They were in the shower an hour later when Aaron caught up with them. He stepped in, and the other two men finished and left them alone.
“Did you have a nice nap?” he asked.
She loved his playful smirk, the one he seemed to always wear now when around her. They hadn’t talked about what happened to him, but his overall outlook had much improved from when she first met him.
And she rarely thought about those three little words anymore. He more than showed her every day how much he loved her.
“Only one thing missing,” she whispered, pulling him close.
“Really? And what would that be?”
“You.” He stiffened against her, and she backed him into the shower wall, kneeling in front of him.
His fingers gently fisted her hair, his hips rocking against her as she wrapped her fingers around his shaft and licked him.
He moaned.
“You like that?” she asked.
“Yeah. You know I love it, baby.”
She took her time slowly going down on him, savoring it, enjoying his reaction. With her other hand she cupped his sac, massaging it and making him groan deep in his throat. His fingers tightened in her hair.
“That’s it,” he growled. “You know what I love, baby.” Urged on by his deep voice, she continued, laving her tongue over his shaft, feeling him tense, tighten. When he emptied, she grabbed his hips and held him tight until he was totally spent. His hands dropped to her shoulders, leaning on her for support.
“Damn, baby,” he gasped. “You put the twins to shame, you know that?”
She grinned. “Oh, I doubt that. Different doesn’t mean better.” He pulled her to her feet and held her. “You have no idea how good you are, sweetheart.”
Emi ventured out with Caph the next day. They’d managed to avoid Jezeen until she spotted them on their way back to the Tamora Bight.
“Caph! Wait!”
He gripped Emi’s hand and swore. “What?”
“Did Ford tell you I was looking for you?” Emi didn’t miss the nasty look Jezeen cast her way.
“Yeah. So?” Caph asked.
“Look, can I please talk to you?”
Emi had had enough. Not letting go of Caph’s hand, she stepped in front of the large man. “Listen, woman, apparently you aren’t good at taking a hint. We are not taking you on as crew. We’re a four-pack, and we’ll stay a four-pack. They can’t stand you, they don’t like you.
Go run your scam on an unsuspecting ship and get taken on as crew there.” She made sure to say it loud, and people from other ships turned to watch and listen.
Jezeen glared at her. “Look, kid, you have no say¯”
“I have every say. We’re a bonded crew. We. As in I’m one of them. Back. The fuck. Off. Bitch.” Emi stepped forward, glaring, and felt Caph’s stress levels rise as he worried about a fight between the women.
Jezeen’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell do they see in you?”
“They see a woman who loves all of them for who they are and who doesn’t play favorites. They see a woman who cares about them, all of them. When they look at you, they see an annoying skank who makes their skin crawl. Go to hell. Come on, Caph.” She glanced at him long enough to note his amused smile as Emi led him back to the ship.
When they were inside and the hatch was safely closed behind them, he laughed and picked her up, swinging her around. “You were great!”
She felt great. “I was more than happy to stand up to her. I’ll be damned if I’ll share my boys with anyone, especially not with a skank ho like her.”
“Skank ho? Is that a medical term?”
“Yeah, it is now.”
The other men laughed at Caph’s recounting. He embellished a little, making Emi look even braver than she was, but she didn’t correct his version.
Aaron smirked. “Well, maybe she’ll leave us alone now.” No such luck. The next morning, the com chirped when Emi was alone on the bridge, the men down in cargo working on load set up.
“Tamora Bight.”
The caller hesitated. “This is Captain Jenkins from the Kelso Bay.
Is Aaron there?”
“He’s down in cargo. This is Dr. Hypatia, the medical officer.
What can I do for you, captain?”
“I need to talk to him about a crew transfer.” Emi’s gut tightened. “Is this about that Jezeen woman?” Another hesitation. “Yes.”
“Well, I can tell you his answer is a resounding no. We’re a bonded crew, captain, and we’re not taking on any extras.” Yet another hesitation. “Ah. I didn’t know that.” A woman started to protest in the background, then suddenly cut off like she was shushed.
Emi pushed the advantage. “The captain, the officers, and I already informed her that we were bonded crew and closed to new members. She will have to find another ride, because the Tamora Bight is full. What part of no doesn’t she understand, because Aaron, Ford, Caph and myself have all told her no. She has no chance of crewing with us.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I’m sorry I bothered you. Kelso Bay out.” Grinning ear to ear, she cut off the com link and ran down to cargo to pass the message.
The men laughed. “Damn, she just doesn’t take a hint, does she?” Ford said, shaking his head.
“She’s gotta be desperate if she’s that bad off. Must have run through all the other crews,” Emi said.
Aaron smirked. “She’s got a bad rep. Troublemaker. Finally looks like she hit a wall.”
Ford or Caph went with Emi to her classes. They spotted Jezeen from a distance a few times, accosting crew from other ships in her desperation to switch rides. Jezeen didn’t approach them again, but she did shoot Emi murderous glares on more than one occasion.
The classes paid off, and Emi managed to produce edible baked goods. Not perfect, but better, and she learned how to modify the oven and recipes to counteract the effects of space and reduced-G.
She picked up a few extra seedling plants, modified beans that would flourish in the hydro lab and give them an alternate protein source.
She also learned how to can and freeze-dry vegetables, giving them options besides the pre-packaged, processed food.
Aaron personally took Emi to her driving lesson on the rover. She was both thrilled and terrified to be motoring on the surface of Mars.
She bounced over hills on the outdoor track set up for this, laughing as she learned how to negotiate tricky terrain and how to use the built-in leveling system if she flipped it.
After several hours, Aaron felt confident enough in her skills to declare her safe on it, and they returned to the ship. Never in her life would she have imagined she’d be doing something like this.
As their time on Mars drew to a close, Emi checked their food inventory and stocked up on last-minute fresh items. They would be en route for months before they stopped at a military station to replenish supplies. They had one last crew dinner out before starting their lift countdown the next morning.
The lift procedure was faster and simpler than on Earth, due to decreased gravity, lack of atmosphere, and no large metropolitan areas nearby. It only took two hours to move out of the docking facility and three hours to lift. The front plates were closed, and as Mars slipped away from them in the vid screens, Emi felt an odd thrill. Mars wasn’t home by any stretch, but it was firm ground. She now understood some of the men’s excitement to be underway again.
She felt it.
They switched back to a twenty-four hour cycle and set a course for their first stop. They would jump to a nearby solar system, a trip that would take three days. Boiled down to basics she could understand, the jump engine allowed them to cover vast distances in a short time, but it took a lot of energy to run. They only used it when the time and energy and supply usage of travelling with the normal engines would outweigh using the jump engine.