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He rolled us over in one smooth, almost acrobatic movement while keeping me filled and let his wings drape across the bunk beneath us.

In the soft starlight that streamed through the window, he watched me ride him, his hot hands on my thighs and my hips as if to guide me. I moved faster and he met me halfway, using the leverage of his feet on the bed to drive himself deeper and harder as I braced myself on his chest. Our cries echoed in my cabin.

He threw his head back, his fingers tightening on my hips until I knew I’d have bruises, and rasped, “Gen.”

The sound of my name said like a prayer and the feeling of this beautiful man lost in pleasure beneath me sent me over the edge with a wail. I collapsed on his chest, lost in bliss. But he wasn’t ready to let me rest. Instead, he changed our position once more, curling up behind me and hooking my leg over his arm so he could thrust gently.

“Watch,” he said, his dark eyes meeting mine before he looked at where our bodies were joined. “Watch how well you take me, my beautiful Gen.”

My beautiful Gen. I had never been anyone’s Gen. Strange that I didn’t mind when he’d called me his.

I watched as he’d asked me to until he found the angle that made my head fall back against his chest, and then I saw nothing but a haze of stars until I came once more, softly this time, wrapped his arms.

Kerian pressed his lips to my ear. “Are you warm enough now?”

“Almost.” I ground against him a few times, enjoying how he groaned each time I slid up and down his length, and then slipped free to lie on my back, my knees open in an invitation he immediately accepted.

The stars streaking by the window reflected in his dark eyes as he moved above me. Maybe it was that soft starlight that made me murmur, “Tell me what you want.”

He kissed my forehead and drew back to look directly into my eyes. “I want to come inside you. It is safe for me to do so. I am without disease, and I am voluntarily sterile.”

“I am too.” I cupped his face with my hand and whimpered when he did something magical with his hips. “You may come inside me, but only when I say you may.”

His smile told me he liked what I’d said. I’d suspected he would.

He bent to kiss my jaw and increased his pace once more. “Beautiful Gen,” he murmured against my lips. “Captain of theNebula. Tell me when I may come.”

For a long time I made him thrust harder and faster, until he’d gone wild with need and almost feverish with the effort of holding back. He called my name again and again in a litany that was part plea and part exultation.

I came apart one final time with a soft cry, my fingernails digging into his shoulders as he watched from above. “Now,” I gasped.

He threw his head back with a groan, his beautiful body wracked with shudders from his antennae to his feet as he finally allowed himself to come. The heat of his release filled me in waves, one after another, until he was spent.

He lowered himself to cover my body once more with his own, but with most of his weight on his elbows and knees.

“Pin me down,” I whispered. “The way you did in the cargo hold.”

His startled expression and sudden smile made me think my words resonated with him in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Maybe he’d been drawn to me even then.

“Yes,” he rasped, and put his body on mine with his face nestled into the pillow beside my head.

With his muscular torso pressed against mine, I felt his hearts pounding and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Finally, I was wonderfully, wonderfully warm.

Beneath me, the familiar hum ofNebula’s engine comforted me through my bunk. For years, that thrumming had soothed me all the way to my bones.

Now the sensation was a reminder that my ship was now four days from docking at Ymar II, and then I’d have arrange forNebulato be towed to the nearest drydock shipyard for repairs. Meanwhile, Kerian would depart on his search for how and why he’d ended up in my cargo hold.

I hoped repairs would be possible and I could find a way to finance them. With Kerian gone, I would have to face that hurdle on my own, coldly and efficiently, along with all the obstacles that would come after.

At least I was warm for now. That would have to do.

chaptersix

kerian

For four more days,I kept Gen warm.

When the cabin’s climate system began malfunctioning two days from Ymar II, my body heat became a matter of not only comfort and pleasure for her, but also survival.