Seven Days - A Space Romance Read online

  Well, almost, she told herself, thinking of his hair. Most soldiers wore theirs shaved down to the scalp so it’d fit under space-helmets with ease. As their two-month-long journey had gone on, Kaden had let his shaved hair grow out, and the black locks now tumbled over his forehead in an inky spill that Garcia had disapproved of, but Zoey’s fingers itched to touch.

  Not that she’d get the chance. They were going back tomorrow on the lifepod. Oh well. The batch of records finished updating and she typed in the sequence to upload to the nearest communication satellite.

  It paused, thinking, then came back with NO RESPONSE.

  Mystified, she punched in the sequence again and waited.

  NO RESPONSE.

  Zoey pulled off her ear buds, getting up from her seat. She frowned and went to the next terminal, sending a test message to the main comm link.

  NO RESPONSE.

  She flipped on the ship’s comm. “Hey, Garcia? Did you shut down the comm unit?”

  “Now why would I do a damn stupid thing like that, you little—”

  She shut down the link. Apparently Garcia was a bad drunk. Still, something was wrong. She couldn’t make it work. She sent another signal and watched it die again. Panic thudded in her chest and she pushed out of the science lab. “Dr. Nevis?”

  Kaden came around the corner, wiping his hands with a dirty towel. “Everything ok?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t send files to the comm relay. Garcia says he didn’t touch it. Have you seen Dr. Nevis?”

  He shrugged easily, those big shoulders moving. “Want the meathead to take a look at it?”

  She flushed, hesitating, then moved aside so he could enter the science lab. He brushed past her without his usual knowing smile and moved to her panel and typed in a sample sequence.

  Same response she’d received. He glanced at one of the other comm units, then pulled open the panel and began to check the wiring. “Everything looks to be in good order here. I’ll check down in the main engine room, just in case a wire got loose or something overheated.”

  A low rumble began, shaking the small craft. Zoey grabbed at Kaden’s arms, then retreated when she realized she was clinging to him. She brushed her hands down the front of her science officer uniform and then shook her head. “What was that?”

  Kaden’s mouth thinned into a grim line. “That fucking bastard.”

  As she watched, he raced out of the science lab and tore down the hall of the ship.

  What was going on?

  Zoey’s heart tripped and then she chased after Kaden as he raced down the main hall of the Alcestis, heading toward the berth of the ship. There were only two things in that direction—the engine and the lifepod...

  Oh god. She went to the nearest panel and leaned heavily against it, feeling weak. “Computer, give me a reading on the lifepod attached to this ship.”

  The system chimed. “I am sorry, Science Officer Maldonado. There is no lifepod attached to the Alcestis.”

  She would not scream. She would not scream. “Where is Captain Garcia?”

  “Captain Garcia is in the cockpit. Would you like for me to—”

  “What about Dr. Nevis?”

  “Dr. Nevis is no longer on board the Alcestis.”

  Damn him. He’d fucking left them there! She wanted to throw up. They’d had a chance for all of them to get out of here... and he’d left them?

  Why? Why would he do such an awful thing? He’d been acting cagey all morning, but hell, she’d been upset too. She thought he was just anxious, like she was. Instead, he’d been planning to abandon them the entire time.

  “Fuck!” Kaden shouted in the distance, and she abandoned the computer panel to locate him.

  She found him in the engine room, a mass of cut wires in his hand. He turned at the sight of her and raised it, furious. “That asshole cut all the communication cables. He took off on the only lifepod and cut our goddamned signal.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  He raked a hand through his tangled, too-long hair that she’d been daydreaming about only minutes ago. “Lifepods only carry enough supplies for a two-month window for four passengers. With only one person on board, he can extend it for four times as long, and we’re out here in fringe-space.”

  And if the Alcestis couldn’t send a communication back to the relay satellite, no one would ever know what happened. “He’s covering his tracks,” she said numbly. “He ditched us and ensured that we wouldn’t be able to tell on him.”

