Free Finding Jess (First Wave) by Mikayla Lane Page B

choose between staying on this ship or leaving to take care of her
if they made her go he'd choose Jess. There was no question in his mind that he
would. It thrilled and frightened him at the same time to know that she truly
was his mate.
    “Thank you, Amun. I know I seem to
say it all the time to you. You’ve done so much for me…” Jess blushed furiously
and looked away from her handsome hero, unable to look him in the eye. She’d
never had anyone be so wonderful to her before. Even Julou, as sweet as he was,
was nothing like Amun. Something about Amun drew her to him; just his presence
comforted her and made her feel safe.
    “You are very welcome Jess. I won’t
let anything happen to you. I promise.” Amun gently cupped her cheek and turned
her head towards him, so she could see the determination in his eyes. He was
never going to let anything hurt her again; even his own people.
    Jess stared into his beautiful and
kind eyes and knew he meant what he said. She didn’t know why, but she believed
him. Her eyes traveled his handsome face, and she wondered what it would be
like to kiss his full, soft looking lips. Shocked at her own thoughts, she
jerked out of his hold and looked away in embarrassment.
    Amun allowed her to pull away and
continued monitoring her scans before he finally felt certain she was alright.
    “I think it’s time for lunch now.
Why don’t you tell me what you’re used to eating or what you like to eat, and
we’ll try to start adding them into your diet as you recover.” Amun suggested.
He wanted to learn more about her, what she liked and what she didn’t.
    “There was never really much of anything
at the camp. Most of the time they would kill a deer, rabbits or squirrels for
meat. There were vegetables and herbs I usually could scavenge from the
surrounding area. I don’t even know the names of most of what I would find. I’m
sorry.” Jess was again embarrassed by her ignorance. Here he was trying to do
something nice for her by trying to get her things she liked, and she couldn’t
even tell him what those things were called so he could find them.
    “Well, why don’t I order your
lunch, and we’ll see what we can find on the computers about the local edible
vegetation and learn what they’re called together?” Amun suggested; not sure if
it would embarrass her further or encourage her by giving her more control over
her learning.
    “I can use the computer to learn?”
Jess asked with excitement. She’d seen the video comms and the computers they
used and was thrilled at the thought of using them to learn.
    “Of course you can. After lunch,
I’ll show you how to use it so that you can learn any time you want.” Amun was
having a hard time containing his happiness at her enthusiasm.
    “That would be really wonderful
Amun! Thank you so much!” Without thinking Jess had thrown her arms around Amun
and given him a quick hug before she jerked back suddenly. What was she
thinking? Why did she do that? She wondered. She hadn’t hugged anyone since her
mother died. She’d never even hugged Julou. Why would she do that to Amun?
    Amun tried to keep the smile from
his face. Even though the hug had lasted only seconds, he had felt it in every
cell of his body and all he wanted was to have her back in his arms again. Not
wanting to scare her, he stepped back and walked to the computer. After
ordering lunch for the two of them, he called her over to him.
    “It’s going to be a few minutes
before lunch gets here, so why don’t we start on the computer now?”
    Jess walked hesitantly over to him,
unsure why he hadn’t said anything about the hug, but glad that he hadn’t. She
took the seat beside him that he had pulled out for her and sat down.
    The next twenty minutes flew by as
she listened with rapt attention to everything Amun tried to teach her about
using their computer system to learn.
    When lunch arrived, Amun set up the
table and sat down with her to eat.
    Jess wasn’t