“You’re up.”

  Nisha startled at Kien’s deep voice coming from behind her. She hadn’t heard him enter the room. He was dressed in a gray bodysuit that hugged his muscular frame. Although it was non-descript it was sexy on him.

  She waved toward the glass compartment. “I wanted a shower but don’t know where to start.”

  Kien reached over her shoulder, his arm brushed against the side of her head. She didn’t move away from the touch.

  “This is a sonic shower. Much different from what you’re used to. You use these buttons to select which level you want.” He pointed to one of the buttons. “If you want to shower with your clothes on, select this one. The system will clean you as well as any garments you’re wearing. This one is for a cleaning as well as deep tissue massage. There are other selections, but I think you’ll want this one.”

  She was extremely aware of his body so close to hers and how every nerve tingled with excitement. Her chest hurt from the pounding of her heart. “What does it do?”

  “It’s the standard shower.” He pressed a button. The inside of the compartment lit up but nothing else happened.

  Nisha raised her eyebrow. “Where’s the water?”

  Kien chuckled. “No water. It uses light rays to clean and sanitize.”

  “Oh.” She rubbed her arms. “Wait. Will this give me some type of freaky cancer? I feel like this is how I’ll get cancer.”

  “There’s a million ways for you to get cancer here on Earth. Humans don’t wear adequate skin protection, you add unnecessary—but delicious—ingredients to your food, you’ll literally put anything on and in your body, and beside all of that, your screening techniques for it are antiquated. But no, you won’t get cancer from this.”

  She took a deep breath. “This is your idea of a shower, huh?”

  “It’s safe, I promise.”

  She crossed her arms and grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt to lift it over her head but paused. “A little privacy?”

  “Why?”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder, finding his gaze roaming up and down her body with a hungry look in them. “Because I’m getting naked.”

  There was no denying the heat that passed behind his eyes. “I’ve seen you naked.”

  If they weren’t on a tight schedule and she wasn’t sore, she would’ve led him back to the bed. She shooed at him. “That was then, this is now. Go do something productive like getting what you need for Solgre.”

  Kien laughed and backed out. “I’ll be in the infirmary if you need me.”

  “Wait!” she called out before he could leave the room. “Wait out there for me. I’ll go with you. I want a tour of your ship. The odds of me seeing another spaceship in this lifetime are zero to none.”

  WHILE KIEN WAITED FOR Nisha to finish her shower, he made his bed and grabbed a few items he’d left behind before their initial escape from the ship. They were comfort items, nothing of importance. As he made his way around his room, his gaze kept going back to his bed. The time he’d spent with Nisha there invaded his thoughts.

  She was unlike anyone else he’d ever encountered. Their love making hadn’t been awkward. It had been the complete opposite. It was as though they’d known each other over lifetimes. He’d known exactly where to touch her, and she knew where to touch him. There wasn’t any fumbling or groping. What they’d done was intentional.

  But it wasn’t just about the sex—which was great. It was deeper than that, something else he’d never experienced before. They were connected, intertwined. And he didn’t understand that feeling either.

  He let out a deep sigh and scrubbed his hand down his face. He was in trouble. Big. Big. Trouble.

  Nisha stepped from the bathroom wearing fresh clothes, her dirty clothes bundled in her arms. “I’m ready for the tour.”

  He went to the door, and it automatically opened. “You can leave your clothes on the bed. Shall we get started?”

  She stopped by the bed to drop her clothes. “Am I allowed to take pictures or videos?”

  He hoped to give her a look that portrayed how crazy that question was. Solgre would murder him if he allowed pictures and video evidence of their existence.

  Nisha grinned sheepishly then dropped her phone on the bed. “You can’t blame me for asking. For the record, the only two people I would’ve showed the footage to are my mom and Tasha.”

  He motioned for her, and she joined him at the door. “Halo One has three floors; top deck, main and lower deck. We’re on the main deck. Here, we have the living spaces such as our personal quarters, guest quarters, kitchen, dining and exercise room.”

  She glanced into the hallway and indicated her head toward the closed doors. “Is that where Phate and Solgre live?”

  “No, we each have our own living spaces. The ship is built for long-term space exploration.” He stepped from his room, and she followed. Once they were in the hallway the door automatically closed behind them. “Because of that, it was outfitted for us to potentially have mates, families.”

  “So, they’re empty rooms?”

  He nodded and started down the hall toward the connection point of the four main hallways. He pointed left then right. “Phate’s and Solgre’s living quarters.” Then he kept forward. “We don’t spend a lot of time in our personal living spaces, usually only to sleep. Most of our time is spent in our labs, working on various projects, the bridge, exercise room or the kitchen.”

  He continued on as she followed. “If you roam the ship by yourself, you only have to voice loudly where you wish to go. The ship’s onboard computer system will guide you.”

  “Is it safe for me to wander by myself?”

  “The computer won’t allow any of us to enter into any dangerous spaces without an override. You’ll be safe.”

  His second official stop was the bridge. He needed to check the progress of the repairs and system updates. Kien went to his station and flicked on the controls. From the corner of his eyes, he tracked Nisha’s every movement. She walked the perimeter of the room, eyes on the various monitors on the wall. There wasn’t anything she could touch that would disrupt the ship’s functions, so he let her explore.

