Salvation (10 page)

The next morning, I awoke to find an arm slung around my waist. It took me a minute to remember what had happened, and then happiness filled me once more. I snuggled into the warmth of his body behind me, and slowly, the hand trailed up to cup my breast.

"I can't believe I didn't recognize you were a woman." He whispered into my ear. "When I think about what almost happened to you..." he said the last gruffly and wrapped his arms around me tightly. "No one is ever going to hurt you again."

I pulled away slightly and rolled to face him.
"You can't protect me all the time," I pointed out. "What we do is dangerous by nature."

"What
I
do is dangerous by nature," he corrected, tracing one of the thin scars across my chest.

I stilled. "What are you saying?"

He ran his hand through his hair, making it stick out. "I don't know. Just give me some time to think about it."

Give him time? What did that mean? "
Thad...sir, I want to continue being your translator. You can't make me leave now...after..." I looked down at the bed meaningfully.

"I know, I know," he groaned, sitting up. "Just relax. I'm not forcing you off the ship. But I need to find some way to protect you better."

"Why? I've made it this far, haven't I? I'm training with the guns and knives, and I've had a lot more experience this last year. I want to keep doing what I've been doing."

"Samantha
." His voice was irritated. "You've been assaulted in a bathroom, shot with a blaster and whipped half to death...and it's only been one year. I shudder to think what's going to happen to you in the next ten."

"Well,
most of that was because I was masquerading as a boy. But I won't be too upset if you try to keep me out of men's bathrooms and away from shady characters from now on." I laughed, pushing him back on the bed and tracing the line down between the hard muscles of his chest and abs, stopping at the edge of the sheet which he was gripping tightly.

He groaned. "You're not going to seduce me into letting you go into danger."

"I'm not?" I asked, biting my lip. He stared intently at my mouth.

"No," he said decidedly
, lifting me off of him gently and getting out of bed. "At least not this morning. I still have a ship to run. I'll be back tonight, and you can put your efforts into convincing me then." He finished with a grin.

I sat in my room all day, wishing I could go back to work. Every time I thought of the night before, a shiver passed through me. The only thing I could think of were his hands running up and down my back and his mouth on my breasts.

As promised,
he came back to my room after dinner that night. I had eaten with the crew, sitting next to Jeremiah, and they had all stared at me like I'd grown a third head. I could tell most of them didn't know how to react to my new status as a woman. However, Jeremiah had been the same as usual, and I gave him a grateful smile as we left together.

I was sitting alone on the sofa in thought when the captain walked in.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked hopefully.

He laughed a full belly laugh as he
came over to the sofa and sat down beside me. "We don't need to make the pretense of watching a movie, sweetheart." His large hands patted his knees.

I scrambled over, almost
falling off the sofa in my haste, and he laughed again. He grabbed my waist and I ended up straddling his thighs as his tongue stroked mine. His hands began their leisurely journey up my spine, one sliding into my hair so that his tongue could penetrate my mouth more deeply.

A
fter kissing me for several minutes, he paused. "I thought we were going to discuss your duties on board the ship."

"Really?" I asked, disappointed. But then my fighting spirit came back
and I moved off his lap to sit next to him. "Fine. Let's discuss."

"All right
." He smiled in challenge. "Have you ever seen any women in the places we've gone?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," I said, remembering the brief glimpses of the women in the spaceport.

He waved that away. "I'm not talking about prostitutes, I'm talking about real women. Ladies. They don't exist out here. This is another reason I don't allow women on my ship. It's too dangerous. Once my enemies, and sometimes even my 'friends', find out you're a woman, they're going to be trying to get to you."

"Captain, I've been fine this whole time as a boy. If you want, I can keep my hair short and continue wearing trousers. No one will know."

"Yes, but I'll know," he said darkly. "And although I killed everyone on Angorak's ship who might know your secret, word might eventually get out. We don't know who he told before I arrived."

I was taken aback for a moment as I thought about that possibility, but then plunged ahead resolutely.
"We can choose the situations I go into more carefully. I can just be a translator and go onto the safe planets, as I did with the tailor. I don't need to do in-person negotiations."

"I don't know, Samantha
." His voice still sounded doubtful, but he didn't shake his head, which I took as a positive sign.

"Why don't I...convince you
of my value...in other ways?" I asked, covering my uncertainty with a smile.

His eyebrows rose. "You think you can?"

I pretended to consider his question for a moment. "I think I'm up to the challenge."

His eyes gleamed. "Well, far be it
from me to stop you. Be my guest."

I
knelt down until I was eye level with the button on his trousers. My hands trembled slightly as the button popped open. I could feel the hard length of him rising as I undid the zipper.

Then I paused and looked up into his eyes, which were fixated on
me.

"This is too easy," I murmured. "I think I've just been tricked."

"I can't deny...I've been waiting for you to 'convince' me all day." His eyes blazed.

"Well,
far be it from me to disappoint." I echoed his earlier words and reached inside the parted fabric and shaped my prize through the soft cotton beneath it. I could already feel a bead of moisture wetting the cloth at the tip. As I bent down over him, he leaned his head back and raised one arm up to cover his eyes.

