by E. D. Walker
She was still breathing hard, tears shining in her eyes.
His kitten was a warm lump in his arms, sleeping against his wrist, so he reached out with his free hand and cupped her cheek. “I'm sorry, Aliette. I never wanted you to get hurt. Nothing is worth that to me. Not then. Not now.”
She took a deep shuddering breath and actually turned her face into his hand. “I was dumb too. I knew I couldn't handle him by myself, but I didn't want to let you down. It was so important to you.”
“I'm sorry I made you feel that way.”
Aliette took a shaky breath in, laughing a little. “Hey, it's the past. Let's get these kittens bathed before my whole ship is infested, OK? And I don't mind being on camera.”
“OK.” He turned the camera back on and walked through the procedure for a flea bath on such a young kitten. He soaped the kitten up while the little thing squirmed and chirped indignant protest. He grinned at the camera—and at Aliette who stood behind it cradling the other kitten and idly stroking its back. “Hear the lungs on this little one? That's good. If they're complaining that means they've got some strength.” He vigorously dried the kitten and wrapped it in a fluffy clean towel. He winced with guilt looking at the bright pink flowers. He'd almost forgotten he wasn't at home with his own supplies. He glanced at Aliette. “Are you sure you want us to use your towels? Kittens can get messy.”
Aliette waved his concern away. “Towels can be washed. Here's your next kitten.” She handed Zandro the other one, but hesitated to take the little kitten burrito he tried to hand her. “Wait, I might have fleas on my shirt.” She half-unzipped her flight coveralls before she stopped. A flush colored her cheeks as she hesitated, then she cast Zandro an accessing glance from under her lashes. Slowly, she stripped her flightsuit off in one swift motion. She tossed it over his head to land behind him in a pile with the flea contaminated towels.
Zandro's throat went dry. She was still slim and pale, with strong arms and a soft belly. Her breasts were ripe as they pushed against the silky red bra she wore. Her panties were utilitarian black, but they hugged the tops of her shapely legs. He swallowed and forced his gaze up to the ceiling. “Sorry.”
“Nothing you haven't seen before.” Aliette's voice was a little rough. “Nothing you haven't touched before.”
Zandro hissed a breath in through his teeth. “Well, you definitely can't be on camera now. I don't run that kind of social media page.”
Aliette laughed and plucked the clean kitten up, hugging it against her chest. The kitten was asleep within moments, head nestled against the V of her cleavage.
“Lucky cat,” Zandro muttered and started on the flea bath for number two.
***
Aliette stood there with the first kitten cradled against her chest and watched Zandro finish cleaning the second kitten. Her feet were cold and her legs were getting there. She didn't quite know what she'd been thinking to strip like that. Zandro couldn't exactly ravish her on the bathroom floor while the two kittens still needed to be cleaned and dried. Really her stripping in front of him had started from sheer muscle memory. She didn't want to contaminate the clean kitten with any fleas lurking in her clothes. She'd had her flightsuit half off before she'd remembered she wasn't supposed to be naked in front of Zandro anymore.
She might have stopped there and figured out a different solution if she hadn’t seen the flare of heat in his eyes when she'd started to undress. His eyes had gone warm, with a greedy light that was pretty gratifying. And the look on his face had started a kindling heat low in her gut.
And that sheer stupidity had her stripping the rest of her clothes off. But now she felt like an idiot standing there in her bra and panties while Zandro wrapped up his demo for the camera and finished bathing the last kitten.
Her own kitten was a fuzzy lump against her chest, its fur was dry and so silky soft she couldn't help herself as she rubbed her cheek against its warm little head again and again. Thank God for the dampening patch Zandro had given her, otherwise she'd be high as a drone right now. This was the peril of the bajo cats: they were so soft, so sweet, that you rubbed your whole face in their fur and you were off your rocker before you knew what hit you.
Zandro had the second cat burritoed in another one of her towels, and he handed it to her. “One sec.”
