Treyjon woke from a doze, the lights in sickbay dimmed, leaving him uncertain as to whether it was night or day. His logostec, daggers, stunner, and belt lay on a table nearby, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to make the effort to get out of bed and dig through the pile just to check the time. His clothes and boots were stacked next to the rest of the items, and he vaguely remembered undressing when he’d come into sickbay and being helped into soft gym pants. He’d been drugged by then, thankfully, and had been happy to let Dr. Tala guide him to a bed.

He wondered where she’d gone. To bed? One of the medical robots stood dormant in a corner, but he was otherwise alone in the room. He’d woken up alone for most of his adult life, so it shouldn’t have bothered him, but he found himself wishing that Angela were there.

He took a couple of experimental deep breaths. His ribs felt a little tight and sore, but the sharp stabs of pain from earlier were gone. His shoulder, too, no longer ached, and he found he could move it in a circle without more than a faint twinge. Nanobots were probably still sailing around in his bloodstream, doing their work, but he felt better than he’d expected to, given the beating he’d taken. He made a note to himself not to pick fights with Zi’i again, not grappling matches, anyway. Firing at them with a deadly weapon and from a distance was far preferable.

The door slid open, and he lowered his chin to his chest to peer over his toes. He expected Tala, but Angela walked in, and he grinned with delight. His wishes had been fulfilled. She was a much more appealing visitor than the rigid doctor.

When Angela saw his eyes open, she rushed to his side. Before Treyjon could say a word, she flung her arms around him, almost lying atop him in her eagerness to hug him and press her cheek to his. Soft breasts molded to his chest through her dress, and he inhaled that floral scent of hers.

His groin stirred, and he rolled his eyes at himself. Of course that was working fine.

“Is everything all right?” Treyjon asked, growing a little concerned as the tight hug continued on. That concern increased when moisture touched his cheek. Her tears. He brought an arm up and wrapped it around her waist. “What is it?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be squishing you.” Angela started to push herself to her feet, but he didn’t let her go.

“Yes, you should. I want all of you on top of me. Squishing me.” He lifted his other hand to cup her cheek, rubbing his thumb over one of the tears rolling down it. Another tear glistened in her lashes.

“Is that allowed? Squishing an invalid lying in the hospital?”

“Invalid? Come here.” He pushed himself up to one elbow, so he could get a better grip and pull her off her feet and fully atop him. “I’ll show you just how valid I am.”

She didn’t protest the manhandling and smiled through her tears. “Your penis is poking me.”

“It likes to do that. Do you mind?”

“No, it’s getting me a little excited.”

“That would excite me… if you weren’t crying.”

Her face started to crumple, but she visibly tried to straighten it. She swallowed. “The captain is taking us home.”

“That is bad news,” Treyjon joked, but he also frowned, confused. Granted, he was out of the loop after being in sickbay all day, but what could have happened to elicit this negative response to what should have been good news? It sounded like Sagitta had found some way to sway the archons in the end.

“He’s not supposed to.”

Treyjon blinked a few times, still confused, until the words sank in. “He’s going to disobey orders?”

Angela nodded.

“Huh, I didn’t know he could do that. He’s rigidly loyal. Rigidly obedient. Rigidly rule-following. Basically, he’s rigid all over.”

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you. He told Orion not to tell any of the crew, so they won’t be put into a compromising position. As far as they know, he’ll be following orders, and they’ll be following him, as usual.”

“That sounds like him, even if the rule-breaking doesn’t. Being all noble and taking the blame.”

“His people are a lot like him, aren’t they?” Angela raised her eyebrows pointedly.

Oh, right. He’d tried to take the blame for those deaths. Well, he was the svenkar trainer, not Angela. It would be completely wrong for her to be blamed for any of what happened.

The tear in her lashes fell, plopping onto his thumb. He rubbed her back through her dress, wanting to comfort her, to make the tears dry up.

“The captain is old enough to make his own choices,” Treyjon said. “It might not be easy sailing to get you home…” He decided not to mention that the government wouldn’t be pleased and would likely send ships after them immediately, both to ensure their will was followed and to make a point, that even Star Guardian captains and war heroes weren’t allowed to disobey orders without repercussions. “But you don’t have to worry about our politics. Your people won’t be held to blame.”

“But we’ll be dropped off, and then your ship will leave forever, won’t it?”

