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Daisy settled next to him and worked on the rest of Rexx’s injuries until the pain on his face faded.

He finally waved her away. “Thanks. I’ll live.”

“I haven’t finished.”

“Sort the ship first. I’m not going anywhere.”

He was always so stubborn, but he had a point. Smoke was coming out of the controls, and the alarms still bleeped.

Daisy spent the next twenty minutes powering down the systems so the engines would cool and checking the alarms to make sure nothing critical was about to blow.

She blew out a breath. “We’re good. And we’re close to a tree line. With luck, if whoever was shooting at us is still interested, they’ll pass straight by and won’t see us.” She sat on the floor next to him. “Let me finish fixing you up.”

Daisy cut through the torn uniform. It slid off Rexx’s torso and bunched at his waist.

He was a hard canvas of delicious muscle. There was barely an ounce of fat on his abs, which were covered with old scars. A dark purple streak marred one side of his chest.

Daisy kneeled beside him and gently felt around for the injury.

Rexx flinched under her touch but didn’t say anything.

“You can curse at me if I hurt you,” she said.

“The pain’s not the issue. It’s your touch.”

“What do you mean?”

His eyes were closed, beads of sweat on his forehead. “When someone touches me, I feel it down to my bones. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

Daisy tilted her head and eased her fingers off his skin. “Not really. You don’t like to be touched?”

“Only by you. Your touch feels like fire.”

“That’s sounds horrible. I burn you?”

“It’s not the same as a naked flame. It shocked the hell out of me the first time we made contact. No one else’s touch feels like that.”

“Oh!” She had no clue what to say. “Is that why you had this uniform designed? I figured you wore it because it made you look like such a hard ass.”

He gave a low laugh and then winced. “It’s partly that. It makes it easier to work around others when I can avoid physical contact with them.”

“What about other Apexians?” She unpeeled three healing plasters and attached them over the bruising on his chest.

“It’s different with them. I still feel them when they touch me, but when I’m sparring with Striker, it’s different. It’s bearable.”

“But not when a Human touches you?” Daisy’s heart sank. She hadn’t realized she caused Rexx pain every time they made contact. And she liked to touch. She was a bit of a hugger. And she liked to touch Rexx most of all.

“Humans, other aliens, anyone other than an Apexian. It’s different with you.” He shivered under her touch as she gently eased the plasters flat.

“Why is it different with me?”

“I don’t know. It just is.”

“Because we’ve exchanged energy a couple of times? That makes us bond. Is that it?”

“It could be. And technically, it makes you part Apexian since we’ve swapped blood.”

“Huh! I’d never thought of it like that. Does that mean you’re also part Human?”