Free Origin by Dani Worth

pants.
    “There is absolutely nothing you should do at this point other than revel in your first time.”
    “That wasn’t my first time. I’ve had a lot of sex over the years.”
    “Oh, that’s where you’ve got it totally wrong. You’ve never had sex. You’ve been used against your will. You were, and pretty much still are a virgin to real lovemaking. Next time you’re feeling adventurous, come find me.”
    I mimicked his movement, framing his face with my hands. Leaning in, I kissed his lips softly, loving the way he pressed back, the way his lips felt soft yet firm against mine. “You are kind.”
    He pulled back. “Yeah, well don’t tell anyone that. You’ll ruin my ruthless pirate reputation.”
    I couldn’t help the snort that escaped. Then I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as I could. “I really like you, Anders Sullivan,” I whispered into his neck.
    He stroked the back of my hair. “Feeling’s mutual, sweetheart.”

Chapter Six
    Nine days after stepping foot onto the Ultio Ultionis , I found I couldn’t stand being closed up in my small bunkroom so much anymore, but I also didn’t really belong anywhere on the ship. Everyone stayed busy, and witnessing the constant friendly banter and affection between the crew made me feel alone. I wanted to join in the conversations, but I knew nothing about what they revolved around. Being locked up the majority of one’s life left little in the way of knowledge. I began to wander the short passageways. The ship wasn’t that big and a lot of the panel doors stayed closed, so I had no idea what was behind them. Then one day, I passed an open door and discovered the best place.
    An observation deck. The room was half the size of my bunkroom—so it was tiny—and it held only a long, plush set of black cushions on a window seat under the only see-through wall on the ship I’d seen other than the one the pilot used. I made it a point to walk past every day for a three days and though it was usually open, I never caught anyone else in there, so on the fourth day, I took the blanket Anders had given me and a vidscreen filled with books, shut the door, and curled up on the soft cushions.
    Reading had been the only pleasure given to me over the years, but the choices in reading material had been few and slow to change. Clay had given me a personal screen and opened up his library to me. When Anders had seen how excited that made me, he’d added his to the mix. His offer had come with a naughty wink and I understood as soon as I opened his files.
    Anders liked the dirty stuff. The first few books had my face burning and me squirming uncomfortably on the cushions. He also had a lot of nonfiction and I smiled to find a few romances in the mix. The most surprising were the children’s books. Anders loved children’s adventure books, old ones. He had books about a boy named Peter Pan in six different files—which were so unorganized and haphazardly stuffed, I was surprised he could ever find something to read more than once. Of course, that could explain all the copies about Peter Pan. They were obviously his favorite.
    Clay went for a lot of tech books, but he had all his books organized into files so it was easy to find the fiction. I kept trying different genres until I discovered his adventure books. He had a lot of twentieth century books about superheroes and crime fighters and so many under the label science fiction and fantasy, it took me three days to glance through the first half. But I loved them. Just loved them . Suddenly, huge worlds were open to me. Interplanetary intrigue, new creatures, new races of beings. I sailed on a water ship on an Earth ocean and flew through the galaxies as a space pirate. I cheered on humans and strange beings called hobbits as they battled scary creatures called orcs in a book by an author named Tolkien.
    And when I tried Peter Pan, I fell in love.
    My owner had never given me books like this to