“For fun?” Dathrow sounded downright puzzled at the thought.
“Yeah, for fun.” Not paying attention to the shuttle moving anymore, Pixie teased him, “You do know what fun is, right?”
“Phaetons do not have roller coasters. Our enjoyment comes from sparring, training, and, when we have the option, our visits to the Pleasure Sector,” Dathrow said automatically, seemingly without realizing the slip. Once he realized what he’d said out loud, his mouth dropped open as if he was unsure how to explain his words.
Pixie laughed loudly and squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry. Poppy gave me the rundown on the Pleasure Sector in one of her many emails. I get it. I really do.” Catching his bright-blue eyes with her gaze, Pixie smiled with understanding. “I’m not a virgin and I don’t expect you to be either.” Hearing Dathrow give a low growl at her experience made her chuckle again. “But I do want to be clear. There will be absolutely no hanky-panky if you want this to work.”
Dathrow met her gaze with a seriousness she hadn’t expected. “Wheaton explained how your previous male behaved. I will not make the same mistake,” he said in a voice that did not leave any doubt.
Pixie and Dathrow sat in silence for the rest of the shuttle ride. Pixie couldn’t help the thoughts running through her head that she was already much more comfortable being around Dathrow in just a half-hour than she’d been in her two years with Brian. Pixie had always convinced herself she was happy when with her ex, but in reality, she’d been constantly on guard. Worried she would somehow offend him with actions or words, Pixie had not allowed herself to relax in a very long time. For the first time in a long time, she felt as if she could be herself around someone other than Poppy.
Watching as the shuttle docked in a large bay area, Pixie stared wide-eyed at everyone moving with precision around multiple shuttles lined up like toy planes. Most of the men closely resembled her own warrior, and she realized they must have been bred for certain traits. Always being short, but heavier, Pixie had never had that feeling of being dwarfed by men. This was a completely different ballpark. She didn’t hesitate to think that any of these men could easily haul her around if they had a mind to.
After Dathrow had gathered her bags and said goodbye to the warriors who had accompanied them on the shuttle, they walked out of the bay area and into a long hallway. Taking one of the smaller bags from him, Pixie ignored his protests when he tried to take it back.
“I’m a big girl, Dathrow. I can carry my makeup bag.” Pixie rolled her eyes at him when he started to object yet again. Deciding distraction was the best course of action, Pixie swung the small bag by her side. “Are we going to drop these off before we go get my exam and ear thingie?”
Dathrow frowned at her when he realized she wouldn’t be handing him back the small bag she moved out of his reach. “We can take them to our quarters before we go to medical if that is what you wish.”
“Yeah, that’s probably best. Otherwise you’ll be lugging around these bags all afternoon.” Pixie gave him a wide smile, anticipation bright in her eyes. “Dear sir, want to show me to my new home?” she said in her best British impersonation.
Recognizing that Pixie was going to keep him on his toes with her little quirks and teasing, Dathrow swept out his arms as best he could with luggage in them.
“This way, darling, to our humble abode.”
Dathrow grinned to himself when Pixie giggled at his words. Watching movies with Poppy had paid off, apparently. He had been able to pick up speech patterns and phrases that his translator would have not been able to decipher. For the longest time, Dathrow had been unable to understand Poppy when she started “cussing”. He was glad now that he had paid such close attention, if Pixie’s smiles and laughter were going to be his reward.
Nerves ran through his stomach as he led Pixie down the corridor. She was even more beautiful that he remembered. The extra weight on her body seemed to only exaggerate the female shape that had tempted him from their first meeting. The twinkle in her eye as she looked up at him and teased him almost caused him to forget himself in front of his warrior brothers. He had wanted nothing more than to take her down to the floor and cover her body with his own. Stopping himself from doing anything more than flirting and small touches had been a test of his will.
It did not help that he had seen the looks the other men were giving her and he wanted to mark her as his own. Now Dathrow understood why women wore rings around their fingers to show they were married. He had the intense urge to make it known to any male she met that Pixie belonged to him and him alone.
