Chapter Fourteen
Guilt-ridden.
The crushing weight of guilt had plagued him for the past three days. He’d tried to push what he’d done from his mind but couldn’t. Every word she spoke reminded him of how she’d called out his name. Every move she made reminded him of how she’d felt in his arms.
He couldn’t forget about it. And the worst part? He didn’t know if he wanted to forget.
“Tsk, what a shame. I have all these beautiful clothes and I’m stuck in here.”
“All dressed up and no place to go.”
“What?” Sa’Mya asked.
He watched her on her knees, sitting back on her heels. When she turned to face him, the movement caused her now tangle-free waist-length hair to bounce and sway. It reminded him of one of those old television shampoo commercials where the women had hair that seemed to be kissed by God himself. The overhead lighting danced and played on each strand, making her highlights shimmer.
He cleared his throat. “That’s a common Earth saying.”
He had long since stopped reviewing the paper maps scattered across the dinette table in front of him. He turned his focus to her instead. Their escape route was plotted and planned. After they dropped the princess off, they were going to hightail it out of the Zaronna System. Preferably somewhere they’d never been.
“Oh.” Sa’Mya went back to rummaging through her things. “So you’re talking to me again.”
He stared at the small of her back, the way it tapered to full hips and a round ass. He could imagine other things she could be doing on her knees besides looking for clothes.
“I never stopped talking to you.”
She snorted. “The chatter coming from that side of the room was so overwhelming I must’ve blocked it out.”
He chuckled. “Did you snort, Princess?”
“Don’t laugh. It wasn’t my fault. I believe you actually said you never stopped talking to me.”
“I did.”
Sa’Mya whirled around. A cascade of golden waves bounced around her. “Captain Kane Epps. You haven’t strung two sentences together since that…that…brothel whore attacked me.”
Kane straightened in his seat. “Don’t call her names. Jess isn’t a brothel whore. The Loconuist sold her. She didn’t choose that lifestyle.”
Sa’Mya rolled her eyes. “Still, she had no right to attack me.”
He hadn’t planned to start an argument with her. Come to think of it, he didn’t have a plan at all. If he was smart, he would put her in a separate room and keep her out of his sight. But…he wasn’t smart at all.
“I apologize for Jess. I’ve ordered her to stay away from you and the others.”
Sa’Mya visibly relaxed. “Thank you.” She paused then added, “Thank you for giving me Moira and Yazmine. Perhaps you can also give me Nebin?”
“Heck no. Nebin is where he needs to be.” If he let her have her guard, he was sure to never get near her again.
“I should at least get to see him. Make sure he’s being taken care of.”
Kane raised an eyebrow. “If you didn’t ask while you were talking with him, then you’ve missed your opportunity. You’ll get to see him when our business arrangement is complete.”
She playfully pursed her lips and pressed on her hand. Characters he didn’t recognize appeared two-inches above her wrist. “Hmm. I guess I can wait a while longer.”
“What is that?”
“A time-keeper.”
“Clock?” he asked. Sa’Mya cocked her head to the side. “Let me see it,” he said.
Even though the bottoms of her feet were healing, she still walked on her tiptoes. She slid into the seat across from his and pushed on her hand and jumbled characters projected in the air above it. Then, a blink later, the characters instantly became readable, numbers.
“No matter where I am, I’ll always know what time it is on my home planet.”
He leaned in, squinting. “It appears to be counting down.”
She pressed the indentation again and the numbers disappeared. “To my birth cycle.” The air of playfulness she had mere minutes ago faded. She abruptly got up and tiptoed back to her trunk.
“Is there a big celebration planned?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you want to be there for the festivities? I mean, the celebration will be for you, won’t it?”
“The celebration will go on with or without me.”
“Seems wrong to have a birthday party without the birthday girl.”
“Where I am when I turn twenty-five cycles is irrelevant.”
He stared off into space. “I stopped celebrating my birthdays a long time ago.” Anna had always been big on birthday parties.
She glanced at him. “How did you celebrate it?”
Every year she had planned a surprise birthday party for him and every year he had acted surprised although he knew about the party months beforehand.
He shrugged. “With friends and family. A nice dinner at a nice restaurant.”
“Oh.”
She turned her attention back to the trunk.
“What about this celebration that you don’t seem too interested in? What’s going to happen there?”
She let out a sigh. “I wouldn’t know since I don’t plan on being there.”
“Tell me something about your world.”
“La—it’s beautiful.” She repositioned to face him and sat on her butt with her legs folded at her side. Her dreamy gaze looked off into the distance. “There are two sides to it. The rugged desert side with untouched beauty and there’s the bustling technological side. We are the leaders in solar energy.”
“We were starting to get into that on Earth.”
Her eyes brightened as she focused on him. “Exciting, isn’t it? How far did you get?”
“Um…we were mastering of the use of solar panels.”
She slumped. “Oh.”
“I take it you’re much further than we were.”
Her eyebrows scrunched together. “Well…there was mention of panels or something of that nature thousands of cycles ago.”
“Of course your planet is more advanced than mine,” he mumbled.
“No, no, you have to start somewhere. It would’ve been only a matter of time before your species found a way to use your star’s energy to power your planet.”
“How can you harvest solar energy?”
She tapped her hand. “There’s a solar chip in there. If I stayed on this vessel forever I would never need to recharge it.”
“Because you harvested your sun’s energy.”
She clapped in glee. “Isn’t it great? Now imagine this kind of technology powering an entire planet. Well, not the entire planet. My ancestors declared a lot of my planet as protected. It means we can’t build on or disturb the natural landscape.”
