by Eva Delaney
I leaned forward and pressed my mouth to his. He grabbed my hips, and I wrapped my arms around his back as though I were drowning.
I kind of was. Drowning in his scent, his taste, the feel of his tongue and hands. Drowning until he pulled back and saved me. “The door,” he said. I let him go and a moment later the cabin door groaned as he dragged it closed.
I had completely forgotten about it.
“You still have med nanos?” he asked. Everyone in the military received the microscopic robots. They cleaned out diseases encountered when traveling on alien worlds—including STDs.
“Of course. You?”
“Of course,” he said.
Orion and I found each other in the pitch darkness, like we had found each other a few days ago in the asteroid belt. His hands clasped my waist. His mouth was hot and soft on mine. He leaned forward, pinning me against the wall.
In zero-G, every movement had an equal and opposite reaction. He pushed me against the wall, but I drifted away from it and closer to him. He chuckled low and deep in his throat.
I was overcome with the urge to turn that chuckle into deep moans—before he did the same to me. Show him who was in charge.
I locked my legs around his hips, so our movements wouldn’t part us. He was growing hard against the valley between my legs, making heat bloom through me. His hands trailed down my hips and he gripped my ass. I bit his lip, and he chuckled again.
“What’s so funny?” I muttered, teasing, against his mouth.
“I can’t believe my good luck,” he said, voice low and rumbly. Against my better judgment, my heart fluttered.
I stroked the back of his neck with one hand while trailing my other down his bare pecks and abs. Loosening Orion’s belt, I slipped my fingers inside his jeans, reaching for his hard cock. It twitched in anticipation against my thighs.
“Mmm, I’m going to fuck you, Orion,” I moaned.
Orion grabbed my wrist. “No, this is all about you.”
He yanked my hand from his pants and slid his palms along my hips and waist, and over my breasts. Through the fabric of my tank top, he stroked and teased my hard nipples. I clenched my hands around his strong arms so that I brought him with me as I floated across the room.
His fingers found the hem of my shirt. I raised my arms to let him yank it off in one quick motion. Orion’s expert fingers unhooked my bra and let it float away, leaving my breasts bare for him to kiss and lick. His tongue on my nipples stoked fire between my legs. I bit my lip to stop from moaning, but my body betrayed me. I squirmed, delighted, under his touch.
He pulled away, breaking my hold on his arms and waist.
I blinked, surprised, but not disappointed. I knew how Orion worked. He didn’t back away from a fight or a challenge, and I was both. He wasn’t done.
But I could still back away. This was my last chance to let reason prevail and leave before I did more to lead him on, before he hurt me or I hurt him.
I knew I should end this, but I couldn’t make my body agree. I was soaked and throbbing and craving Orion’s rough hands, firm touch, and skilled mouth.
When he grabbed the back of my thighs, I let him. He lifted me, so that I drifted slowly upward as he remained in place. His full, soft mouth planted warm kisses along my stomach as he peeled my shorts and panties down my legs. I couldn’t help it, I squirmed, kicking off the last of my clothes to make myself entirely naked before Orion’s wandering hands and mouth.
“Mmm, fuck me, Orion,” I moaned.
He laughed. “I knew you wanted me.”
“I felt bad for you, half-naked and sweaty every day for a chance of a kiss.”
“I’m taking more than a kiss,” Orion growled. His hands dug into my ass, holding me in place. I gasped as his hot breath grazed my sex. “I’ll happily spend my life making things better,” he said. “This is just the start.”
His tongue stroked my slit from top to bottom. I locked my legs around his broad shoulders, so I couldn’t drift away and pushed his head closer to me. “Yes, suck my clit.”
He took my most sensitive part in his mouth and stroked it firmly with his tongue.
I threw my head back and moaned despite myself.
That was when I knew I’d made a mistake. I’d lost. I’ve given myself over to him despite my best judgement. And worse, I loved every moment of it, and Orion knew it. He knew he had won.