  “And he’s going to return home a fucking hero with some bullshit story about mutiny or something. And we’re fucking screwed. No one’s going to know what happened to us.”

  She stared at him.

  They were alone. In space. Trapped.

  And in seven days, they would be dead. All three of them. “Someone should go tell Garcia.”

  Kaden ran a hand down his face, shook his head. “He’s at the instrument panels. He already knows.”

  But she couldn’t leave it at that. She had to tell him face to face. Like a human. He deserved that much, didn’t he? So she turned and walked down the long corridor to the cockpit.

  The door to the cockpit was closed. Nice. He was probably passed out and hadn’t realized the gone-from-bad-to-worse news yet. She swallowed hard, feeling sick. They’d been abandoned. They were going to die here, out in fringe-space. Alone. Dead in the water. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the end.

  She pressed her thumb to the biometric reader and waited for the door to open again.

  It did a short moment later. And she stared, in horror, at the dead body of the captain. His military-issue blaster still hung out of his mouth, one limp hand curled around the trigger. His brains were splattered all over the control panel.

  And then it really, truly hit her. They were going to die.

  Zoey burst into tears and went to get Kaden.

  She was alone in space with the meathead.

  #

  As for Kaden, well, he’d taken the news better than Zoey had. Hell, as a soldier, he’d supposed his number would come up sometime. The closer he’d gotten to his discharge after sixteen years of service (now age thirty-two) made him anxious. He’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’d been lucky.

  Turned out, not so much. So here he was, on his last flight before biting the big one. It sucked, but he appreciated the advance warning. It’d give him time to wrap up a few things, send a vidpic to say goodbye to the parents at home.

  And damn. She’d fallen into his arms, sobbing.

  They were going to die.

  He rubbed his hand down her back and hated that when she burrowed closer to him, looking for comfort, he got hard. His dick was an asshole, no two ways about it. Kaden’d had a case of blue balls around her for the last two months, ever since she’d boarded the ship. She’d been lovely—small and curvy and totally forbidden. Normally he ignored science officers, but she’d taken one look at him and blushed beet red behind her creamy caramel skin, and he’d been fascinated.

  The last two months had been hell. Being around her and not being able to acknowledge that he wanted to throw her down over the mess hall table and fuck the hell out of her? Pure hell. Occasionally, he saw an appealing flicker in her eyes that told him she was thinking the same thing.

  He’d be damned if he had a week to live and he’d just sit here and hold her damn hand and stroke her back. Not fucking likely. If he had one week to live, he was determined to taste Science Officer Zoey Maldonado in his bed. At least once.

  Preferably two or three times. But he’d have to move fast. He hugged Zoey one last time and then pulled away.

  “Where are you going?” Zoey asked, wiping at her eyes, looking anxious. With good reason. The last person that had left her side had left her behind.

  “Gonna clean up the mess,” Kaden said. If all he had was seven days? He was going to spend it with her, making her as happy as he could. “So you don’t have to see it again. That was fucking
shitty of Garcia.”

  Zoey’s full mouth wobbled, and her big dark eyes looked up at him. “Thank you, Kaden,” she said softly.

  He gave her a brief nod and left the room.

  That Evening

  Kaden finished cleaning up the mess of Garcia’s corpse, jettisoned the body into space, and then sat down to examine the ship’s navigation records. He reset the course for the ship, pushing the dark matter throttle as high as it could go, aiming for Titan 34. He knew Zoey wanted to see the planet. She’d been so excited about it. He’d give her that much at least. They should make it there in about three days. She’d have a day or two to enjoy it before... well, the end.

  He thought about recording a goodbye for his mom and dad, but he couldn’t even do that, thanks to Dr. Nevis’s sabotage. Maybe he could fix the communications panel. Maybe. Kaden rubbed his forehead, feeling weary. Maybe tomorrow. He needed a distraction. Something to take his mind off the impending end of his life.

