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  Ford kissed her, crushing his mouth over hers as his cock hardened and pressed against her through his uniform pants. “You want male slaves? The three of us, we’ll give it to you. I guaran-damn-tee you if you think you’re going to go play happy tourist on the surface that Aaron and Caph will back me up when I say fuck no.”

  She played with his shirt collar. “So show me now.”

  He grinned. “I can’t. I’m on watch. Someone’s gotta mind the store with the other two asleep. No offense, babe, but you don’t have enough experience in a case like this.” He kissed her again before releasing her and stepping away. “I will show you tonight, though. Good and hard.” He tugged at his uniform trousers to adjust the hard bulge poking out.

  Emi’s heart raced as she felt familiar, sensuous heat pool between her legs at the fire burning in Ford’s eyes. “Tease.”

  A slow, sly smile played across his mouth. “Not me, babe. You know me better than that. I don’t tease. Rest up for tonight. You’ll need your strength.” Okay, that did it. Now a deep pulsing, throbbing need pulled her attention straight to between her legs.

  She didn’t want to wake the other two men. With a sigh, she headed down to the hydroponics lab to work on her plants and try to forget her sexual frustration.

  * * * *

  She’d forgotten all about her earlier exchange with Ford by later that day. She’d crawled into bed after dinner when Ford trotted into the cabin, still apparently full of energy.

  “What’s with you?” she asked.

  “I’ve had a whole day to think about what I’m going to do to you with you all to myself.”

  Their earlier banter returned to her mind. “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m worn out.”

  She fought really hard not to giggle at his sad expression. “Worn out?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Aaron chose that moment to walk in. Caph had the watch that night. “What’s going on?”

  Ford looked pitiful as he slowly started undressing. “I’m horny and Emi’s not. Been looking forward to this all day.”

  Aaron rolled his eyes. “You big baby.” He grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and pulled him close, kissing him brutally. Ford’s hands fell from where they were unbuttoning his trousers and reached for Aaron. “What’s wrong with me?” Aaron asked, his tone growly and full of need.

  Ford looked dazed, his lips full and red from their kisses. “Nothing,” Ford breathlessly replied.

  “Good. Then get naked and get your ass in bed and I’ll take care of you.”

  Ford sprang into action, the bounce back in his step. He landed on the bed next to Emi. “Hiya.”

  She smiled. “Hiya.”

  “Hands and knees, Ford,” Aaron ordered.

  She looked up and caught Aaron’s playful smile as Ford complied. Ford’s cock already jutted out from his body, a drop of pre-cum pearling at the end of his slit.

  Aaron finished stripping and knelt behind Ford. “Em, you feel like giving him a hand?”

  “Of course.”

  Ford moaned, his head dropping to rest on his arms as Aaron applied lube to his ass and began prepping him with two fingers. Emi reached under Ford and started stroking his cock. When Aaron was ready, he lined up the swollen head of his shaft with Ford’s rim and pressed forward. He paused, giving the moaning man a moment to adjust to him before he slowly started fucking him.

  Emi kept time with her hand, slicking Ford’s pre-cum over his cock for lube. She looked up into Aaron’s brown gaze, her heart fluttering when he winked at her.

  “Harder,” Ford gasped. “Please!”

  Emi and Aaron complied, until Ford rocked on his knees, slamming back to meet every thrust. The sound of flesh slapping together, Aaron’s ragged breathing, and Ford’s happy moans filled the room. If she hadn’t been so tired, she’d already be joining them.

  Ford rose up on his arms and threw his head back. “Yes!” His cock hardened in Emi’s hand, immediately followed by his cum exploding all over her fingers.

  Aaron thrust one last time, his body going rigid in a sign Emi knew all too well. His eyes fell closed as his balls emptied into Ford’s ass. Then, exhausted, the men fell to the bed together.

  Emi dragged herself from bed to wash her hand and get them a cloth. When they’d all cleaned up, they curled up together, Emi happily sandwiched between them.

  Ford let out a happy sigh. “That was great. Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” Aaron teased.

