lips against mine. “Never doubt just how proud I am to have you.”
“To have me?” I flinched.
“Yes. To have you.”
“You don’t have me. We’re dating.” I scooted away from him.
His forehead furrowed. “You’re mine.”
“Maybe this is a translation issue again.” So far he hadn’t seemed like a Neanderthal alpha male. I wanted to believe this was just miscommunication.
“In what way?” he asked.
“You can’t say stuff like that.” I tried to soften my voice and expression.
“Like what?”
“That I’m yours.”
“Why not?” He scooted closer, closing the distance I had created.
“Because I don’t belong to anyone.”
“Wait. I think you are confused. I’m not calling you my slave.” A look of horror crossed his face.
“Obviously. I wasn’t suggesting that.”
“Then why the issue?” He took my hands in his. “Please explain.”
“Because I still don’t belong to anyone.”
“Okay. How about I say, you are with me? Is there an issue with those terms?”
“No. Those words are perfectly fine.” I had definitely overreacted. But I wouldn’t apologize. I had to be careful I wasn’t getting myself into a bad situation. I had been there before.
“Terrific. So we are good.” He squeezed my hands.
“One day I’ll have to learn your language.” That would probably solve some issues. No matter how good a translator was, some things were lost in the process.
“Or I’ll learn yours.”
“Or we could both learn.” I was strangely excited about that possibility. The idea of us teaching each other excited me.
“True. And I suppose the language may be based on where we choose to live.”
“That’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves.” Right now our focus had to be with getting off the boat and then getting off this planet.
“Yes. We do not know what planets will survive all of this.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean then?”
“Never mind.” I had no interest in getting in an argument. I had already come dangerously close to causing one earlier over his word choice.
“Are you sure? I want you to always feel free to speak your mind with me.”
“Unless we are pretending, or with dangerous people.” I didn’t want to end up dead or worse.
“Exactly, but you cannot blame me there.” His eyes set on mine. “I will never let anything happen to you.”
Despite how much I usually detested the macho attitude, I liked his talk of protecting me. I wasn’t sure what that said about me, but at the moment I didn’t really care. “Is it me, or has the boat stopped rocking quite so much?”
“I believe it has.” Kelby let go of one of my hands. “But we should wait.”
“Wait until when exactly? You think the brothers will come for us?” I didn’t want to always refer to them as the brothers, but Kelby’s way of saving time with words was rubbing off on me.
“Let’s give it a few minutes at least.” He moved to his feet, helping me up in the process. “But we need to stay alert.”
“In other words no more kissing.”
He grinned. “I’m never going to want to say that, but in this case it’s probably true. We can’t afford to get distracted. There are too many enemies around.”
“There are always going to be enemies around…not that I’m arguing.”
“Not always. This will be over eventually.”
“I hope so.” But it was getting harder to believe a peaceful, calm time would come.
“So we can kiss more or something else?”
I raised an eyebrow. “For many reasons.”
“Noah is okay. Your parents will be okay.” He seemed to read my mind.
“I hope so. I can’t lose anyone else.”
He brushed some hair away from my face “And I will do anything I can to protect those you love.”
“Thank you. I’ll do the same for you… but I don’t even know your sister.”
“You may meet her one day.” He got a far off look in his eyes.
“I hope so. That is if she’s anything like you.”
“You’d like her.” He was distracted now.
I decided not to press for more answers. “Then I hope to meet her soon.”
There was a scratching sound.
“What is that?” I walked closer to the door.
The scratching continued.
“Let me check it out.” Kelby moved in front of me toward the door.
“Angie?” A small voice called.
“It’s Malton.” Kelby opened the door, and Malton trotted in.
“Hey, boy.” I knelt down and petted his head. “Is everything safe?”
“Yes. What happened in here?” He stepped back from me.
“What do you mean?” I glanced around. Nothing looked out of order to me.
“Why do you smell of him?” Malton growled.
“It’s a small space.”
“No.” Malton growled again, this time directly at Kelby. “You touched her.”
“What happened to being open and honest about us?” Kelby playfully pushed my arm. “I didn’t hurt her. I promise, dog.”
“Is that true?” Malton looked at me.
“Yes, it’s true.” With everything else going on I didn’t need the little dog fighting with Kelby.
“You have chosen him over me?” Malton bowed his head.
“You are a dog.” Kelby laughed dryly. “Please.”
“So? What does that matter?” Malton looked at me.
“He means the relationship we have is different.” I hoped I was putting things in an acceptable way.
“I suppose if I have to be cast aside for another it might as well be him.”
“You aren’t being cast aside.” I looked into his eyes.
“Promise? I’m still your guard dog?”
“Of course. You will be for as long as you want.”
“Well, that’s forever then.” He raised his tail. “Forever and forever.”
“Even if we see King?” It seemed like forever ago that Malton had been with his original owner.
“Yes. He never loved me the way you do. Plus, he gave me away to you.”
“To protect you.” And what a great job I was doing. He’d been in danger almost the whole time.
“And you’ve done a great job. If he only knew that I’d be protecting you too.”
“My guess is he did know. Maybe that was his plan all along.” I smiled thinking about it. And maybe he’d known I needed t
he dog.
“Are you just saying that?”
“Why would I say it if it weren’t true?” I stroked his fur.
“I don’t know. People say things all the time.”
I straightened up. “Well, not this time. Where are the others?”
“Waiting for you above.”
“And the guest?” If you could call the passenger that.
“He left.” Malton sat down on his hindquarters.
“Did he sense us at all?” Kelby asked.
“Yes, but Darto convinced him you were long gone.” Malton’s eyes darted to the door and then back at us.
“With an illusion?” I asked.
“I think so. And alcohol.”
Kelby laughed. “That’s one way to do it.”
“Why are you laughing?” Malton scratched his leg.
“Forget it, dog.”
“Why do you always say that?” Malton stopped scratching. “It is not my fault that I can’t understand all of your jokes.”
“No one said it was your fault.” I rushed to reassure the dog. “We should go, right? Aren’t they waiting for us?”
“Yes.” Malton jumped to his feet. “That was why they sent me. I can’t let them down.”
“Then let’s go.” I caught Kelby’s eye to make sure he agreed. He nodded.
“Good.” Malton ran into the hall.
Kelby tugged on my hand to stop me. He brushed his lips against mine.
I savored the light kiss. “I can’t really believe all that just happened.”
“I can.” He brushed his lips against mine once more. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not still shocked about it.”
“Will you two stop talking and follow me?” Malton called from the hall.
“We’re coming.” I started out of the room.
Kelby grabbed my hand. “Remember, if I say anything to annoy you, or act in a way you do not like, I am sure it is designed to protect you.”
“You can’t always use that as an excuse, you know.”
“I know.” He smiled. “But I can try.”
“You can try whatever you want. It doesn’t mean it’s going to work.” I hurried ahead, following Malton.
Kelby slipped in front of me on the way up the stairs. I assumed he was thinking the same thing I was. What if Malton was confused and Aldanto was still on board?
“Well, there you two are.” Darto jumped up from his seat as we entered the main deck.
Starburst: Half Light Page 13
