Page 36 of C is for Captive

“Apparently.”

She smiled and kissed the corner of his mouth, wiggling closer to that very interesting erection. His hand slid up from her hip and his thumb brushed the sensitive underside of her breast. Her nipples stiffened so much they ached and instead of freezing, she arched into him.

“That is a different kind of data,” he said solemnly, and she’d never known she could be so aroused and so amused at the same time.

She reached for him, but just as her fingers brushed his erection, her stomach growled. His attention immediately focused on her stomach.

“You need food.”

“I know what I need, and it’s not food.”

But he was already moving. She groaned as he unfolded himself from the bunk, taking all that lovely warmth with him. “You know, most males would be offended if a woman’s stomach interrupted this.”

He looked back at her.

“Most males are idiots.”

She couldn’t really argue with that.

Breakfast was considerably better than usual, because she cooked it. He attempted to help. She eventually assigned him the task of opening containers because there was only so much assistance one small galley could survive.

He was finishing his third portion when she carried her cup into the cockpit and found the navigation display alive with columns of symbols she couldn’t read.

“Is it supposed to be doing this?” she called.

“Yes.”

He followed her in carrying the bowl, which looked absurdly small in his hand.

“You said I could look for the coordinates when I’d stopped bleeding.”

She glanced pointedly at the bandage around his forearm.

“It stopped.”

“That is a very creative interpretation of my instructions.”

He sat in the pilot’s chair without responding, but she decided he really was healing well enough. She leaned against the console beside him and watched as he moved through screen after screen. Krebb apparently hadn’t believed in deleting anything. There were cargo manifests, payment records, docking authorizations, lists of names and numbers, and endless strings of places Amy had never heard of.

He read them all. He didn’t skim. He absorbed. Minutes passed, and she finished her drink.

“Anything?”

“No.”

Another screen disappeared.

“Anything?”

“No.”

“You know, saying more words doesn’t actually use them up.”

His silver eyes flicked towards her, and she gave him an innocent smile. He returned his attention to the display.

“Raskor. Cargo transfer. Drellis Station. Payment record. Orthan—” His fingers moved. “Valkesh.”

He stopped and turned his head towards her. Her eyes widened as they looked at each other. The cockpit went very quiet.