  Somewhere else in this ship, a pretty science officer was crying her eyes out. He hated that he couldn’t fix this for her. That was his job. When she needed something, it was up to him to provide it.

  Maybe he should... distract her.

  Kaden immediately shot down the idea. No way. XO and SO didn’t mix. He stared at the course he’d just plotted without really seeing the screen.

  What did it matter if they didn’t mix? They only had seven days left. What did he have to lose? He hesitated for only a moment longer and then activated his communication wristlet with an impatient tap. A keyboard shimmered on the nearest flat surface. He typed his message—three little letters.

  Sex?

  It was a risk, of course. She was so prim and proper and attached to by-the-book protocol that she might be horribly offended at his suggestion. But then again... she might not. He sent it to Zoey’s wristlet anyhow. The message would quietly beep until she answered it and then display the message.

  He waited a minute for her response. It came quickly.

  WHAT?

  He grinned to himself, imagining her outraged expression. Been a long time since I’ve had sex, is all, he sent back. And I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a distraction right now.

  So you need entertainment and I fit the bill?

  Something like that. More like, do I want to die with blue balls after imagining how gorgeous you’d look naked for the past two months? It’s all I’ve been able to think about.

  Silence.

  Admit it. You’ve thought about me naked, too.

  Still more silence. He was losing her.

  Come on, he sent, daring. It’s no strings attached. We’re both stuck in the same shitty situation and I don’t want to spend my last days alive watching sad holovids and waiting for the end. If I’ve only got seven days left, I want to live them.

  She hadn’t responded, but he knew what she was thinking. She was either completely furious at him and wouldn’t talk to him for the rest of the time they had left... or she was considering his offer. He let her think for a minute longer, then sent one last line of text.

  So... sex? I guarantee I’ll make you forget where you are.

  He paused, waiting for her answer. Hoping.

  His wristlet dinged. She’d responded.

  Be at my quarters in a half hour.

  Hot damn, it had worked. Zoey was about to be his. Kaden grinned just as the computer panel in front of him lit up.

  Trajectory of flight path completed, it said. Route to Titan 34 mapped. Potential objects at risk of entering flight path. Would you like to review? Y/N.

  It was standard stuff, every computer designed to scan the flight path for items that might hit the ship so they could work around them.

  He clicked YES.

  The list of space debris popped up on his screen. Rocks, tiny asteroids, an old satellite. One of the junk ships from Titan 34 was scheduled to drift very close, though. USS Cephalon. That was one of Zoey’s ships. It looked surprisingly whole for a junker. Out of curiosity, he entered the name into the ship’s log and ran a query.

  ...and felt a sliver of hope at the results.

  Hope that he kept carefully close to himself, even as he launched a probe to the Cephalon. In twenty-four hours, it would be close enough to give them a full-on diagnostic of the Cephalon. And his hope might be something, might be nothing. No sense in getting Zoey excited about things until he was absolutely sure.

  And for now, he had a date.

  #

  When Kaden tapped on Zoey’s door, he half expected her not to answer it. But the door had fallen open so quickly that he’d stumbled into her small quarters.

  Smooth, Aziz. Smooth.

  He righted himself before he fell on her. The quarters of everyone on the ship were a tight squeeze, since it wasn’t anticipated that they’d be spending too much time in their bunks. The room was the size of an earth walk-in closet, with the bed tucked along the wall, just deep and wide enough to be comfortable for one sleeper. A small closet had been built into another wall for her things, and the room was charmingly clean and bare for the small space, unlike his own messy room.

  Zoey stood in the center of the room, her feet bare on the floor, her long, silky black hair down around her shoulders. She shook her head and glanced at the shut door. “I think this is a mistake, Kaden—”

  His hands slid to her waist, and her words cut off. He tugged her body against his, allowing her to feel the thickness of his erection—already hard as steel—in his pants. “How is this a mistake?” he asked, giving her a teasing little grin.

