Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Playing medic
Garrison
WHAT THE fuck just happened?
There was no denying the sexual tension—that was, until she realised she was on top of a human and snarled her displeasure.
I paced back to the cargo bay, cross with myself for even thinking something might have happened.
But, damn, if the feel of her on top of me hadn’t been the most erotic thing I’d experienced in a very long time.
The way she sniffed me, like I was a breath of fresh air—or a snack.
The way she looked at me. Her potent, spicy scent, like ginger, cardamom, and something perfectly, indescribably alien.
In that moment, it had all blended into something I’d wanted to taste more than anything.
But that snarl. Maybe she’d hit her head and it had just taken her a few seconds to come to her senses, but damn. I wouldn’t mind hearing her snarl like that while I’m deep inside her.
What had gotten into me?
My dick bucked in my trousers, and I thanked fuck for the pile of blankets to hide my very obvious erection as I walked back to the others.
Nobody appeared to be hurt. Cargo blankets had been spread out on a section of floor near the harness tie-down points, and everyone must have held on through the ship’s rolling and jerking.
Though nobody was nursing an injured limb or rubbing their head, it didn’t stop me making sure, starting with Zerena. “Is your arm okay?”
“I’m fine, Garrison. We all are. What happened to you?”
She gestured at my forearm in front of the pile of blankets. Turning, I put them down, and sure enough, a red bruise spanned from elbow to wrist.
“Fell over in the corridor,” I said. Then, without meaning to, I added, “Damn captain fell on top of me.”
“Oh?” Zerena said, raising an eyebrow.
“Not like that.” Nearly like that.
“Well, better you than any of us. We’d have come out with more than bruises.”
True. But they wouldn’t have come away with uneasy feelings and a touch of disappointment.
Some of the bolsters were already inflated, and I passed the blankets round.
“Looks like us two won’t need a bed, anyway,” one of the scientists said, and I remembered they were getting dropped off at the science place later today.
“Lucky you,” Roth said. “This isn’t the most hospitable transport.”
Irritation bubbled up, and with it, the need to defend the prickly captain.
“Hey, you picked it. And she’s given us all this, at least. She’s not a transport vessel.
I don’t think she normally transports people.
” I took a breath, realising I’d gotten somewhat heated.
“There’s a convi down the next corridor we can use. And she’ll sort water and food soon.”
And I really wanted some privacy so I could stroke my dick to the thought of an intriguing, strangely attractive alien holding me down.
I’d never had this kind of urge before, alien or no.
Being the size I was, nobody had ever thought about taking control over me in bed, including myself, and that had been fine.
More than fine. But these new, unbridled thoughts…
Maybe Ellie had rubbed off on me a bit because there was a certain appeal to trying something new, in more ways than one.
I’d joked with her about the size of my dick, knowing I had nothing to worry about.
But what if I did? With an alien partner, what if I didn’t measure up? Kri’ith were big.
Damn. This was one insecurity I’d never had, but apparently all it took to change that was travelling several thousand light years and adding one disturbingly sexy alien.
I shrugged it off. No point losing my self-confidence for a hypothetical situation that wasn’t going to happen. Her disgusted snarl alone had shown me that. And, even if it did, our bodies had so many differences, what was one more?
By the time I got back to the storage corridor, I was smiling. I’d gone from swearing off even talking to kri’ith to fantasising about one in the space of a day; the irony wasn’t lost on me.
Of course, Shohari was there, leaning against a bulkhead as if that was a normal thing for a captain to do in working hours.
What were a captain’s working hours, anyway? And what did she do between stops? “Just here to tidy up, Captain.”
“Just here to make sure you do.”
Fuck. She was looking at me that way again, all intense, glittering eyes, as though she was a predator, and I was prey.
I wasn’t sure rugged was an adjective anyone ever used for an attractive woman, but that’s what Shohari was. Rugged yet elegant, if that was even a thing. Now I was getting used to the broad ear ridges, I could appreciate the way hers curved inwards, drawing attention to her sharp jaw.
And fuck me if my dick didn’t start to get hard again. I wished I’d worn a galactic tunic because at least that would have covered me somewhat, but no, Garrison had to stick to the human clothes today. Knobhead.
I kept my back to her as I folded and tidied away the mess of things that had fallen out in the turbulence. I could get this done, head back to the others, and try to get comfy in the cargo bay. No awkward urges or erections in sight.
“I insist you come to the medbay.” Her tone was all smoky. “I need to make sure you’re not hurt.”
“Honestly, I’m fine. Thank you, Captain, but I’m okay.” When I looked over my shoulder, she threw me a cold glare.
“I am not used to being disobeyed. This might be a small ship, but it’s my ship, and I’m the captain. And if one of my crew or cargo needs the medbay, they skykking go.” A growl rumbled in her chest. “Move, cargo.”
Holy fuck.
My dick was an iron bar in my too-tight trousers. I had never, ever wanted to be spoken to like that, but apparently it was never too late to find new kinks. I was almost tempted to comm Ellie just so she could laugh at me and tell me I finally got it.
“Lead on, Captain,” I managed, adjusting myself as I walked behind her, pinning the head of my cock under my waistband. A finger came away wet, and I wiped it on my boxers, shaking my head. Clearly, my body just needed to get laid.
It was a small ship but well-appointed, and I was impressed by the medbay—and by Shohari.
When she barked at me to sit, I lowered myself to the padded bench in the centre of the room.
She surprised me by saying, “I will need to touch you. Is that acceptable?” Her manner was all business, but her amethyst eyes still held a faint glitter.
I couldn’t help but say, “I’d like that, Captain.”
She snorted, and it was kind of adorable. “I am just checking you over for injuries, human.”
