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Authors: Shona Husk

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BOOK: LunarReunion
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He watched, his gaze lowering to her lips. “If it’s free,
you should get something expensive.”

“Expensive doesn’t guarantee I’ll like the taste.” But she
was sure she’d like the taste of him after waiting for so long. “So, how well
can you read my thoughts?” Silva tried to keep her voice light, even though she
knew the answer. He’d know that she was interested in more than conversation.

Filid considered her for a moment. “Enough to know that we
are here for the same thing.”

 

Filid had recognized Silva the moment she’d walked in. Her
emotions had felt familiar in his mind, and he’d turned to see who it could be.
He’d felt her shock at seeing him, but instead of saying something she’d stayed
silent. And he wasn’t sure that he wanted to make a declaration of remembrance.
It had been complicated with Silva and had ended worse. They’d had to work
together, and they’d come so close to breaking the rules of the APM. Something
that would have cost them rank and privilege.

Now it was too late to say anything, yet he couldn’t let her
walk away so soon. Not yet, not after all this time.

As he watched her sipping her beer with heat in her dark
eyes, he wondered if he shouldn’t have thrown caution into the flux six years
ago and seen what would happen. Would they have fizzled out after the lust had
been sated or would they have lasted? Had he walked away from something worth
holding on to? He wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice…however, they
were back into complicated territory.

Maybe she didn’t actually remember him and it was his ego
giving weight to her emotions. Still, desire was a pretty hard emotion to
misread, and she wanted him.

He’d never stopped wanting her.

She was exactly as he’d remembered. Her long dark hair
pulled back into a simple braid that emphasized the tri-clustered spots on her
face and her wide lips. Her uniform hugged every small curve. The flare of her
hips and butt had mesmerized him more than once.

Like old times he could read the lust rolling off her. It
had almost killed him when she’d taken the urge somewhere else at the first
commerce station they’d reached. Another day in space and they might have done
something stupid. Perhaps she’d been the smart one.

When Silva had left the APM, she’d vanished even though he’d
tried to find her. Now here she was and he wasn’t going to let her find her
pleasure with someone else on the Moon. Nor was he going to invite his pilot to
play even though she’d had those thoughts. He wasn’t sure his pilot would know
how to play those games.

No, until the dock opened and he had to leave, Silva was
going to be his.

Even if they were both playing at being strangers. Maybe
that was easier. This could be a onetime thing that didn’t need to be
contaminated with the past or the lack of future.

She smiled at him. That smile that had almost made him
willing to break the rules he was sworn to uphold. She’d always seemed so
fragile, her spotted skin soft and delicate, yet she flew machines at speeds
that seemed impossible and she had combat medals that she never spoke about.
Her homeworld was a mess and yet she’d always seemed to know what she was
doing. Organized and efficient. The epitome of what an APM officer should be.
But then every
Phrial
he’d run into in the APM had joined because they
wanted more. They were driven and determined.

Filid wasn’t surprised to find her flying one of the largest
cruise liners, for one of the best companies. She wouldn’t have settled for
anything less.

He’d joined because the career selector on his home world
had channeled him into medicine. He didn’t want to do that. He’d wanted to
choose his own path.
Klokian
society was stable because people like him
didn’t stay. Centuries ago when wars were still fought he’d have been drafted
to the front line. He could’ve had therapy to help him fall into place, plenty
did and they were happy. But he’d always known that wasn’t for him. While he
could read minds he couldn’t alter them, nor did he want people altering his.

Her tongue traced her lower lip as if she were swiping away
a drop of beer. Her wrists were exposed to him in an obvious display of desire
for her species, but he didn’t need any of that to know she wanted him.
Fragments of her thoughts skimmed over him and warmed his blood. He didn’t know
exactly what she was thinking but he got a good impression. His cock was
already hard. Which was nothing new around Silva.

