Piper didn’t see much of him until the next day, and it was later in the evening when she did. He must’ve had to make up for the time he took off to care for her and the baby for the last couple of days, but he showed up promptly at the designated meeting time in his quarters to pick her up for the official function.

When he stepped in, she caught her breath. He’d clearly had a fresh haircut, and he wore his blue and white dress uniform, which was a sharp contrast to the normal utilitarian dark-gray uniforms Coalition employees typically wore. She had picked well, though hadn’t known what color to go with. She’d simply guessed he would wear his dress uniform and had selected the simple white sheath that showed only a moderately daring amount of cleavage, but hugged her burgeoning belly in a way that did nothing to hide her pregnancy.

They walked toward each other, but stopped a few feet apart. He seemed to be staring as intently at her as her she was at him. “You look amazing,” she said as her cheeks heated slightly. She wasn’t used to bestowing compliments or being so open with someone—especially someone who radiated so much heat through their gaze that it was having the effect of further stoking her own desire.

He closed the distance between them, putting his hands on her shoulders. “You look good enough to eat.”

Her blush deepened, but she didn’t betray her awkwardness when he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She turned her head at the last moment, capturing his lips fully against hers. When they pulled apart a moment later, they were both breathing heavily.

“I was trying to avoid smearing your lipstick.”

She grinned. “I can reapply it, and it’s well worth the effort for that kiss, but unnecessary. The stuff appears to be molecularly bonded to my lips with nanotechnology.” She was just kidding, but it was certainly some kind of long-lasting lipstick that supposedly wore away precisely eight hours after application.

“Are you ready?”

She took his extended arm. “You’re sure you want to do this? It’s kind of an official declaration of…”

“I’m sure, and of what?” he asked as he led her to the biometric door, which parted to allow them entry into the corridor.

“Of whatever this thing is between us.” Her stomach clenched with nerves, spurring the first surge of nausea she’d had in a few days, other than when she got so sick after accidentally ingesting the horg root.

“This is the beginning of us,” he said in a firm and decisive manner. “We have no reason to hide that, do we?”

She shook her head, causing one of the tendrils of dark hair she’d pinned to her head to escape its confines and float down around her face. He tucked it back behind her ear before speaking. “It’s just that Pippa was my sister, and I don’t want to hurt your career.”

“My career can stuff it. I’m not about to lose a chance at being happy just because some people might not approve of my private life.”

His words reassured her, and she clenched her fingers through his, holding tightly as they walked into the event room, which was filled with a mix of humans and aliens.

She caught sight of Hadley standing near the alien delegation, and she was sure her friend was a little closer to the one she thought was the prince than was probably appropriate. She made a mental note to talk to Hadley about it later as Weston led her into the room.

The first half-hour was spent making the rounds, including the prince, his advisors, and the ambassador, who was due to be stationed at Olympus Station after this mission. She was definitely picking up a vibe between Hadley and the prince, but seemed to be the only one aware of it.

They were moving through the room, and Weston was deep in conversation with the ambassador, so she fell behind a couple of steps to allow the illusion of privacy for their conversation. As she did so, a hand fell on her shoulder. She turned and frowned, trying to place the slim blond man who was touching her. She eased away, but plastered on a polite smile. “Do I know you?”

He puffed up a bit like a toad. “I’m Baxter Frink, Coalition Reproductive Board representative.” His gaze dropped to her stomach. “That is an unauthorized pregnancy.”

She glared at him as she took a step back. “My father ensured all the permits were transferred in a timely fashion.”

He sneered. “Your sister has a history of requiring backdated permits.”

Piper shrugged. “But I’m not my sister.”

His gaze cut to the commander, and his sneered deepened. “Are you sure about that? You certainly seem to be doing a good job of standing in for her in every way.” Suggestiveness in his tone was matched only by the lewdness of his expression for a moment.

It took everything she had not to slap him as she took a step back and turned away from him. His words stung, but they also angered her. In her heart, she knew Weston didn’t consider her any sort of replacement for Pippa. She was convinced he found her far superior to her sister, but there would be those who would make snide comments and instant judgments about the situation. She’d have to toughen up and grow a thick skin to overlook that, or give up Weston and whatever possibilities waited before them.

That wasn’t even an option, so she straightened her shoulders and stiffened her spine as she hurried to catch up with Weston and the delegation from Palos, the capitol of planet Jroj.

