“I didn’t know that you and the doctor were together. I’m sorry. Me practically clinging to you is probably why she was so pissed off when she gave me the shots. I could see it in her eyes. She’s seriously peeved off at you and when you get back to your quarters, tonight she’s probably going to lay into you.” Holy crap that meant she would have to let him go. Dammit. “Unless I can talk you into staying with me and keeping me company?” Oh hell no. She did not just say that. “Oh God. Please ignore that.” Okay, the full-body scan was clearly going to come up with the fact that she had lost her fucking mind on this trip. She didn’t cling. She didn’t need to hold a man’s hand for a physical. And she certainly didn’t poach another woman’s man.
She felt his body shaking against hers before a low chuckle finally emerged. “Samantha. The doctor and I are not a couple. Never have been, never will be. I don’t know what may have pricked her anger, but she is normally moody from the reports I’ve read from the commander of this cruiser. Chevon puts up with her because she’s one of our best doctors. So put your concerns aside that you have stepped on her toes.”
“Oh thank God,” Samantha said and relaxed against Petr. “I just…” She hesitated, then sighed. “I assumed. Something I know better than to do. I just assumed you guys were a thing because of her hostility toward me and the way she kept looking at our hands joined. I just couldn’t let you go. I don’t understand it, at all, but in the space of seconds I’m doing things I have never done before. I’m clinging to you. I’m freaking when I can’t touch you, and it feels so weird. All of it. The way you smell, the small electrical shocks I felt when you touched me for the first time. It’s all so weird, but so familiar, and that just doesn’t make sense. I don’t know you from anyone, but deep inside I feel I do. I swear I am normally not like this. I … I think maybe I’ve lost my mind.”
“Shh,” he whispered. “Slow your breathing down, Samantha. You are panicking for no reason. I’ll explain everything once we are somewhere private and secure. And after we have you settled in for some rest. Maybe something to eat, too, once I can access the medical file to make sure you have no allergies to any of our foods. For now, focus on your breath. In and out. Slow it all down, and be calm. You’re safe here, Samantha.”
She nodded and focused on her breathing, then closed her eyes and concentrated on the beating of his heart. She found that her heart was trying to beat the same rhythm his was. That was so weird. She trusted him. If he said he had an explanation, she believed him. Christ, she trusted him and had met him like a minute ago. What the hell was wrong with her?
“You’re thinking too hard, Samantha. Calm your mind, little one.” They were in another elevator for a minute. Then he headed down another corridor to a door that slid open when he put his eye to a scanner. The room looked much like a hotel, with some differences, but it was oddly comforting. Right up until he went through to the bedroom and what she assumed was the bathroom. Petr carried her into what Sam could only guess was a shower stall. “Two minutes, deep-tissue cycle,” he said.
She felt it then, the sonic waves, and bit back a moan. “Oh,” she said on a long, drawn out sigh. “So good.” That felt fabulous, the waves over her body. The deep tissue was almost like a massage. At the end of the two minutes, she felt clean as well as relaxed. How strange. Even the bits of clothing she had left on her body felt clean. The t-shirt and panties she had been in cryo-stasis in were ratty and likely would fall apart if she tried to clean them, but the sonic waves had felt wonderful and cleaned her body and clothes. When the cycle was over, he carried her back to the bedroom. He set her on the bed, then stretched out beside her. She was facing him now, with their hands joined between them. “I was just thinking it was odd that my heart was beating the same beat as yours, also thinking of how odd it was that I was trusting you so much after only meeting you. Do you have women falling over you all the time like that?” His gaze moved over her face, then his lips kicked up in a slight smile. “Thank you for your jacket, too, by the way.” She was still wearing it, but he didn’t seem to mind. He fell silent for a time, studying her.
Lifting a hand, he brushed his fingers against her cheek. “Would you like a change of clothing?” he asked. When she hesitated, he sighed. “You’re nervous around me, which is understandable, because you don’t know me yet. But don’t be, Samantha. I already told you that you’re safe here. This is my word, my vow, my promise to you. We have a lot to discuss, but I think you need to rest first. What I have to tell you is … complicated.”
She nodded and scooted closer to him. “I would like a change of clothing, if you don’t mind.” She chewed her lower lip while she watched him. After a moment, she confessed her fear to him. “Cryo-sleep isn’t what we were told. We were told that there would be blissful oblivion, but that’s a lie.” She looked down and found herself stroking a marking on one of his hands. “It’s a living nightmare,” she told him softly. “For God only knows how long, I had nightmares. I’m honestly more afraid of going to sleep and dreaming again than I am of anything else.” She had been trapped in the nightmare and unable to wake. It had been hellish. “And for the first time I’m without fear and it’s all because I’m touching you. I don’t understand it, but I can’t question it. I know I’m safe with you, but it’s more than physically safe.” She touched her finger to his chin. “It’s mentally, too. I know how crazy that sounds but it’s true. I feel like you are my anchor in the tsunami of memories of those nightmares.”
