Seven Days - A Space Romance Read online

  By the time she cleared the asteroid and returned, she was relieved to see that the compressor had gotten wedged into the hull of the Yokohama. Kaden was still hooked to it, his movements jerky as he tugged at the tether. Well, this made it easy for her. She moved up slowly, waving her arm so as not to startle him. Damn, she wished she could radio. He wasn’t looking in her direction at all. Again, as she watched, he gave another angry jerk of the tether. The compressor was just pushed between two stationary pieces of debris—it’d be simple to free it. Why was he fixated on the tether? She kept waving as she crossed the distance back to him, but he wasn’t looking her way.

  Finally, she made it back to Kaden’s side and touched a glove to his shoulder.

  He jerked around in surprise, nearly sending her spinning again, and she clung to his arm.

  The look he gave her was white-faced, stark. His helmet was fogged with condensation from panicked breath, the whites of his eyes huge. Oh, Kaden.

  “I’m here,” she yelled in her helmet, and then gestured at the radio. “I can’t hear anything.”

  His face was tight, his mouth compressed into a tight line. He simply stared at her, and she didn’t know if he was going into shock, or furious.

  She gently moved to the far side of the compressor, moved the debris blocking it, and released it. It began to drift free again and she resumed her old position behind it, only to have Kaden come to her side and grasp her in his arm, hauling her against him.

  She didn’t fight him; she couldn’t communicate, so fighting him would just cause problems. And she said nothing when he set his boot-thrusters on high, speeding them recklessly close to Alcestis. Something was wrong. Was he low on oxygen? She bit back her worry, knowing it’d do no good. She couldn’t ask, after all. Her comm link was dead.

  They made it back to the Alcestis without incident (nearly careening past in their speed, Zoey noted, but said nothing) and they quickly tethered the compressor to the grav-lines outside of the docking bay and hauled it into the cargo hold. Then they went to the portal and waited for the air to re-pressurize before opening the door and moving back into the interior of the Alcestis.

  No sooner were they inside the ship and everything back to normal than Kaden was clawing at his helmet. He ripped it off and flung it across the room and then ripped at hers. She pushed at the fastenings quickly, eager to talk to him. His face was so pale, so grim.

  “Are you okay?” she asked as soon as her helmet was off and she could throw it across the room.

  He grabbed her by the cheeks, planting his gloved hands on the sides of her face—the plastic still bitterly cold from space—and kissed her furiously.

  #

  He thought he’d lost her.

  Kaden kissed Zoey even more feverishly, his tongue stroking into her soft mouth in a possessive move. She was startled under him, not quick to open up, but he kept pushing, needing to possess her, the ache in his chest staggering.

  He’d been doing all right with the space-walking, thanks to Zoey’s cheerful demeanor and their endless practice sessions over the last forty-eight hours. And while it’d never be his favorite thing, he wasn’t flipping out like all those times he had before. That had been all right. Until debris had smacked into the compressor, sending it spiraling and him with it. When he’d managed to straighten it, he’d looked up, seen Zoey slam into an asteroid, and then careen into space.

  He’d panicked. Totally and completely lost his shit at that moment. He’d charged his thrusters at full blast, thinking of his beautiful, funny science officer unconscious out there somewhere, hurtling through open space. Kaden had screamed her name, over and over again, but it had been silent on her end.

  But charging his thrusters at full blast had only succeeded in lodging the compressor behind a wall of junk, and he’d frantically tried to free it—and then himself. His brain had been misfiring, blackness crawling at the edges of his vision.

  He’d lost her.

  He’d fucking lost her.

  She was the only reason he hadn’t put that same goddamn blaster to his head that Garcia had. Sweet, beautiful Zoey, with the hope in her eyes that he’d fix this and bring them both home.

  And he’d fucking lost her. The agony drove him wild, until he was screaming in his helmet, trying to tear himself free—why had he knotted the fucking belt on so goddamn tight—And then there she was, waving a hand in front of him. Pointing at her helmet.

