A Star Pilot's Hero (All the Stars in the Sky Book 2)

by Eva Delaney

  Orion, Antares, and Hamal dodged around Mr. Pancake as he chased after them. They looked like they were dancing an odd dance with lots of little jumps and leg lifts and screams.

  “He’s your dog, you should clean it up,” Orion shouted.

  “Get the doctor to do it,” Antares said. “He’s used to touching gross things and people’s…underparts.”

  “Suddenly you can’t say cock,” Orion said, side-eyeing him.

  “Let’s not bring up Castor’s cock,” Hamal said.

  Antares snickered. I groaned.

  “No pun intended,” Hamal added quickly.

  “There was a pun?” Polaris said, perking up. His voice was low, gentle, but his thick lips turned up in a smile. He never smiled ear-to-ear. It was always shyer than that, but it was enough to show his dimples.

  Smiling because he thought there was a pun waiting for him.

  It made something go squishy in my chest. What was wrong with me? I had Orion, plus Po was different from the type I usually liked—cocky flyboys and reckless pilots.

  “Sure, go grab the pun from the dog’s mouth,” Rux grumbled.

  Polaris gave him a curious look. “Oohhhh,” he said finally. “That was a punchline. Sorry, I was thinking and missed the set-up.”

  I snorted. Sometimes Po was too innocent for his own good. It would have been better for him to stay at Star Keeper rather than joining us assholes on a life-threatening mission.

  His twilight eyes met mine and they shone with a tender sweetness. It reminded me of softness that I could only recall from the distant past. He was more than the hardship and violence and trauma that defined the rest of us. He was a light that flickered when everything else was darkness.

  “Mr. Pancake wants to play tug, Antares. Grab the underpants,” Orion said, breaking the moment. “Make your dog happy.”

  “You can find out if you have a bigger cock than a prince,” Antares said. “All you have to do is grab a piece of silk.”

  I rolled my eyes at their arguing. “Doctor Hamal,” I said. “This must be…cleaner than things you deal with on a daily basis.”

  Hamal stared horrified at the little dog. Mr. Pancake cocked his head at Hamal and wagged his tail, the black underwear still hanging from his mouth.

  “Ooohhh,” Polaris said. “I get it. It’s boxer-briefs.” He leaned forward a bit and squinted. “A tight pair.”

  “Don’t say that!” “No!” “Stop!” We shouted at once, me included. I did not need the mental image, especially when I had seen Castor seducing a woman.

  Po’s eyes went wide. “What’d I do?”

  “You mentioned Castor’s…bulge,” I said.

  “You don’t have to imagine it,” Po said.

  “Well, great, now I am,” Orion said. “Thanks.”

  I laughed at him and he shot me a glare, but his jade eyes sparkled with amusement.

  “I think we’re all imagining it now,” Hamal grumbled. The corridor fell silent for a long moment. I stared at Orion’s bulge, and then Hamal’s ass, to avoid thinking of Castor. Too bad these men didn’t think to do the same.

  I turned my distraction to Po. When I glanced over, he was staring at me, gaze trailing slowly down my body. My stomach flipped backwards under his stare.

  So much for him being innocent.

  I looked away before he noticed that I noticed. If he did, I would have to put a stop to it, and I didn’t want yet another exhausting fight about men hitting on me. Yes, that was the only reason I didn’t stop him.

  “Okay,” Antares said, rolling up his sleeves. “I’ll carry Mr. Pancake back into the bedroom closet. He can drop the underwear on the rest of the pile.”

  Antares bent down. As his fingers brushed the dog’s chubby body, Mr. Pancake dropped the underwear and plopped down for a belly rub.

  “Well, shit,” Antares said.

  “He doesn’t deserve that tummy rub,” Orion said, jabbing a finger at the dog.

  “All dogs deserve tummy rubs,” Polaris said as though genuinely offended.

  “Who’s trouble?” Antares cooed, rubbing Mr. Pancake’s belly. “Who made everyone gag?”

  “I know,” Orion said. He ran down the corridor and pulled open the storage closet, emerging with a set of orange cones used to block off an area for repairs.

