Page 98 of Tempting Cargo

His answering kiss was featherlight. “Let me take you to bed, sweetheart.”

We moved for the door, not wanting to let each other go, but stopped at a soft howl from across the room.

Muzati thumped her chest. “Sorry,” she said, her voice overly bright. “That wasn’t me. Must have been Coerril. Who knew ydouir make that sound too?”

“Be quiet. You are ridiculous.” The winged female turned from Muzati to us. “Go. I will look after this ridiculous one.” She put one arm around Muzati’s narrow shoulders, her tail coiling round her calf.

The light above them flickered, and I tipped my eyes to the gods. “Don’t get so excited you break my ship, ydouir.”

She flashed me a sharp smile. “Your ship? What about your engineer?”

“She can look after herself. Do your worst. But if you have to stay in here, put a blanket on my sofa, for the love of the gods.”

Their giggles followed us out of the galley.

IN OUR BERTH, Garrison took my hands in his. “Comnica, dim the light.”

When had Muzati patched him in as crew?

He guided me to the bed, sat me down on the edge. Sat down next to me. Took a deep breath. “I know your reasons forkeeping me at arm’s length, and the last thing I want is for you to be in that impossible position. But all I see is you digging yourself a deeper hole, and I can’t watch you do that anymore.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he ploughed on. “I don’t plan on dying tomorrow. But I might, and I don’t want to never tell you this, and”—he gulped—“one day can’t make a difference. I hope.” His eyes shimmered with moisture. “You need to know how amazing and beautiful you are, Sho. And if anything I do is going to help you get through this, it’s not me keeping my distance.”

My mouth hung open. My Garrison was back with all of the force he’d swept into my life with. I should have been terrified, but there was only exhilaration thrumming through every fibre of my being. “Tell me what?”

He stroked my cheek, dark eyes holding me in their thrall. “Shohari, I’m in love with you.”

I couldn’t breathe.

His intensity dissolved into a smile. His shoulders relaxed, and he traced my cheek with a thumb. “God, it feels good to say it. You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know.”

I stalled. My brain rebooted. But I didn’t need my brain to tell me how to interpret the warmth in my chest, my belly. In my bones.

My lips told him things they couldn’t say with words. My tongue tangled with his, and my heart broke for all the kisses we could have had until I was swept away, and all I could taste was Garrison.

We broke apart, panting.

“We’re going to win, sweetheart,” he murmured against my lips. “We’re going to get your brother out of there.”

I believed him. “Stay with Coerril,” I said.

Gods, that came out wrong.

I gulped a breath. “I can’t ask you to risk yourself for me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

His calm, understanding gaze didn’t waver. “And what is my love worth if I’m not prepared to die for you?”

A growl rumbled up from deep in my bones, and I threw him to the bed.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Seeking leave to land

Garrison

THE BLUE-YELLOW planetOrith loomed in the bridge window, but I only had eyes for Shohari. I tried not to stare at her traditional clothes, but I was only human.

Her dress was a feat of engineering from neck to floor. Two layers of fabric cinched under her breasts, a deep, rich blue veiled by an iridescent polymer. They strained across her breasts, though a delicate chain spanned her ridgetips, from which a lacy gauze fell, obscuring her cleavage.