Trying to curb the desire to rip out the eyes of the males that he saw stare at his new bride, he focused on leading her to their destination without attacking her before they arrived.
Chapter Eight
Following Dathrow to their new home was no hardship for Pixie. The man looked awesome in leather pants and she took in the astounding view every step of the way. As they neared a door, Dathrow set down the bags in his right hand to wave his wrist over a glowing pad.
Paying close attention to what he was doing, Pixie assumed that was the bracelet Poppy mentioned, their pass around the ship. Busy paying attention to her surroundings, she didn’t notice Dathrow was waiting for her to enter ahead of him at the open door.
“Sorry, Dath.” She grinned sheepishly when she realized they’d been standing there almost a full minute. “I was trying to take it all in.”
“I am sure you were trying to…take it all in.” Dathrow tossed her a sexy smile as he walked behind her. “They are leather,” he whispered into her ear as he passed her to set her bags down by another door inside the apartment.
Pixie was confused. Leather? What the hell was he talking about?
“My pants. They are leather,” Dathrow explained at her confused expression.
“Shit.” Dropping her makeup bag on the floor, Pixie moved her hands to her cheeks to try to stop the blush she felt creeping up.
Dathrow obviously found her reaction amusing since he started laughing heartily. He reached up to lower her palms from her face as she squirmed in embarrassment.
“Pixie, you make me laugh.” Still chuckling to himself, Dathrow pulled her into a hug to ease her nerves.
“I didn’t mean to stare…it’s just…your ass was there…and it is amazing…and I’ll shut up now.” Realizing what she’d just mumbled, she lowered her face to his chest, wishing she could curl up and die.
“Pixie, you are more like Poppy than I realized.” He chuckled as she tried to squirm even closer to avoid meeting his eyes. He eventually got tired of her game of hide-and-seek, leaning back to catch her gaze.
“What do you mean?” Pixie asked, still mortified that her mouth had hijacked her brain.
“You are both funny. Poppy has a habit of saying exactly what she thinks, regardless of it being appropriate or not.” Brushing some of her hair back out of her face, he cupped her chin in his large hand. “You even resemble each other.” Studying her face, he nodded to himself as if coming to a conclusion. “You resemble each other more now than when I first met you.”
Pixie thought about that for a moment. True, the sisters had always looked similar. They had always had such similar features that one glance at them had them labeled “sisters” before even speaking to them. Before Poppy had left Earth, Pixie had been thinner than she was now and their weight had generally been one of the only things that differentiated the sisters. Nodding at Dathrow in agreement, she waited for him to go on.
“And both of you have quickly shortened my name.” Grinning down at her, he rubbed her back as he asked, “Is that an Earth custom I am not aware of?”
Enjoying the feel of his large palms going up and down from her shoulder blades to her waist, Pixie moaned a bit and drifted even closer into his body. “I guess so. Pops and I have always had a bad habit of giving people nicknames…sometimes even when they don’t want us to.” Smiling at some memories, she admitted, “Poppy used to call my ex Boring Brian
. She also was dating this guy she called Puny Peter.”
Dathrow waited for her to continue and Pixie didn’t disappoint. “His name was Peter and he was…well…puny. We always joked that he was so little. She was afraid she would break him in half. Let’s just say that the relationship ended quickly when she accidently called him that to his face.”
Both Pixie and Dathrow were laughing outright now. Their chuckles were loud in the quiet apartment. Pixie stepped away from Dathrow’s warm body and glanced around.
“Wanna give me the tour?” Pixie asked as she swung her arm in an arc to encompass the area where they were standing.
Dathrow spent the next few minutes showing Pixie their cozy living area. The food replicator was amazing and Pixie had to stop herself from pushing buttons just for the fun of it. She listened intently as he explained the TV area. They were able to receive any signal from the satellites, so Pixie was able to watch movies and shows just as normal. Most of the shows were filed into folders on the large screen. He clicked on a file marked “favorites” and it popped up a list of movies that he watched over and over. Seeing that he had almost the same tastes as her, Pixie knew that this would most likely be something they would bond over. Watching movies had always been something Pixie loved. She saw almost everything that was released and had a habit of quoting movie lines during normal conversation.