“Wha—”
Before she could get the word out, he'd yanked his shirt up over his head and skinned out of his cargo pants too. In under a minute all the beautiful honey gold of his skin was exposed to her eyesight. The only thing he wore was a pair of tight green-striped boxer briefs that hugged the firm peach of his butt in all the right ways.
Aliette swallowed. The right thing to do was look away, give him some privacy. But he was just too beautiful. Long, strong, with sculpted shoulders that rippled as he lifted both kittens out of her arms.
“Excuse me.” He brushed past her.
Aliette blinked and followed a bit dazedly in his wake. Her skin felt cold, her arms empty now that she didn't have the kittens. Zandro carefully unwound the kittens from their towels and ran his big hands gently over their little frames, probably checking that they were dry and warm. He'd brought a big clear plastic tub with no lid and had already set it up with blankets and a plush stuffed animal. She recognized the toy as one of the pseudo-mothers he liked to give his orphans. The toy would simulate a mother’s heartbeat and give the kittens something to snuggle into while they slept.
Zandro kissed first one then the other kitten on their heads and set them in the tub. “See you in a little while, babies.”
Her heart ached watching him. He was so kind, so careful and patient and wonderful.
He straightened, and when he looked at her his eyes burned with a heat that had every nerve ending in her body tingling to life. “Zandro—”
He was across the galley in two steps, one hand snaking around her wrist, the other threading into her hair. “Tell me to stop and I will. Tell me to go to my own bunk and I will.”
“Stop?”
He chuckled and leaned close enough so their mouths nearly touched, so close she couldn't tell whose breath was whose. “I've been wanting to kiss you since you took your flightsuit off. Hell, I've been wanting to kiss you since I came onboard. Since I called you.” He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “No. Longer. I've been wanting to kiss you since the last time I kissed you.”
I missed you. Her heart ached, but she found herself leaning into him, her chest brushing against his, her skin rubbing against his. She hissed a breath in, pleasure blooming inside her, anticipation sparking a low hum at her core. “That's a long time to wait for a kiss.”
“It is.” He wet his lips. “Tell me to stop, though, and I will.”
She lifted her hands and caressed his arms, following the sinuous curves of his body until she'd tangled her fingers in the silk of his hair. “Don't stop, Zandro.”
Ultimately, it was hard to figure out who kissed who because they surged toward each other, their mouths clashing together, their tongues stroking. A needy noise leaked from her throat, and Aliette tilted her head to give him better access, wanting him deep inside her.
Zandro cupped her jaw and drank deeply of her mouth, tangling his arms around her and crushing her close. His erection pressed against her belly, hard and insistent. Wetness pooled between her legs, and she broke the kiss only to tug him backwards toward the hallway. “The bunks. Any bunks.”
They banged down the hall together, stumbling and caressing and trying to make up for five years of loneliness in a few frantic moments of groping and kisses. Aliette felt like she was starving, like she hadn't been touched in years even though she'd been with other men since Zandro. But it hadn't been like this. This was fire and need and strength. This was the best she'd ever had. This was Zandro.
They tumbled together into her bed, and she opened her legs to him, wrapping herself around his waist and pulling him close as she pumped her hips against that glorious erection of
his. He rubbed at her over her panties, and she shivered against him.
“Protection?” he murmured, nibbling at her ear lobe and neck.
“I still have my implant, and I just had my lady checkup a few months ago. All good. You?”
He bit hard on her ear, making her gasp. “There hasn't been anyone since you.”
Her breath caught, and she almost couldn't look at him. “No one?”
He gave a wry laugh. “Just my hand.”
“No groupies for the hot kitten rescuer?”
He nuzzled her neck and sighed against her skin. “No one else ever measured up to you, Allie.”
“Zandro.” She cupped his face and made him look at her.
His brow was furrowed, his breath fast with more than just arousal. He seemed worried. Maybe scared this confession would ruin things?
