A shadow leapt across the dark room so quickly that Trance didn’t know it was coming at her until she was pressed against the bulkhead and her hands were restrained above her head by one of his. She recognized the cold metal and smooth tip of a force-lance as it pressed into her neck. “Identify yourself.” He was close enough so she could feel his breath caressing the top of her head.
“Tyr, it’s just me,” she said breathlessly. Her head was pounding and his close proximity made her want to draw back, but there was a bulkhead behind her.
“What are you doing in my quarters?” he demanded, force-lance still in place.
“I told you to come by and let me run some scans. Where were you?”
“Nietzscheans don’t get sick.”
“Some do. Everyone else on board is ill.”
“Why are you here, girl?”
“I was going to run them in your sleep. I knew you wouldn’t let me… could you let go of me?”
Tyr sighed and backed off. “Andromeda, lights one fourth.” The lights flashed on to reveal a pajama-clad Trance with a hand to her forehead and her eyes closed. She swayed slightly, caught herself, then began to fall forward. Her vision clouded and when it cleared, she was laying on the bed with Tyr kneeling beside it. “Maybe you’re the one who’s sick.”
“I don’t get sick, either,” she mumbled. She sat up and winced, touching a hand to the back of her head. Tyr took hold of it and dropped it back in her lap, then snaked his fingers through her hair to see how much damage he’d caused when he’d thrown her against the wall. His touch was light, like a caress, and a shiver of pleasure coursed through her.
Tyr chuckled softly. He couldn’t resist. “Cold?”
“Uh, a little,” Trance lied.
“Yet you say you’re not sick.”
“Well, it could have more to do with the bulkhead you slammed me into,” Trance offered innocently, cocking her head slightly to the left. “I thought you were an intruder.”
“I was.” A mischievous smile played on her lips. “But I had good intentions.”
“Perhaps,” Tyr replied.
Trance sighed and allowed him to continue his ministrations. She knew enough about Tyr Anasazi to know that he probably wouldn’t apologize. The Nietzschean got to his feet and disappeared into an adjoining room, then reappeared with a towel and perched on the edge of the bed behind his patient. She’d taken her hair down before bed, and her dreadlocks hung limply around her face and down her back. He parted them and began dabbing at the back of her head.
“Am I bleeding?”
“That’s strange…” he commented absently.
“What?”
“The blood has already stopped. You’re not bleeding at all.” He continued to run his fingers around the wound. “I had no idea your physiology was so advanced. I thought you were more like-“
“A human? I guess I’m more like a Nietzschean in that respect.” She turned slightly so she could see his face. “Not that I’m like a Nietzschean, but I heal as quickly, and I have the same lowered sensitivity to temperature and illness. I’m also as strong as you are.”
“Hardly,” Tyr grunted.
“You don’t have to believe me, but it doesn’t make it any less true.” She was smirking now, enjoying their verbal sparring.
“Then why did you let me pin you?” He leered at her. “Don’t tell me you enjoyed it.”
Heat crept into Trance’s face and she felt herself blushing. How did he always know which buttons to push? “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“You couldn’t even if you wanted to.”
“Couldn’t I?” In one swift movement, she turned and shoved him against the headboard, her forearm against his neck, one knee pressing into his stomach and the other next to his thigh.
“No, you couldn’t.” He grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her back, pressing her into his chest. She was about to jam her knee further into his stomach, but he grabbed both of her wrists in one hand and used the other one to pull her leg out from under her, causing her to fall roughly onto his lap.
“Alright,” she said breathlessly, “You win.”
“Giving up so easily?”
“What else can I do?”
Tyr looked down at the position she was in. There was nowhere for her to go. She was too close to him to find any leverage. In fact, she was very close…
Her face was inches from his, and he became aware of her heavy breathing against his chest and how soft the skin was of the leg he still held. He loosened his grasp slightly but didn’t let go.
“Um… I should probably leave,” Trance said softly.
“What about the scans?”
“Oh… the scans. Come to med deck in the morning.”
“You’re here now. You might as well get it over with.”
“No, I should really go.” She pulled free and stood up, walking across the room until a hand grabbed her and pressed her against the bulkhead again. “I like you in this position.” His free hand caressed the side of her face and traced the shape of her lips.
“Tyr, stop.”
He leaned in very close and whispered, “You don’t really want me to stop, do you?”
“I…” His mouth came down on hers and his arm wrapped around her waist. She began to respond to him, melting into him and putting her arms around him.
“I always wondered how much of you is gold,” he said, breaking the kiss to unbutton her shirt, then push it off her shoulders. The rest of their clothes were shed hastily between Tyr’s greedy kisses and Trance’s soft moans.
“Maybe we should move to the bed,” Trance suggested.
“No, I want you right here.” Lifting one of her legs and positioning it around his waist, he locked eyes and slowly slid into her.
At first he kept it painfully slow, enjoying her soft sighs of pleasure and frustration, but she was so warm and tight that soon he was moving quickly inside her, feeling her begin to shiver as her orgasm built. She dug her nails his shoulders and gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head, before she collapsed into him. This sent him over the edge, and soon he was growling her name as he thrust deeply inside her for the last time.
Kissing her softly, pulled out of her and helped her into bed. She tucked the sheet around herself, suddenly shy. Tyr chuckled and pulled her against him. “Maybe I really will come to med deck tomorrow.”
“Oh, right, the scans. I forgot about those again.”
“I wasn’t talking about the scans.”
“Oh,” Trance replied, lowering her eyes with a blush. She thought for a moment, then smiled. “Okay, but bring the forcelance.”