“What does that have to do with transporting him?”
He smiled. “It will give us time to assess his true purpose and provide two opportunities to turn him over to the authorities if he proves to be the criminal you believe he is.”
The rest of the meal passed in silence and settled in Blaize’s stomach like a greasy brick.
Dez paused at the door. “By the way, we’ve had Bodi investigating Cifer’s past. She’s found nothing.”
“So he’s a smart criminal,” Blaize said under her breath, but Dez and Cyra had already left.
She tidied the remnants of her meal and stomped back to her quarters. She could use a long shower before she started on the preflight checklist. It was a full cycle’s worth of work, if she didn’t sleep or eat. The tasks would keep her mind off a certain shifting criminal who had slithered past her defenses. In fact, she could do a workshop on ship preparation for the academy. That would take her mind off his presence.
She could avoid him completely for the entire trip. He was going to be sleeping in the crew quarters, so it wasn’t like she’d have to walk by his cell every morning. She barely saw the rest of the crew, other than at meals, except for Veda in her greenhouse. Dez’s meals would be missed, but she’d been putting on weight with his excellent cuisine. A couple of months of protein bars and water would do her good.
She let the warm spray wash over her. A plan. Everything looked better when she had a plan.
Chapter 22
“Normally, on a standard ship, you would have different engineers to do the various jobs, like the PHALCON or Booster Engineer. But it’s important that you are proficient in as many positions as possible because this increases your value to the crew and captain, and you’re qualified to apply for more jobs.” Blaize met the eye of each of the five girls she’d picked up earlier in the day for some hands-on training. She loved working with the budding engineers, knowing that because of their hard work and the opportunities she was helping to provide, their futures would be so much brighter. They’d lost a few of the students, Elaya for example, but the eagerness of these five more than made up for it.
One of the girls raised her hand.
“Yes?” Blaize wasn’t used to hand raising to get her attention.
“What’s a falcon?”
“That’s an abbreviation for power, heating, articulation, and lighting controls. It’s the crew member who basically oversees the environmental systems. It’s more about the internal systems to keep the crew alive, versus navigational or power systems used for flight.”
The girl nodded and made notes on her handheld.
“How many engineers does this ship have?” The girl with bright purple hair didn’t wait to raise her hand.
“One. Me.”
“Seriously?” She swiveled her head, looking around the main engine rooms where they stood. “This ship is huge. I mean, how?”
“I do a lot of things proactively, and I have a lot of checklists.” Blaize shrugged. And she was used to working alone and worked twice as hard to even be accepted as an engineer. These females didn’t know how blessed they were to be in an all-girl academy.
She divided up the team, giving them checklists to complete. She rotated the teams so that she could work with each one individually over the course of the time they had. Too soon, it was over and time to take them back to the academy for last meal. They chattered in the sled all the way back. Blaize was both sad and relieved to see them go. It was inspiring to work with them, to see the next generation develop, but it was exhausting to answer all their questions and make sure no errors were made. Although they were seniors and had done a great job, in the end, it was her ass that was going to be on the ship. There were no do-overs in space.
She dragged herself from the sled and up the gangplank. No matter how tired she was, she needed to do a little more, had to go back down to her precious systems. It wasn’t about going by Cifer’s old cell. But she couldn’t help but step in and look around. It felt like part of him was still there, which didn’t make a ton of sense. Dez had used this cell too before Cyra had accepted him. But Blaize had no sense of Dez’s presence, only Cifer’s. She dropped onto the bunk for a quick rest, just for a moment. His scent was still on the pillow, just like it had been in his apartment. Drawing a deep breath in through her nose, she let his essence flow through her before she closed her eyes and slept.
Cifer shook her gently. “Wake up, Beauty.”
Blaize rolled over and rubbed her eyes. “Where were you?”
“Had some business to take care of.” He laid his body over hers and kissed her, his tongue tangling with hers. His spicy taste satisfied a craving she didn’t know she had. They moaned in unison. He drew down the zipper on her suit. For some reason, she wasn’t wearing a bra, and her breasts sprang free, nipples hard, demanding his attention. He didn’t leave her wanting. He rolled one nipple between his thumb and first two fingers as he descended on the other with his hot, wet mouth. Blaize arched her back into his touch. It wasn’t enough. She ran her fingers through his coarse dark locks and pulled him tighter to his body. His touch was perfect, intense without being painful. He released her wet nipple into the cold air and moved to the other sensitized bud. He was going to make her come just from playing with her chest. She pressed her thighs together, trying to relieve the achy want at her core.
Cifer released the nipple he’d been teasing with his fingers and pressed his hand firmly between her legs. It was like he’d read her mind, or at least her body.
“Yes,” she moaned, parting her legs.
Cifer’s palm was on her mound, and his fingers pulsed and pinched her lips through her suit. Why wouldn’t he take off her clothes? They needed to be naked. He needed to be inside her again. She needed to come around his cock again and again. He pressed harder and nipped her breast. The orgasm wasn’t an explosion… It was a series of small detonations that snuck up on her and resonated deep inside before a rush of hot cream filled her panties and darkness filled her vision.
She opened her squinted eyes, staring at the ceiling of the cell, completely alone. But her panties were wet, and she was panting for air. Her nipples were as hard as stone but covered by her crew uniform.
A dream.
It had been a stupid sex dream.
