Loving it too much.
Casey was curled behind him, her magnificent breasts crushed against his naked back. He wanted to roll over and pull her into his arms. To tell her how much he loved her. But he couldn’t turn away from Jenna, snuggled against his chest, looking so angelic and peaceful in sleep.
Being with Jenna had been incredible.
Did he feel that way because she was someone new? He’d been with Casey exclusively for a long time. Or was it because she was from another world, which made her exotic and different?
But try as he might, he couldn’t convince himself that those were the reasons his desire for Jenna was so overwhelming. The other Earth women were beautiful and exotic, too, but he was not attracted to them in the same way. And if all he wanted was to be with someone new, many of the unattached crew members on the ship had expressed an interest. If he wanted a sexual partner, he could take his pick.
His chest tightened. He could no longer deny that there was a special bond between him and Jenna. The desire burned through him even now, despite the fact he’d been with her only an hour ago. And that desire rivaled what he felt for Casey.
His chest compressed. Why was this happening? Hadn’t he had enough anguish in his life?
Jenna murmured in her sleep and he realized he’d tightened his arms around her. He loosened his hold and she sighed, then rolled onto her back.
Fakkreh, he wanted to pull her back to him. He wanted to kiss her to wakefulness, then claim her body all over again.
Heghat, he had to get out of here. Carefully, he sat up and eased out from under the covers, not wanting to wake Jenna or Casey, then prowled down the bed. He grabbed his clothes and headed into the other room.
He dropped them in a heap on the couch, then pulled on his pants.
“Fleeing in the middle of the night, Darrick?”
CHAPTER 10
Darrick glanced to the bedroom and saw Casey leaning against the closed door, her arms crossed over her chest, wearing a silky robe that conformed to her luscious curves.
“I’ve got an early shift.”
Casey pushed herself forward and walked into the room.
“Darrick, we need to talk about what’s going on here.”
He pulled on his shirt and started buttoning it.
“What’s going on here is that I did you a favor, now I’m leaving. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
She shook her head and stepped toward him. He grabbed his jacket and turned to head for the door.
But she caught his arm.
“Please don’t go yet, Darrick. We should have talked about this before. Really talked. Neither of us was willing to broach the subject, but we both knew—”
“Casey, forget it.”
Her violet eyes flashed. “No. This is too important.”
She moved closer but he stepped away, knowing her touch would weaken his resolve.
“Darrick, I love you. And I know you love me. But now we need to face the fact that we love Jenna, too.”
“You love Jenna. She’s your tanash’ae.”
“No, we both allowed ourselves to think that because it was easier than the alternative. I knew that with your background, you’d find it nearly impossible to accept the situation. But I held out hope, especially when you decided to join the mission—”
His chest clenched.
“I did that to support you because I knew how hard it was going to be for you.”