Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,72
the world but the feel of her tongue and lips and the press of her body against his.
When she drew back, her eyes glittered, and he froze.
“You are upset?”
“No, I'm overwhelmed. I thought I was going to die so many times in the last two months, and here I am, making out with a handsome alien in a fancy spaceship.”
“And that is a good thing?”
“It's the best thing.” She slid her arm around his waist.
He turned her toward the door, and kissed the top of her head. “Then that's all right.”
Chapter 32
The boxes were waiting for her on a table when they got to the officers' mess, and Lucy reluctantly slid out from under Dray's arm.
He was warm, and she liked the way he smelled. She liked the way he touched her.
She just plain liked him.
She lifted the lid on the first box, and peered in.
Frowned.
“What is it?” Dray peered over her shoulder.
She also liked the way he pressed against her back, a solid wall of muscle, and decided she really had to snap out of this mushiness.
It was getting ridiculous.
“Not sure.” She lifted out something that was vacuum sealed. Stared at it in horror.
“Not what you were expecting?” Dray's tone was dry, and she held it up, taking a good, train-wreck-type look.
“You people are sick.”
“Don't blame the Grih. I've never seen anything like it, either.”
“Is it a head?”
“The head of a vtrryn.” Bane said. “Apparently a delicacy on the planet the Tecran took it from.”
“Ugh.” Lucy dropped it back in the box. Looked askance at the other two on the table. “I'm almost afraid to look inside those ones, now. Maybe it's safer just to have the nutrient bars.”
“They're here. Might as well.” Dray opened the second box, lifted out a sealed container which Lucy guessed meant whatever was inside was chilled.
He lifted the lid, frowned.
She realized she was too curious not to look, and leaned against his arm to look at it.
Felt a spark of hope.
“Fruit.”
Dray lifted up a piece and offered it to her, and she examined it. It looked a little like an apple. The skin was more a bluish-purple, but not so different from some varieties of pear she'd seen before.
“I've analyzed it. You can eat it,” Bane told her.
She lifted it to her lips, gave a nibble. It was tart and crisp, and while the flavor was unusual, she took a bigger bite and chewed. Offered it to Dray.
He took it, bit in, and handed it back, and the look on his face nearly made her spit out what was in her mouth in amusement.
“Not for you?”
“Ha, ha. No.”
She took another bite. “Now you know how I feel when I try to eat your food. It gets you down, after awhile.”
“Fiona Russell has found the food on Balco to be to her taste. I can ask Easi what to order.”
“Thanks, Bane. It would be great to eat good food, but even better to meet Fiona Russell.”
“She manages Larga Ways, now,” Dray said. “She's not part of Grih Battle Center.”
“If it's at all possible, I'd like to go to Larga Ways. It looks lovely.”
“Where did you see it?” Dray asked.
“There was some visual comms of her singing on Larga Ways in the square in Fa'allen. I was watching it when some of the people in the crowd realized I was from Earth, too.”
“No wonder there was an uprising.”
Lucy had finished the apple thing and pulled the box closer, looking to see what else was in there. “Don't you want to get something for yourself?” she asked Dray.
He nodded, but instead of looking through the box, he disappeared into the kitchen, and Lucy found some berries and something that looked like a root vegetable. Nothing was quite what she was used to, but it was nice enough.
Right now, she was happy to settle for nice enough.
Dray came back in, carrying a plate in one hand, and a jug with two cups balanced on top in the other.
She wasn't having to settle in other areas, she thought with a grin, so she'd let the food go.
She had just started dating someone the week before the Tecran had stolen her. They'd gone out twice, and she'd liked him, was prepared to give him a shot. She'd wondered often over the last two months if he'd gotten into any trouble when she'd disappeared, and hoped he hadn't. But the like she'd felt for him paled in comparison to the fire Dray lit in her.
She'd said it to him earlier,