“You like Simon Pegg?”
Dathrow smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “He is my favorite. Poppy was the first to show me his films.” He gestured back to the screen in front of him. “Your sister was actually the one who suggested I organize movies for you to access easily. She said that this would resemble a movie service that you were familiar with.”
Pixie grinned, noticing it did indeed resemble her online service. “She’s right. It does look familiar.” They had gone over the main living area enough and she glanced toward a closed door at the side of the room. “Ready to show me the rest?”
“Of course. Let me get your bags and I will show you the bathing and sleeping area.” Dathrow walked quickly to pick up her bags and smiled at her when she snatched the smallest one back from him.
He led her straight to the bathroom and started showing her around. The area was similar to a small bathroom on Earth, much to her relief. Pixie had not even thought to ask her sister if they used toilet paper and had running water on the ship but was relieved to see that it all seemed normal. The shower was more of a pod-like structure that reminded her of a large cloudy-looking egg in the bathroom corner. Pixie took note of the size and felt a small amount of sadness that her days of soaking in a tub were over. If there was one thing that could ever relax her, it was a hot bath at the end of a crappy day.
Walking back into the bedroom, she studied the plain white room. Boring was the only word that could describe it. Everything was white…well, almost everything. The walls were the same shiny metal that seemed to make up every single wall Pixie had seen. When Pixie had lived with Brian, he’d wanted to keep a bland color scheme, which she’d hated. Pixie was much more of a brightly colored throw pillow and accent wall type of person. Another thing that Pixie noticed was there was only one bed. A big bed. But only one.
Unlike her sister, Pixie slept naked. Wearing clothes at night had always bothered her. It seemed that she was a wiggler and any t-shirt she wore would end up in her armpits or around her neck by the time she woke up. She also hated wearing underwear to bed. It was just plain uncomfortable to her, so commando was her sleepwear of choice. Still eyeballing the bed, Pixie wondered how Dathrow would deal with that bombshell. Judging by the hot glances he’d been tossing her way since they reconnected this afternoon, he wouldn’t find it a problem.
Deciding not to dwell on their sleeping arrangements until the time came, Pixie stood rocking back on forth on her feet as she always did when anxious.
Dathrow was busy setting her luggage down in a closet area and didn’t notice her internal struggle. Turning around to see her staring at the bed, Dathrow must have guessed what she had been thinking.
“That is our sleeping area. Do not worry, Wheaton explained to me that Poppy tries to wear clothing to sleep in even though he does not allow it. Do not worry, I will not make you strip before sleeping if that is what you prefer.”
Pixie stood still for a moment, trying to absorb what he was saying. So Wheaton made Poppy sleep naked, did he? For some reason, that made Pixie want to laugh. Imagining the reaction that Poppy’s husband would have gotten that first night was priceless. Then she realized that Dathrow assumed she also slept in clothes.
“That’s just the thing actually. I don’t sleep in anything.” Knowing her cheeks were probably as red they could get, Pixie resisted the urge look away from her future husband.
Pixie couldn’t help but swallow hard when she heard a low rumble come from his chest. Stalking toward her, Dathrow stopped with only an inch of space between them.
“You sleep nude?” Dathrow asked in a voice that was low with obvious desire.
“Yep,” Pixie stuttered out, catching her breath when Dathrow raised his hand to trace the neckline on her shirt.
He quirked his eyebrow and let another rumble vibrate though his chest. “I do as well.”
Pixie was now breathing heavily. Feeling his fingertips stroking her chest, which was now moving up and down faster than before, she wished they would travel a little further south. Knowing her nipples were hard, she shifted closer to his chest. She brushed her body up against him and moaned quietly when the pebbled tips met the hard surface of his body.
