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“Huh. We’re like a weird, sexy ménage à trois. The Chorus connected us because she knew it would work.”
“I’m unsure how she was so certain, but she is. And human neural architecture isn’t built for Kelvane bonding, so this is new for all of us.”
“I’m... not hating it. I could get used to there being an us. A weird threesome us.” I looked into his certain gaze. He was so sure this was right. So was the ship. Could I be too? “Maybe we could try.”
Rennick closed his eyes. The fear was there through the bond, but also relief. The desperate, illogical hope of someone who’d decided what he wanted, but he needed the other person to want it too.
“I’m scared, too,” I whispered. “I fuck things up. I’ve screwed up every situationship I’ve ever been in.”
His eyes opened. Fierce devotion and a certainty that this would work looked back at me. “I’m yours. Accept me or don’t, but for me, there will only ever be you.”
Fuck! That was intense. “I built my entire life around being able to walk away.”
“That’s your choice.”
“And if I walk from this?”
“I will deal with it.”
“Just like that?”
He nodded. “You choose. I don’t. I know I want you more than my next breath. If you don’t want me, I will find a way through.”
“That sounds painful.”
His gaze drifted to my mouth, but he said nothing.
“I... can’t walk away from this. And I don’t want to.” My heart should have raced and my palms gone clammy at the thought of one guy forever. But nothing so much as pinged a WTF are you doing alert to my fight or flight response. Rennick was right. This felt perfect.
He pulled me down, kissed my forehead, and held his mouth there. “I’m not asking you to be something you’re not,” he said against my skin. “I’m asking you to be with me. I only want you.”
“On the ship?”
“Whatever you want. With me. On the ship. In this bed. Wherever you want to be, as long as I’m there with you.” Rennick pulled back enough to meet my eyes. “We figure the rest out as we go. The bond, the ship, what your body can handle, what mine can give. We do it together.”
“Together is a big word for someone who doesn’t do relationships.”
“Then don’t call it a relationship. Call it a neural entanglement with benefits. Fucking amazing benefits. For life. This bond means I’m totally, completely yours. I only desire you.”
I bit my lip against the grin. “Neural entanglement? That’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“You liked it.”
I kissed him, soft and slow. “Say it again.”
“Neural entanglement with a lifetime of benefits.”
“Disgusting.” I kissed him deeper. His arms came around me, the bond hummed warm between us, and the Hollow Chorus made a sound that was a lot like joyful laughter.
“We’ll need to tell my crew,” I said against his mouth. “I need the green light to have you hanging out with us. I’m not leaving the work I love or the family I’ve built right here.”
“They already know I’m fucking lost to you. And they secretly like me.”
I sighed. “Monica will be insufferable. Tambi will just... maybe quirk an eyebrow. Doc will want to run scans to ensure I don’t have a head injury.”
“You do.”
“It’s not influencing my decision to be with you. Just so we’re clear.” I rolled my hips, and Rennick’s cock stiffened inside me.