Should he ask her name and then go through the motions of
being glad to see her, or would that just make this more awkward? They would
have to reminisce, and their parting had been tainted. They’d argued. The lust
they’d been holding on to had needed to be expressed and anger had been the
only way. He remembered pushing her against a wall when she’d tried to strike
him, pinning her there as she’d snarled at him and he’d growled at her.

They’d been so close, their bodies touching and his suit not
hiding his arousal from her. That was when he’d almost kissed her. He hadn’t,
instead he’d released her and spun away. He’d made a point of avoiding her and
then he was posted off her ship and onto the next one. Her absence had left a
black hole where his heart had been. The one woman he wanted was out of reach.
Gone. And he knew he’d screwed it up. He should have kissed her, taken her
against the wall and then faced the resulting court martial.

Just sitting here she had the power to twist him up, make
him want her and hate her and love her. She didn’t know the cloud she’d cast
over him. The turbulence she’d caused in his life. How he wanted to dive back
in even if the currents tore him apart.

Filid drained the last of his drink. “Do you want to get out
of here?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” She swallowed the last mouthful
of beer and stood. “I’m guessing you don’t have a room.”

“Neither do you. Short stay?” Some of the rooms were let by
the
tric
for this purpose. Cheap and basic, but still with all the
essentials. Decadent Moon catered for all tastes and price ranges. He suspected
they made a lot of chits from their short-stay rooms.

“Sounds good.” She picked up her small bag and then led the
way. Just like old times. She led and he followed. Only this time she wasn’t
weighed down with guns and Scale body armor.

Her hips still swayed when she walked, an enticing movement
that drew many a male’s gaze. But he knew she considered herself plain,
especially when compared to some of the exotic aliens one could see both in the
APM and on stations. Many classified him as one of the exotics and they’d stop
and stare at his tentacles. Some of the gawkers were unaware just how much he
could read of their thoughts. Some species were as transparent as his own.

To him she was exotic, golden skin, the darker tri-colored
spots and the half webbing between her fingers. Then there was her hair. Soft
and luxurious. In fact everything about her was soft and silken. Yet she wasn’t
delicate.

He also liked the way her mind was semi-readable. While he
could read fellow
Klokians
with ease, not all species could be read.
Phrials
fell somewhere in the middle. Emotions and strong thoughts were all he got from
her, but he liked the mystery. He’d been with women of his own species. In
theory every thought should’ve been available, but some had learned to censor
their thoughts so as not to create waves. An open, honest society that spent
half their time hiding what they really felt. That was why he’d left.

Censor actions to not cause harm. But a stray thought?
People were entitled to think what they wanted.

Silva stopped at a kiosk and started booking a room. Before
she could scan her
plex
and have the chits deducted from her account he
stopped her and let the machine scan his.

“You didn’t have to.” But she was still happy he had,
surprised and happy. There was also an undercurrent of something else. A
tension. Nerves from accepting his offer to go somewhere private? Who wouldn’t
be a little anxious about an interspecies fuck with a stranger.

Unless…and perhaps he was hoping too hard…it was because she
knew him but wasn’t sure what to say. If so, he knew exactly how she felt.

However, they’d come this far, so nothing was the best
option. What would they say now if the truth were revealed? The chits they’d
just spend on the room would be wasted on talking. Now that he finally had
Silva within touching distance again he wanted to do more than talk. He wasn’t
going to let the chance to be with her slide past again.

“Yeah I did. APM gave me a Moon allowance so I could sleep
and eat.” And get a room if he wanted to rest, although sleeping wasn’t high on
his list of things to do. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair, use it
to tug her close for a kiss.

“Fucking on APM chits?”

He shrugged. He hadn’t planned to, but the moment she’d
walked over to him that was exactly what he’d wanted to do. Besides he could
sleep back on the ship.

A plastic card dropped out of the machine with the room
number stamped on it. He picked it up and glanced at her. He was so tempted to
say something like
I’m glad we finally get to do this.
Or
I’ve
thought about you a lot since I last saw you.
Admittedly some of those
thoughts were when he was in the shower and gripping his shaft. The rest were
self-recriminations for letting his anger boil over or regret for not taking
the risk and kissing her six years ago.

