CHAPTER TWELVE

XANDR WOKE NEXT TO Andie and breathed her scent in deep. She was warm beside him and he would have traded a dukedom to stay in bed with her all day. But he was the captain now and duty was not something that could be so easily put aside. When he shifted and sat up, Andie stirred, making a mewling protest and curling up tighter as if she could ward off the morning by keeping her eyes shut tight.

But after a moment she cracked an eye open and squinted at him like she wasn’t sure he was really there. Xandr wanted to order her to move her things into his quarters so he could wake up like this every morning, but they’d just barely acknowledged that their relationship was more than a convenient joining of bodies and he wasn’t going to push. Not yet. He had Andie in his bed and on his ship. He would be satisfied with that for now.

“You look way too intense for this early in the morning,” she mumbled, ending with a yawn before opening both of her eyes and blinking rapidly. “What time is it, anyway?”

Xandr glanced at the clock on the wall and then back at the tempting, rumpled woman he wanted to sink into again and again. “Too early. Go back to sleep.”

She pushed a few curls away from her eyes and then blew at them when they settled back to where they’d been. Finally she hooked the hair behind her ears and sighed. “If I go back to sleep, I’m not waking back up.” Andie heaved herself up and pushed the sheet off of her body, heedless of her nakedness. Her brown skin glowed golden in the faint light of his room and Xandr barely suppressed the animal sound that lodged in his throat at the sight of her. She’d given herself to him so completely last night that he should have been sated, should have been able to walk out of the room without a backward glance.

Instead it was taking all of his considerable discipline not to pin her to the bed and fuck her until they both expired from exhaustion.

“Keep looking at me like that and neither of us is getting out of here,” Andie said, voice husky. Xandr met her eyes and saw they’d bled darker than their normal brown, and her chest heaved as if she had to take in deeper breaths.

Xandr tore his gaze away and scooped up Andie’s shirt, tossing it towards her. “You are tempting beyond words, cavria.” The endearment slipped out without thought and from the way Andie studied him, he knew she could tell it meant more than a simple nothing. But they could deal with that later, when she was ready.

He leaned in and kissed her gently, pulling away when his body demanded he deepen the kiss and take her once more. He was captain again and had responsibilities to handle and relationships to mend.

“Are you going to talk to Keana?” Andie asked as she slipped on her top.

Xandr nodded. “I... did not handle things as well as I could have,” he admitted. She’d told him as much last night and though it rankled to admit his failures, if he could not speak them to Andie, there was no one on the ship he could be honest with. He couldn’t go around confessing his doubts and fears to the rest of the crew, but in this room, with this woman, he could count on her to hold his secrets close. Almost all of his secrets.

“You can fix it now,” Andie assured him, though she had no way of knowing if it was true. “If you and Keana have made it this far, I’m sure she’ll forgive you. Eventually.”

He wasn’t sure that he believed it, but Xandr left Andie to finish getting ready and went to find Keana. It wasn’t far, as it was still so early she hadn’t left her room. When she opened the door her face was drawn and she looked like she hadn’t slept. She stared at him blankly for a moment before pushing the door fully open and stepping back to allow him inside. The door closed behind him with a solid thunk and Keana glared at him, arms crossed.

Xandr hadn’t prepared an apology or some speech about pulling together for the best of the crew. And from the jut of Keana’s chin, she didn’t seem likely to forgive him if he offered a weak apology. So all Xandr could do was speak from his heart and hope it was enough. “I did that wrong last night. I should have talked to you privately, but we’ve had two close calls with Oscavian nobility in as many missions and that can’t keep happening. You did the right thing, de-escalating instead of forcing the crew to vote. There’s no one I want working beside me more, but I need to know you’ll be okay with this.”

Keana blew out a breath and looked at him for a long moment before speaking. “Your planet is lucky you never went into politics.”

Xandr couldn’t help but grin. “Imagine me in the legislature. It would be a disaster.”

Their smiles connected as the reminder of their shared history flashed in their minds. “Did your consort make you talk to me?”