His tongue caressed every part of my slit until I was dripping wet. He moaned against me; his hot breath made me quiver. His tongue thrust inside me, reminding me of his rough fingers and thick cock. Reminding me, wantonly, of Antares’s cock against my apex, Hamal’s warm gaze checking me out. Polaris’s request for a kiss. Making me think of Rux’s tattoos and infuriatingly perfect body.
“I want your fingers inside me,” I commanded.
He took one hand off my ass and slid his fingers inside me. I clenched my legs around him, knotted my hands in his hair. “I want you to come on my face, Cali,” he growled.
He stroked my inner walls in just the right spot as his tongue pressed against my clit. My inner muscles rippled around him. I moaned uncontrollably, squirming wantonly under his touch as pleasure arched through me. He kept going, stroking and pressing. I clutched at him helplessly as the pleasure rolled on and on through me.
It was too much. I wanted to beg him to stop. I wanted to beg him to never stop.
The pleasure crashed over me like a wave before dropping off. It left me throbbing and wet, but tired with my limbs limp. Orion pulled his fingers and mouth away. I sighed in relief, and almost asked him to keep going.
“You’re as hungry as ever,” he said, amused.
I didn’t have the breath to argue. Not that arguing would do any good. I just proved him right in every way.
Orion’s arms wrapped around my hips, pulling me close to him. I buried my face against his neck and breathed in his musky, woodsy scent. His cock was still rock hard against my thigh.
“Your turn,” I muttered and reached down to undo his fly. I grasped his throbbing cock. The tip was already wet. He hissed in pleasure and I chuckled against his throat. “Now who’s hungry as ever?”
He didn’t deny it. He just groaned as I rubbed my thumb over his sensitive tip. I missed the sound of his deep groan, a wild primal sound that he couldn’t control. I missed making this arrogant, calm man shiver and moan helplessly under my touch.
And I knew he missed it, too.
I slid my hand down his body and grasped his balls, squeezing as I slowly stroked his thick cock. He gasped, his body tensed against me. I gradually increased the speed until a long moan ripped from his throat. I wished I could see him, the way he bit his lip when he came, the way his forest green eyes went wide.
I worked his tip and his cock shivered in my hand like it always did right before he came. So, I leaned down and wrapped my mouth around his wide girth. He tasted the same as he had years ago. It was like coming home to something familiar and comforting.
Orion’s hand knotted in my hair. “Cali,” he gasped as he came in my mouth. Which was the best outcome given the zero-G.
Both spent, we floated in the dark, clutching each other, limbs tangled together. His breath on my hair, mine on his throat. Time seemed to end, as though the stars stopped spinning so we could be together a bit longer. I knew that wasn’t true. But it felt that way with Orion’s warmth seeping through my skin, warming my bones, and re-lighting something cold and ashy in my chest.
“You won’t regret this,” Orion whispered against my hair.
“I already do,” I said.
To his credit, he laughed. “I deserve that. I’m going to work my ass off so that one day, you don’t regret me.”
“I sure hope you don’t work your ass off,” I said and reached down to grab his firm, round ass. He started and chuckled.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you, Cali.”
You will again soon. I still planned to ditch him and the others. Whatever fire Orion
had lit inside my chest sputtered. But the thought of staying with him twisted my stomach in panic. He’d hurt me if I didn’t hurt him first. That was how the galaxy worked. People always left you, even those who came back when you thought they never would.
Twenty-Seven
I woke to the sound of Orion murmuring against my neck.
He cuddled closer to me, his strong arms squeezing me tight. It was easy in zero-G; no bed got in the way and my weight didn’t put his arm to sleep. For a moment, it was almost easy to believe that nothing was wrong between us or ever would be again.
“What is it?” I said.
He jerked awake. Orion had never talked in his sleep before.
“It’s…nothing.” He yawned.
“You can lie better than that.”
