Nokx (The Sraibur Crew #3) - Layla Nash Page 0,120

the rest of her life, no matter what kind of chaos swirled up around them.

EJ smiled and pressed her cheek against his so she could whisper in his ear. “I’m glad the universe brought me to you.”

He held her tighter and slowed, and EJ locked her legs around his waist. Nokx slid his arms around her back to hold her shoulders and drive her down harder. “I will take you to Xarav and show you the beauty of the suns rising. And it still pales in comparison to how your light blinds me.”

Her eyes met his as she ground against him and tensed against another tsunami of sheer bliss. She would never get enough of him. She would go to Xarav with him, she’d even go back to the Sraibur if that was what he wanted. After so long without a real direction or goal, she knew they would find one that suited both of them. Whether that was remaining to help the Lovelace was yet to be seen. EJ bit her lip as she reached for Nokx’s spikes, knowing it would throw him completely out of control. She could still bring a little bit of chaos to him. A little chaos kept instincts sharp. Purely a matter of safety.

She smiled and rested her forehead against his, feeling more connected to him than she had to anyone else in her entire life. She’d found her home, and it was in his arms.

Chapter 55

Epilogue

EJ stood in the cargo bay, hands on her hips, as she surveyed the mess made after the space chickens made a trip to a mysterious port and returned with massive amounts of cargo. And somehow she and Nokx were supposed to organize it and make sure the right stock was loaded into the ship’s delivery system. It didn’t help that Nokx got distracted when she bent over a crate and dragged her off to the corner for a quickie.

Her hair was a total mess and she couldn’t seem to get her uniform to sit the right way. She just hoped that no one else showed up and noted the self-satisfied grin on Nokx’s face. The Lovelace was much, much larger than the Sraibur, but it also had a hell of a lot more people on it. Pyix ran the ship efficiently, and Estelle enforced his orders with an iron hand, so everything went along smoothly. Which was why taking a time-out from organizing the cargo to have sex would probably have been frowned upon.

She couldn’t look at Nokx without getting an equally stupid grin on her face, so she resolutely kept her attention on the crates. Dealing with cargo was not something she’d ever done before, and EJ was realizing why. It sucked. It was dirty, exhausting work for the first few days after a port call, then boring for weeks on end except for loading the system up again. “The food synthesizer is already topped up, and I think clothing is sufficiently stocked. What else? The lasers? Fuel for the shields?”

He made a noncommittal noise, stretching and yawning. “Or we take a break.”

It was definitely tempting. She wouldn’t mind wandering off to take a nap or let Nokx distract her again. The Lovelace wasn’t quite as relaxed as the Sraibur, though, and the crew was still uncertain about having another male around. The population on the battleship was overwhelmingly female, which was a nice change for EJ and totally new for Nokx. Even though EJ encouraged him to explore the ship with her, he realized his presence caused some unease and instead he preferred to stick to the well-worn routes between their quarters, the bridge, the mess hall, and the cargo bay.

Which made EJ feel all warm and fuzzy inside when she thought about his consideration of the many females working on the ship. He could have blustered and insisted on doing what he wanted, but instead Nokx limited his wandering so he didn’t accidentally surprise or frighten anyone else. Apparently Pyix pulled him aside early on and explained that most of the crew were rescued prisoners and slaves who’d chosen to stay and continue the fight to help other unfortunates. Many had suffered a great deal and remained skeptical of any newcomers and males, particularly ones as large and intimidating as a Xaravian.

She hoped eventually the crew would grow to accept Nokx, though EJ didn’t know how long they’d remain on the Lovelace. Faros still wanted everyone back on the Sraibur to go haring off