“I know what protected means,” he said, sounding harsher than he had intended.
“I didn’t mean… What about Earth?” she asked, changing the subject. “Tell me about your world.”
“Some other time.” He opened the maps in front of him. He thought about leaving. Maybe going to the bridge, but the princess wasn’t there. And again, he wasn’t smart.
“Well, what about…” She shrugged. “I don’t know. What did you do on Earth? Where you a captain of a vessel there too?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “No. Far from it. I was a lawyer.”
“What’s a lawyer?”
“I worked to uphold the law. I argued my point all day.” He laughed again. “If someone broke the law, I fought to get them put in jail. Ironic.”
She scrunched her brows together in confusion. “You were the same as a Galactic Council member?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Sa’Mya turned back to her trunk and retrieved a nightgown. “I see your point. That is ironic.”
“Should I call Moira or Yazmine to help you get ready for bed?”
He had moved Moira and Yazmine into the cabin next to his. Since he had forbidden the crew from interacting with the females on a sexual level, they were pretty quiet. Now the crew saw the females only when they were on guard duty.
“No, it’s not necessary. I can handle it myself,” she said. He lifted a brow. “You’ve taught me to be pretty self-sufficient.”
He snorted as she trotted off to the bathroom with her nightgown.
While she showered and changed, he rolled the maps and tied them. After tossing them to the side, he stripped and straightened his pallet.
When she came out, he openly gaped. He was sure he actually moaned out loud, but since she hadn’t responded, he assumed it hadn’t happened. His dick sprang to life as he watched her lean over her trunk to put the clothes she held bundled in her arms there. The thin material clung to her, outlining every sensual and delectable curve.
He cleared his throat for fear his voice would crack. “Come here.” Sa’Mya’s head popped up. Her eyes widened in surprised confusion. “Let me take a look at your wounds.”
She hesitated but then came to him. She held her hands up. He cradled them in his and inspected her palms and each finger. Next he went to her knees. She silently held her nightgown up to her thighs while he ran his hand across her kneecaps. She was healing fast and well, with minimal scarring.
“Moira and Eli both think the healing tank will be up and running by tomorrow. We can get you in there to heal the rest of this,” he finally said after trusting himself to speak again.
Two days ago, he hadn’t known of the existence of a healing tanks or that the vessel had one. None of them had known the purpose of the stark-white room on the other side of the vessel. They only saw wall monitors and controls, with three large metal tanks lined in rows in the middle.
Right after commandeering the vessel, Kyle had diverted all the power from what he had deemed was an unnecessary room because it had been draining too much energy. Moira helped by giving them instructions on the healing bay and healing tank.
Kane tugged on the hem of her nightgown, letting it fall into place. “Good night.”
He pulled back his blanket and scrambled underneath, resisting the urge to carry her to his pallet. But he couldn’t tear his gaze from her hips swaying as she walked away.
She slid into his comfortable bed. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.” He wrapped the blanket around him and tucked in all the sides, mummifying himself. There would be no late-night wandering.
“Why do you sleep on the floor?”
It’s where I should be.
His heart raced. “Because you have the bed.”
And I can’t trust myself to follow my part of the bargain and give you up.
“It’s not what I mean. I believe Taio and Eva slept in the same bed.”
“Princess, sleeping together is more intimate than we should get.”
On more than one occasion he’d had the urge to spring on her and bury himself inside her. But he didn’t. He chalked that up to self-control. On those occasions, he left his cabin and went to the training room and worked out. He now sported ripped biceps and abs.
She lay quietly in the bed. Her soft breaths were the only sound in the room.
“Lights off,” he said.
After a click, blackness filled the cabin.
“Kane?”
“Yes.”
“Are you bonded to another?”
“Yes.”
* * * * *
Three days later, Kane sat on the bridge as The Vengeance landed on the desolate water planet they had found over a year ago. They had stumbled upon it by chance after hitting a big payday. A species of overly-large barbarians had pursued them relentlessly, intent on killing them with their bare hands. Ryan had managed to find the water world by mistake and ever since they used the planet as a hideaway.
Ryan landed on one of the large, grassy floating islands. Different than Earth, the planet was composed of ninety-nine percent water, and the other percent consisted of floating islands sprinkled throughout.
“We’re good.”
“Good job, Ryan.” Kane rose from his chair. Before leaving he added, “Once we’re secure, you can all take a break.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Kane made his way to his cabin. Sa’Mya would appreciate being outside with fresh air. Mentally he’d been kicking himself for treating her the way he had. It wasn’t her fault he had lost his self-control. He would never lose it again. Night after night his will had been tested but he prevailed.
As soon as he entered, his breath caught in his chest. She had on a calf-length blue gown with intricate gold designs. A thick braid rested over her shoulder, ending at a knot by her waist.
Beautiful.
Sa’Mya turned from the port view. “Where are we?” she snapped.
Yep, she was still angry. She’d been acting this way since he told her he had a wife. As far as he was concerned, she shouldn’t be upset. Hell, the plan had never changed.
He was going to collect his gold, drop her off and keep moving. There were no feelings involved in this. There couldn’t be.
There shouldn’t be.
Her arms were folded across her chest. Her well-manicured fingernails drummed on her skin. She leaned heavily to one side. Her hip jutted out as an impatient foot tapped at the floor.
The problem? She looked so damn cute.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” he answered.
“Am I allowed to go outside or are you intending to keep me locked in this room?”
He shrugged. “I guess no harm could come from letting you out to enjoy the sun and water for a while.”
Sa’Mya coldly nodded in a regal manner and dismissed him with a disdainful sniff.