4
Jamie, Moon Base Arturri, Vega System
Foggy didn’t beginto describe the pounding confusion inside my mind as I struggled to wake up. Warm sheets and a soft pillow threatened to pull me back under, but I had that weird feeling that I’d been out for too long already. Like when I used to wake up three hours late for work because the cold medicine I took the night before made me sleep through my alarm.
It wasn’t just the cozy bedding that had me snuggling deeper. It was the hard body against my back and thighs, the solid arm slung over my waist. The big hand cupping my breast. The thick length prodding my spine.
A man. A big, strong, warm, cuddly…
Every muscle in my body went tight as a bowstring. Panic. That’s what made my heart pound and the fog begin to clear. I forced my eyes open and blinked several times before I dared move.
Once I found the courage, I tried to turn, but the arm around me held me close. “Shh.”
I knew that deep, growly sound.
Instead of pulling away, I turned my head.
And there he was.
It hadn’t been a dream or a hallucination, but I was clearly out of my mind. This couldn’t be real. Could it?
“Alex?” My throat was dry.
“Yes.”
I was in bed with Alex, the Starfighter hottie from my video game. And he was feeling me up. My nipple was hard, and I arched my back so my breast filled his palm. Now I could feel his hard cock even more. Thick, long and… there, although he wasn’t doing anything about it. He was being possessive in his touch, not aggressive. He didn’t try to hide his interest in me, deny it, or even apologize for it.
“Do not try to rise.” His green eyes shifted between mine, then roved over my face. He lifted his hand, ran a knuckle down my cheek. Goose bumps rose at the light touch.
Yeah, he was real. Very three-dimensional and gorgeous. I definitely wasn’t looking at him through a TV. Then his hand slipped away and settled on my hip. “Give yourself time to adjust to the cipher implant.”
His black hair looked tousled from sleep. He studied me as if he didn’t have anywhere else to look. I got lost in him for a second, but his words sank in.
“What?”
An implant? Where had I been implanted, exactly? I shot upright in bed, and the room spun so badly I fell over.
Right back into Alex’s arms. I’d known for months what he looked like, what he sounded like. I even knew he was big and strong. But his scent? He smelled like sex and hot man. Nothing… Earth-like. No pine forests or leather. He smelled… amazing, except I was about to hurl whatever was in my stomach onto his warm, sexy chest.
Very slowly he shifted, leaned against the bed’s headboard, keeping me close. The contact helped me remain calm when I was definitely starting to freak out.
I had no idea why I thought this, but I was disappointed he wasn’t naked. The guy I’d dreamed about for months and he was in my bed wearing an all too familiar uniform. That of a Starfighter.
I was snuggled up with the hot alien Starfighter… and I had on my not-sexy pajamas. I groaned in embarrassment, and he took it for discomfort.
“Please, do not move too quickly.” His big hand slid up and down my back, which was a tad distracting. So was being in his arms. So was… he. It was as if he couldn’t stop touching me, and I didn’t want him to stop. He was the only familiar thing at the moment. My anchor, which was insane in and of itself.
While he held me, I looked around the plain room. A chair was in the corner. Nothing else besides the bed we were in. On the wall was the Starfighter emblem. Large, metallic, it matched the one on his uniform. On the video game and all the packaging. The marketing. Everything. It was like a soda company’s logo. Familiar. Recognizable. And instantly I knew what it meant.
“Where are we?” I asked, tipping my head to look up at him.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked, arching a dark brow as his gaze roved over my face.
I blinked, thought hard. “You showed up at my apartment. Told me some crazy stuff about Velerion and Starfighters.”
“Do you remember agreeing to come with me to Velerion?”
“Yes?” Kind of. It was a bit hazy, but I did remember.