  “Sorry I pooped out on you, sweetie,” Emi said.

  He kissed her. “Don’t worry. I’ll take a rain check.”

  Chapter Eight

  They all gathered on the Tamora Bight’s bridge as they emerged from their jump. The disabled Kal’moran vessel appeared on their scanners immediately upon emerging from their jump.

  “Got her,” Ford said. “About two hours away.”

  Aaron waved Emi over to the command console and vacated his seat for her. He held out a hand, indicating for her to sit.

  Confused, she stared at him. “What?”

  He smiled. “I’m just the pilot. You’re the captain,” he teased.

  Rolling her eyes, she took his seat. “I’m glad you think this is so funny. What am I supposed to do?”

  “Hail the d’Acklan.” He reached out and hit the communications button. “And tell them we’re here.”

  Before Emi could respond, she heard a tone indicating a hail. A female voice speaking accented English standard came over the channel. “Kal’moran vessel d’Acklan.”

  Emi cleared her throat. “Hi. This is Dr. Emilia Hypatia of the DSMC vessel Tamora Bight. We’ve been sent to assist you back to Kal’moran.”

  “You are the captain?”

  She started to say no, but Aaron vigorously nodded his head at her. “Um, yes. That’s me. Captain Doctor Hypatia.”

  Caph clapped a hand over his mouth and attempted to stifle his laughter. Ford reached over and smacked him on the shoulder. Aaron glared at them and sliced a hand across his throat. Cut it out.

  Emi hoped she didn’t burst out laughing.

  The other voice spoke again. “Thank you, Captain Hypatia. Or do you prefer the title of Doctor?”

  “Doctor’s fine.”

  “Very well. I am Commander Ren’yawlkin, in charge of this vessel. Our pilot is Mlaui Mil’rawin, and she will be in charge of the logistics of the tow by your vessel.”

  Emi looked at Aaron, glad they were on audio only and not visual. Logistics? she silently mouthed to him.

  He nodded at her, waving his hand in a circle at her, indicating for her to continue.

  Emi was clueless. She had no idea what logistics were involved. She shrugged at him.

  He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Introduce me as your pilot.”

  “Oh!” She clapped a hand over her mouth. Then she spoke loudly enough the com link would pick it up. “My pilot is Aaron Lucio. He’ll be in charge of logistics on our end.” She smiled, proud of herself. Gods, I almost sound like I know what the heck I’m talking about.

  There was a pause from the other end. Emi thought maybe they’d lost the com link when Commander Ren’yawlkin said, “I beg your pardon, Dr. Hypatia, but did you say your pilot is a male?”

  “Yes.”

  Another long moment of silence. “You do not have a female pilot?”

  Emi started to reply with a smart-assed remark, but Aaron correctly anticipated Emi’s reaction. He reached over and hit the mute button before she could snark back at the Kal’moran commander. “Don’t get into it with them,” he warned her. “Keep it pleasant. Let it go. They do things differently. It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not okay.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to deal with it.” He unmuted the connection.

  “No,” Emi said, staring at Aaron. “I have an all-male crew.”

  “Interesting. Very well. I will instruct my pilot to deal with him. I apologize for my hesitation. We were not expec
ting a male crew. We are used to dealing with female crews.”

  Emi bit off the response she wanted to give in lieu of saying, “Thank you. I’ll put him on.”

  He patted Emi on the shoulder and took over. The Kal’moran pilot sounded arrogant and snotty, but Emi gave Aaron credit for maintaining professional, cool detachment despite her reading his rising anger levels during the conversation. When he finished his exchange with the pilot, he signed them off and closed the com link.

  Then he took a deep breath and held it a moment before letting it out again.

  “You did good, Cap,” Ford said. “I wanted to smack the crap out of her.”

  “And that’s why I’m the ‘pilot,’” Aaron shot back.

  The twins both gave him mock salutes. “Aye, aye, Pilot,” they said in unison. Even Emi giggled.

  Aaron closed his eyes and swore.