  Orion carefully placed them around the discarded underwear. “There,” he said.

  “That doesn’t solve the problem,” I sighed.

  “Sure, it does. Orange means warning, so stay away.”

  “What happens if we lose gravity?” Rux said.

  “The bedroom closet and floor are covered in more underpants,” I told him. “The air will be full of Castor’s banana handkerchiefs.”

  “We don’t need more of his…man-berry baskets,” Orion said.

  “His carrot cling-wraps,” Hamal said.

  “His chicken coop,” Polaris added. “Because cock is a—”

  “Yeah, we get it,” I said.

  “His hot dog wrappers,” Antares said, “or sandwich bags. Same thing.”

  “Hot dogs are not sandwiches,” Rux snapped.

  Antares crossed his arms. “It’s meat inside bread. That’s a sandwich.”

  “No. It’s. Not. If that’s a sandwich, we’ll have chaos,” Rux said. “There are rules for a reason.”

  Antares smirked. I suspected he said things just to piss people off.

  “Castor’s scrote tote,” I added. “Whatever you want to call it, someone deal with it. All you big strong men are afraid of Castor’s clothes.”

  “Not his clothes. His ass. He’s so full of shit, we better not risk going near anything that’s touched it,” Orion said, and I laughed again.

  Hamal cleared his throat. “If I may propose an idea, Commander and fellow crew mates.”

  He looked at me and waited for permission.

  I smiled. I appreciated the acknowledgment that I was in charge after he and Orion had argued over sharing me. “Let’s hear it.”

  “It’s going to be a few days, at least, before the jumpship arrives—”

  “If it does,” Rux grumbled. “They might leave us to die.”

  Hamal cleared his throat awkwardly. I nodded for him to go on. With the reminder of our possible deaths, we needed another distraction to keep the men from each other’s throats.

  “We hold another challenge. Someone else will choose it this time. Whoever comes last will clean up the underwear.”

  “And burn it,” Orion added.

  “I knew I should have bought a flame thrower on Vinera,” Rux said, crossing his arms.

  “Sounds fair,” I said. “Who picks the challenge?”

  “I’ll…if it’s okay and fair…get the computer to draw a random number,” Polaris said.

  “I call six,” Orion said.

  “Why six?” Hamal said.

  He shrugged.

  Everyone else chose their number. Po sat at the navigator’s chair and fired up the system for navigational math. The number generator picked six, damn it.

  “Yes,” Orion shouted, jumping and punching the air.

  I couldn’t help but smile. He used to do the same thing when he came second to me in battle simulations when we were in pilot training.

  He never came first, but he said that second was the same as first place because there was no chance at beating me. At least he had defeated everyone else.

  “The challenge will be a race,” Orion said. He thought for a minute with his serious face. “A race but the floor is made of lava! Your ass is so hot, it could melt metal into lava.” He winked at me.

  I groaned. “That’s a terrible line.”

  “You like it,” he said. “Wait here!”

  We watched from the cockpit as Orion ran around the ship grabbing blankets, pillows, dishes, equipment, a toolbox, and Rux’s gun. He scattered them over the hall, bedroom, and lounge.

  “You can only travel on the rocks floating on the lava,” he explained, his face li
t with boyish excitement. He could still find joy in a childhood game after years in prison. It made me want to kiss him.

  “Start at the cockpit. Do a circuit around the lounge and bedroom, then race down the corridor to safety: the kitchen. If you touch the floor, you have to start at the beginning.”

  “I hate this already,” Antares said.

  “For once we agree,” Rux grumbled.

  I hadn’t played like a kid in ages, not since basic training. Normally I would grumble about it like Antares and Rux. Innocent games were far, far away. Lost to war and trauma.

  Maybe with Orion and the other men, I could manage it. Fun. Relaxation. Forget about the past and our terrible futures for a little while.

  Forget about the Supremacy ship that might rescue us in a few days or shoot us down or leave us here to starve.

  Instead, we could pretend this was a home and that light was easy to find rather than pinpricks always out of reach. We could pretend that light and joy were here, among my crew.

  At least until they started fighting again.