He captured her hand and lifted it to press his lips to her palm in a gentle, warm kiss. Stroking the pad of his thumb to the spot, he stared at her. “The mind is never truly at rest, even in the deepest sleep. Only time will heal the wounds from such a traumatic journey. One day, though, it will happen. Now, let me get something for you to change into. I’ll stay with you, Samantha. You don’t have to be afraid to go to sleep.” Petr squeezed her hand before sitting up. He went to a wall, where he pressed a hand to it. The panel slid to the side, revealing a military-neat closet. He opened one of the drawers and turned back to her with some items in his hands. “I can turn my back, or I can step out into the other room.”
She shook her head. “I trust you,” she told him, and once his back was turned she took off her top first, then put on the new shirt. She stood, her legs shaking as she did so, but she did it all the same. She braced her hand on his back and slipped her panties off, then pulled on the shorts he had given her. She sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at him. “I’m dressed.” His jacket lay on the bed beside her and she held her clothing in her hands. “I think these need to be burnt,” she told him with a small smile.
Nodding, he pulled the jacket off the bed and went to hang it up. He then took her old clothing and moved to another wall. With the press of his hand, he opened another panel that he dropped her clothes into. Returning to the bed, he sat to take his boots off. Tucking them away, he grabbed some other clothes from the cupboard. He lifted a brow at her, and with a single finger and an amused look he indicated she should turn around.
She moved so that she was lying on her side on the bed. She yawned as he tugged at the bedding, and she wiggled and moved so she was under it. When his arm closed around her waist and pulled her close, she sighed. “God that feels so right,” she confessed and closed her eyes. “I don’t understand it, but I’m going with it,” she said with another yawn.
“I swear to you I will tell you everything, little one.” He slipped his other arm under her head, drawing her in even closer to his body. His breath was warm on her neck. “Sleep, Samantha. I will be here if you need me, if the dreams become too much. You are safe, sleep.” His lips brushed against her shoulder.
She was drifting on the edges of oblivion, allowing his heat to surround her, to lull her into dreams. Real sleep and not a medically induced coma from cryo-sleep.
Chapter Three
When she woke up, it took her a few seconds to come to grips with what was happening. The bed
under her was comfortable. It curved to her body like a memory foam mattress from back home. The man beside her shifted slightly. “Petr?” And that fast everything went rushing back into her brain. Memories from cryo-sleep, memories of waking, and the madness in Dillon’s eyes as he took two lives.
She curled into Petr and sniffed several times. “Oh God, he killed those men.” Yeah, that was yesterday and this was today, but she could still mourn the loss of life. “Have your men found him yet?” She didn’t know how Dillon would be able to hide from Petr’s men on what was left of their craft. There simply wasn’t enough of it left.
As fast as her questions came, however, so did the rumble of her stomach, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten real food in a very long time. “Sorry, I think we should eat before the whole ship hears my stomach rumbling.”
He stroked a hand down her arm, the action settling some of her nerves. “I’ll see what the reports say from the end of the shift. Hopefully, it will give us some answers. I have to check your medical review before ordering food, but I will have something brought up for us once I know what it says.”
She nodded, then looked up at him and watched him for a moment. “You were going to tell me something last night, but I fell asleep on you.” Again she found herself reaching for him, his touch soothing. “Why do you comfort me so much? What have you done to me?”
Petr cupped her face to stare into her eyes. “I will explain everything while we eat. When you’re ready, come out to the other room. We’ll talk, we’ll eat, and I’ll give you all the answers you want. Take a deep breath, Samantha. You have no reason to panic. It will all make perfect sense.”
She took a deep breath, moved to the side of the bed, and looked toward the bathroom. “Okay, the toilet. Is there anything about using it that I should know?” Because now that she was moving she needed to pee and had no freaking clue if this craft’s bathroom was different than the one on her ship.
“Sit, attend to business, and stand. It self-cleans once you move your weight off,” he told her. “Don’t sit back down or you could end up stuck. If it fails for any reason, there is a small button on the far side nearest the sonic shower you can press to activate the cycle. I won’t be far. Call out if you need me.”
“Right, okay. Thank you.” She could see her getting her butt stuck to the toilet and having to call him to come in and help get her unstuck. Why not? She had done everything else in the world that was backward with this man. “If I don’t come out in five, come check on me?” She was shaking as she stood there, but she stood, so that was a huge improvement from the previous day. “I’m going to have to do so much work to get my butt back into shape.”
He frowned and looked her up and down. “Your butt, as you call it, appears to be perfectly fine. Go, the sooner you are done the sooner we can start our talk and I can answer your questions.”
After she did her business, she looked at what she assumed was a sink and held her hands there. “Okay, Petr, I think I need help,” she called out. Jesus, she was being reminded just how out of her time she was. The door slid open to reveal him standing there. “How do I wash my hands?” she wanted to know.
“Sink on, one minute,” he said. The water came on in a thin stream. “Sorry, Samantha. You have me forgetting too easily you are not from this time,” he told her while she washed her hands. Petr lifted a thin towel from the hook near his shoulder to hold it out to her.
“I keep forgetting, myself,” she admitted, drying her hands. “I feel like I’ve known you all my life, as if I’ve been here all my life. So strange.”