  * * * *

  By the time the Tamora Bight reached the d’Acklan, most of the logistics had been worked out. The Kal’moran pilot had given Aaron information he’d requested about their ship’s configuration and construction so he could calculate the best way to lock the tractor beam on and their safe towing speed. It took less time to lock on and get underway again than it did for Aaron to patiently dance around the contemptuous Kal’moran pilot’s jabs at his gender.

  Once the operation was complete, Aaron closed the com link between the ships. “I’ll be in the gym.” He stormed off the bridge before Emi could stop him.

  The deep anger she’d read burbling in him was something she couldn’t remember feeling in him before.

  She looked at Ford and Caph.

  Ford waved at her to go after him. “I’ll page you if they want to talk to you.”

  “Thanks.” Emi hurried down the corridor after Aaron.

  “I don’t need to talk it out, Em,” he said as she fell in step just behind him, barely able to keep up with his long, angry strides. “I need to punch something.”

  “I’ll spar with you.”

  “I don’t want to punch you, babe.”

  “Should I have a talk with the commander and ask her to have the pilot lay off the smack talk?”

  He stopped so short she nearly ran into him. He took a deep breath before turning. “No.” He leaned against the corridor wall. “It’s just how they are. Some of the treaty races are more tolerant to cultural differences than others. Don’t start an interstellar incident over my ego.”

  “Want me to go over and deck her? I will.”

  He smiled. “Like you did Graymard?”

  “Fucker deserved it.”

  He pushed away from the wall and grabbed her in a hug. “I’ll be okay, I promise. I just need to go cool off.”

  “And punch something,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

  “Yeah. And punch something.” He released her. “Go on back to the bridge and keep the twins out of trouble. I’ll be okay.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.” He started to walk away. Then he stopped and turned. “I really will be okay, Em. This isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It’s just…annoying.”

  She read it. His anger had already started dissipating. “Okay.”

  He gave her a smile before turning and heading to the gym. Emi returned to the bridge, where Ford now sat in the command chair.

  “How’d you get so lucky?” she asked.

  He stood to make way for her. “Damn Caph threw rock to my scissors,” he grumbled.

  “Aw, my poor Ford.”

  Ford stuck his tongue out at Caph. “Told him he was first officer, he should take the com.”

  “Yeah,” Caph shot back, “and as first I could have ordered you to take it, but I gave you a fair chance.”

  “Okay, guys. I’m back. No need to kill each other to stay out of the chair.”

  “That Kal’moran pilot’s a real ballbuster,” Caph said. “That’s why Aaron’s the captain. I would have told her to go fuck herself and find another ride back to their planet, she treated me like that.”

  “No you wouldn’t have.”

  “Yes he would,” Ford said. “So would I. I was about ready to. Man or woman. No reason for someone to be that shitty. They’re not in distress, just stuck in space. They could have cooled their jets for another ship to arrive. They should be glad we’re helping them.”

  “What happened to duty and following orders?” she asked them.

  “Fuck that shit,” they said in unison before bursting into laughter.

  Chapter Nine

  The tow at safe speed took nearly two weeks. Emi went over the Kal’moran files one final time as they neared the space station. Fortunately, the people of Kal’moran, called Morans, weren’t a violent people. They didn’t have vast, heavily armed space-going armadas that would wage an interstellar war if Emi used the wrong fork at dinner.

  Although they wouldn’t hesitate to defend themselves if threatened.

  They did, however, have an impressive fleet of passenger transports that ferried vacationers across the galaxy and back. They were peaceful business people who’d done quite well enlisting and paying for the help of other treaty races for their planetary and transport defenses. The planet was beloved by many for its recreation business, although it wasn’t well-known on Earth yet. The planet had one large, sprawling city complex. Emi thought that was odd compared to what she knew about other planets, but she didn’t have time to ponder it. She would have to go meet the commander and pilot of the d’Acklan, as well as the head of the orbiting station, as per their protocol.

  After tugs had taken control of the d’Acklan, Aaron sat back with a sigh. “The worst is over.” He smiled at Emi. Now you get to go make friendly with the nice ladies, and we’ll keep the bed warm for you.”