They spent the next hour talking before music played in the background. After the prince had invited Hadley to dance, Weston turned to her. “Do you feel like dancing?”

She nodded. “I’d love to.” She wasn’t as graceful as Pippa had been, but she could hold her own. The song was alien to her, melodic and yet somehow discordant every few notes. It was jarring, so the simplest thing was to sway lightly with him, trying to maintain a respectful distance. She wanted to melt against him, but resisted the urge, not wanting to embarrass Weston at an official function, or reveal her desire so blatantly to all the prying eyes.

When the song ended, he took a step back, looking regretful as he let go of her hand. Another woman, who appeared to be old enough to be Weston’s mother, stood nearby, clearly expecting to be asked to dance.

With a good-natured grin in his direction, she nodded to the woman and took a few steps back. After a moment, music resumed, and she made her way across the dance floor. She was almost to the edge of the perimeter when her shoe turned suddenly as the heel broke off. She slipped, but didn’t fall. With a muttered curse, she bent over to rub her ankle, and several gasps sounded around her at the same time someone cried out a warning.

Some instinct caused her to dip deeper rather than stand up, and a moment later, something heavy swished just above her head before landing in front of her with a crash.

She stared at the bar in front of her for a moment, which looked like smooth glass, though had to be some kind of composite material. It was heavy and durable enough to construct a good part of the station. Still reeling in shock, she looked up to where the bar should’ve been in the ceiling, but had dropped. If she hadn’t bent down to adjust her shoe, it probably would’ve hit her in the head. Had it done so, she would’ve certainly died under the crushing weight.

Stunned silence filled the room for minute, and then there was a chatter of voices as people pressed around her to check on her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Weston pushing his way through, not too gently in some cases, and approaching her. As soon as his arm was around her waist, she sank against him and let out a shuddering breath. “That was quite an adrenaline rush,” she said weakly. A few chuckles surrounded her, and she knew she had struck the right note to return the party to a more festive tone.

“Perhaps we should loan you some good Jrojan steel,” joked Ambassador Krill. Everyone in the vicinity gave a polite laugh.

She walked away with Weston, his arm around her waist as he led her back to their table, all the while ostensibly fully engaged in conversation with the prince and the ambassador. Pressed so close to him though, she could feel the tension in his body, and she shared it.

Part of it was fading adrenaline, which threatened to leave her weak, but the other part was just passionate need. For some reason, having come so close to an accidental death switched on her hormones, and she suddenly couldn’t wait to be alone with Weston. They might be rushing things, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

* * *

When they returned to his quarters, Weston had his arm firmly around her waist, and she was snuggled against him. He lifted a hand to the panel to allow them entry, and then they were through the door. Her stomach quivered, but it was purely nerves. He stood in front of her, his hands on her shoulders, but neither of them spoke. Was he as nervous as she was? That seemed impossible to believe, but she couldn’t deny he hadn’t made any attempt to take things farther.

Neither had she.

Taking a deep breath for courage, she moved closer to him, lifting her head in an unspoken invitation. She waited for a moment, letting her eyes close, but he didn’t kiss her. With a frown, wondering if she had misread his signals, she opened her eyes. “Is something wrong?”

He let out a shaky breath. “No. I was just thinking about how close I came to losing you, and it rattled me all over again.”

Piper nodded. “I know, but it was an accident that could have happened to anyone.” A thought teased at the back of her mind, but she had no patience to focus on anything besides Weston at the moment. “I’m fine. So is the baby.”

He nodded, his hand moving between their bodies to cup her stomach for a moment.

She put her palm over the back of his hand. “How do you feel about it?”

He clearly didn’t need clarification. “Excited. I know…strongly suspect…it isn’t mine, but I’m still excited. Pippa’s pregnancy was miserable for her and for me. She wouldn’t let me near her, even to feel Wesley kick, because she blamed me for impregnating her to start with. It was during that time she also revealed just how awful she really was, and I already knew I’d never been in love with her, let alone fallen out of love, months before Wesley was born. I made it work for him, and then I just stopped feeling or caring about much of anything besides Olympus Station after he died.”

Piper blinked back tears. “I’m sorry you were so unhappy then.”

He looked up from her stomach and into her eyes. “It was my own fault for being so gullible. If I had spent a little more time looking, I would have seen you back then. If I had, Pippa never would have registered on my radar.”

