Forged (Star Breed #10) - Elin Wyn Page 0,40

before their reports stopped.

No transmissions. No changes to the inventory. No further use of power.

With their engines and most of the structure of the ship in good shape, why hadn’t they left?

Most importantly, where were Naval and Hill now?

The final log entry had no more urgency than the previous.

Despite a hard landing, no problems. We’ll radio for pickup if needed, but Naval doesn’t expect any issues.

Hill’s voice was calm, almost bored.

I guess if your entire life was bouncing from one uninhabited planetoid to the next, it took a lot for you to get enthusiastic.

But after that, there was nothing.

Drumming my fingers on the control panel, I realized it had been hours since Hakon had agreed to rest.

Which meant I should go find out what the food situation was really like.

There was a replicator in the tiny galley. Despite the online lights, I eyed it doubtfully.

If it hadn’t been cleaned or serviced in ten years, it might be better to go with the rations. Fewer options, but less chance of getting sick.

Prudence won out over taste buds.

I grabbed a random stack of bars and a couple of squeezeboxes of water and returned to the engine compartment.

“There’s nothing wrong here,” I muttered. “Maybe I’m not seeing it. Time to try something else.”

Back in the cockpit, I finished my meal while starting a series of pressurization tests. Engines wouldn’t do us a bit of good if the hull wasn’t completely sound.

“And I think that’s it.”

There wasn’t anything else I could do for now, other than worry.

Brain full of information but no answers, I drifted back to the crew room we’d taken over.

Hakon sat up quickly, eyes sharp and demanding as I slid open the door.

“What’s wrong?” he snapped.

“Nothing,” I said, unlacing my boots. “But now you’ve spoiled my surprise. Go back to sleep.”

I stripped down to my underpants and tank top and slipped into the circle of his outstretched arms.

“I can’t wake you up in interesting ways if you’re not sleeping,” I teased, snuggling into his chest, reveling in the warmth of his body, the strength of him.

How he made me feel safe.

Maybe even… stop it, Yas. No reason to go there.

“I was sleeping,” he protested, running his hands down my spine, stopping just before the curve of my ass, kneading the tight muscles of my hips that I hadn’t even noticed when I was working in the engine compartment. “Until you woke me up.”

“But you’re not sleeping now,” I argued, rolling onto my side. He lifted me until I lay on top of him, stretched down his length.

Well, at least as far as I could stretch, given our height difference.

“So, if I was still sleeping,” he said, “what would you have done?”

And now I was on the spot.

Pushing myself up to kneel across his chest, I covered his eyes. Obediently, he left his eyes closed as I removed my hands.

“If you were sleeping,” I said, “I might begin like this.”

Softly, I dropped featherlight kisses at the corners of his eyes, alternating down his cheekbones, back up along the outer edge of his ears, which I just now noticed were ever so slightly pointed.

His hands tightened around my calves where I knelt across him, but he made no sound.

“Or maybe I might do something like this.”

Lightly, I ran my nails through the heavy stubble that covered his jawline.

He let out a low moan, a rumble that echoed through his chest. “If you kept up with that, I wouldn’t be sleeping long.”

His hands stroked my calves and moved up to my thighs, seeking, exploring, never resting.

Leaning over, I nipped down the cords of his throat to his collarbone.

“Pity you’re such a light sleeper.”

“I wouldn’t want to miss any of this,” he said. “You can wake me up anytime.”

Though his hands slid up and down my legs, fingers sending bolts of lightning through my nerves, he seemed content to let me play.

“We might regret this later, but I can’t argue with you losing your jacket and shirt in the crash,” I admitted. “It’s given me plenty of ogling opportunities the last few days.”

“Really,” he grunted. “I’ll try to keep that in mind for the future.”

I froze for a second, distracted from kissing down the curve of his shoulder.

Keep in mind?

For the future?

Did we, could we have such a thing?

Too many questions.

I shoved them all to the back of my mind and focused on here and now.

Because now was pretty damn good.

Squirming down his torso, I kept kissing a trail downward until Hakon’s hands clamped around