  He pulled his gaze from her and focused on the holograph in front of him. The solar flare had done so much damage. There was still radiation in certain parts of the ship that made those rooms uninhabitable.

  Kien scanned the ship’s specs. There were areas dotted in green, red and yellow. Green meant the area was working and clear. Those were few, with the labs being the first to come back online. Yellow meant the area was in process of coming back online and red meant the area had not yet come back online.

  Life systems were in the yellow, most likely the mechanical bots had been dispatched to fix those areas when he’d entered the hatch. The engine room was completely red, including the jump drive. He checked the status. The mechanical bots actively worked there, but it would take time to fix. The outer hull was green, good.

  At sensing no lifeforms were onboard, the working bots would’ve concentrated first on getting the other bots back online by either fixing them or removing the damaged bots for spare parts. Once that task was completed, they would, as a unit, fix to contain the hull, stopping any further damage to the confines of the ship. After that, the bots would’ve divided and conquered the less vital areas of the ship.

  Communications weren’t back online, but Kien figured another day or two and that too would be repaired. Life-support was at twenty-five percent. The outer hull was at eighty-five percent, which was better than he would’ve imagined.

  When they returned in a few weeks, Halo One should be in much better shape than they’d left it.

  After leaving the bridge, he took her to the safe areas, including the main engineering room where she was afraid to touch anything for fear of “blowing up the ship” and to the shuttle bay where she couldn’t keep her hands off their personal on-planet vehicles.

  They ended up in his lab with Nisha sitting on a counter watching him re-configure the portable replicator. She snacked on the closest food item to potato chips they had.

  She raised one in the air, inspecting it. “I can’t believe I’m eating food from a different planet.” She popped it into her mouth. “And it tastes pretty good!”

  She closed her eyes and hummed and shimmied her shoulders as she ate it.

  Kien glanced up from his seat at his work bench to watch her.

  I could get used to this.

  Phate and Solgre never hung out in his lab, unless they were there to provide a second analysis for him. He’d thought he liked the solitary nature of his work. If he got lonely, he would turn on music or listen to commentaries about new discoveries that were happening in the galaxy. He’d never once thought during his times of loneliness, to get a mate to help fill that void. Now, here he was looking at someone and wanting her for that role.

  “That technically isn’t from another planet. The design is, but not that in itself.”

  “Right. It’s replicated.” She popped another into her mouth. “It sure tastes real though.”

  He smiled and chuckled. He’d explained how food replication worked. All he needed was a sample to feed into the main console and the replicator would be able to store it and recreate it. “It is real, just made from a machine.”

  “So, the same replicator that makes food, made Solgre’s medicine too?”

  “Solgre’s medicine, our clothes, parts for the ship, furniture, everything.”

  She glanced off with a dreamy look in her eyes. “Oh, imagine how rich I would be if I had one of those. I would even settle for the portable one.”

  He shook his head and went back to fixing the portable replicator. “When we go, so does our replicator. I can’t have you wreaking havoc on Earth because you’re replicating everything in sight.”

  He laughed to himself and expected her laughter as well but was met with silence. When he glanced back at her it was to find all the happiness and joy drained from her face.

  “Is it something I said? You do know why we can’t leave alien technology behind, right?”

  She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.

  His heart jumped. She looked on the verge of tears. “Nisha, what’s wrong?”

  She shook her head. “I know you’re leaving. I just...forgot about it for a second.”

  He dropped the replicator and stood, crossing to her in long strides. At the counter, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her flush against his body with her legs bracketing his hips. He wanted to tell her leaving was the only thing he could think about too and that his heart was in pain constantly because of it. Instead, he crushed his mouth over hers.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nisha moaned. Kien was between her legs, where he belonged. He nuzzled his face on the side of her neck. One of his hands was fisted in her hair, pulling her head to the side to give him access to her neck and the collarbone that he liked to kiss. Every nerve ending in her body was hyper aware of his and craved his attention.

  Not only was he so right. This was so right.

  Kien pulled her to the edge of the table and pressed his groin into her.

  She hitched her breath. The ache she felt for him was unnerving.

  Oh God, I want him.

  But pride would never let her say those words outloud.

  “I could get used to this,” he said with his lips pressed against the skin on her shoulder. His words were deep and throaty. Her body responded with a shiver.

  “So could I,” was all she allowed herself to say when she wanted to say more.

  Kien helped her from the counter. With her feet now firmly on the floor he pulled off her shoes and pants. Then he undid her jumpsuit and let it hit the floor. Nisha, unashamed, let her gaze run over his body, taking in the sight of perfection.

  Muscles bulged and strained. Each one well defined. She wanted to run her tongue over every slope and valley. His cock stood at attention, beckoning her.

  Kien stepped to her and with a knee, pressed her legs open. Nisha widened her stance for him, expecting him to lift her back onto the counter. Kien, using strong hands, circled her waist and palmed her ass. He lifted her, but not to the counter. He positioned her on his waist, and her legs wrapped around his as if they had a mind of their own.