“I know.” I relaxed, focusing on my breathing as she inspected me with an efficient and gentle manner.
As she pressed the bruise on my arm, I winced.
“What is this?” she asked, voice sharp. “Your skin has a new colour.”
“It’s just a bruise. Minor bleeding under the skin. It’s not a big deal.”
“You are in pain.”
“It’s nothing.” I hovered my hand over the back of hers. “May I?”
She sucked in a breath and tilted her head to one side.
I mimicked the gesture. “This head tilt means yes, does it?”
As if frustrated to have to say it out loud, she jerked her head to the side again. “Yes.”
I resisted the temptation to tease. “If a human nods their head”—I demonstrated—“it means the same thing.”
I pressed the back of her hand, noting the streaks of darker violet there, the pattern echoing up her forearms, and stroked before trying to pinch it between my thumb and finger. “Your skin is much thicker than ours.” And so touchable, much softer than it looked.
I forced myself to let go as my dick stirred again, willing my body back under control, thinking of the gruesome injuries I’d seen, of being interrogated by the Galactic Reserve, anything to avoid an obvious, awkward boner.
“I guess it takes a lot more for your skin to damage than ours,” I said. “I promise, this is a mean-looking bruise, but it’s no cause for concern.”
She didn’t look convinced.
I flashed her the smile she seemed to like, the one that had become so easy to give her. “I’ve got medic training, so I’m qualified to say that.”
“You are a medic? I thought you were an engineer?”
I shouldn’t have flushed with happiness that she remembered, but I did. “I can do both. I’m primarily an engineer, but it comes with risks, so we’re all encouraged to do the medic training, too.”
“Huh. Muzati is our medic as well as engineer.”
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “Is that so? Then why isn’t she here checking me over?”
The flowing spines on her head jerked and twitched, but I tried not to stare even though I found them fascinating. They seemed to respond erratically to her mood, and I’d have loved to understand the nuances. Did she like them being stroked, like hair?
“Because I was here. And she is busy.”
“And you’re not? Surely captains have important business to attend to.”
She straightened, posture stiff. “Ensuring the wellbeing of my cargo is my business. Let me check here.” She placed gentle hands on my chest, and I couldn’t help but tense my pectorals, tense any muscle she touched, needing her to know how substantial I was, sensing that kri’ith might value or appreciate that.
Maybe I was a little vain, but I hoped she would like what she touched, even though she only used perfunctory prods and presses to check for anything amiss.
“Now your legs.” She crouched down in a fluid movement belying her size, grasping one of my calves and making her way up with sure fingers, stopping at the knee before switching to the other leg. “Nothing hurts? Move your leg up and down.”
“Shohari, I’m fine. You know I’m fine.”
She looked up, and it wouldn’t have taken much for her mouth to be level with my dick. Her teeth weren’t that sharp, were they?
Sat like this, there’d be no way to hide a reaction, and I dug my nails into my palm. “Swap places, its your turn.”
She rocked on her heels and stood, towering over me. “What do you mean?”
“I’m as much of a medic as you are. You fell. If I need checking over, so do you.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“You’re not saying no.”
“Fine.” She jerked an officious hand upwards. “Up.”
Was it me, or was her chest rising and falling faster than before? She sat.
“Your arms took the brunt of the fall,” I said. “Can I touch you?”
She paused for a second. “You took the brunt of my fall. Yes.”
I took one of her hands in mine. Four fingers and one thumb, same as us, though her fingers were longer, as were her nails—thicker and more pointed, somewhere between sharp nails and claws.
Her arms and hands were that dusky violet shade, but her nails picked up the apricot colour of her chest, as if she was wearing permanent nail varnish.
Her knuckles were more pronounced, rising into the beginnings of what could have been the same protrusions as the spines on her elbows, and the backs of her hands bore hard, ridged lines.
Our hands were about the same size, and I couldn’t stop an image of her hand round my dick appearing in my mind’s eye.
Fuck.
Concentrate, Garrison. You’re a medic. She might be injured. I ignored the voice telling me we both knew she wasn’t. “Move your fingers for me.”
She eyed me with keen amusement as she did what I asked.
I flexed her wrist, moving her hand gently up and down. “Any pain?”
Her eyebrow ridges seemed to function similar to eyebrows, and she raised them, her tone dry. “No.”
“Any pain or weakness in your muscles?”
“No.”
“Let’s test.” I placed my forearm against the inside of her bicep. “Arm out to the side.”
She complied with an indulgent quirk of her lips.
“Now, try and push your arm back in.” I braced myself, trying to hold her in place, and the mood shifted.
Determination gleamed in her eyes, and I may have underestimated her, straining my entire bodyweight behind me as she used all she had to move my arm. It was a deadlock but only because I had positional advantage.
My blood thrummed with the challenge. I’d have hated for her to lose face though, so I eased my arm off and away. “Nothing seems wrong with your muscles, Captain. Good.”
Shohari stared at my arm as if she wanted to eat it or grab it, then trailed her gaze up to my eyes. As she rose to standing, our faces came level with each other.
For a second, I thought I could kiss her.
After another second, I thought she might let me.
I only realised I’d started leaning in when the sharp trill of her comm broke us apart.
“Captain, you have a live comm from Orith.”
Her whole body tensed. Her face locked into an unreadable mask, and the usually animated spines on her head collapsed, lying flat and lifeless.
The finer details of kri’ith body language still eluded me, but if I had to guess, I’d have said she looked broken. Something twisted in my gut, and my arms twitched, wanting nothing more than to comfort her or attack whatever or whoever had caused this.
Which was ridiculous.
Regardless, she’d already responded to the pilot, so I just stared at her back as she marched away.