  And, well... damn.

  He couldn’t calm down. Even though they’d made it back to the Alcestis without incident, there was some part of him still shaking with anger and bone-deep fear.

  As soon as he could, he’d torn his helmet off and then hers, because he wanted to kiss her, taste her. Make sure he wasn’t fucking dreaming this. That she was real in his arms, and that his brain hadn’t fucking snapped at the sight of her colliding with that asteroid.

  She’d given a small, throaty laugh at his urgent kiss. “I’m sorry,” she breathed between his frantic kisses. “I didn’t see the asteroid. I still had the schematic up and the peripherals—”

  “Fuck the peripherals,” he growled, kissing her hotly, his hands finally able to slide down the front of her spacesuit. He began to unfasten it, more ripping at the closures than opening. He wanted her naked in his arms. Now. He needed to bury himself in her.

  Maybe then he’d lose this frantic hollow in his chest that was making it so damn hard to breathe.

  “My helmet,” she protested softly, even though her fingers went to his suit and began to undo it as well, unzipping and unlatching the myriad buckles. Between hot, frantic kisses of course. “Malfunctioned—”

  “Don’t care,” he told her, and was able to jerk the suit down around her waist. She wore nothing but a standard tee under the suit, and he jerked it over her head just as quickly. “Need you naked. Right now.”

  “But what about the—”

  “Right now,” he growled, his throat nearly hoarse. “You have one minute to take the rest of your suit off or I rip it from you.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise and then went soft, her gaze moving to his mouth, her own wet from his kisses.

  “One minute,” he warned, yanking free his own suit. His hands moved through the buckles quickly, expertly.

  Dazed, she followed his lead, working through the suit with nimble fingers. He stepped out of his two seconds before she did, his cock hard and erect in his regulation-issue shorts. He shucked them, standing naked in front of her. She stepped out of the discarded spacesuit, now in her panties and t-shirt, and he’d never seen anything more beautiful.

  Somehow, this damn woman had gotten under his skin in seven days. No, less than that. By the time day seven hit, they were going to be well on their way back to Earth.

  He grabbed her by the hips and hauled her up against him and she gasped in surprise, her arms going around his neck. Good. Kaden kissed her again, another hard, possessive kiss. He was going to take her, and it was going to be hard and rough and wet, because he really, really fucking needed to be inside her right now.

  She wrapped her legs around his hips, her weight causing the vee of her sex to press against his cock. He groaned at the sensation. Too many clothes. Still too many clothes. He moved forward, heading to the closest antechamber. Someplace where he could set her down, spread her legs, and fuck her until she came.

  The cockpit was the closest place. He tore his mouth away from hers and glanced at the empty pilot’s chair. Worked for him. He carried her along, still kissing her, biting at her full lower lip. She sighed in response and he watched her eyes close with bliss, her expression going soft as he tugged on her mouth.

  He half-stumbled to the pilot’s chair and thumped down into it heavily. The motion caused her to bounce against his cock, and she moaned at the sensation of him ramming up against her. Her legs fell to his sides, dangling over his hips and the side of the chair, and she began to kiss him with more intensity. Her nipples rubbed up against his ch
est and he could feel the tips harden under the thin shirt she wore.

  He needed to be inside her. Now. Kaden’s hand moved to Zoey’s panties and pushed them aside. Now there was nothing standing in the way of him sinking into her. He lifted her up and positioned his cock head at her entrance, barely giving her a moment’s advance notice before driving into her in one fierce thrust, sinking to the hilt.

  She gave a small, broken gasp in response, stiffening against him.

  He stilled, panic flaring through him. His hands moved to her hair, stroking her ponytail, her cheek, everywhere he could touch her. He’d been too rough, too quick, and now he’d hurt her. “Zoey?”

  Her hands curled on his shoulders, her eyes closed. “I’m okay. I just... need a moment to adjust.” She bit her lip and then chuckled. “You’re not the smallest man I’ve been with.”