It made her heart hurt. It made her miss him. It made her, dammit, want him more than ever. “This is such a bad idea.” But she couldn't seem to make herself push him away. Instead she found her hands tracing the familiar lines of his face. The laugh lines around his kind brown eyes, the fullness of his lips, the scar along the side of his nose. “Zandro.”
He smiled at her, his lips full and soft and right there. His eyes were sad, but he leaned forward to tickle her nose with his. “Ask me to stop,” he whispered, “and I will.”
Oh. It was like a rose opening in her chest. Like something inside her had been waiting, tightly furled and hidden and now, only with him, could it bloom and flourish. Don't think. Don't. She closed her eyes and leaned up to brush a kiss gently over his lips. “Don't stop.”
After that they became a frenzy of need and heat. His hands skimmed up her legs and he peeled her underwear away and cupped her bottom. He traced two fingers over her slit, and she shuddered against him.
“You're so wet.”
“For you.” She kissed him deep and rocked against him.
There was a brief bit of complication as he tried to get his own briefs off without moving away from her. Finally, he laughed and broke the kiss only long enough to peel his underwear off and throw it against the wall.
Aliette laughed and opened her arms to him, pulling him down on top of her. She guided him inside then gasped and arched at the fullness of him. “Oh. Yes.”
He made a wordless noise against her throat that amounted to much the same thing, and then he began to move inside her. He rubbed her deep, hitting exactly the right spot, and he arched his own back, his nostrils flaring with pleasure. “You feel so good, Aliette.”
“You too.” She latched an arm around his neck and held on tight as he pumped into her. Fitting so tight, so good. She strained and tried to get closer, closer. A small keen started in the back of her throat. He felt so good she couldn't take it. She opened her legs wider, took him deeper, crying out as he plunged into her tight and fast and so, so good.
Finally, her orgasm washed over her, tumbling her into tingling darkness for a moment before she emerged blinking and trembling beneath him. He increased his pace, his breathing fast, his eyes shut tight with ecstasy. A moment after she'd finished he came too, groaning with happiness and relief. He collapsed on top of her, pinning her to the mattress with his delicious, sweat-slicked body.
“I missed you,” she murmured, tangling her fingers in his sweaty hair.
He dropped a kiss against her shoulder. “Missed you.”
“I never want to move.” She stretched under him, enjoying the slide of his skin against hers.
“Have to.” He combed his teeth over her neck. “I have to feed the kittens again soon if nothing else.” He cleared his throat. “And we should maybe talk?”
The look on his face made her warm all over again, happy warm, like coming home to a fireplace crackling in the dark. “I’d like to—” It was then something penetrated her senses. An unease, a wrongness that it took her a minute to parse.
“Aliette, I—”
“Ssh.” She flung a hand up to cover his lips.
Zandro opened his mouth to protest then caught sight of her face, and she could tell when he realized she wasn't shushing him just to shut him up. Something was wrong. He fidgeted beside her, leaning up on his elbows to watch her face, but he didn't speak again, didn't interrupt her as her brain did a quick speed processing of their environment.
At last she understood what she was hearing. Or not hearing. “The engines are off. We're drifting.”
***
Aliette moved with lightning speed, scooting off the bed and flinging a robe on to cover her nakedness as she jogged toward the cockpit.
Zandro perched on the edge of the bed in indecision for a long moment before he wrapped the sheet around his waist and went to the galley. He didn't know anything about engines or ships or space travel. All he knew was animals. How to heal. How to soothe. How to help.
The kittens were stirring in their box, making small inquiring chirps, butting their heads against the comfort plush toy he'd left. Grinning, he prepped a feeding syringe and scooped the first one out of the box. He wished he'd thought to bring a scale. Weighing kittens was the best way to make sure their progress was good, but he'd brought only bare essentials so he'd have to make do. As long as he could keep them warm and fed they should be fine until he could get back to his home and his more complicated supplies.
Aliette appeared in the doorway, her brows knit together in a frown.
