Chapter 16
Priya, Private Quarters, Moon Base Arturri
The medics kept Vesh for two days. He complained for forty-eight hours straight.
“My arm is healing.”
“Your arm is broken.”
“The regeneration brace has fused the bone.”
“The doctor said another six hours.”
“The doctor is overly cautious.”
“You flew an unarmed ship straight into twelve Scythe interceptors. Your ability to reason has obviously been compromised.”
Vesh glared at me from the medbay bed. I smiled. He was alive. He could glare for the rest of our lives and I would probably enjoy it. When the doctor finally released him, we went home to our quarters. The door between our rooms stood open. Vesh looked at it, then at me. “We should remove that.”
“The door?”
“Yes.”
“Seems dramatic.”
“Do you wish to close it?”
“Never again.”
“Then it is unnecessary.”
I walked into his room and sat on the edge of his bed. “You're so romantic.”
He stopped in front of me. One arm remained locked inside the regeneration brace. Burns along his ribs had been sealed beneath a layer of medical mesh. The rest of him looked very healthy. I let my gaze travel down his body. Vesh noticed.
“Medical inspection?” he asked.
“A very thorough inspection.”
“Do I meet your specifications?”
“Mostly.” My gaze lingered on the bulge in his pants.
“We have had this conversation.” He was smiling. I'd take that as a win.
“Your attitude still needs work.”
“You love my attitude.”
“I tolerate it because I like your ass.”
He laughed. Not the rough, surprised sound from the sim bay. A real laugh. Easy. Happy. I wanted to hear it every day. Vesh stepped between my knees and put his good hand beneath my chin. His expression changed. “Priya.”
“Don’t. We’re not going to argue about whether I should’ve come back for you.
” I would fight to my last breath on this one.
I'd already heard all the bullshit about all the rules the Earth girls had broken from a very disgruntled Captain Wroxxon while Vesh had been locked up in medical.
The guy wasn't wrong, but he was still an asshole.
And if he didn't stop calling me, Jamie, Mia and Lily 'the Earth girls', we were going to have more than words.
“No.” His thumb moved over my cheek. “I was going to say thank you.”
My throat tightened. “You’re welcome.”
“And I'm sorry.”
“You said that already.”
“I will keep saying it until you actually forgive me.”
“Then promise you'll never do something that stupid ever again.”
His eyes darkened. He would never make that promise. I knew it. I even understood. Didn't mean I had to like the idea.
I stood, put both hands on his chest, and pushed. Vesh sat on the bed. "Sit."
“Are you trying to give me orders in my own quarters?"
“Our quarters.” I opened the front of my uniform. His gaze dropped to my exposed cleavage.
“Better.”
“Need help taking off the rest?” I asked.
Vesh pulled me between his knees and opened my uniform with his good hand. His mouth followed, kissing the skin he uncovered. He took his time. When my breasts were bare, he closed his lips over one nipple and cupped the other with his hand. I gripped his shoulders.
“Careful,” he said against me.
“You’re the injured one.”
“Your ribs are still bruised.”
“Not enough to stop.”
“You said that before.”
“It was true then, too.”
He bit my nipple gently. My knees weakened as Vesh dragged me onto his lap. I straddled his hips and moaned as the hard length of him pressed between my legs. I rocked against him once. Twice. His good hand closed around my hip and locked me in place.
I kissed him. His mouth took mine while his hand pushed beneath my uniform and between my thighs. One thick finger slid inside me. I moaned into the kiss.
“Already wet,” he said.
“I’ve been watching you argue with doctors for two days.”
“That aroused you?”
“No. The medical gown did. Open in the back. Very flattering.”
He chuckled as he added a second finger and curled them.
I forgot all about his very nice ass. Vesh knew my body now.
The bond fed him every response, but he didn’t rely on it.
He watched my face. Listened to my breathing.
Learned what made my hips move and repeated it until I was clutching his shoulders and begging.
He slowed just enough to make me feel every deliberate motion, then changed the pressure again when my breath caught.
The man was infuriatingly good at this. Better still, he looked wrecked by the effect he had on me.
His pupils were blown wide, his mouth tight with concentration, and the warmth coming through the bond told me he was holding himself back only because he wanted this to last.
“Please,” I whispered, no longer sure what I was asking for.
More. Harder. Closer. All of it. I cupped his jaw and kissed him until his breath mixed with mine.
The bond turned the kiss into something bigger than skin and heat.
It carried my gratitude that he was alive, my anger that he had scared me, and the fragile relief I had been trying not to name.
He felt every piece of it and answered by pulling me tighter against him.
“Come for me,” he said.
I did. The orgasm moved through the bond and came back to me amplified by his need. I shuddered on his lap, forehead against his, while his fingers stayed inside me through every pulse.
I stood and stripped the rest of my clothes away. Then I opened his uniform. Vesh’s cock sprang free, thick and hard against his stomach.
“Still just mostly?” he asked.
“I may revise the rating.” I wrapped my hand around him and stroked. His jaw tightened.
“Priya.”
“Yes?”
“Shut up and get on. Now.” The blunt command went straight through me. I straddled his lap and positioned him at my opening.
“What about your arm?” I asked.
“It's fine.”
“We banned that word, remember?”
“Functional.”
“Better.”
I lowered my wet core onto his hard length.
Slowly. I took everything he had to give me.
Wrapped my arms around his head and kissed him as Vesh filled me inch by inch.
His good hand gripped my hip while I controlled the pace.
The bond opened between us. His pleasure mixed with mine, hot and immediate.
When he was as deep as I could get him, I rolled my hips. His head dropped back.
I rose and sank back down. Vesh swore. I did it again.
He met every stroke from beneath me, thrusted his hips up while I rode him.
His mouth moved over my breasts. His hand held my hip and guided me into a faster rhythm.
The bond held everything. His relief that I had found him.
My lingering anger. The love beneath both. None of it needed explaining.
I let myself feel it instead of making a joke.
The fear of losing him was still lodged under my ribs, sharp enough that it might never disappear completely.
But Vesh was here. His good hand was steady on my hip.
His forehead pressed briefly to mine as if he needed the same proof I did.
Every upward movement of his body told me he was alive, wanted, and no longer facing the world alone.
I moved with him, slower for a few breaths, letting the rhythm become something we shared instead of something either of us controlled.
His mouth found mine again. The kiss was deep and hungry, but there was an apology in it too.
A promise. I answered with my hands in his hair and my body opening for him without fear.
Whatever waited tomorrow, this was ours.
This moment. This bed. This impossible life we had chosen together.
“Look at me,” he said.
I did. Green eyes. No retreat. No distance.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
I came with him buried deep. Vesh groaned my name and followed, pulling me down hard against him as his body shuddered beneath mine.
Afterward, we lay together with his brace propped on a pillow and my head on his chest. Velerion turned beyond the viewport, blue and green beneath the lights of Arturri.
The war was not over. Raya’s Death Star, planet-killing ship was still being built.
A traitor remained somewhere inside command.
Tomorrow, we would deal with all that. Tonight, Vesh’s heartbeat was strong beneath my ear, the bond was quiet and warm, and no one was shooting at us.
“I have a confession,” he said.
“Another one?”
“When I first found out about you, I thought you were going to ruin me.”
“And, did I?”
“Completely.”
“Any regrets?”
His arm tightened around me. “One.”
I lifted my head. “What?”
“I should have let you inspect me sooner.”
I laughed. “For the record,” I said, settling against him again, “I correctly calibrated the size of your ass.”
Vesh laughed into my hair and kissed me again. And again.
I would never get enough.
I fell asleep in his arms, on another world, living a new life. I was exactly where I wanted to be.