12
"Then you may have me," Bahran said.
He placed his large hand on her back.The sensation almost could have burned her.In all the good ways, of course.
"Now that, sir, is a loaded comment."Caoimhe raised her eyebrow to him to see if he returned the flirt.The attraction.
Because she had certainly become overwhelmed with desire for her captor.Especially seeing him working like that.
His body radiated heat, especially from his middle.She didn't dare look to see if his shorts had shifted, but she knew something was there.
"It is.However you need to take it," he said.His white eyes sparkled with something.Maybe it was the tiny bit of a smile on his lips--but it was there.A bit of play, of attraction in his tone.
She almost wanted to dance in relief that he felt it too.
The words hung in the air, echoing off the metal walls that surrounded them in the huge chamber.Like the room didn't want her to forget what he'd said and what he meant.
Not that she could or want to.If anything, this attraction to Bahran fueled her desire to get everything together and bring this war to an end and save some prisoners together.
Nothing about this was what she had expected.The mission, the plan, him...
Even this world was not what she envisioned.She had expected, well, the Terran palace.Or at least a reasonable facsimile on one of the Sol moons.Similar to where they had been before when her mother died.
That is not what the Rhimodians wanted to do.
Instead, they wanted them on Sol-3.This world of volcanoes and ash.The smell of the sulfur in the air outside tainted everything, and while there was climate control inside this safe house or bunker or whatever it was, it remained warm from the volcanoes.Or maybe that was the thick atmosphere.
Regardless, it was not what she remembered from the first visit with her mother.
She patted her forehead and felt sweat.She hoped she only glistened from it and nothing more.There were not a lot of mirrors around to check out her appearance.
His skin had a sheen of sweat, making the already defined muscles even more carved.So close to her, she could smell him, the way his natural musk made all her insides just hum.
But honestly, her initial desire to find Bahran was to get a status update.She certainly felt well-rested, so she guessed she slept for a few hours.The noises of him working led her back to the main chamber where the other, older vessels had been.
She had not, however, expected to be so drawn to him.Had the nanotech he had given her somehow affected her attraction to him?She could claim it if she truly wanted to, but the attraction was there before when she met him on Disguised Serenity.
The fact that it resurfaced now should have been expected and anticipated.
The clatters of metal echoed.
She needed to focus on why she was there.Her sister and the rest of her party.The status of the Terran Military that was in the stars--what happened there?Were they under siege?Her mind raced in a thousand directions about the mission and the peace talks.
That was the right thing to be thinking about.
Not the intensely growing attraction to Bahran.It did not help that he was practically naked before her as he worked on something inside his fighter that he must have moved into the chamber while she slept.He wore a simple pair of tight shorts that covered his assets.Well, she couldn't see his skin, but his physical attributes were certainly visible.The clothing was as tight as skin, defining the lines of his muscles and his rear end.
His rather beautiful rear end.
Caoimhe had always considered herself fairly reasonable and in control of her faculties.Not usually one to be controlled by her passions--at least not in physical desires, anyway.Crushes were something that was not encouraged.After all, whoever she bound herself to had to have some sort of value to the Terran Empire.If she was lucky enough to be attracted to him too?Well, that was merely a bonus.
Personal preference was not part of the requirements.
It almost seemed like a sign of someone that she could not be with--to be attracted to them.Her desires for Bahran had to come from the lack of ability to be with him.
One always wanted what they cannot have.
Caoimhe was no exception to that.