  Chapter 11

  “The floor is made of lava…NOW,” Orion shouted. He leaped onto the navigator’s chair.

  I sighed, rolled my eyes, and stepped onto the pilot’s chair as Antares jumped onto the armrest. He teetered for a moment and I considered pushing him off. This was a race, after all. But I didn’t want to risk hitting his head. We needed him alert when the Supremacy jumpship arrived.

  Hamal and Polaris crowded onto the passenger chair.

  “Rux, you’re dead,” Orion said. “Unless you get off the floor.”

  “Motherfuckers,” Rux muttered and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat.

  I knew how he felt. This was silly, but Orion seemed boyish and happy and I doubted he had been in a long time. This was for him.

  Plus, I intended to kick all their asses. I mean, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to do that.

  Mr. Pancake leaped onto Rux’s lap. He put his little paws on the man’s broad chest and reached for his face.

  “Don’t lick me. I know where your mouth has been,” Rux shouted.

  I laughed at him. Rux scowled.

  “Eat my exhaust,” Orion shouted. He leaped from the chair to a small couch cushion on the floor then stepped to a napkin. He stood on one foot on tiptoe to fit, his arms out to keep his balance, like a drunk dancer.

  “You are full of hot air,” Antares said. Without looking, he jumped backwards off the armrest and landed on the navigator’s chair.

  Show-off.

  “I prefer to think that it makes him exhausting,” Po said and chuckled.

  Antares leaned forward and raised a hand at him. Po blinked.

  “High-five,” Antares said. “For the pun.”

  “Oooh!” Po touched his hand to Antares.

  Antares flashed a feral grin.

  Shit, I thought.

  He gripped Polaris’s wrist and tugged. Po stumbled onto the floor.

  “Why?” he said. “All it does is send me back to the beginning, but that’s where we are now!”

  “Because he likes to cause trouble,” I said.

  Antares just shrugged.

  I eyed the men crowding the nearest chairs and pretend rocks. I was going to win this, but they were all blocking my path.

  Time to push them down.

  I jumped to the navigator’s chair, slamming into Antares. I wavered, my gut clenching as the floor rose up to meet me. My arm shot out and wrapped around the closest thing to stop my fall: Antares’s waist.

  He planted a hand on the back of the chair, steadying us. His long auburn hair fell over my face. It smelled like him, like rich woodsy musk. I breathed deep of his scent, felt his heat seeping through my clothes and into my skin, and felt the flex of his muscles under his black jacket.

  He glanced at me over his shoulder.

  I yanked my arm away as though burned and grabbed the back of the chair instead.

  Antares flashed me a sly look as though he thought I had grabbed him on purpose and had enjoyed it.

  Well, he was half right. Damn him. How did he always know? Or was he an arrogant asshole who assumed all women wanted him?

  He jumped to a pillow on the floor, and I immediately followed. I wasn’t falling any farther behind. I crashed into Antares and shoved hard.

  He toppled forward.

  Yes! I got him.

  But he somehow planted a hand on a napkin. Now he bent over, his feet on the pillow before me, his ass in the air against my stomach, and his hand on a napkin.

  “Saved!” he shouted.

  My eyes widened looking at his ass in skin-tight black pants against my stomach and waist. So tight that I could see every curve of his thigh, of his round ass.

  “Shit,” I muttered. I shook my head clear. I had to get away from him and quick.

  I leaped for another “rock,” the lid of a storage container, and chased after Orion down the corridor.

  I caught up to him in the lounge as he jumped into a couch. I followed, hurling myself into him. He fell forward and my stomach lurched as I landed on his back, knocking the breath out of me.

  “Cali,” he said, his voice flirty. “You want to be on top, huh?”

  I laughed.

  “Watch out,” Hamal called right before the couch bounced. His hand planted on the back of Orion’s head, pinning his face into the cushion.

  Orion cursed. Hamal hovered over us. His pelvis pushed against my ass, his legs tangled in mine and Orion’s.

  I felt his bulge pressed against me, warm and holy fuck, growing hard.

  My mouth fell open, my breath coming fast as I felt Hamal’s length nestle against my ass.