Piper bit her lip. “That’s sweet of you to say.”

His eyes narrowed. “But…?”

She shook her head. “Pippa was gorgeous. She was sculpted to perfection with a laser scalpel, or whatever. I was just as plain then as I am now. Even if you had realized I was alive back then, she still would have captured your attention.”

His face furrowed with a stern frown as he cupped her cheeks in his hands. “That isn’t true. I’ll admit her beauty was the main thing that drew me to her, but it was her perceived kindness that really got my attention. I suspect she was imitating how she’d seen you behave, because I don’t think there was a drop of genuine kindness in her otherwise.”

“It really doesn’t matter now. That was then, and this is about us. Isn’t it?” She hated how she betrayed her doubts with that question, but couldn’t help wondering if this was just a convenient relationship for him to drift into after years of celibacy.

Weston scowled. “You aren’t plain, and you aren’t a substitute, if that’s what you think. I thought we’d already established that?”

She lifted a shoulder. “It’s hard to believe a man like you—”

He made a scoffing sound. “A man like me? Please, Piper. I’m the fool who fell for your sister’s pretense and then didn’t care enough about anything to extricate myself. I was the man who spent most of his time working to avoid her and wasn’t there when my son died in a preventable accident. She wasn’t properly supervising him, but I wasn’t even there, because I wanted to avoid her. That’s the kind of man I am, and if anyone should be doubting their worthiness, it’s me. I don’t deserve someone like you after the nightmare of my past.”

She blinked again as warm tears scalded her eyes. It was instinct to move closer and wrap her arms around him, clinging tighter when he stiffened and tried to move away for a moment before his posture slowly relaxed, and he put his arms around her. “It was an accident, and you might not have been able to prevent him from falling over the rail even if you’d been with them. You can’t blame yourself for what happened to Wesley.”

He shook his head. “I know that in my head, but it’s different in my heart. If I had divorced Pippa, I would have spent more time with my son.”

“Or she would have found a way to make you suffer for divorcing her. Pippa was too good at that sort of thing.” She shivered for a moment, thinking about some of Pippa’s worst actions, before pushing those thoughts from her mind. “Are you ready to move on from the past, Weston?”

He didn’t hesitate to nod. “More than ready.”

“And you want to move on with me?” It took a lot of courage to ask those words, but she had to conquer her tendency to hide her emotions and avoid getting hurt if she wanted a future with him.

“More than anything.”

She closed her eyes and lifted her head again, giving him a second chance to kiss her. It wasn’t long before his lips settled on hers in a hungry kiss, and she melted against him. Weston pressed his lips to hers as his tongue surged into her mouth. His hunger was obvious, and she knew he needed relief if he was going to last.

He moaned a protest when she broke the kiss, but it turned to a husky groan that was somewhere between anticipation and protest as she sank to her knees. She ignored his tension as she unfastened his dress pants and stripped him to his knees in under a minute. He put a hand on her head, but she kept her gaze focused on his cock. “I’m just taking the edge off.”

With that explanation, she took him into her mouth and allowed instinct to guide her. She hadn’t done this before, but he seemed content with her technique. He jerked against her, his body shuddering, as she trailed her tongue down the underside of his shaft before focusing on the head. She stroked and sucked gently at first, but increased the pressure when his hips bucked wildly. With a groan that sounded tortured, he spasmed in her mouth before his cum hit the back of her throat. She swallowed and eased back, slowly disengaging from his sensitive erection.

He offered a hand and lifted her to her feet, pulling her against him for another long kiss. He didn’t shy away from his essence on her tongue as his plundered her depths, learning every niche and curve of her mouth.

When they broke apart, they both breathed heavily. He held her around the waist for a moment before picking her up and carrying her from the main area to his bedroom. She wrapped her arm around his neck and decided she fit perfectly against him, as though he was made just to carry her. It was almost physically painful to be parted from him a moment later when he placed her on the edge of his bed.

He was taking a moment to strip off his uniform completely, so she decided to do the same. The dress had a clever shoulder fastening, so she needed no assistance in removing it. She let it pool around her waist, leaving her torso bare, since the bra was in the dress. With a moan, Weston dropped to the floor between her legs, his gaze on her breasts. She looked down, entranced by his dark head against her fairer skin as he took a plump nipple into his mouth.