“I’m not sure.” Treyjon considered the words he’d overheard, the archons’ belief that not only was Gaia not ready to join the Confederation, but the fear that, if they were to learn of the existence of humans outside their solar system, Gaia might become unwelcome competition. It seemed entirely possible that the archons would not only decide to not make contact again but might also destroy the gate leading to Gaia’s solar system. In fact, now that he was aware of Nebula Won’s plan, that seemed an incredibly likely scenario. Destroying the gate would keep slavers, Zi’i, and other ill-wishers from taking advantage of the planet, and it would also ensure that a long, long time would pass before the Gaians found a way to connect to the rest of the galaxy. “Probably,” he amended reluctantly.

Angela nodded. She’d known the truth before he had.

“So I have to choose,” she said softly. “Between you and my family and my entire life back on Earth.”

Treyjon wanted to say that wasn’t so, but he was afraid it would be a lie. She wouldn’t appreciate a lie when she already knew the truth.

“I’ll understand if you choose them.” He kept rubbing her back, wishing he had a better answer. “But if for some crazy reason, you think you’d like to stay here with me, I’d love to have an assistant svenkar trainer. I think these dogs you’ve spoken of are too simple and easy for you. You need something that challenges you.”

“An assistant trainer? Is that all you want?”

“Given that you’re lying on me and some of my, ah, protruding parts, you should know exactly what I want.”

“Parts? Plural?” Her eyebrows rose. “Do you have a lot of things that protrude?”

“Well, maybe just one. Oh, and my nose. It’s kind of a big one, don’t you think?”

“No, it’s nice.” She smiled and lowered her mouth to kiss it.

Blood rushed to his other protrusion, and his arm tightened around her.

He lifted his face upward, so he could shift her lips to a much more preferable place, his own. She made the shift agreeably, returning his kiss fully. He felt her passion in the way her lips touched his, her desire for him, but also her sadness. He didn’t want her to be sad, but he didn’t know how to change that.

She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. “It’ll take several days to get back home, won’t it?”

“Even if things go perfectly, yes.” Treyjon didn’t point out how unlikely it was that things would go perfectly. His lower protrusion was warning him not to kill the mood.

“Can we hang out in your cabin and have sex the whole way?”

“I can’t think of a single reason to object to that. Except that we’d need to feed the svenkars. And your female may miss you if you don’t come by to work with her a few times.”

Sadness crept into Angela’s eyes again. “She won’t be able to come with me back to Earth, either. My people wouldn’t understand. They would shoot her. Or worse, want to study her like some lab rat.”

Treyjon wanted to punch himself for the thoughtless words. Why had he reminded her about her choice again? Especially when things had been going in a direction that all of his protrusions had been excited about.

“She would object to being a lab rat,” he said softly. “I’ll take good care of her.”

“Who’s going to take care of you?”

He snorted softly at the idea that he needed a caretaker. A keeper, maybe. “The captain takes care of all of us, as needed.”

“Who’s going to take care of him?”

A good question, since he was about to be labeled a criminal.

“I’m sorry,” Angela whispered. “I shouldn’t be talking about all this sad stuff when I have you right where I’ve wanted you since I met you.”

“You’ve wanted me on a sickbay bed?”

“Just a bed. Under me.” She returned her lips to his and slipped her tongue into his mouth, tasting him deeply.

He stroked her tongue with his and slid his hands down to cup her ass. He had no problem whatsoever with letting her be on top of him, so long as he could be in her.

She drew back again, and he protested with a nip of her lower lip.

“Would you consider coming to my world?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said, not taking any time to think about the question. After a couple of seconds considering it, he realized it was true. He would miss training the svenkars, but he hadn’t been home to see his family in years and didn’t miss much about the savage, nomadic life he’d grown up in. Whenever he did visit his kin, they were quick to let him know how much he’d changed since he embraced the ways of technology and the Confederation. He’d felt like a stranger there for a long time and had always known he would start a family elsewhere if he found someone. At least Gaia, from what he’d seen of the women’s handheld computers, wasn’t too backward. He was sure he could find something to train there.

“You would?” Angela sounded completely stunned.

“Was that not a serious offer? I realize we haven’t known each other for long, and I haven’t yet had a chance to demonstrate my sexual prowess and gift for pleasuring women.”

“No! I mean, yes. Yes, it was serious. I just didn’t think you would accept.” She touched the side of his face in wonder.

He almost pointed out that his life here would probably be in a shambles once the government caught up with the captain, but he didn’t want her to think that was the only reason he’d blurted that easy yes. He wanted to be with her, with the first woman he’d met who not only liked svenkars but had a talent for working with them. His cock stiffened just thinking about the way she’d stood in the middle of the space base, correcting Lulu and scratching her chin.

“Then you seriously underestimate your allure.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and gave her ass a pat.

