Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 36684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“Not a big deal? I see.” Keer’s face was like a thundercloud now. “So now that you’re free of the love knots you don’t care to know how I feel about you?”
“Wait a minute—how you feel?” Tabitha frowned at him. “What do you mean how you feel? Everyone knows Zentorians don’t have feelings.”
“Don’t have feelings? Of all the irritating…exasperating…” He stood abruptly and began pacing the room. “It’s not that we don’t have feelings, Tabitha—it’s that we feel too strongly. Our emotions, when left unchecked, can be dangerous.” He swung around to look at her. “That’s why I’ve tried so hard to put a rein on mine whenever I’m around you. But you…you always manage to get to me. You make me feel no matter how hard I try not to.”
Tabitha could hardly believe what she was hearing. “You do? I mean, I do? I make you feel?” She felt like an entire flock of butterflies had just taken off in her stomach but she tried to control her excitement. After all, he hadn’t said what she made him feel and it was just as likely to be irritation and anger as love and desire.
“You do.” Keer looked at her, his gold-ringed eyes blazing with obvious emotion but he held his ground. “Not that it matters now. After they way I’ve treated you—what I’ve done to you.”
“But…but I…” Tabitha shook her head. “Do you think that I…that I hate you?” she asked at last, hardly able to believe it.
“I don’t think—I know.” His deep voice was grim. “Not that I blame you.”
“Well, you’re wrong.” Getting off the couch, Tabitha moved to join him. “You’ve disciplined me and done things I had a hard time accepting but all of it was for my own good. I…I can see that now, Keer.” She looked at him shyly, waiting to see how he would react to her not calling him Captain.
He let out a breath and the tension seemed to leak out of his big frame. “So…you don’t hate me? Even after last night?”
“You helped me.” Tabitha dared to lay a hand on his muscular forearm and he took it at once in both of his. “You only did what you had to do in order to get those damn love knots off me. And…and I wouldn’t have been stuck with them in the first place if I hadn’t decided to try to capture V on my own. That was stupid of me and I’m sorry. I just…” She bit her lip and looked down for a moment to where her small hand was swallowed by his much larger ones. “I wanted to get your attention,” she whispered. “Wanted to prove my worth to you but you were always so busy ignoring me—”
“I ignored you because I didn’t trust myself to notice you. I didn’t trust that I could get close to you without losing control.” Keer’s deep voice was hoarse. “The way I lost it last night.”
“I pushed you to that,” Tabitha admitted. “I wanted to see if I could get a reaction from you. I-I wanted to know if I meant anything to you—anything other than an irritating junior officer who’s always getting herself into trouble, that is.”
“You’re irritating all right.” But there was humor in Keer’s deep voice when he said it. Smiling at her, he pulled her close. “Irritating, fascinating, stubborn, beautiful…I could go on all night, Tabitha. But all you really need to know is that I want you.”
“You…” Her heart was beating so hard it felt like it was shaking her entire body. “You want to…take your captain’s privileges with me?” she asked, biting her lip.
“More than that. If we were living on my planet, I’d ask if I could mate you—I think you Earth humanoids call it marriage. Is that right?” He looked down into her eyes, stroking her hair tenderly.
“Yes, that’s what we call it.” Tabitha felt like she must be dreaming. Could it really be that he felt what she did when they were together—that intense attraction that nearly drove her crazy whenever they were in the same room? She felt warm and tingly all over—almost as if the love knots were still in place, teasing her to arousal.
“If that’s what you call it then that’s what I want. I want you with me always, and not just as a member of my crew.”