  “I’m not looking forward to going in there. Especially alone.”

  “You’ll be fine. This is part of your job. If I thought there was any danger, no way in hell would I let you go, DSMC orders be damned. You should know that. And who knows, you might not have to go down to the planet at all.”

  They docked with the Kal’moran space station. Once their utility umbilicals were secured and the gangway pressurized and cleared, Aaron walked Emi to the hatch. Commander Ren’yawlkin would meet Emi there personally.

  He hugged her. “You’ll do great.” Then he punched in the hatch code to open it.

  It slid open, revealing a Kal’moran woman in a military uniform standing at the other end of the gangway. They strongly resembled humans in outward appearance, although their interior physiology was somewhat different. Taller than Emi by almost two heads, she had long, flowing black hair pulled back off her face. Emi watched the woman’s amber eyes travel up and down her body before focusing on Aaron behind her. Then the Moran smiled and walked up to the hatch. “Captain Doctor Hypatia?” she asked, warily eying Aaron. “I am Commander Ren’yawlkin.”

  “Nice to meet you.” She glanced back at Aaron. “This is Ca—Pilot Aaron Lucio.”

  The Commander’s head cocked to the side. “He wears clothes?”

  Emi looked back at Aaron, who remained silent although she sensed his stress levels ratcheting up. “Yes.”

  “Huh. Interesting. Male crew, and you allow them clothing.”

  Emi forced a smile. “That’s how we choose to do things.”

  Emi sensed curiosity from the commander, but no disdain. “I do not suppose he is available for sharing or sale, is he?”

  Emi nearly jumped at the immediate wave of unspoken outrage that blasted toward the Moran from Aaron, but he remained still and silent behind her.

  “No, sorry. My men aren’t for sharing or sale.” She held up her left hand and pointed at her ring finger, where she wore her engagement ring and wedding band. “We’re married.”

  The Moran’s brow scrunched. “Married?”

  “Mated. We belong to each other.”

  The Moran’s confusion morphed into amusement. Behind her, Aaron settled down a little, allowing
Emi to feel the Moran’s emotions again. “Very well. I shall take you to meet the station commander.”

  Another Moran ran up, slightly out of breath, and spoke to the commander in their language.

  “And, late as usual, this is my pilot, Mlaui Mil’rawin.” The commander looked a little put upon.

  “Hello,” the newcomer said.

  Emi nodded. “Hi. Doctor Hypatia.”

  “You can call me Rawin.” Then the pilot’s obsidian eyes perked up. She straightened. Emi realized she was staring at Aaron standing behind her. “Clothes? On a male?” She let loose a rapid-fire volley of Moran until the commander raised a hand, silencing her.

  “It is their custom, Rawin,” the commander said to her pilot. “Now, Dr. Hypatia, let us go.”

  Emi glanced back at Aaron before following the two Moran women. The pilot held back to walk in step with Emi.

  “Dr. Hypatia, why do you allow your males clothes?”

  “It’s how we do things.”

  “Are your males also trained for pleasure, or just service?”

  The commander looked back over her shoulder, but she wore a smile. “Rawin, you are rather chatty this morning.”

  “I am curious.” She returned her attention to Emi.

  “They’re my husbands. Mates.”

  That seemed to command the pilot’s attention. “All three of them? That is absolutely unheard of. Or you must be very rich to afford three of them.”

  Emi felt a wave of envy from the pilot. Sure, she could play that game. “All three of them give me great pleasure, believe me. I’d be lost without any of them.”

  “I would be most honored to sample that,” Rawin said. “And I would be happy to exchange mine for yours for a night of sharing. I love to share my males. They are extremely talented.”

  Emi felt an ugly spike of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. “Sorry, I don’t share.”

  The pilot frowned. “What?”

  The commander stopped suddenly. Emi almost ran into her. The Moran turned and let loose with a low, threatening-sounding stream of Moran at Rawin. The pilot’s eyes widened, then narrowed, as she listened to her commanding officer.