“I…” Maybe at a loss for words, she finished the sentence with a kiss, one hungry and full of desire. This time, the sadness didn’t seem to be there, though there were other emotions, ones he couldn’t name but that he sensed in the way she caressed his face and moved her mouth against his.

He was breathless the next time she pulled back and was glad she didn’t go far.

“Sexual prowess and a gift for pleasuring women?” she asked, her eyebrows moving this time.

He smiled. “Allow me to show you.”

“Gladly.”

He wanted to go home with her!

Angela kissed Treyjon again while she explored his face, his shoulders, and his muscular torso with her fingers. She kept thinking she should be gentle, in case he was still in pain from his injuries, but her hands had trouble complying. She’d wanted to do this for days, almost since she’d first seen him. Then, she’d just thought he had a hot, sexy body. Now, she knew he was an incredible man, and she wanted him even more.

And she was glad that he wanted her. More than that, he was willing to leave everything he knew to come back to Earth with her. She grinned as she kissed him, thinking that he’d make an even better bounty-hunting reality show star than Juanita’s Orion. Though it would be all right if they starred in something together.

Treyjon shifted under her, as if he wanted to change positions and pin her underneath him, but he must have remembered that she’d dreamed of being on top. He settled for adjusting his grip, one hand cupping her ass as the other moved up her back, kneading her through her dress. It felt delicious, and she hadn’t been joking about being excited by his obvious desire to be with her. His cock pressed against the inside of her thigh, hard and eager through his pants, her dress, and the blanket atop him. There were far too many layers between them, she decided and shifted to shove the blanket aside.

A cool draft whispered across her back, and she realized he’d found her zipper and slipped it down. She hadn’t even noticed. He had deft hands. She grinned again.

He slid her dress down over her shoulders, and she thought of the last time he’d had his hands on her, the way he’d brought her to ecstasy without even removing her clothes. She wriggled against him, remembering his strong fingers boldly stroking her most sensitive spots.

Now, those fingers made short work of her bra, dropping it to the floor alongside the blanket. She didn’t take her lips from his, but at his gentle prodding, she lifted herself enough for him to access her bare breasts. They hadn’t been able to do this before, and she relished his touch, the way he traced her contours, circling, teasing, finally brushing her nipples. He pinched one between his fingers, and she gasped at the sudden and intense pleasure.

Soon, his hands lowered to her waist, and he lifted her slightly, easily. She didn’t want to stop kissing, but she found herself pausing to stare at the way veins ran down the corded muscle of his biceps, at the way his pecs tightened from holding her up. The hard ridges of his abs flexed as he lifted himself enough to bring his mouth to her breast, his tongue sliding across her nipple. At the same time, he shifted her legs apart, so that she straddled him, and his hard cock pressed against her hot, tight core.

Her panties and his pants were the only things that kept him from sliding inside her. Even without penetration, her nerves sang at the exquisite pressure, and she found herself pushing against him.

He moaned as he sucked at her nipple, and hearing his expressions of desire made her even hotter. She arched toward him, pleasure ricocheting through her body, seeming to come from all directions. For a moment, all she could do was grip his powerful shoulders as her core throbbed so hard that it left her breathless.

“Treyjon,” she whispered, gripping him harder, fingernails digging into his taut skin.

“Yes?” he murmured, sucking her nipple, then sliding his tongue through the valley to the neglected one.

She lowered herself toward him, needing more from his tongue, more from him. He took her mouth in his then shifted his hips again, nudging her through her panties, hitting a new spot, blasting her with new sensations. She couldn’t keep from rocking into him. She was like some animal, responding purely to stimuli, not having any rational thoughts of her own. She could hear herself panting as she ground against him and arched into him at the same time, and thought she should feel embarrassed by her naked pleasure, her naked need. But she couldn’t help it. Everything felt so intense, so good. If only the clothes would go away.

As if he read her mind, Treyjon lifted her again, enough to slide her dress over her hips and push it down her legs. Once again, she was mesmerized by the play of his arm and chest muscles.

“So hot,” she whispered, and on impulse, she lowered her mouth to him.

She licked the warm skin of his pecs, tasting him, inhaling him. She loved the way those hard contours felt under her tongue. She found one of his nipples. Seeing that it was as hard as hers were, with gooseflesh pebbling his beautiful brown skin, made her feel powerful and desirable. It showed her that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

He’d been in the process of pulling her panties down, but he paused as she attended him, licking his nipple, then sucking it. She raked her fingernails down his sides as she reveled in his taste and texture.

“Angela,” he groaned, his voice husky with need.

