Unwelcome visit?
Rusp slapped a panel on the wall next to her, and the ship’s hatch closed behind her. He stared at her with what appeared to be anger. “What you do here, Irene?”
A weight slammed in her gut. She swallowed a wad of unexpected hurt at his blunt, almost harsh question. “I…I wanted to see you guys. Say hello, maybe talk music some more? You don’t want me here?”
Jemi startled her by rushing forward and wrapping his arms around her. Irene was suddenly pressed close to a strong body, enveloped in his musky-spicy scent and warmth. “No want you hurt. You in danger, Irene. Shouldn’t come.”
“Rusp learn about Earth. Cruel to women who come too close to men. We stay away and think you stay away too.”
Irene found it hard to concentrate on Sherv’s speech. Jemi was holding her tight to himself, his rock-hard chest against her breasts, their stomachs touching, and below…
A stab of heat spiked through her. She’d never been held by a man before, and it was a revelation, her softer curves molding to his powerful physique. She couldn’t breathe.
She almost grabbed Jemi when he finally stepped back and held her at arm’s length. His worried gaze cleared the fog of whatever it was she’d been experiencing, and she returned to her senses.
“It’s okay. Nobody messes with Odeergins, right? I’m careful.” They didn’t have to know about her near-encounter with Clan Nil.
“Is big risk,” Rusp said, his anger evaporating in favor of concern. “What Earth do to you if you catched…”
“If you were hurt because come to see us, I not stand it.” Sherv raked his fingers through his thick black hair, mussing it. “Why you take chance?”
Still feeling a ghostly sensation of Jemi against her, Irene went to their dinette and sat on one of the huge chairs surrounding it. “My world has been so small. Not Earth, but where I’m allowed to go, what I’m allowed to do. Imagine never going anywhere, never seeing anything except what people tell you is proper. Could you live like that?”
Sherv sat next to her so they could gaze eye-to-eye. He spoke to her slowly, carefully, as if she were a child. “Your government torture and kill for this, Irene.”
“Do you think I don’t know this? They took me from my parents when I was sixteen. They ripped me from my family to sing for them. My parents would have been jailed if they hadn’t agreed to it.” Irene choked on bitter laughter. “I know all too well what my government is capable of.”
Releasing Summer
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