stirs.
“Good morning,” I say, nibbling at her left ear.
“Mmmhm,” she groans. “Is it morning already?”
“That depends,” I say. “We’re in space, so it can be whatever time of the day you want it to be.”
“So I can sleep in forever ?”
I grin. “If that’s what you want, then yes.”
“That’s what I want,” she says, stretching herself out. Her hands glide over my chest and arms, resting on my strong biceps. “You make a pretty good bed, you know that?”
“You make a fine blanket,” I answer, my hands digging into her soft, warm skin.
She reaches down, running her thumb across the length of my hardening cock. “I can feel that,” she says with a smirk. Her fingers encircle my length, barely making it. It’s a miracle I fit inside of her as well as I do, but our bodies feel made for each other.
I groan as she strokes my length, fully awakening my inner beast. There’s nothing I want to do more than slide my cock back into her warm, wet entrance… but I really ought to check on the ship’s computer.
“Hold that thought,” I say as I gently slide Isa off my naked body and get out of bed.
She whines playfully, reaching out for me.
I stretch my arms over my head. When I open my eyes again, I find Isa is staring up at me, a bemused smile on her lips.
“What?” I ask.
“Don’t act like you don’t know,” she says.
“Know what?”
She rolls her eyes. “That you’re perfect.”
“You’re one to talk,” I say. I find it impossible to tear my eyes away from her beauty. From the dimples in her cheeks to the freckles on her nose, from her round, large breasts to her curvy, amazing hips – I cherish every single part of her.
She rubs her back onto the soft bed, purring like a kitten. “Come back,” she coos. “It’s cold without you.”
“Just a second,” I say. I climb the ship’s ladder all the way to the top floor, where the main controls are, the high-pitched beeping getting louder as I get closer. “What did you ruin a perfectly good moment for, shuttle?”
DECRYPTION COMPLETE.
“Isa,” I roar. “The computer decrypted your message!”
She climbs the ladder faster than I knew humans could move. In a flash she’s standing behind me, fully nude, leaning over my shoulder. The shuttle has only one seat in its cockpit, so she can’t see the screen very well.
“What does it say?”
I grab her waist and lift her onto my lap so that we can read the message together. I wrap my arms around her waist as I kiss the back of her neck. Her eyes scour the screen, and I feel her heartbeat quickening.
ISABELLA PARKER. VORTEX STATION. LEVEL 42, 4 th QUADRANT, #183.
TELL NO ONE.
N.
She reads the message over and over again. “That’s… that’s it?” she asks, sounding deflated.
“That’s it.”
“That can’t be right,” she says. “There’s more. There has to be more. The file was megabytes of data!”
“All noise to hide the message,” I answer. “This is the only information, trust me.”
She turns around, her blue eyes blazing with anger. Her finger prods my chest, her cheeks flushed red. “You must’ve made a mistake! There has to be more! I can’t… I… I thought I’d finally get some answers…”
The anger seeps out of her, and it is replaced by grief. I grab her wrists, folding my fingers around them, making sure not to touch her mark. “We’ll find this ‘N’, Isa, trust me. We’ll get you everything you’re looking for. Once we reach Vortex Station, we’ll get all our answers.”
13
Isa
D rax rocks me on his lap, his big, blue arms folded around me like a cradle. For the first time in my life, I let my emotions run free. Tears streak down my cheeks, dripping down Drax’s taut chest.
When I received that strange message, I thought I knew for sure it contained some answers, some inkling of my own history, but instead, all I got was an address, and more questions. Who is N ? Why can’t I tell anyone? Am I somehow