  God he loved her. “Flatterer,” he told her and tugged her close to kiss at her mouth again. His hand moved to her breast, grazing his thumb over that fabric-covered nipple, and he felt her shudder of response all down his cock, seated deep inside her. He’d wait for her to take the lead again. For now, he was satisfied with simply kissing her. Holding her in his arms, his cock buried in the only place he wanted to be.

  She moaned at his caresses on her breasts, leaning into his touch when his fingers played across her nipple again. Her pussy clenched tight around his cock in response and he sucked in a breath, willing himself to remain still.

  In an instant, it had gone from being about his need to hers.

  When her hand moved to his jaw and stroked lightly along his three-day growth of stubble, he leaned into the caress. He left his hand resting against her side, his thumb pressing just under her jutting little nipple. Zoey shifted on him a little, twisting so that his thumb grazed against the underside of her nipple, and she moaned in response, and he felt it quake deep inside her body again.

  “You’re so big, Kaden.”

  “You already told me that,” he said in a low, husky voice. He let one hand slide to her waist, moving to her lower back, supporting her. “How are you feeling, Zoey?”

  She rocked her hips a little, and he felt the slick glide of her pussy along his cock. His eyes nearly rolled back in pleasure, but he forced himself to stay still. Let her lead... until she gave the lead back to him, of course.

  “I’m sorry I scared you back there,” she said, leaning in to kiss his mouth all over again, pressing light, nibbling caresses at the edges of his mouth, where he bristled with stubble. She liked that stubble, he realized. “I didn’t realize my helmet was out until I was heading back.”

  His heart gave a painful clench at the too-recent memory, his hand locking at her waist. “S’okay.”

  “It’s not okay,” she whispered, her tongue darting against his lips to flick against his mouth. And again, she gave just the slightest rock of her hips, enough to drive him wild. “I’ve been pushing you so hard these last few days—”

  “Because you had to,” he said, and captured her nipple between his fingers, pinching it and then rolling the tight nub between thumb and forefinger.

  She gave a delicious quiver all through her body, and her breath gasped against his mouth in response. “I know, but I should have been more considerate—”

  He tweaked her nipple harder. “Are you apologizing to me?”

  Him? After he’d just crammed his cock inside her when she wasn’t ready? He was lucky she hadn’t slapped him across the face and demanded he never touch her again. And his other big hand went to her other breast, to echo the motion on the other peak.

  Zoey shuddered—fucking shuddered—in his lap. God, that was the most amazing, erotic thing he’d ever seen. She whimpered, thrusting her breasts up against him, and her hands dug into his shoulders, then twined in his shaggy hair, tugging fiercely. And she rocked on him again, this time hard.

  “You like that?” he whispered in a low voice. “Tell me.”

  “Your hands... amazing,” she breathed and was rewarded with another dual-tweak of her nipples. She rocked her hips again, her breath coming in another gasping burst.

  “You wet?”

  He loved the sight of the blush that spread over her cheeks. “You check and tell me.”

  Ah, his Zoey. So bossy. He slid a hand from her small breast and moved to the silky mound of her pussy. He slid two fingers into her cleft and stroked, testing for wetness.

  She was soaked. And she gave an erotic little total-body quiver at his touch. He dragged his fingers up her cleft, slowly, making sure to circle around her clitoris before moving his fingers to his mouth.

  And then he licked them clean as she watched him with heavy-lidded eyes.

  When he let his hand fall from his mouth, her gaze went to his lips and she leaned forward suddenly. Her mouth crashed into his as she kissed him fiercely, her teeth grinding against his own. And then she was raising her hips and slamming down on his full length, squeezing him into her tight warmth, and holy fucking shit, it was the best thing he’d ever felt. His hands went to her hips—she was so small against him—and when she raised her hips for another grinding thrust, he lifted her, helping her raise up and then slamming her back down again even as her little wicked tongue thrust into his mouth.

