STORY EXCERPT

She turned rigid as his lips covered hers. This is insane! Earthlings are not supposed to smear their vulgar kissing habit over my people—and most certainly not over me, because–becaws–bekarrrrrggh….

What demented magic was this? Had she not been made of flesh and bone two moments ago? Now she felt as boneless as jelly, as pliant as twine, and as brainless as an amoeba. Her foolish lips had parted and allowed his tongue to embrace hers, and all the while her heart boomed in her chest as if it wanted to explode through her rib cage and soar to the stars. She, who was afraid of nothing, trembled all over and yet it wasn’t fear that roared through her bloodstream, but something else, alien, yet wondrous in its intensity—something that was primal and nameless and more powerful than her higher rational mind. Dragon’s teeth! Oh, but she might die inside this blissful, wonderful kiss. And how mysterious that she’d lost all thoughts and awareness of everything else, even her own name and whereabouts.

The merest hint of the strange substance the humans called mint gel or toothpaste filtered through her senses as he drew back slightly and grazed her lower lip with his teeth. She moaned softly and arched her back. How might she have ever imagined before that the soft drag of his blunt incisors over her softened lower lip would be so insanely delicious? This kiss was like some weird foreign drug that had her soundly in its grip, and made her mind do strange things like lose her sanity. And just like a powerful drug, she wanted more and more and more. She wanted to submerge herself inside these sensations and never come up for air again.

Kissing, it seemed, disrupted gravity, for her eyelids were so heavy she could no longer hold them open, and her left thigh drifted off the gurney in an attempt to curve around his upper leg—and even her hand drifted back to his hair, floated crazily through space as if will and conscious control no longer held sway in this bizarre mini universe where nothing but the two of them existed. How long did a kiss last? She hoped it might be forever. Her blood simmered with inexplicable heat, and it occurred to her she’d never felt quite so alive. It was like she’d been half asleep every moment of her life before this. She could hear herself murmur his name against the warmth of his lips, like some foolish lovesick ninny, so hungry for their mouths to merge and their tongues to continue their sensual play—so desirous of much more than just the kiss. Could she have more than just a kiss with an Earth man? The possibility intrigued her.

This scene was out of control. The demands of his hands and mouth had made her panties damp, and her own hand shook madly as it slipped down his rib cage to his belt line and searched along the strange and unfathomable seams and joins of his alien clothes. Her back arched again in an attempt to push her body even closer into his as she struggled with strange clips and toggles that barely made sense—fastenings made on Earth like the man she tried to undress.

She was distracted from her fumbles by an odd tap at her shoulder. James also hesitated and broke their bodily contact. Cold air washed over her scorched lips as she glanced around to see what the blazes the interference was. She snarled an expletive in Xephon as one of the Earth technicians, Alain, came into her field of vision.

“Er, Captain—just thought I should let you know, your um…antics are being broadcast to the, er—the whole ship.” He shifted from one foot to the other, barely able to make eye contact with her.

What did he mean? Surely she’d misheard him? Was this a joke?

“The whole ship?” Her voice was a whisper. Was this some deplorable dream she was in? It felt so real.

“Er.” Alain looked uncomfortable. “The droid’s not programmed to recognize um—what you were, er, doing. It’s a Xephon made droid…I think it thought you were about to have, er, um, physical conflict, so it broadcast the scene over the security network—and the whole ship saw it.”

She sat bolt upright. Her face burned. Suddenly she was inside her worst nightmare. The whole ship had seen her kiss James Marsdan? The whole ship? She shuddered in horror. No, no, no! How could this happen? It must be an ugly dream. When was she going to wake up?

She glanced at the little camera above the droid’s exterior display screen and realized Alain’s explanation must be true. Her soaring heart came back to ground with a thump and sank all the way to her boots. James straightened, then plucked a loose bandage off the droid’s supply shelf and quickly wrapped it over the droid’s offensive camera lens.

“Well, I think the whole ship has seen quite enough for now,” he said, calmly. Blast him for his blasé attitude—the jerk. She wanted to hiss with anger, but bit her tongue instead. James didn’t have the same reputation to protect as she did. She hated to surmise what her own crew must think right now, even as her mind tortured her heinously with the thought of their gleeful smirks and sarcastic whispers.

“No need to get all whipped up about this,” James said. He reached out and touched her arm gently. What the hell did that Earth term mean? Whipped up? Wasn’t that something one did to cake mix or cream? What did it have to do with her? This whole situation was deplorable, and the reins on her temper suddenly snapped.

“Get off me!” She roared at him, and then jumped off the gurney and shoved his arm aside.