Free Gambit by Kim Knox Page B

really know nothing about Ladaians?”
    Chae ignored him. The clunk of metal said that the living gold had broken free of his body and found a home on one of the shelves jutting out of the far wall. She dialed out a pattern for a towel from the unit. The air fizzed with the hum and clunk of tech and then a thin white towel sat on the shelf above the sink.
    She pulled it free and pressed her face into its warmth. “I said get out.”
    “We look human, but we’re not.”
    Chae swore into her towel. If she ignored him, he’d get the hint.
    “When the Founders screwed with our DNA, they planned to ensure an individual’s genetic inheritance was never corrupted.”
    She let out a heavy breath and dropped the towel over the edge of the metal sink. “I got that. You’re first, I’m fifth and never the twain shall fuck.” She leaned back against the sink, her hands gripping the curved edge, and gave him a sharp grin. “You can always say the gold made you do it.”
    Daned had wrapped his towel around his waist. She told herself that wasn’t a damn shame and knew she was lying to herself. The need to kiss and lick his cider-brown skin taunted her. The knowledge that his taste would burn hot and sweet against her tongue twisted her gut tight. Her fingers pressed hard against the metal sink until her knuckles hurt. “So, as I said, I understand how you’re mortified. Conversation over. Get out.”
    She kicked her boot to the plate and the door to the washroom thunked into place. She sank onto the toilet bowl and her fingers caught the wet tangles of her hair. A slow breath escaped her.
    “It was just sex.” Her mutter became lost in the roaring vibrations of the engines as they shook the metal walls. “And I’ve had sex before.” She wasn’t scrabbling back through her memory to when she hadn’t fucked flesh. When it had been a born man. “He’s no different.” Lust. It was simply lust driven by Igasho tech. Nothing more. Hell, wrap it around Aleph-Nun and she would’ve been slavering over him too.
    Daned’s…distaste stabbed at her again and she found her feet in a hot rush of adrenaline, the blood heating her cheeks. It burned with the old pain that had driven her to seek out flesh-pets in the first place. “Fuck him.” A sour laugh burst from her. “Oh, I already have.”
    The vibrations changed and she winced. Time had flown. The tau was about to break out of the rift lock. Chae cursed and wrapped the towel around her chest. She palmed the doorplate and pulled in a tight breath, preparing herself…but the room was empty.
    Her fingers curled into a fist. Just another man. Just another fuck. Chae ignored the cramp in her stomach. She had more important things to worry about than Daned Traern. The end of the rift lock would spit them out in Shavgar-7 and she needed her wits.
    She palmed open the door and the silver streaks of the rift lock flickered across the cockpit. Daned sat in the second-pilot chair, studying the instrumentation, the silver gilding him. Sensibly, he kept his hands on his towel-covered thighs. She refused to let her gaze wander over the smooth muscles of his arms, the strength of his shoulders…and with a wince she realized she was doing exactly that. He was just flesh. And now the false push of the living gold had been removed, she could forget about her insane rush of lust.
    “We’re coming out of the lock,” she said and Daned’s attention snapped to her. His dark eyes, holding pools of glistening silver, flicked over her body before he found her gaze again. His mouth thinned. She ignored it. “In a few minutes.”
    She ran her hand over her tunic hanging from its jag of metal and found it dry. She dropped the towel over the back of the pilot seat and made a smile cut her mouth. “Better to be dry and covered up when dealing with Shavgar’s tower. The Misae there can smell nakedness.”
    Daned had pulled in a breath, but didn’t turn away. Chae straightened her shoulders.