A playful smile quirked his lips. “What’s that for, babe?”
“A brain and courage, huh?”
His smile saddened. He reached out and stroked her chin. “And a heart. Don’t forget that. Because of you, he found it again.”
“Just trying to pound me on the head with that metaphor, huh?”
“Well, you know me. Mr. Obvious.” He laced his fingers through hers and brought her hand up to his mouth to brush his lips across her knuckles. “You’re the heart for all of us. And the brains and courage. Look how you kicked Rawin’s ass. Hell, look how you kicked Eckhart’s ass and figured out what was wrong with the Aroykin settlers.”
She didn’t want to think about that and quickly changed the topic. “Where are we heading now?” She knew the jump drive had been engaged shortly after departing the Moran orbiting station. The creepy-crawly sensation in her body had finally decreased to manageable levels after the first day. Maybe she was finally getting used to it.
“Back to our original orders. Exploration. You’ll be happy to hear the K-2 will be tagging along as well. They’re having us tag-team the explores.”
“Close enough for real-time com links?”
He smiled. “Yes, you and Donna can have gab fests again.”
Sophie’s training with her men was going well. Emi had exchanged e-mails with her and Donna, but their distance from Earth meant live com links were impossible. She’d missed chatting with her friends in real time. It would be good to have that outside contact with someone besides her men. “The K-2 guys are good guys.”
His brow furrowed. “I never said they weren’t, babe. What brought that on?”
She carefully shrugged, mindful of her ribs. “I feel bad for hating them when stuff never actually even happened.” She’d never mentioned Rob’s private conversation with her at the party to her men.
“Ah, Rob and his guys are tough. I’m sure even if they knew, they wouldn’t hold it against you. Don’t beat yourself up.” He snickered. “Sorry, babe.”
She dropped his hand. “Watch it, or you’ll end up with a colonoscopy.”
“Promises, promises, Doctor.”
Chapter Sixteen
Three days later, with the exception of twinges in her still-tender ribs, Emi’s injuries had mostly healed. Aaron, Caph, and Ford relented and let her once again roam the ship and return to duty. She was working on reports at her desk in sick bay when she looked at Bucky. He stayed with her all the time now, and she’d put him on the desk beside her computer terminal.
Something still bugged her about the fight.
This is stupid. She saved her reports and closed out the files. Then she accessed their personal server in the main computer, wading through thousands of pictures and vids taken throughout the men’s years together.
Then she found one labeled First_Halloween and dated twenty years earlier.
With a trembling finger, she reached out and hit play.
She’d never watched vids of Kelsey before. Not that she didn’t want to get to know the woman as well as she could, but usually when she thought of it, the men were nearby and she wanted to watch them alone.
Emi wasn’t sure who was shooting the vid at first, until she heard a woman’s soft snicker. It looked like Kelsey was hiding in a bunk, under a blanket. The view showed a large cabin. The door opened and Caph walked in.
Emi’s heart twisted. He looked much like he did now, still in good shape but twenty years younger, with fewer lines and creases on his sweet face.
He crossed the cabin, heading toward another door. It opened and he walked in, a light coming on.
Must be the head.
Kelsey threw back the blanket and quickly walked over to the head door with the camera. She caught Caph just as he was getting ready to use the toilet, but a large rubber spider fell from the ceiling onto his shoulder.
Bucky.
He let out a screeching howl, almost drowned out by Kelsey’s laughter. The picture shook as the woman laughed.
Caph grabbed the rubber spider and wheeled around, advancing on her, his pants open and dick hanging out. “What the fuck is this! Not funny!” But he’d started laughing.
“Yeah, it was funny. You nearly pissed yourself, Caph.”
“Yeah, because I have to take a piss!”
“Aww, did little Bucky scare you?”
Emi’s heart chilled and she hit pause, her hand now shaking.
It was the voice she’d heard during the fight. She’d swear it.
She rewound the vid to just after the spider landed on Caph and listened again, this time letting the vid play through until the end just a few minutes later.
When it finished, Emi closed the file, sat back, and stared at Bucky.
She’d never heard Kelsey’s voice before, never watched any of the vids.
There has to be a rational explanation for this.
Theories ran through her brain. Maybe it was just something empathic she picked up from one of her men. Or, more likely, her own subconscious, and she imagined the voice matched the one on the vid. Kelsey’s voice reminded her a lot of Delaney’s voice, which would make a lot of sense.
Maybe that was the answer and her brain was trying to trick her into thinking the impossible.
Still, that answer didn’t feel right. Emi was used to being observant. It was in her training.
And her gut told her the voice she’d heard during the fight was the same as the voice on the vid.
Kelsey.
She picked Bucky up and stared at him. The rubber spider’s sightless eyes offered no answers.
* * * *
After dinner that night she went to bed while Aaron and Ford volunteered to clean up the galley. Caph had the watch. The men, afraid of aggravating her injuries, had made no attempt to make love to her, or each other, for that matter. She loved them even more for the effort, but knew they had to be getting horny.
She damn sure was.
When Aaron and Ford made their way to the cabin, they found Emi stretched out, naked, in the middle of the bed. She wore a playful smile while her right hand stroked her clit.
Both men stopped at the doorway, staring.
“What’s wrong?” she innocently asked.
“Are you…feeling okay?” Aaron asked.
“If your question is am I horny? Then yes, I am. I’ll have you know there is a very qualified doctor on board this ship who insists I am perfectly ready to once again engage in whatever romantic endeavors I choose to…you know, engage in.”