Filid bit his tongue and said nothing. She was his for a few
trics
and that would have to be enough. Then she’d pilot her liner on to
the next tourist stop and he’d move on to the next mission, their lives pulling
them apart again.

They walked down the corridor until they reached the room.
He didn’t hesitate, just swiped the card over the sensor. The door opened with
a hiss. They were actually going to do this. Excitement and lust tumbled
through his body. He’d have been embarrassed if there’d been another
Klokian
there to read his thoughts. A
Klokian
would’ve disapproved of such an
obvious outpouring of expectation—yet also known exactly what he wanted in bed.

He let his tentacles spread out, seeking confirmation that
this was definitely what she wanted. Silva’s desire was as strong as his. But
he had no idea what it was she wanted him to do with her. He liked the surprise
instead of the mutual knowing… It kind of took the fun out of sex knowing
exactly what the other person was thinking.

She dropped her bag at the foot of the generously sized
bed—generous for the two of them, but maybe not for a
Helvelet,
one of
the largest species of alien in the Alliance—then turned to face him.

“I’m assuming your inoculations are up to date?” She raised
an eyebrow. He loved that such a small line of hair could convey so much.

“Yes, you?”

She nodded. “I’m going to wash…” She gave him a lingering
look that suggested he join her.

“Want company?” He didn’t really need to ask. He knew that
was what she wanted.

“That would be nice.” She grinned, the one that invited
trouble and had once been followed by her pulling a gun. He’d seen her in
action as they’d chased down a man who’d thought to jump ship with a pile of
stolen weapons. She’d been fearless.

Filid stripped off his jacket and hung it on the back of the
door, then pulled off his undershirt, boots and socks.

Her red suit was thrown out of the bathroom and landed on
the floor in a crumpled pile. She’d have never done that with her APM uniform.
She’d been up to code all the time, never putting a foot wrong. It was one of
the reasons he’d walked away. He hadn’t wanted to be the one to ruin her
career.

Her underwear followed the suit onto the floor. He closed
his eyes for a moment. She was naked. Once all he’d been able to do was imagine
what that looked like, now he could find out. He shucked off his pants, cursed
the lack of storage in the cheap room and then hung them on the back of the
door with his jacket. On one wall was a display keeping track of the
trics
they’d rented the room for. It wasn’t long enough, but it never would be. He
ignored the countdown and crossed the room to the bathroom.

It was actually more of a cubicle. A small cubicle. He’d
used bigger bathrooms on APM ships. The shower and head just fit. It was not
made for relaxing or lingering. Another reminder that this room was cheap and
supposedly fast and focused.

He’d have preferred several days of slow lovemaking, but he
wasn’t going to get that. Even if he had admitted to remembering her in the
bar, they were both on the clock on the Moon.

Silva was already in the shower, the mix of pressurized
water and air cleaning away any sweat and dirt. While nothing like having an
actual water bath, it was something that you got used to in space, where water
was limited. Most of the water would be treated and recycled.

Her hair was still braided. He’d always wanted to untie it
and run his fingers through it, but he’d never gotten the chance. She also had
hair on her mound. It was darker than her braid, short like fluff. What would
that feel like against his skin? His fingers curled at the idea of cupping her
and easing his fingers past the hair to find her slit. Her skin would be soft
and smooth, supple. A spotted, golden delight of curves and temptation. The
fantasy of having her was about to happen and all he could do was look and
drink her in so he’d have something to hold on to afterward.

She glanced sideways at him and beckoned him in. Not that
there was much room. The shower wasn’t made for two but he joined her anyway.
The jets hit his skin like the drumming of rain. He hadn’t seen rain, much less
felt it for over two years. He closed his eyes. Next time he took leave… He
hadn’t taken leave in two years. The APM owed him some time off. Yet he didn’t
know how he’d use it so it had always seemed like a waste.

BOOK: LunarReunion
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