“Yes?” she murmured, as he had, teasing him as he’d done her. His muscles were rock hard under her hands, rigid with restraint. “You like this?” she asked, sliding over to the other nipple as she reached up with her hand, pushing her fingers through his hair to dig her nails into his scalp.

He roared and rose up, almost tearing her panties down her legs. He held her with one arm, taking her breast in his mouth again as he tugged his own pants down. She would have laughed or remarked on his dexterity, but his free hand finished swiftly and returned to her, slipping between her legs, between her lower lips.

His thumb brushed her clit, and she gasped again, losing all capacity for words. She gripped the back of his head, powerless to do anything but pant and push herself against him, her breast toward his hot mouth and that deft tongue, her groin toward his equally deft fingers.

“Treyjon, please,” she heard herself whisper. She was surprised she could manage words. They came out so husky with need that she worried he wouldn’t understand. That he would keep stroking her without quite touching her fully in the perfect spot. If he did this much longer, she was certain she would die.

He glided past her clit and, for the first time, slid a finger into her. She throbbed so hard she could feel her blood pounding in her ears. She spread her legs for him, wanting so much more of him inside of her. But his finger touched her in ways no man’s penis ever had. He hooked it, finding a bundle of nerves she’d had no idea she possessed, and she came for him, pulses of pure pleasure coursing through her body.

She gripped his shoulders with shaking hands, as if she might fall off the bed if she let go.

He lifted her again, this time to lay her on her back. Still panting, she barely noticed and certainly didn’t protest. He shifted atop her, resting his weight on his elbows as he gazed down at her, his dark eyes smoldering with intensity. Her wits came together enough for her to realize that he was still waiting for his pleasure, that his hard cock throbbed against her thigh.

“I’m ready,” she whispered, shifting her legs apart again, wanting to give all of herself to him, wanting him to enjoy being with her like he’d enjoyed being with no other woman. She slid her hands along his shoulders to his arms, then ran them up his sides.

“Good,” he whispered back, his voice hoarse.

But he didn’t enter her yet. He smiled, kissing her again, nibbling and sucking at her lips. He wasn’t as hard and demanding as he might have been, considering she could feel his muscles rigid beneath her hands, the way he was trembling slightly with his restraint. She grew excited again by his powerful form above her, by the way he was so careful to make sure she was ready for him.

His thumb slipped between her lower lips again, sliding along swollen and needy flesh, and she abruptly went from wanting him to enjoy her to wanting to enjoy him again. She gripped his back with both hands, her breasts quivering as she writhed beneath him.

He watched her breasts and watched her as his thumb roused her all over again. Would he bring her over the edge without taking anything for himself?

Finally, his exquisite patience seemed to run out, and he growled, “I need you. Now.”

“It’s about fucking time,” she gasped out.

He grinned like a predator, then nudged her open with his cock. She laid her head back, spreading herself even further to accept him. That thick cock wasn’t quite as dexterous as his finger, but it filled her like nothing ever had, rubbing her deliciously as it pushed fully in. Then he was rocking, and waves of pleasure came over her with each thrust. She arched upward to meet him with each stroke, and she found his shoulders to hold on to again.

They could have kissed while they rocked together, but he gazed into her eyes, watching her to make sure she was all right with him. Or maybe just watching her because he found her hot. He did seem to drink her in as he rocked into her, but then his need built, and his pace quickened. He slid one hand down to her ass, cupping her from underneath, pulling her even more fully against him with each thrust. Sweat glistened on his chest, his muscles shifting under her hands as he dove in and out of her. His eyes grew unfocused, and his heavy breathing matched her own.

Already so primed, she came before he did, her body exploding with far more pleasure than she’d expected when she’d gone to him in sickbay. An invalid, he definitely was not.

She kept shifting with him, moving, feeling his thickness so hard, so ready.

Finally, he threw back his head and came into her.

Angela pulled him down atop her, pleased that he was the one whose muscles trembled now. She wrapped her legs around him, wanting to keep him inside her, wanting to claim him as her own.

“Mine,” she whispered, finding his throat with her mouth and giving him a possessive nip.

He chuckled and nuzzled her ear. “Yours,” he said agreeably. “You’re the woman I never knew I always wanted.”

She swallowed a lump that had come out of nowhere. She still couldn’t believe he was willing to come home with her. “Keep talking like that, and you’ll make me hot again.”

He shifted onto his elbows again, lifting his chest a couple of inches off hers. She tightened her legs possessively, not ready to let him go anywhere.

But he lowered his mouth for a kiss, not intending to go anywhere. “I want to make you hot again. Over and over and over.”

“I can’t wait,” she whispered.