Ford’s goofy grin made her laugh. “Watch out, Cap.” He tried to push past Aaron, who threw out an arm.
“Hey, captain first.”
“Aw, that’s no fair!”
“Boys, I have a very simple suggestion.” She rolled onto her hands and knees and wiggled her butt at them as she cast a sultry gaze over her shoulder. “I have a seating limit of three, and there’s only two of you right now. That means there’s plenty of room.”
“Doctor trumps captain.” Ford shoved Aaron out of the way and bolted for the bed, yanking his clothes off as he did. By the time he hit the mattress, he was naked.
“You are a man of many talents, Ford,” she teased.
“What do you mean?”
“If there was a time record for getting naked, you and Caph would probably tie for it.”
“Hey, I’m wiry and horny and this is going to be hard and fast and furious because I’m about to bust a nut. What can I say?” She couldn’t say anything, however, because he pulled her down on top him and kissed her with a hand fisted in her hair to hold her in place.
“Yeah, right there, Ford,” Aaron said. She felt him kneel behind them. Then his fingers gently probed between her legs. “Holy crap, I think she started without us, buddy.”
Ford broke their kiss only long enough to say, “She wet?”
“Very.” He nudged into place behind her, sliding his cock deep into her cunt. Ford swallowed her moan of pleasure.
&n
bsp; She loved this, but wanted more and Ford apparently sensed it. He released his grip on her and swung around to change positions. On his back, he slid beneath her, his head between her legs. Aaron grabbed her hair and guided her mouth down onto Ford’s cock.
“There you go,” he said.
She moaned again, this time the sound muffled by her sucking Ford’s erection as far as she could take it into her throat. Ford went to town licking and sucking her clit. Combined with the feel of Aaron’s cock pounding into her, it didn’t take her body long to explode.
Instead of backing off, the men redoubled their efforts, turning her body into a limp mass of orgasming nerves as she tried to suck Ford’s cock dry.
Apparently Ford was waiting for Aaron to finish. She felt Aaron’s fingers dig into her waist. “I’m close,” he hoarsely said.
Ford’s hips began thrusting up, meeting her stroke for stroke. Salty pre-cum freely flowed down her throat as she tried to keep up with him. Ford latched onto her clit and sucked hard, triggering one last, earth-shattering climax.
“Yes!” Aaron grunted, his hips slamming into her.
Ford also moaned. His cock stiffened into silken steel in her mouth as his sac drew up tight against his body and pumped his hot juices into her mouth.
Her body collapsed, limp, on top of him as she slurped and swallowed and tried to catch her breath. Aaron hooked an arm around her waist and rolled off her, onto his side, taking her with him and making her lose Ford’s cock with a wet plop.
Ford slowly turned around and dragged himself up the bed to flop down on Emi’s other side. Aaron kissed the back of her neck while Ford captured her lips again, this time for a sultry, sleepy kiss.
“Love you, babe,” they both said in identically sated, tired tones.
Emi giggled. “Love you, too.”
* * * *
Aaron and Ford were still asleep when Emi pulled on Aaron’s shirt and padded, barefoot, up to the bridge. Caph lounged in the command chair, one leg propped up on the edge and a handheld in his lap. He looked up and smiled at her appearance. “Hey, babe. What are you doing up?”
She kissed him. He closed the book file he’d been reading and set the handheld aside so he could pull Emi into his lap. “I couldn’t sleep.”
A blond eyebrow skeptically arched skyward. “Didn’t Aar and Ford wear you out, or are they losing their touch?”
She snuggled against his chest. “Yeah, they did, but I still couldn’t sleep. I missed my big guy.”
“Aww, I missed you, too, babe.” He kissed the top of her head. Fortunately, he’d seemed to return to normal as her healing progressed and they returned to a normal routine on board the Bight. She suspected he’d always carry deep wounds inside him from Kels’ death, differently than Aaron had born his for all those years, but still there.
She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. Laundry soap and shaving lotion. The men all three smelled very similar, yet distinctly different, to her. Caph always had a hint of hay and freshly mown grass, to her nose.
“Do you mind if I keep Bucky? I promise I won’t throw him away.”
He let out a snort. “No I don’t mind. Can I ask where did that topic come from?”
She shrugged. “I just don’t want to give him up.”
He stroked her arm. “You can keep him as long as you want him, babe. He’s part of the family.”
“He helped save our family.”
Caph seemed to mull that over for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that. He did, in his own rubber way. I hope we can retire his assistance, though. I’m looking forward to the explore. I’m done wishing for boring, because it seems the past two times I have, it’s brought us nothing but trouble. I won’t deny I’m glad Rob and the K-2 will be close by for most of the trip.”
“How long until we get there?”
He kept her pressed against him with one arm, while with the other he leaned forward and brought up a display on the command console. “Five weeks, from here.”
“No jump?”
“Nah, not worth it, we’re this close. We’d expend more fuel with a jump than we would going sub-jump. We’re not close enough to any stars to get a good recharge from the solar arrays.” He rubbed noses with her. “Why? Anxious to see what other kinds of trouble we can find?”
“Not really. I just want to go somewhere inhabited so I can go shopping.”
“Shopping? For what?”
She grinned. “I want to see if I can find Bucky a brother or sister.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tymber Dalton lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Not only is she active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC winner is also the bestselling author of over thirty-five books such as The Reluctant Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, and many more.
She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for her newsletter to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. (Don’t forget to look up her writing alter egos Lesli Richardson, Tessa Monroe, and Macy Largo.)
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Spider Bight Page 14
