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But instead, a huge smile grew on her face, and she got excited.
“Ah! I get it. On Earth, that’s another definition of ‘jinx’! To be afraid that being optimistic about something will keep it from happening.” She wrinkled her nose in thought, which made Dante find her even more irresistible. “All right, then. Let’s toast to not jinxing things.”
They looked each other in the eyes and clinked glasses before taking a long sip.
Dante wanted to stare into the fiery intensity of her copper eyes forever. He was thrilled when she didn’t look away, even after it would have been normal to. Her look raced through him, through his blood, coursing in his veins, connecting every cell in his body with her. And while he had been close to certain before, with that look, he knew.
They were meant to be together. He had always had some skepticism, but it was real. He was sure of it with more certainty than he’d ever felt.
Chapter 5
The strange dynamic of having this Lorr warrior and his crew on board while her own crew was on leave meant she couldn’t go about the standard routine they always practiced while in hyperdrive.
Instead of leading the host of errands her crew usually went about completing—routine checks, maintenance, and cleaning—it was just her and the hulking Lorr. She couldn’t suddenly start barking orders at his crew, who were fiercely loyal to their captain, to clean the toilets.
Part of her felt usurped and even intimidated, a feeling she’d rarely experienced since becoming captain. But the dominant sentiment was a strong urge to pull him into the captain’s quarters and ravage him senseless.
It had all happened so quickly that no chain of command had been put in place. She still felt like the captain, but he gave the orders.
She had been watching the stars shoot past as she often did when they were in hyperdrive. She found it cleared her mind. All of her crew knew to avoid her when she did this. It was her private time.
Yet he was there, unaware of her personal ritual. For the first time, she didn’t mind the incursion into her alone time. It came as a relief since she was aware of his proximity with every fiber of her being.
“This is my favorite spot when we’re in hyperdrive,” he said, his body almost touching hers.
She experienced a cosmic feeling of kismet. Most captains stopped looking out the window in hyperdrive, after the novelty of the first time, unless there was a problem. It stunned her that anyone else shared that practice.
He was not fazed by her silence. “It helps to clear my mind when I’ve got problems to solve,” he went on. “You don’t mind me joining you. Do you?”
“No, of course not,” she replied meekly. Who is this person speaking, and what has she done with the Tinsley Adams I used to know? she screamed inside.
But the part of herself driven by emotions, not logic, didn’t want him to go anywhere. That part wanted him to close the maddening distance between his body and hers. She ached for his touch.
“There’s a red giant in this quadrant.” He leaned close to her ear, which sent hot shivers down her spine. “Look, over there.”
He closed the gap and touched her shoulder as he pointed through the window at the stars shooting past.
Her body leaned nearer to his as she looked down to where he was pointing. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
He stood back, breaking contact again. It felt like the light in her world dimmed a little as he did.
“I should check the latrines,” she said.
She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her as soon as the words were out of her mouth. What a stupid thing to say, she thought viciously.
He laughed. “Check the latrines? Don’t you have crew members for that?” Then he obviously thought about what he’d said and gave a guilty smile. “Oh, right. They’re back on Nebu. I’ll get a man on it right away.” With that, he turned and left, striding with purpose.
“Shit,” she said under her breath. She stared out the window. The red giant was long gone, and the remaining stars somehow no longer held their appeal. She went in search of coffee.
She was sitting in the corner of the lounge cradling her cup when Dante strode in, his violet eyes searching for hers. “We have some intel. Do you want to join us in the comms room?”
“Absolutely,” she stood, leaving her half-drunk coffee on the table.
She followed him down the corridor, trying not to be too obvious as she checked out the Lorr’s tight ass in front of her.
Two crew members were already in the comms room when they entered. She racked her brain trying to remember their names. One was called Bran, Dante’s second. She couldn’t remember the other.
“Have you met Dru? He’s our comms man. Dru, this is Tinsley.”