  She was so wet now. So incredibly wet. Tight as a little fist around his cock, she began to quickly roll her hips on top of him, needing the rough, hard fucking that he’d been so ready to give her earlier.

  And she was moaning.

  Hell yes. Kaden thrust hard, rocking her entire body. Then again, and again, his rough, jerky motions met by her equally needy ones. It was no more than a handful of thrusts—each one soul-deep and incredibly rough—before she gave a harsh cry against his mouth, and he felt her pussy spasm around him, tightening like a vise as she came.

  And he exploded as well, coming into her with an intensity that made everything in his body nearly dissolve.

  And in that moment, he fucking loved her.

  It was stupid, he told himself as he rocked his hips gently once or twice in response to her slowing movements, her soft cries against his mouth as she continued to kiss him, her body boneless against his. They’d barely been in this for a few days. If things hadn’t gone wrong, she’d have not thought about him twice before disembarking after the mission was done and then going on her way.

  And yet, here they were, with him deep inside her, replete, her damp skin pressed against his own. Funny how a crisis had brought them together. Funny how he’d grown so close to her—hell, he’d practically bonded to her. They were a team. It was him and her, against the universe. Kaden and Zoey. Together. He loved everything about her. From her smile, to her determination, to her prim seriousness. He loved the feel of her against him and could imagine waking up next to this woman for the rest of his life.

  And if he had anything to do about it, it’d be longer than two more days.

  Day 6

  “It’s going to work,” he told her as she hovered anxiously over his shoulder, eyeing his progress through the helmet of her spacesuit as he soldered wires together, connecting the compressor to the old lifepod aboard the Cephalon.

  “You’re sure?”

  He could practically hear her nibbling on her lip in anxiety. “I’m positive,” he said again, his tone calm. She was feeling the same anxiety he was. Day six and they were still stranded. They had to get this pod moving and in a hurry. Jump out of the system before that solar storm fried them both.

  They were both all too aware of the situation, and it was making things on the small ship tense. Still, even with the pressure of limited time, the run to the Cephalon had gone off without a hitch, the ship more or less whole, just dead in the water. They’d brought the compressor aboard and now Zoey hovered over him as he scanned ancient schematics and soldered in cables, hoping that this wouldn’t all be in vain.

  Of course, she didn’t know that he worried. And he didn’t plan on telling her. That sweat on his brow? Simply from th
e blowtorch, not his own nerves about if this would work or not.

  When the last wire was in place and there was nothing else to be done, he turned to her. “Should we fire her up?”

  Her eyes lit up. She crossed her fingers and held them in front of his helmet, and then moved to the tiny cockpit of the lifepod. There was no life support on at the moment, and they stood in their spacesuits. They were taking no chances, doing all functionality repairs prior to attempting to power up the lifepod. As the Alcestis’s computers diagnosed possible problem areas, they patched and repaired. It had taken most of the day, and they didn’t even know if it would work. But they didn’t have any other options. None. So they worked.

  He nodded at her, feeling a queasy tension in his own stomach. “Let’s give it a whirl.”

  She opened the old, blocky panel of the lifepod’s computer and began the initiation sequence. He held his breath, waiting.

  A few moments passed, then a chirp. “Systems online,” the lifepod computer asserted. “Running diagnostic for ship feasibility.”

  Minutes passed. Neither of them moved, waiting anxiously.

  Then, another small ding. “All systems are functioning at acceptable capability. Initiating life support systems. Gravity now online.”

  Breath exploded from his throat—he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Through the helmet, he heard a little squeal of triumph from Zoey and then she was grabbing him by the waist and bouncing with excitement. “It works! It works!”

  “It does,” he agreed, still half in shock himself. He stared at the old pod, and even as he watched, oxygen flooded in from an overhead vent, a puff of recycled air. The atmospheric light overhead went from red to green, indicating that it was safe to breathe. “Go and get the ship’s logs from the Alcestis and I’ll work on bringing up the sprint drive on this thing.”