P
utty in my hands,
I thought with a small curve of my lips. I wanted to use my newfound power, so I paused and looked up at his face as I stroked him.

Then I stopped.

After a few seconds, he moved his arm and opened one eye to look down at me.

"Yes?" I asked teasingly.

"Samantha..."

"What was it you were expecting,
sir
?" I emphasized the last word with a wink.

"You're about to find out who's really in control of this situation," he warned.

"Then you're not going to find out how my mouth feels around this big...throbbing..." I squealed as he was suddenly up and I was in his arms, being carried toward the bed.

"Maybe some other time, sweetheart
." He laid me on the bed and shucked his clothes quickly. "Can't wait that long tonight."

Then he settled over me and his lips met mine. His mouth and hands moved over every part of me, caressing, arousing, until I was writhing against him. He moved back up and brushed my hair away from my face.

I threw my legs around his hips, trying to guide him to me.

"What is it you want?" his gruff voice whispered into my ear.

My body trembled beneath his. "You," I whispered, turning to place kisses on his neck . I felt his hardness move to my entrance and rub against me softly. "Hurry up."

"Turnabout is fair play," he teased.
"You sure you don't want to wait a little longer?"

"Captain...dammit." I groaned.

"We're going to have to do something about that mouth of yours," he chuckled, finally sinking into me.

My fingernails sank into his shoulders, and I began moving against him. I don't know what came over me, but my body took over and I arched against him, rocking, moving, focusing on the one point within me where the heated pleasure was growing.

He placed one hand under the small of my back, arching me farther, and the new angle made the pleasure almost unbearable. My entire body tightened, and suddenly his strokes got shorter and more focused, rubbing that place inside until I exploded, shuddering beneath him.

Seconds later,
I felt him release himself inside me, his powerful body undergoing shuddering of its own.

The next morning, I awoke determined to return to work. The stiffness in my body was gone, and there was no way that I could sit around in my quarters for another day. I turned to the captain, ready to argue.

"Sir, you can't keep me locked up in this cabin. I fully plan to keep up with my duties as translator. Besides, you need me and you know it. You've been able to do at least twice as many jobs since I've been on board."

"Three times as many,
actually," he said, sitting and propping himself up with a pillow behind him. "I had already come to a decision before last night, you know."

"Really?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes." He sighed. "I agree that it's pointless to keep you locked up in the cabin. If I'm going to let you stay on the ship, I might as well keep you busy translating so that you don't...cause mischief."

My eyes widened in false innocence. "Captain, what exactly are you suggesting?"

"You know what I'm suggesting, Samantha." He chuckled. "You're enough of a pain in the ass as it is—I wouldn't like to see you actively try to be one." We both laughed, but then he sobered. "However, there will be no more in-person meetings or negotiations for you. And if you ever go planetside, I'll be there to escort you."

"I can handle that," I said, unable to hide my satisfied grin.

He looked up at the ceiling. "Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret this?"

I
moved up to brush my lips against his. "Probably because you will." Then I continued brightly, "But just think, my desk is right outside your office..."

He groaned and covered his eyes with his hand
, shaking his head. "No, no, no. Don't even think about it. I'm the captain. I can't just be...frolicking around like a young lad."

I laughed at the comparison, looking at his muscular backside as he got up to take a shower. He caught the direction of my gaze and guessed my thoughts, breaking into a laugh as well.

As I watched him walk away, I thought of the turn my life had taken. Walking over to my desk, I climbed up and sat upon it once more, looking out at the stars. Was I really going to get everything I had been dreaming of? I could see my beautiful future stretching out before me; traveling from planet to planet, using my love of translation and different cultures to help the
Exteris
make her profit from trade. Working with the man that I loved during the day, and being with him every night.

I felt the fear that had been inside me for so long begin to loosen. It wasn't perfect yet, but I had a feeling that things would work out. And if I knew the captain, he would be there to make sure that they did.

A few weeks later, we were sitting on the sofa, actually watching a movie this time. He looked over at me. "I think the time has come for us to have another talk, Samantha."

I felt my heart clench and brought a hand to my chest.
Was he tired of me already?

"Not that kind of talk!"
He grabbed my hand. "Dammit, I shouldn't have said it like that," he muttered to himself and shook his head. "I'm still out of practice."

He knelt down on the floor in front of the sofa and at first I wasn't sure what he was doing. But when he pulled out the little black jewelry box, my eyes filled with tears.

"Yes!" I cried, throwing my arms around him. "Yes!"

He threw back his head and laughed, then kissed me hard.
"You're supposed to wait until I ask! Dammit, how can you still be such a pain in the ass?" he asked fondly, the back of his hand caressing my cheek.

"I want to be
a pain in yours forever," I said, nuzzling his neck and breathing in his scent.

He gave a long
-suffering, exaggerated sigh and said, "I'm sure you will be, Samantha. I'm sure you will be."

The End