He lifted a hand to brush his fingers over her cheek. “Not really. It will make more sense to you soon, Samantha. Come, the food will be here soon. And your crewmate has been found and detained. He’s in one of the cells, with two security officers on duty in the room and three in the hall.”
“Thank goodness.” She let out a relieved breath. “He’s completely crazy. Please don’t let him out. I can’t prove it, but I thought that he had killed one of our crew before we were forced into cryo-sleep. I had ordered the man that had stayed out of cryo to wake me before him because I needed to go over the tapes to prove myself either wrong or right, but yeah.”
“The crew is working to retrieve all data from your craft. It’s slow going because our systems are not compatible. They are taking their time to make sure they don’t destroy anything inadvertently. Hopefully, you will soon have the answers to those questions from the flight.” A soft chime sounded. “That will be our food.” Cupping her cheek, he left his hand there a moment before letting it fall away when he moved through the bedroom into the outer sitting room. Sam heard the door slide open, a soft exchange of words. Then the door slid shut again.
She walked out to the outer rooms where Petr was waiting and took a seat. “Whatever that is, it smells so good.” Her stomach rumbled with hunger, but she knew she would have to go slow or risk making herself sick.
He set a glass before her. “The doctor recommended you drink one of these before every meal. It will help to fill some of the space up while not overwhelming your system. It will also help you digest our foods until you become accustomed to them. Nothing in them should harm you, but I have a kit on standby in case you have a rare reaction. Our scans and testing is extremely thorough, but even we can miss something small.”
“Thank you.” She accepted the glass and took a drink. It was sweet but not overpoweringly so. She took another sip and licked her lips. “This is very good. If the food is this good I see myself getting bigger than a house.”
Petr was wearing the frown again. Sam was beginning to realize it was his confused face. “These are a variety of fruits from some of the worlds we recently stopped at to visit,” he told her, pointing out items on the large platter before her. “Some different vegetables. This is a dough based item with a tart filling we commonly have for our first meal of the day, and these are dried bread. We dip them into these containers of pastes and sweet sauces.”
She looked at the bounty before her, then looked at him. “I’m sorry. I keep using slang terms that I used back when. I don’t mean to confuse you all the time, I promise.” She gestured toward the food. “Will you eat with me? Show me which ones you like?”
“I want you to be yourself, Samantha. You don’t need to change for me. Not now, not ever.” He gave her a small smile. “As to my favorites, they are all on this dish. The dining officers are attempting to impress me during my stay so that I give the crew a recommendation. They don’t really need to bother. I’m already impressed by all I’ve seen of them.” He lifted one of the dough pockets and held it out to her. “These are a weakness of mine.”
“So this isn’t your ship?” she asked, then took a bite of what he gave her. “Oh, this is very good.” She all but moaned in delight. “So if you’re not the captain, who is? You have to be a high-ranking officer for the crew to bow to you as they do.” She found herself leaning closer to him, her knee touching his.
“This is not my cruiser, no. It’s one of six training crafts for the new officers who come out of officers’ school. They go through six years of rigorous studies and drills before doing two years on a ship like this. Out here they gain real experience in the field while under the watchful eye of their training officers. Chevon is the best, and all the new officers vie for a slot here. My position as a fleet admiral, the highest rank still allowed in the field, garners me the crew’s respect, nothing more. We were on route to meet up with my cruiser when we received the sensor data from our border about your vessel.”
Sam nodded, then said, “So … do you want to talk to me about why I need to touch you?”
Wiping his hands, he put some fruit onto one of the small plates and passed it to her before filling the second one for himself. “I can only give you the facts as they are, Samantha. What you do with the data is up to you. My people, the Imarians, give off a pheromone that is meant to call to our other half. We don’t know why, but it on
ly activates, according to our scientists, when someone our primal brain recognizes as a fitting mate is registered. You are likely feeling the effects of the pheromone. Again, according to our scientists, it’s used to draw the other individual in until they either give off their own in acceptance or one that repels it. Apparently the brain registers whichever one it happens to be.”
Well, that was a surprise. She just looked at him, completely shocked that he was telling her this. “And do you feel what I feel?” she asked softly, reaching out to touch him again. She might seem to be absolutely crazy but Samantha had always been one of those women who grew up in a family of people who simply believed in what they felt when they felt it. And what she felt for him was soul deep. It was intense and sudden but she recognized it for what it was—a feeling that she’d never had before but one that she was going to embrace with every fiber of her being. “Do you feel the same way I do? The need to touch me? The need to be close?” He nodded, and she leaned into him again. “And what happens when you get to your ship? Will you take me with you?” She hoped so because she didn’t want to be alone in this strange world. “Or will I have to go off alone without you?”
Petr immediately lifted a hand to cup her cheek. “Samantha.” He said her name like a caress, his voice deeper, more sensual. “If you’re willing, I would take you with me when we get there. The idea of letting you go, letting you out of my sight for more than a moment, has every baser instinct screaming for blood. We may be more technologically advanced, but we are still mortal beings governed by a brain that not even our scientists have fully figured out.” Leaning in, he brushed his lips to her own, back and forth. “Will you come?”
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