“Everything ok?” He had a fussy eater apparently, and the little cat was trying to chew the side off the syringe. The kitten was swallowing some, but without a good latch this feeding wasn't going as well as could be hoped.
Zandro had been so sure Aliette would speak in the affirmative about the ship, muttering some reassuring jargon about the engines, that he almost missed what she did say.
“Nope. We're in trouble, Zandro. The engines are offline.”
“What?”
She crossed the room and dropped into the seat across from him. “The engines are off. My ship is dead in the stars.”
“Life support?”
Aliette scoffed and twirled a finger in the air to indicate they were still breathing. “Most of the ship systems are fine. Even navigation is working, but the engines won't roll over, and the diagnostics are spitting out garbage. We're still on the shipping lane, but we can't propel ourselves forward. We're stranded until I can get someone out to give us a tow.”
“We're stuck together on the ship?”
“Yes.”
“For who knows how long?”
Her voice was tense. “Yes.”
Zandro wet his lips. His kitten had finished eating and fallen asleep under his palm. Kittens slept for twenty hours a day so that was nothing to be concerned about. With one hand free, he reached out to stroke Aliette's forearm. “Maybe we should have that talk then, Aliette? About you and me.”
***
Anger flashed through Aliette hard and sharp as a lightning strike. And an uneasy dread that made her itchy in her own skin. Talk now? When they were trapped? What was she supposed to do if she didn't like his answers? Or he didn't like hers? Was one of them supposed to jump out the airlock? Or were they just supposed to drift together in stony, silent awkwardness as they waited for rescue? Aliette shook her head with a bitter laugh. “That is such a bad idea right now, Zandro.”
“So was sleeping together, but we did that anyway.” His voice was soft but matter of fact.
And that there was the true bravery of Zandro. That was why he could dedicate himself heart and soul to rescue work, because he was brave at the core. Because he had an inner strength she could only marvel at. Because he could throw himself toward possible hurt over and over and never flinch when it was time to try again.
She shook her head, her stomach roiling with unhappiness and alarm. “I have to check the engines. See if this is software or hardware failure. I’ll…I’ll be awhile.”
He let a puff of air out on a wry laugh. “The kittens and I will be waiting.”
<
br /> ***
Aliette killed as much time as she could in the engine room examining the hardware, checking wires, checking connectors. She tapped at the control interface in the engine room, scrolling through the diagnostic.
As a small operation she had to know how to fix common problems on her ship. She couldn’t afford a mechanic full time, and she couldn’t afford the service fees to take her ship in every time a part needed switching out. But this engine failure had sweat pooling under arm pits and a hollow of fear opening in her gut. She could afford some repairs to her ship. She had that much saved. But she’d never be able to afford a new engine if she couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
“This isn’t it, Dulcie,” she said and tapped the hull. “Our ride isn’t over.”
She was so worked up worrying about her ship she’d essentially forgotten she still had passengers. She’d been gone hours, and it was the middle of the night ship time. When she wandered into the galley she saw Zandro at the table hunched over and fast asleep. One of the kittens was snuggled into the pool of Zandro’s hair on the table. The other was asleep in the plastic box at his feet. Apparently, he’d figured out how the ship washer worked because he was back in his plain black pants and gray Henley with the buttons undone to reveal a hint of dark chest hair.
He was a painfully appealing picture. Soft brown hair, smooth skin, taut muscles, and so tender with the two kittens. Laughing at herself, Aliette traced her hand over his hair. “I did miss you, Zandro.”
The kitten in his hair stirred and chirped. The little furbag was dangerously appealing too. Small and round with so-soft fur and the sweetest little chirrup of a mew.
Zandro kept to a tight schedule for feedings so she counted back to the last one then ticked it off in two hour increments. If her math was right the kittens were due for another feed.
Zandro let out a broken, rasping snore. His cheeks were hollow, his eyes shadowed. He’d been running himself ragged keeping the kittens fed. There was de-worming gel and other medicine at the top of his go bag, which meant he’d been doing other care too.