  “You’re crew. I’m crew,” she began, her amber eyes wide. “XOs and—”

  “I know how it goes,” he said, interrupting her. “So I’m crew. Not for much longer, if you catch my drift. So I don’t see any reason why we can’t do this. No one’s going to ever know, or care... except you and me.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, wringing her hands anxiously. “I can’t stop thinking about the solar flare and the storm.” Her breath hitched, as if she was going to start crying again.

  “Fuck all that,” he growled low, pushing forward until he had her pressed against the closet. His bulk pinned her to the wall and he circled his hips, pushing against the juncture of her thighs. Such a sweet spot, that. “You need a distraction, and that’s why I’m here.”

  She watched him with wide, fascinated eyes. When her gaze dropped to his mouth, he knew she was interested.

  But he had to be sure. “So... yes?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, and he leaned in and kissed her.

  As she leaned into his kiss, she broke away and gave a watery laugh, as if on the verge of tears again. “This seems ridiculous.”

  He wasn’t deterred, tugging on the tight, smooth ponytail of her hair. Her dark, loose curls spiraled down in a thick tail and he tugged on it, pulling her head back and exposing her neck. She did as he’d silently commanded and he leaned down to lick at her throat. Beautiful. “Not ridiculous.”

  Her hands dug into the undershirt he wore, curling in the thin fabric. “We’re going to die in seven days. We shouldn’t be thinking about sex.”

  “This is exactly the time we should be thinking about sex,” he said, pressing a kiss to her collar. Her uniform was still zipped high. That’d have to change. “You’ve heard about soldiers going into battle, right? The night before, they get their freak on.”

  A giggle escaped her throat. “Their ‘freak’ on?”

  “Flat-out orgy,” he agreed, pressing a kiss to her neck. At her sigh of delight, he went back to tugging at that zipper. “When I heard we were going to die, the first thing I thought was that I wanted to be with you.”

  A shiver trembled through her body. “What about rescue?”

  “There’s no rescue,” he rasped, forcing the zipper down. “We’re stranded out here. Garcia wouldn’t have blown his brains out if he’d thought there was a chance.”

  Her entire body trembled again, and h
er throat worked. Shit. He looked up at her pretty face, those expressive, wide dark eyes shining with tears. His hand went to her chin and he cupped her face. “I can’t change that. But I can make these the best seven days you’re ever going to have. Understand?”

  She leaned into his hand and gave him a tremulous smile. “Show me, then.”

  He leaned in and kissed that smile. Her lips parted sweetly against the pressure of his mouth and his tongue slicked in. He wanted to possess her, override and overwhelm her senses until she could think of nothing but him. Nothing but his body over hers, possessing her, claiming her. Making her forget their upcoming fate.

  He had a goal, and Kaden Aziz always did best with a goal. He was single-minded when he needed to be. It was one of his best qualities. He wasn’t the smartest guy in the Corps, or the most clever, but he was the most dogged when he had something worth fighting for. And Zoey was worth fighting for.

  She moaned low in her throat at his possessive kiss and he intensified it, thrusting his tongue into her mouth even as he thrust his hips against hers, a tease of what was to come. Her entire body trembled against him and then she was wrapping her arms around his neck, her tongue rubbing along his.

  Just as sexy and passionate as he’d imagined. He almost wanted to smile, but his dick was too hard in his pants. Her zipper now gaped open attractively, exposing her bronzed skin to his gaze. Flawless. He wanted to run his fingers all over it. He would run his fingers all over it, now that he had a chance. Tonight—every night for the next six—he was going to take his sweet time with her body.

  His fingers went to her navel and dipped against her skin. She gasped against his tongue and her knee lifted. He hitched it against his hips, encouraging her to wrap her leg around him. When she did, he thrust against her again, his cock grinding against her pussy and the layers of clothes separating them. He pressed a light kiss to her mouth, his gaze on her amber eyes.