I expected him to return fire. Instead he sighed. “No, I really can’t.” His voice was deeply sad like an echo in a lonely, barren cavern. “Cali, this is the second time I’ve been happy in three years.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed him or if he was sweet-talking me. I wanted to believe him, damn it, but I also didn’t want to believe his last three years were ones of misery. Even if mine had been.
“The first time I was happy was when I stepped onto this ship and saw you.”
“Yeah, the light came back on in your life, etcetera,” I said as my heart ached like a sore muscle.
Orion snorted. “Never one for romance, huh?”
“Not your brand of it.”
“You can lie better than that,” he said. He grinned against my neck, and I knew that he felt my fluttering pulse against his lips.
“Are you happy?” Orion said, awkwardly. He was never good with emotions.
I had to think about it. I honestly didn’t know, so I didn’t answer.
He shifted against me as though uncomfortable. “I…ah,” he chuckled nervously. “I guess this is as good a time as any.” He cleared his throat. “I found something.” His voice was so low in my ear, I barely heard him. “Something that I want…I’m going to give it to you like I did once before. I…ah…yeah, hope you’ll accept it.”
My whole body tensed.
Oh no. The ring.
“I know I screwed up.” Orion talked in a mad rush as though he thought his courage would give out. “I know I don’t deserve to ask you to take me back after—”
“You’re right,” I said, voice raw.
Orion winced against me, but he kept going. “Take this, please, not for forgiveness but for a new start. We can do that, right? That’s why you kept it, in case…” he paused and swallowed, “in case we found each other again.”
I didn’t know why I kept his ring. I didn’t know why I took it from its hiding place on long, lonely journeys and clutched it for company.
But I didn’t keep it for this. I didn’t keep it so he could go through my things, pocket the ring without asking, and then offer it back to me as though everything were okay. As though he could fuck me, and it wouldn’t matter that he left when I needed him the most. As though I forgot. As though he could kiss the pain away. As though three years of pain and betrayal didn’t matter if my body enjoyed his touch.
How dare he ask for love? I showered him with it, but he threw it away. I still didn’t know why.
“Get away from me,” I say, cold and hard.
Orion startled, but he let go of me and we drifted apart in the dark. I couldn’t see him or feel him anymore. I might as well have been entirely alone.
I fumbled for my clothes, struggling to find them in the zero-G. Orion kept talking. I wished I could block out his voice, block him from my mind, block him from my heart. But I’d been trying for years and failing.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “You kept the ring—”
“A mistake,” I said coldly. “This was all a mistake.”
Orion had the nerve to chuckle at that. “That was no mistake and you know it.”
I clenched my fists. After he ignored my feelings and assumed I would forgive him, I wanted to do nothing more than hurt him. “A mistake is all you ever were.”
He was silent for a moment. I landed the hit, and I should have been glad of it. Instead, I felt tired. Battered.
Orion’s always been good at fighting back. He never backed down from any fight, even with me. “This is why I left.”
I gasped. I’d wondered about this during lonely smuggling missions. The thoughts came to me though I never wanted them to. Why hadn’t I been good enough for him? What had I done wrong?
After three years, he was willing to tell me.
I steeled my shoulders, clenched my teeth. No, I couldn’t let him think I cared or would ever consider taking him back. That was the path to being hurt again. I forced myself to laugh at him. “It doesn’t matter why.”
He laughed back. “You know it does.”
I ground my teeth. He was maddeningly cocky.
“I can’t keep this in anymore,” Orion said.
I shook from rage or fear or excitement of learning the truth. I didn’t know which. Maybe all three.
“I can’t keep pretending that I didn’t love you.”
I swallowed a sob. “I can’t—” But my voice choked off. I had to know. I had always needed to know.
“Cali,” he said gently, so gently.
I sniffed. “What happened?”
Twenty-Eight
“I left because—” Orion was cut off by a pounding on the cabin door.