“Consort?” He knew the crew had caught onto his relationship with Andie, but he would lay down the law before he let anyone speak a word against her because of him.

“Should I call her your lady? Your lover? Knowing your history with betrothal I wouldn’t curse her with the title. Your d─”

“Enough.” It came out an order, with his captain’s tone that he’d spent the past month avoiding using. “Yes, she and I are together, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s not like this is a permanent arrangement.” Even as the words came out, Xandr knew they were a lie. He would do anything to make Andie his for good, to keep her by his side until his dying day. Even if that meant facing things he’d long put behind him, but that wasn’t for Keana to know.

“And do you expect the crew to just accept that?” Keana crossed her arms.

“If you make it clear that there’s no issue.” They were a small crew and discontent could spread quickly, but it could be managed just as easily if he knew he had people on his side.

“So you embarrass me in front of everyone, take away my position, and now you want me to make sure that everyone is okay that you’re screwing the new crew member. Wow, Xand. That’s a lot, even for you.” Keana shook her head at him as if she couldn’t believe what he was asking and her tone was still cold, still hurt. Even if she accepted his apology, things wouldn’t be the same between them, not for a long time.

“I’m sorry,” Xandr said. “I fucked things up. You’re the best first mate this crew has ever had, and the second best captain.” She rolled her eyes at that, but Xandr saw the smile she was trying to suppress. “You always have a place on my crew,” he vowed, “even when I’m a pigheaded idiot. We weren’t the same without you.” Keana had left the crew for a short while years before and then she’d come back, a hollow look in her eyes and new scars on her back that she took pains to hide. She’d never told Xandr, or anyone, what had happened and he hadn’t asked. Speaking of it now was a risk he had to take, but he needed Keana to know that she had a place on his ship and as his friend, no matter what he did to try and ruin it. “If you want to take a break for a bit, I understand. We can give you time, drop you off at our next port, but I hope you come back.”

Keana crossed the room and poked him in the chest hard enough to sting. “This is my ship too, you hulk of nonsense. You can’t get rid of me that easy. And if that was enough to scare me away, I’d have run from your spoiled ass a decade ago. We’re fine, Xandr. You’re meant to be the captain of this ship, it’s your home more than anything has ever been. I was always just keeping it ready for you to come back.”

Xandr didn’t know if he believed it, but if it was what Keana wanted him to think, he wouldn’t argue. He squeezed her shoulder in thanks and left her to get ready. The crew was sure to be waiting to see how things had settled between them and with his position back, Xandr had to find their next job to make sure he could keep his ship in the air.

He spared a glance for his quarters as he walked out of Keana’s and wondered if Andie was still there. But he forced himself to walk on. They’d have plenty of time later, and he had a job to do.

***

NO ONE WAS EATING WHEN Andie went to get her breakfast, but by the time she was done Sayevi, Dr. Hayk, and Malax had all joined her. They didn’t say anything about what had happened the night before, and anytime Xandr’s name came up Andie could feel eyes on her as they waited for her response. It was a stark reminder that there was no such thing as a secret on a ship as small as the Seventh, but Andie tried not to let that bother her.

Xandr came in and grabbed some food, offering her a quick smile before greeting everyone and retreating to his office. Andie’s cheeks heated warm enough to melt the thickest ice, but still no one made a comment. Dr. Hayk and Malax took off after they cleared their plates, leaving her and Sayevi alone.

And Sayevi showed no quarter. “I’ve never seen the captain smile like that,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “So can we all stop pretending that we don’t know?”

It was a close thing, but Andie didn’t bury her face in her hands to hide it from Sayevi. “You are an unrepentant gossip.”

Sayevi only continued to grin. “Space is empty and boring. What else are we going to do? It’s either have sex or talk about who’s having sex.”

Could Andie live with that? The entire crew must have known about her and Xandr for weeks, but she couldn’t say they’d treated her poorly because of it. Or maybe they had and she couldn’t tell since she and Xandr had started up almost as soon as she’d officially joined the crew. “It has nothing to do with my position on the ship,” she felt compelled to state.

