Chapter 9
Ontarii was frantically trying to catch his breath without letting his companion know how shook up he was.
The female had almost fallen to her death, and if he hadn’t caught her, he’d be left alone in the cursed engine room with no idea how to get back to the bridge, let alone explain to her crew what had happened.
But worse than that, he would have had to watch the female be sliced apart by the wicked metal frames below them. Although she annoyed and frustrated him, and although they’d only known each other for less than an hour, the thought of watching the human female’s death was more unsettling than he could have predicted possible.
What was it about her that got under his skin? He wasn’t sure, but regardless, he wanted her alive and with him for the moment. He never would have thought that he would have found a human woman attractive, but something about Captain Brooklyn made his blood run hot. At first he’d thought it was anger. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“You’ve gone red.”
He blinked at her statement. “What?”
“Your skin.” She pointed to his arm. “It’s red.”
Ontarii looked down to where she was pointing. She was right. He’d turned a deep maroon color due to his anxiety.
“Never mind that right now. We need to get out of this chamber and back to the bridge.”
She nodded, then carefully turned herself and slid along the wall to the ventilation panel. Slowly removing the panel, she set it aside on the ledge and then climbed into the hole it revealed.
The opening was small, and Ontarii had to delicately maneuver himself into the gap. Once inside, there was very little room to move.
In front of him, the human captain was already crawling forward on her hands and knees. This afforded Ontarii with a prime view of her rounded bottom. He wasn’t expecting the reaction it invoked. A tendril of pleasure shot through his body and forced him to arousal.
You’re being ridiculous. This shit is dangerous and you’re a moment away from the chance of death, and all you can think about is the human female’s body. Focus!
He chalked his unexpected lust up to the adrenaline caused by her near-death experience. The major had seen many humans, in holographic form, and his body had never had a reaction like this one. He forced himself to shrug it off.
Ontarii started forward again, almost having to squeeze himself through the narrow confines of the ventilation shaft.
“It gets really tight at this juncture here,” she said, pushing around the corner.
Ontarii took a deep breath. He started bending, trying to shift his broad shoulders around the corner. It seemed to be working, or maybe not.
He was stuck, half his body around the curve, the other half trapped behind him.
“Wait,” he called to the captain who was already several feet down the shaft. “I’m stuck.”
She carefully maneuvered her body to turn around and headed back to him. She was very flexible, and the realization didn’t help the swelling that was currently taking place under his uniform.
“Can you move at all?” she asked, inspecting his position in the shaft.
Ontarii attempted to push himself forward, then backwards. Nothing happened. “No.”
“Well, I don’t have anything to grease you down with to make it easier,” she said, biting her lip as she studied the situation.
Her words, combined with the way she chewed her lip, made his heart beat harder in his chest. When she moved closer to try and tug on his left shoulder to free it, he had to force his breathing to settle.
Where she touched him, electric shivers pulsed through him at the contact.
“You’re wedged in there good,” she said, licking her lips in concentration.
“Stop licking your damn lips, female,” he growled and narrowed his eyes at her.
“What?” She locked onto his gaze with confusion in her eyes. “Stop bitching at me about my habits or get yourself unstuck.”
He ignored her and concentrated on not groaning at the sight of her pretty pink tongue. Why the hint of her little tongue seemed so erotic was beyond him, but the dull ache inside of him and the full erection between his thighs was proof of her power.