Fuck. Had Rux attacked Antares? Had Castor found us?
“Shit,” Orion muttered. “Are you dressed?”
“Yeah.”
“Too bad,” he said, and I could almost see him winking. A moment later the door ground open.
“The timer,” Polaris said, short of breath. “We’re nearing the jumpgate.”
“Damn it.” I was out too long. I shoved myself along the walls to the cockpit, ignoring Orion and whoever else I bumped into on the way.
I strapped into the safety webbing of the pilot’s chair and grabbed the controls. Behind me, Polaris was rambling about measurements and speed.
“The host ship will cross the gate in minutes, ripping the Firebrand off it, leaving us stranded in hyperspace and in the path of oncoming ships traveling too fast to stop. Assuming my calculations are accurate.” His voice rose an octave each second.
“They better be, kid,” Orion said from the co-pilot’s chair.
“Don’t you talk to him like that,” I snapped. “I trust your judgement, Po. We can’t confirm where we are until I power up the ship, and the moment I do—”
“Castor,” he said with a finality like death.
I took a deep, stabilizing breath. We had no choice but to power up now. If our timing was too late, we would die. If our timing was too early, we only might die. “Strap in. Here we go.”
The Firebrand’s engines rumbled to life. The ship vibrated with their comforting hum. The control panel and ceiling lights flared on, and I had to squint against the sudden light. Gravity pushed me against the back of the pilot’s chair. Behind me, there was a crash and Rux swore loudly.
I snorted. Served him right for not listening.
“Disengaging magnetic lock now,” Orion said, his thick fingers flying across the dashboard.
“I was about to do that,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Too late,” he said coldly.
I powered up the thrusters and guided the Firebrand away from her hiding spot. All the alarms blared to life and the ship trembled as if we’d hit an earthquake. That could only mean one terrible thing.
“Shit,” Orion breathed.
We were aimed not at the center of the jumpgate, but at the machinery that circled it. The equipment looked like a lightning storm above a mountain range of black stone. It was the raw power of the gate machinery that made the Firebrand shake as though she were having a seizure.
I needed to move before we smashed against it. But to starboard a massive ship blocked us from enteri
ng the gate. From escaping. To port, another ship loomed. Together, they’d boxed us in. I glanced at the Firebrand’s radar. Squads of Supremacy fighters waited above and below, blocking our way out of this canyon of ships.
“Incoming missiles,” Orion said. They were closing in quickly from above, below, and behind. Trapped between the two frigates and the jumpgate’s border ahead, I had little room to dodge.
My fists tightened on the controls and I cursed between clenched teeth. Castor knew we were in this area and blocked off our escape routes.
Only one thing might save us…well, two if the men didn’t screw it up. I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Gunners, take your stations.”
“Shit, shit, shit,” Rux said. By the sound of his boots on the floor, he was limping from his tumble.
The two hidden doors behind the pilot chairs cranked open, and seats and gun controls slid out. Hamal and Rux strapped in. “Ready, Commander,” Hamal said, his voice still calm and smooth.
“Shit,” Rux muttered, yet again.
“I’ll take the upper missiles, you take the lower,” Hamal said. Rux cursed non-stop.
“Raise the shields,” I said.
“Already done,” Orion said. “Calpurnia,” he sounded worried. “You got this?”
“Do you even need to ask?” I pushed the controls and the Firebrand leaped forward. We zoomed straight at the gate’s equipment, so close that I could see the pockmarks where it was hit by space debris.
Or ships.
But I forced the Firebrand to rush toward it even faster. Three kinds of alarms screeched as both Supremacy missiles and ships swooped in.
“Listen, if we’re going to die here—” Orion said.
“We’re not!”
“How?” Polaris said, voice small somewhere behind me.
Antares was laughing as though he had gone mad. “Missiles? Castor is terrified to come close! You scared the shit out of him, Commander Firebrand.”
