Free Alien Fighter's Baby (Captured Science Fiction Romance) by Kat Emm

manhandling, but that hand squeeze meant he was on the road.
    Bran let go of her hand, then he jumped out of the Zach, loaded with a few weapons, and he jogged back to the cavern entrance. When he approached the darkness of the cave sliding to lightness, he crouched and moved forward cautiously. He reconnoitered out of the cavern in a methodical way, until he’d checked the perimeter, then he tapped his hover-mic.
    “Starling, it’s clear out here. I’m going up the mountain to get an overview.”
    “Yes, Bran.”
    That was the nicest sound tingling in his ear he’d heard in a long time.
    “Okay, I won’t be gone longer than an hour. You stay in the Zach and lock the doors.”
    Starling came awake with Bran breathing in her ear. She must have fallen asleep while she waited for him, and he’d come back, and then what—
    She yawned and stretched.
    He must have carried her into the back of the Zach, and then lain down beside her. She felt the length of him next to her, but when she turned to look, she couldn’t really see him. The cavern was very dark, and she decided that it had to be night outside. The more she thought about it, she wondered where the Zach’s inner control lights were.
    Well, everything had to be safe or Bran wouldn’t be breathing hot air across her face, as if he were asleep. What she wouldn’t give to cuddle up to him. She’d basically forgiven him for treating her like a Neanderthal earlier. He’d done it to save them, and she could see his point that there hadn’t been a lot of time to explain it all to her.
    She sighed, trying not to think about their last kiss, but in the dark, the thought relentlessly stalked her. He’d felt so good when he’d crushed her against his hard, muscular body. She began to wonder what it might feel like if he ran his big hands over her. Like the way he had when he’d been trying to find that bug on her.
    She’d been very mad about the treatment, yet she couldn’t deny there were moments when what he’d done had been arousing her. Another sigh escaped her.
    “You all right?”
    Startled, Starling huffed at hearing Bran’s voice expel out of the darkness. Then some dim blue lights inside the Zach came on, and she saw him lying on his side as he faced her.
    “Answer me,” he demanded, and she felt his hand grasp her waist.
    The heat of his hand imprinted through her shirt into her flesh, as she nodded, while she looked between his lips and his eyes. Irises that looked pewter-colored in the dim light. He looked down where he held her waist as if he’d just realized his hand was there. She didn’t tell him to move it. Instead, she inched closer.
    “It’s cold.”
    His incredible eyes flared, as she shivered, and then she found herself hauled up against him. Her hands pressed into his chest as her legs sought heat along his legs. He grabbed the blanket she’d been using and pulled it over both of them.
    “Is it safe?” she asked into his neck.
    “Yes. The mountain must have mineral deposits that throw off their tracking devices, and they lost sight of us.”
    “Do you think they will come back?”
    He nodded against her, and she felt his hand playing with her hair.
    “If it was my team, we’d strategically search all the caves. But with as many caves in this mountain, it will take them time, so we don’t have to run yet, without thinking it through.”
    “Oh,” she muttered, disappointed they would have to run again. “What I wouldn’t give for a shower,” she said with a sigh.
    “Seriously?” he asked, and she could feel his warm breath where he’d turned down to look at her. “I can arrange that.”
    That brought her gaze up and their mouths nearly touched.
    “Really?”
    His nod brushed their lips together lightly, and her eyelids lowered in pleasure.
    “Starling?” he asked against her mouth, as if giving her a moment to stop him. Then his lips pressed and he began kissing her.
    She sighed into his mouth and accepted the kiss.