Page 59 of Collision!
In the blackout under the coverings, he closed his eyes when her fingers caught his.
“I already told you,” she said, her voice lower; she must’ve knelt beside his bed.“I helped you with the ghostform.”
“It was more than that.”He tightened his grasp on her when she trembled.“Why won’t you tell me more?”Abruptly he released her.“Did I…hurt you?”
“No!”She laced her fingers through his, and he knew she was risking the prick of his quill-scales.“You would never.I know that, but…”
When she hesitated, he used his free hand, not caring about his broken shoulder, to tear off the eye covering as he rolled toward her.
“Suvan,” she objected.
“Tell me,” he demanded.“Or are you lying about whatever I did to you?”
“I’m not lying.”Though she was still a blur, the indignation in her tone reassured him.She let out a shaky breath.“If anything, I was afraid of hurting myself.”
The confession shredded him more than an exploding capacitorus would have.“Why?”
“That ‘more’ you mentioned?I wanted that.”Her laugh was even shakier than her exhalation.“And I already know I am…a lot for most people.It’s why I left Earth.”
“Mariah—”
“No.I would never make demands, but you keep asking.”Was that an edge of anger in her voice?She tugged at her hand, and reluctantly he let her go.“We spent a night together.In the Intergalactic Dating Agency sense of together.And you were…very accommodating.”She trailed off into awkward silence.
Cursing the damage to his eyes, he peered at her, trying to bring her into focus.“Accommodating like Lub sharing a larf bone?”
She choked out a small laugh.“I would never askthatmuch.”
What had happened during that night?He longed for a capacitorus full of the memory restorative.He would bathe in it, drown in it to remember.
His quill-scales rippled in distress.“But it was…not enough?”
“You left,” she said simply.“After we talked and kissed, you made me feel…amazing.I hoped there would be more.I wanted much more with you.”
He struggled to grasp what she was saying, and yet he wanted it all.He needed to remember as much as he needed his next breath.
When he reached for her, he hesitated because he knew his aim was off.“Couldn’t you…remind me?”
She leaned in, enough that the spines on his knuckles tangled in her hair, and her dark, wide eyes finally came into focus.
Her mouth on his was soft and yielding, temperature and texture and an ephemeral sense-memory teasing him…before she pulled back, tugging his eye covering into place as she did so.
“You’ll remember, Chief,” she murmured.
If he didn’t, he wasn’t going to let that stop him.“Will you stay with me tonight?Just…together?”
He held his breath, as if by listening harder he could hear the answer he wanted.
“All right.”
He edged back against the bulkhead wall, gritting his teeth as the motion dragged at his shoulder.“It’s not much in terms of…accommodating,” he said apologetically.
He barely felt her weight on the cot, but the warmth of her filtered through his tension.His uniform was tough enough to protect her from most of his quill-scales, but he tugged Lub’s blanket up between them to cover his arms.
“I can’t hold you without hurting you.”His voice was rough.
“You can.You have.”
So close to him, the whisper of her breath danced across his lips.Like the flashcord burning to life, the sensation ignited a desperate need in him: to ask her to elaborate, torememberwhy she believed in him, to pull her closer and find out anew.
