Fusion (Crimson Romance) by Candace Sams Page B

to fluff their hair in the breeze to dry it. He stretched his arms above his head and saw her attempting to hide a grin. Her gaze moved over his body and she shook her head.
    “Is something wrong, Sergeant?”
    “I was just thinking that you wouldn’t like that Condorian admiral’s attention, sir. I mean … if you’d gone in by yourself and assuming he didn’t kill you on site … you’d be his boy-toy, his tool, his mattress monkey, his — ”
    “I get the point!”
    She lifted one hand and shrugged. “Sorry, sir.”
    “If you’re really sorry, then why the continued smirk, Sergeant?”
    “To paraphrase something I recently heard … I’m just sick that way, sir.”
    “Talk about double standards … look … just keep your thoughts to yourself and lie down. I’ll let you pick your side of the blanket.”
    “What happened to using no titles …
sir
?”
    “It’s habit. And it’s one that’s hard to break when you keep addressing me by
my
rank … so stop it!”
    She suppressed a grin once more. “Yes … Soldar,” she quickly responded while plopping on the soft blankets.
    The sudden use of his name — yielded from such soft, sweet lips — was unnerving.
    Even someone’s thoughtfulness in providing them with assorted large blankets didn’t make his bed comfortable. Nothing would be comfortable again. Not as long as this beautiful fighter was lying within arm’s reach. And not as long as he kept thinking of the so-called act they were supposed to provide aboard a pleasure ship.
    He plopped next to Lyra and exhaled noisily. It took everything he had to put his mind on sleeping and off the soft-looking body next to his. The woman was only an arm’s length away. Soon, they’d be doing a great deal more than resting together, and that sensual thought had his body, particularly his cock, responding with vigor.
    The air needed to be cleared while they had time. He was pretty damned sure this Earther had never heard about a Craetorian male’s body since she’d admitted to never having seen his race before. What gossip she may have gleaned might be incorrect. “Uh … Lyra … I think there’s something you should know.”
    She turned her head toward him just as he turned his toward her. “Yes?”
    “It’s none of my business how … experienced … you may or may not be. But a Craetorian male has sexual organs that are somewhat differently shaped. My people are taught these variations from puberty — ”
    Lyra suddenly leaned over and put her fingertips over his lips. “Don’t. Don’t tell me anything. If we’re billing ourselves as a couple who likes to perform together, I should already know this.”
    He gently removed her fingers but kept them in his grasp. “But you don’t. That’s the point.”
    “And that’s what will help me act spontaneously. I have to behave as though you and I have never been together, and that your making love to me is the most wonderfully, fulfilling experience of my life. That’s what will make our performance so appealing. That’s our act. It’ll be easier if I don’t know too much. You get it?”
    He briefly closed his eyes and smiled. “I suppose that makes some kind of twisted sense. But you really ought to know that — ”
    “Shut up! I don’t want to know. Not unless our bodies are incompatible. But even if I couldn’t get you inside me, I’d still find some way to have intercourse so we could pass ourselves off as a sex act,” she insisted. “I won’t sleep with a Condorian. I mean it!”
    “Lyra … your point has been made.”
    She sighed heavily. “I sound panic-stricken. I know I do, but I’m not. Don’t pay too much attention to me right now. I’m tired.”
    He tried to lighten their mood. “You know … there’s a slight chance, however infinitesimal, that we might be successful, and may have a chance at arresting the Condorian contingent on this ship.”
    “Keep dreaming, sir … Soldar,” she quickly corrected while