“Obviously.” Her companion rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you’re sharing Keana’s bed. She’s the one who officially brought you on, even if Xandr’s the one who found you. And she’s always been the one who does the hiring. Captain has final say, but he’s too busy to handle it all by himself.”

“So you don’t have a problem with it?” None of these insecurities plagued her when she was in Xandr’s arms, but Sayevi was her closest friend on the ship and if she could ask these questions of anyone, it was the pilot.

“He smiled at you,” Sayevi said, eyes wide. “I’ve never seen him smile like that at anyone. Maybe I’m a little concerned you’ll ask him to steal the Oscavian Imperial Crest or something and he’ll do it cause he thinks you’re made of sunshine, but the two of you fucking?” she shrugged. “Who cares?”

It was pretty anticlimactic, but Sayevi’s opinion seemed to be the same as the rest of the crew. Everything was stilted that day as they waited to see how things ended up with Xandr and Keana, but by the evening it was clear that they’d continue to work together just as they had for years. Keana handed out assignments like she’d never stopped being first mate and though Andie would have preferred a job that wasn’t as boring as inventorying supplies, she couldn’t accuse the woman of giving her shit work because of her relationship with Xandr. The tedious jobs always went to the newest on the crew, even Andie knew that.

Days went by and Andie got used to how the crew operated while in space. It wasn’t exciting. There were no dukes to deceive, no jewels or cargo to steal, but she got to know her fellow crewmembers and start to feel like she was part of a family for the first time in years.

And her nights, oh, she’d give up her soul to make sure her nights continued on. She and Xandr managed to keep apart well enough in the day, confining themselves to chaste kisses and touches if they happened to run into one another. But at night, she was his and they found pleasures with each other that she’d never before imagined. Andie hadn’t spent a night in her own quarters since Xandr became captain, and she didn’t think she’d be going back any time soon. Every morning she woke in his arms, and when he smiled and kissed her, her heart threatened to explode.

But they couldn’t stay in space forever, and a crew of outlaws needed jobs to keep the ship flying. A week after the disastrous night on Talaufon, Xandr called a meeting of the crew. They gathered as usual and waited while the captain and first mate discussed something between themselves. Normally Andie would be talking to Sayevi, but she couldn’t keep her eyes of Xandr. In the dim light of the room he looked made of darkness, his purple skin blending into the shadows and adding a sinister bent to his already intense face.

Heat curled within her and she was counting down the minutes until she could haul him back to thei─his quarters and have her way with him. But that would be hours yet and she had to get control of herself.

Then Xandr looked over at her, his blue eyes electric, and she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning. He grinned, knowing exactly what that look did to her, before stepping away from Keana and moving to the front of the room.

The holo player engaged and a large necklace made of brilliant green gems floated in their midst. After a moment the necklace was replaced by a bracelet, then a pair of anklets, and then another necklace, this one blue. A dozen pieces of jewelry flashed in front of her, each one more extravagant than the next. Every member of the crew was leaning forward, trying to get a better look, and all the while Xandr said nothing.

After several minutes the jewelry disappeared to be replaced by a stone building that looked like an impenetrable fortress out of ancient Earth.

Andie looked over at Xandr and saw him grinning like the outlaw he was, the prospect of a new job making the air around them sizzle. Once he had everyone’s attention, Xandr offered a cocky grin.

“Who wants in?”

The room went wild, and Andie stared at Xandr, turned on even while her mind reeled. She’d seen the serious Xandr, the caring Xandr, and the intense, dangerous man who lived in him. But this cocky bastard was the rogue who’d made his name as an outlaw to be feared across a dozen systems. She wanted to march across the room and stake her claim, even as she wondered just how far in over her head she was.

But one thing was certain. There was no going back, not when the daring rogue in front of her had managed to steal her heart right from her chest before she could realize it was in any danger. She’d do anything for him if it meant she got to stay by his side.

A jewel heist? Looked like fun.

***

Want to know what comes next for Andie and Xandr? The next volume of the Alien Outlaws series is available now! Read Rogue Alien’s Secret today!

Alien Outlaws

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Keep reading for a sneak peek at Soulless.