She hissed a breath through her teeth at the increased pleasure. Her breasts had swollen rapidly over the past couple of weeks to catch up with her pregnancy, leaving her tender and aching as he lightly licked her nipple. When he pulled back, she threaded her fingers through his hair in an effort to return him to sucking.

He laughed against her skin, but moved his head to her other breast, tasting her with the same slow appreciation he’d shown the first one. When he finally lifted his head, she was writhing on the bed and desperate for more.

Weston paused for a moment before he did anything else, though his hands cupped her hips through the dress that remained around her. “You’re so beautiful, Piper. Never think you’re plain. You’re natural and delightful. A man would be crazy not to want you.”

She dipped her head, feeling shy under the praise, but also buoyed by it. She didn’t look up again until he shifted, but it was only so he could pull down her dress. She lifted her bottom to assist the endeavor, and he laid it carefully across the trunk at the foot of the bed before returning to her.

“Stockings?” He was practically drooling as he ran his mouth up her calf. “Is that real silk?”

She laughed. “Of course not. Who could afford that, if there are even silkworms producing commercially any longer? It’s Puzlon fabric woven into a silk-like fabric.”

“It’s sexy, whatever it is.” His mouth moved higher as he kissed a line up to her inner thigh, moving closer to her core as he gently pushed her backward.

Piper made no effort to resist as she laid back, waiting for the moment when his mouth would caress her pussy. Instead, he bypassed the sensitive spot to kiss his way down her other leg, spending a moment rubbing against her stockinged calf with his cheek. “I’m beginning to think you’re making love to the stockings, not me,” she teased as she propped herself on her elbows to look at him.

He looked up at her with his eyes half-mast. “I just find it so sexy.” His hand moved between her legs to cup her mound. “Not as sexy as this.”

She moaned when he pressed his fingers against her cleft, using the Puzlon fabric of the panties to stroke her clit.

“So soft and silky.” His voice had a bit of a growl to it when he pushed aside the panties and found her skin. “And bare. Are you trying to kill me with desire, Piper?”

She laughed for a moment before his mouth stole her ability to do so. He fell on her like a starving man, his lips exploring her as his tongue swept through her heated slit. She was slippery for him, and he thrust his tongue inside her for a moment, mimicking the motions his body would soon make—if she survived this pleasure long enough to get that far.

He moved his mouth higher, so he could swirl around her clit, but two of his fingers pushed into territory that hadn’t been breached for a long while. It hurt for a moment, but she pushed through and was glad he was preparing her for his cock. Had he guessed how long it had been since she’d just decided to get it over with for her first time? There had been a couple of other clumsy attempts, but none satisfied her, so she had stopped trying. She was certain tonight wouldn’t end in a faked orgasm and awkward parting.

Weston flicked his tongue rapidly across her, making her spasm and cry out as she started to come. Her sheath was still convulsing when he lifted her off the bed and onto his lap. She thought about suggesting the bed instead, but was distracted by his cock slowly pushing inside her opening. She rocked against him, her stomach fluttering with need and pleasure as he gave her an inch of himself at a time.

“Oh, Piper, I’m not going to last long. You’re so tight.” He seemed to push the words through gritted teeth as he rocked his hips, lightly bouncing her on his lap and up and down the length of his shaft.

She panted an incoherent reply as she sank fully on him, taking every bit inside. She thrust against him, and his hands cupped her buttocks, holding her against him as they strained together. He was big and throbbing inside her, which set off a pulsing deep inside her. Her stomach tightened, and warmth spread through her as her climax crested. She clung tightly to him and buried her face in his shoulder as she started to come. In the moment, she wanted to shout her release and bit into his shoulder instead to muffle it.

He grunted, but it sounded like pleasure, and his cock stiffened inside her. A moment later, he gave in to his own release, filling her with his pleasure. “Piper…” Her name was a low moan on his tongue.

Abruptly realizing her teeth were still in his flesh, she pulled away and looked down. Piper winced at the teeth marks she’d left in his skin, but then a dark surge of satisfaction filled her. She had marked him, and he was hers.

They stayed like that for a long while, and she didn’t even try to keep track of time. It was too amazing to be on his lap, with his shaft still inside her. When she became aware of him hardening again inside her a short time later, she started riding him in a more leisurely fashion. It was going to be a long night, and she looked forward to every second of it.