  Kien’s mouth crashed down onto hers. His tongue was everywhere at once. She clutched her hands in his hair—her knew favorite place.

  In an instant, Kien’s hand dipped between their bodies, finding its way to her pussy. She whimpered as he slid a finger inside. Kien pushed it in and out until her wetness could be heard.

  “I’ve never had sex in my lab before,” he rasped.

  She scraped her nails against his scalp. “Look at us. Creating memories.”

  “Mm, very good memories.”

  On the next breath, Kien breached her. His vibrating cock slid into her, stretching her wide. Nisha inhaled sharply and threw her head back. Kien’s fingers bit into the skin on her butt. His breaths strained as he angled against her.

  Nisha wrapped her arms around his neck, stars danced around her vision as pure ecstasy radiated throughout her core. Kien tightened an arm around her back, holding her in place while the other was firmly on her butt, lifting and guiding her as she rode his cock.

  This time it was her who controlled the rhythm. She rocked against him, slamming her hips down, taking more and more with each plunge. Kien called out her name on moans. His body shook as he held her. She didn’t worry that he would drop her, she trusted him inexplicitly. She needed him to fill the deepest part of her.

  Her breath came out in gasps. She couldn’t breathe properly. Was she even breathing? She didn’t know and didn’t care. She liked this.

  No.

  She loved this.

  KIEN WAS IN TROUBLE. Deep. Deep. Trouble. How many times had he admitted that to himself during this trip alone? Numerous times.

  But that was an issue for another time. He wouldn’t let anything take him away from this glorious feeling of Nisha’s pussy clenched around his cock. Not even the walk back to his cabin.

  Kien walked the halls, laughing at the sight they must’ve made. Naked as the day they were born. Nisha lifted her hips up and down his cock while he strained to get them to his room. Every few paces, when he couldn’t take anymore, he pressed her back against a random wall, pinning her there as he rammed into her seeping entrance.

  Each of those times, Nisha threw her head back and yelled out his name, her pussy convulsing and dripping over him. It was by the grace of the Ancients that they’d made it without him spilling his seed deep inside her and falling to the floor.

  In his room, he finally laid her on his bed. It was too small for them but that didn’t matter. He settled on top of her, raking his gaze to her perfect breasts, watching her chest heave up and down. Homing in on her nipples that begged to be sucked.

  “You feel so good,” she whispered.

  Kien tore his gaze from those pretty breasts to watch her.

  Nisha was perfect. Beautiful.

  He brushed his thumb across her red and swollen lips. She parted them, pulling his thumb into her mouth to suck it.

  “What am I going to do with you?” The question was a genuine one. He’d never craved someone as much as he craved her. His mind was addled when it came to her. She made him react in such a way that both scared and excited him.

  She clasped his hand, guiding it to her neck. There, her small fingers were on top of his, making him mimic her movement until his hand held her neck firmly. Nisha moan and tilted her head back. Her pussy clenched around him.

  He. Liked. This.

  Kien tightened his fingers ever so slightly. Nisha arched against him as she grabbed for his arms.

  “Kien.”

  Any control Kien held onto was a sliver at best. At hearing Nisha moan out his name and a gush of wetness from her pussy, he lost that last sliver. There was nothing holding him back. Kien plunged. And plunged. And plunged.

  Nisha’s nails dug into his arms. Her legs tightened around his waist. Her yells reverberated off the walls. And Kien kept plunging. Even when her pussy erupted and wetness gushed from her and splashed between their slapping bodies, he plunged.

  Her eyes rolled up. “Please,” she begged.

  Kien ground his hips against her. “Please, what?”

  Her nails breached his skin. Wonderful pain fired where she dug. “Fuck me.”

  Kien did as he was told. He pulled back to sink into her again—and again. He did it over and over until she thrashed and bucked against him.

  Kien’s own pleasure was building within his core. Each thrust pushed him closer to the edge. When yet another gush from her washed over his cock, Kien knew his own orgasm was impending. He pulled himself from her against her cries. Her objections died when she noticed his descent. He pushed her legs apart, giving him full access to her pussy. This time, when he plunged deep, it was with his tongue.

  Kien lost all sense of what Nisha did or what she said. His only thought was tasting her pussy. This is what the afterworld would feel like, he decided, if there was such a thing.

  Nisha bucked against his face, pushing him deeper against her. Kien didn’t take his time. He licked and sucked, everywhere.

  “Kien! I’m coming again!”

  His world exploded around him. He didn’t have time to brace as intense pleasure overpowered him. Bright lights flashed in his head. He died and came back to life as convulsions wracked every muscle in his body.

  Chapter Twelve

  Kien watched Nisha as she slept. Her breaths came out low and shallow. Sometimes her eyeballs moved rapidly from side to side behind her lids. Her mouth was parted halfway, and air made a whistling sound on every exhale. Even with her curls framing her face in a mess, she was perfection and he wanted to memorize every little nuance about this moment.

  Kien placed a finger on the tip of her nose and followed her bridge up the slope and to the point between her eyebrows to massage the wrinkle there. She relaxed under his touch, and he smiled to himself.