Bytes of Passion

Chapter 9

Skylar started a fresh screen on her data pad and continued drawing the images before they could fade from her memory. Once they reached Quintero Station, she could hack into the local security database and 'borrow' their facial recognition software. While her artistic skills were only fair, they were sufficient for the software to make a match. The fact that she knew that worried her almost as much as the faces she'd been seeing in her dreams.

She ignored the knock at her door. Teegan was being persistent, coming around every few minutes with another excuse to draw her out of the cabin. Locking the door wouldn't keep him out forever, not if he really wanted to get in.

"I'm gonna start taking your refusal to come out of there personally, Princess," he called through the door.

Why did he have to call her "Princess" of all things? She'd already told him she was a space rat, a kid abandoned on a space station, condemned to a life in the lower levels with no place to go unless she took a job in one of the topless bars on the station, or worse, as a 'personal hostess' in one of the seedier hotels. Nothing about her was even remotely princess-like. Her looks and figure were decent enough, she supposed, but those were hardly qualities to admire, qualities she had control over.

"Coffee," Teegan said from the hallway.

She wiped the tears away and opened the door. Sure enough, he was holding a steaming cup of coffee in her favorite mug, the one that looked like a crushed can. The can reminded her of her meals in the lower levels of Quintero, when Mac and Duster and she had been together. The three of them had been dirty, hungry, and cold more often than not, but never alone or bored. They'd had each other.

"Thanks," she said, accepting the cup and taking a sip. Liquid gold warmed her throat while the mere presence of the man before her warmed other parts. The man sure knew how to make coffee, and he knew how to make her insides flutter with that stupid, adorable grin of his.

"I bet you bribe all the girls with coffee."

He waved a casual hand and flashed the sexiest smile she'd ever seen. "Only the pretty ones."

Pretty? That was sweet, but Teegan was a charmer when he wanted something. Like now. She walked towards the galley, as it seemed the only direction she could go. The thought of him in her cabin, with the bed dominating much of the cramped room, led to more thoughts about what they could do with one another. Ever since that heated kiss yesterday, her entire body was very aware of his, too aware. When she stopped suddenly, he sidestepped gracefully, easily avoiding crashing into her. She wished she'd had his grace, then that would justify his calling her 'Princess.'

"Why did you lure me out of my room?"

The corners of his mouth lifted. "I was lonely."

"I thought you don't get lonely," she said, reaching into the galley and setting the mug down.

His breath tickled her ear as he leaned over her from behind. Something about having him behind her sent a shiver down her spine, but in a nice way, reaching all the right places. His finger edged along her arm, over the slight bumps of the needle Ephrams, as if they weren't there. They didn't bother him, but they bothered her. Why didn't the tracks bother him?

Because he was only interested in sex, she told herself as she moved her hand away. His hand fell to her side, quickly finding another target as they started drawing small circles along her ribs. The man spent most of his time cooped up in this small craft, and despite his claims of enjoying his solitude, men changed their tune when their primal sides awoke. From the way his thumb was caressing the side of her breast, his primal side had more than awoken; it was shifting into full gear.