“Uh… but Spencer’s there. I don’t think that would be a good place at all,” she pointed out, struggling to keep step with him as he led her along the corridor.

    Anka sent her a sharp look and paused. He shook his head at her. “Not this way, nodia,” he said gently. “I’ll return you… and leave you alone.”

    Sybil felt her heart skip several beats. “Don’t.”

    He smiled ruefully. “It’s alright, nodia. I’m not angry. It’s your choice. I told you that.”

    Distress filled her. “I know that. I can’t help… being unnerved by this, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

    He lifted a hand and lightly stroked her cheek. “Stay the night with me, then. We needn’t be lovers. I’ll be content to hold you.”

    Some of the tension left her. “You would?” she asked doubtfully.

    “Not really,” he said wryly. “But I’ll make do.”

    She couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re a strange man, Anka.”

    “I’m an alien, nodia.”

    Sybil smiled. “No, you aren’t. Uh… I didn’t think to ask, but are we… uh… compatible? You know… uh… that way?”

    Anka burst out laughing. “I will be deeply, deeply disturbed if I discover we aren’t. I don’t imagine I’ll be the only one disappointed if that’s the case, for that matter.”

    “You’re joking right?” Sybil asked uneasily, trying to decide whether to be relieved or not. That depended, of course, on whether he was joking about not knowing or not. “Where are we going anyway?”

    “My place. I think we’ll have to break with tradition. I don’t think I could sleep with Spencer standing over us, scowling.”

    ‘His’ place as it turned out, didn’t look a lot better than the cell where she’d been first incarcerated. It was maybe twice the size of that room and contained a bed that looked far more comfortable, but it was stark. Anka drew her to his bed and sat down on the edge. She studied his face a little uneasily and finally moved closer, lifting her hands to examine his face with her touch. His skin was smooth and soft. “I like your face,” she murmured.

    Surprise flickered in his eyes. “You didn’t appear to the first time you saw me.”

    Sybil frowned. “On the ship? I couldn’t really see your face.”

    He shook his head. “When I first spoke to you.”

    She smiled faintly. “I was expecting a monster and I couldn’t really see your face in the light.”

    “It is improved with more light?” he asked doubtfully.

    Her smile widened. Turning to one side, she sat on his knees so that they were face to face. “Much improved.”

    “Then it isn’t my appearance that terrifies you?” he asked tentatively.

    Sybil grimaced. “That wasn’t really what I meant.”

    He lifted a hand and settled it at her waist and Sybil realized in that moment that it wasn’t just her that was trembling. “What did you mean?”

    She shook her head slowly. “It doesn’t matter now,” she murmured, leaning closer and settling her cheek against his.

    “It matters to me,” he said huskily.

    She dragged in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his skin. “I was afraid that I was mistaken about you and I’d find out you weren’t the man I thought you were.”

    “I’m not human, nodia,” he said gently. “I’m not a man at all.”

    “Don’t argue with me,” she said teasingly, brushing her lips along his cheek. “You feel very much like a man to me.”

    He swallowed audibly. “You feel very much like a woman to me.”

    She smiled against his cheek. “Shall we discover if we’re compatible?”

    Anka pulled away to stare into her eyes. He saw what he was looking for and moved close once more, settling his mouth over hers. A shudder of pleasure ran through him as he felt the soft yielding of her lips, inhaled her breath, tasted the sweetness of her mouth as he had before. He savored the taste, the feel of her tongue against his own, felt heated need engulf him.

    The urge to strip her clothing from her and bare her to his gaze and his touch was like fire pouring through him. His heart hammered so fiercely in his chest he could scarcely draw breath.

    Slowly, he cautioned himself. He had all night. He would frighten her again if he wasn’t careful. He’d already scared her with his eagerness.

    He’d told her he would be content only to hold her, he reminded himself.

    If he frightened her, he would be lucky to have that much and it would be sheer torture.

    Even knowing that, it took every ounce of self-control he could muster to keep his hands still. After a few moments, he curled his arms around her and slowly leaned back until she was lying on top of him.

    She broke the kiss and sat up. Lifting her arms, she untied the knots of her top at the back and then the neck, allowing it to drop between them. He stared at her breasts hungrily, fascinated as much by the color of her skin as the beauty of the rounded, pink tipped globes. Leaning over him, she planted her palms on either side of his head and studied his face. “I let you see mine,” she murmured challengingly.

    He tipped her onto the bed and sat up. Sybil moved to a more comfortable position and propped her head on one hand to watch him as he stood up and stripped away his uniform. She discovered her imagination hadn’t failed her when she’d envisioned what he must look like naked. He was every bit as muscular and well defined as she’d thought-and the striations she’d noticed did indeed crisscross his back.

    He settled on the bed again to remove his boots and then shoved his trousers off, sending her a questioning look as he turned finally to face her. She was too busy examining him with her eyes to really notice, however, and she wasn’t left in any doubt that they both had corresponding plumbing. “You look like a big cat,” she murmured teasingly when she lifted her gaze to meet

    his. “A huge cat.”

    “That doesn’t bother you?”

    “Not if doesn’t bother you to be lying in bed with a monkey.”

    He chuckled. “You don’t look like a monkey to me.”

    She moved closer. “I might surprise you. I don’t have a tail to swing from limbs, but I can climb like nobody’s business.”

    They lay nose to nose and chest to chest for many moments, simply staring into one another’s eyes. “Is this wrong?” she murmured.

    “Does it feel wrong?”

    “No.”

    He shifted closer. “Then it isn’t.”

    Sybil closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his body against hers. It was the most wonderful sensation she’d ever experienced. Anxious now to overload her senses on him, she brushed restlessly against him, explored him with her hands and her lips. He stroked a hand slowly along her back, rubbing his face against hers, cheek to cheek, turning his head to nibble light kisses along her face and neck and shoulder.

    “You smell good, Earth woman,” he murmured against her shoulder. “Feel good, too.”

    Sybil dragged in a deep breath laden with his scent. “You do, too, Sumptra man.”

    He sought her mouth, covered it with his own, and kissed her deeply. Heat pulsed through her. Need began to war with her desire to simply luxuriate in his kisses and his touch. Curling one leg over his hips, she tugged at his shoulders, demanding more. He rolled into the cradle of her thighs, settling heavily, satisfyingly on top of her.

    Parting from her lips, he lifted his head to study her face. Feeling his gaze, she opened her eyes lazily and peered at him through half-closed eyes. He held her gaze as he shifted to align his body to hers, watched her face intently as he found the opening of her sex with the head of his cock and surged into her. She gasped in delight as she felt him stretching her, throwing her head back and squeezing her eyes tightly. “That feels… wonderful.”