Realizing she’d closed her eyes, she quickly opened them to see him grit his jaw and move his arm. Before she knew what was happening, Dathrow had moved the hand that was stroking her chest to tilt her head back further. In the span of a few seconds, Pixie was participating in the best kiss of her life. Dathrow didn’t start with teasing nips or little sucking kisses. He went straight for the open-mouthed tongue-thrusting kiss Pixie had always read about but rarely experienced herself. Pixie was so consumed by the heat of his kiss she had no choice but to succumb to it. Time seemed to stand still as they stood locked together, his hand anchored in her hair to keep her in place as she tried to relieve the pressure on her nipples by rubbing them against the leather of his shirt.
After a few moments, Dathrow lifted his mouth from hers, taking ragged gulps of air into his chest. Holding her close, he breathed in the scent of her hair for a few moments to calm down. Releasing her hair, Dathrow wrapped his arms around her completely. As his palms rubbed up and down in a soothing motion on her back, Pixie tried to come out of the daze his kiss left her in.
“What were we talking about again?” Pixie asked, when she was finally able to speak.
Dathrow chuckled, “We were discussing the fact that we both sleep nude.”
“I remember now.” Stepping back from temptation, Pixie deadpanned, “I think our kissing needs work though.”
Catching his expression of disbelief, Pixie started laughing like a lunatic. Seeming to realize she’d been joking, Dathrow chuckled and shook his head at his bride.
“You should have seen your face!” she got out between giggles.
Dathrow reached down and caught her hand, tugging her out of the bedroom. “We are going to be late to the medical center, silly woman.”
Pixie fired back at him, “Well, then you shouldn’t be distracting me!”
“Distracting is so much fun though. I have a feeling we will find ourselves distracted often.”
As the pair made their way to the medical center, Dathrow pointed out different areas of the ship. While he spoke and gestured, Pixie tried to remember which room was what.
“Why aren’t there signs on any of these doors?” she finally asked after going down another identical hallway.
“I believe Poppy asked the same thing. We are in the process of making markers so you will not get lost.” He turned to her. “I do want to prepare you though. You will have an escort w
hen going from one area to another on the ship.”
“I don’t understand. Why would I need an escort?”
“For one, we have very few females on the ship and many males. With the matching system down, we are unsure when there will be more. The men are restless waiting for diagnostics to come back on the computer system. We have heard some men are getting more aggressive in their training with other warriors and do not know how much of that aggression is carrying over into their daily tasks.”
“Got it. I’m a juicy steak in front of hungry male lions.” Patting Dathrow’s arm to show she understood, Pixie looped her arm through his while they walked further down the corridor.
Chapter Nine
Pixie fell instantly in love with both Tamin and Rodin at the medical center. Both of the men at first seemed shocked at the resemblance between the sisters but warmed up to Pixie after she told a couple jokes. She was full of questions when the doctors started talking about the translation implant, the band and her baseline regen bed readings.
“I understand the ear thingy will help me know what you’re saying when you’re not speaking English, and the band is essentially my key into areas of the ship but what does this bed thing do and why do I have to climb in?” Pixie stood tapping her toes on the floor of the exam room. Hands on her hips, she waited for the men to try to convince someone who was claustrophobic to climb into a pod for no good reason.
“Well, you see…” Tamin started then stopped and glanced at Rodin for help.
“It will only take a few minutes and scan you from top to bottom and let us know all of your information,” Rodin finished for Tamin who had apparently frozen when faced with an angry Poppy lookalike.
Pixie let out a squeal when she felt herself being picked up. Dathrow huffed out a breath of impatience.
“Stop scaring them, Pixie. Your sister already warned me that you might need a little push to climb in,” Dathrow chided as he sat her gently down on the regen bed. Taking her shoulders in his hands, he guided her down until she was lying flat and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “The longer you stall them, the longer it will take for us to go see your sister. Now cooperate.”
Dathrow Page 6