  He hissed. “Sorry.”

  “Get off,” Orion muffled into the cushion.

  “Fuck you all,” Antares said.

  Hamal oomphed and a moment later, Antares climbed over his head and onto the couch’s armrest. He jumped to the next one.

  Shit. I tried to wiggle out from under Hamal, but only accomplished rubbing my ass against his erection.

  Hamal gasped, a quiet sound that I wouldn’t have heard if we weren’t already so close.

  “Go, damn it,” I snapped. “I’m not losing this.”

  “Oh, right,” Hamal said. “The contest.” He climbed over me and Orion and stepped to the next couch.

  I scrambled up and followed.

  “Next time you climb on me, make sure I’m right side up,” Orion cursed behind me.

  The race remained chaos as we shoved and jumped our way around the ship. The men were too skittish to shove me. Their loss.

  I had no problem pushing them down. But I was smaller than they were, so most of the time, they didn’t fall. They wavered and grabbed onto the only thing within reach to steady themselves.

  And that thing was always me.

  Antares grabbed me around the waist, and we clutched each other like lovers to stop from falling.

  Orion gripped my hips as he fell backwards, and I had to lean forward to stop him from dragging us both down. My ass pressed into his bulge and he was instantly hard.

  I hissed. I wanted more, to press into him until he slipped inside me. But I had a damn race to win.

  I slammed into Rux, but he was sturdy as a wall and didn’t even flinch. I grabbed his thick, strong arms to stop from falling backward.

  He shifted, trying to shrug me off. I dug my nails into his arms so he couldn’t. No way in hell was I was going back to the beginning.

  He refused to move. So, I planted my hands on his broad shoulders and hauled myself up until I could rest my feet on top of his thick shoulders.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Trix?”

  “Winning,” I said. For a moment, I stood on his shoulders, one hand on his head to keep my balance.

  “Fuck you, fuck you,” he roared but didn’t move to toss me off.

  His mistake. I bounded off him and landed in a crouch on a towel.

  Polaris teetered on
a pillow ahead of me. That was the quickest path to the kitchen and victory, so there was no way in hell I was going around him.

  No, I was going through him.

  I slammed into his back; Polaris wavered but didn’t fall and I tumbled backward, one leg flying into the air. I grabbed Po’s shoulders to stop from falling.

  His hand gripped my lifted thigh. His other wrapped around, clasping the back of my other leg. Before I could say or do anything, he hauled me off my feet in a piggyback, leaning forward a bit to take my weight.

  “I’ll save you from the lava,” Po called.

  I was stunned. Here I was with my legs wrapped around Polaris and my hands gripping his shoulders. His muscles flexed as they worked to hold me above the floor.

  I always did like a good pair of strong shoulders. I didn’t know Po’s were so strong under those loose-fitting shirts.

  His hands squeezed the back of my legs as he held me off the ground. But his hands were dangerously close to my ass. My skin tingled under his touch. His body was warm and solid between my thighs.

  I buried my face in his hair. He still smelled like sandalwood, as he had when we played tag a couple of weeks earlier.

  What the hell was I doing? Breathing in his scent, letting him touch me, carry me. This wasn’t an accident like Antares bent over or Hamal’s cock. I was letting this happen.

  I had to end it before Orion noticed.

  “Put me down, Po,” I said.

  “Hold on!” he said. “I won’t let you fall!”

  He leaped. I yelped. We landed on a blanket that was a bit larger than the pillow and Polaris set me down, his hands trailing over the backs of my thighs as he did so.

  I shuddered, from pleasure, from rising guilt.

  I looked at Orion. He stood on a plate, watching. His jade eyes held a sorrow as deep as a black hole.

  My heart constricted like a turtle trying to hide in a shell. Only I didn’t have a shield to protect my squishy bits. I had to see the hurt in his eyes. I had to feel the cut of his cold glare.

  Fuck. I had promised myself and him that I would never hurt him again, never let him down.

  And now I had. It had been so easy, too easy. One moment of distraction, the warm scent of another man, and I opened a fresh wound in Orion’s heart.

  “That was fun,” Po said, smiling and breathless.