LunarReunion

Shona
Husk

Book 2 in the Decadent Moon series.

Six years ago Filid made the mistake of falling for another
officer in the Allied Planetary Military. He walked away before they both did
something they’d regret. Yet he can’t get her out of his mind, even now.

Silva has never forgotten Filid, but he is the last person
she expects to see on the pleasure resort of Decadent Moon. This time she won’t
let him walk away without exploring the fantasies she had about being with him.

Filid wants more than one night. This time he is determined
to hold onto her no matter the cost.

Inside Scoop:
Filid comes equipped with sexy
tentacles that cannot be missed!

A
Romantica®
futuristic erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

The doors to the pilots’ bar on Decadent Moon slid open. The
opaque glass gave privacy to the people who made their chits flying among the
stars. On the opposite side of the bar was a window that looked out onto the
ice planet below. Silva drew in a reverent breath.

The view was spectacular and always made her gasp. The
shining white-and-blue surface glistened invitingly. Now that was natural
beauty. While Decadent Moon was a manmade marvel and a testament to engineering
feats, it was also a reminder what an obscene amount of chits and a desire for
everything could produce. The planet below stole the spotlight from the sexy
shows and legal drugs. The icy surface was crisscrossed with what appeared to
be a web of delicate lines. But those lines were canyons that had swallowed
whole ships. No one who went down there ever returned.

Lethal beauty.
She loved it. A smile formed. Best
view in the galaxy? Definitely in her top three.

The aerial forest of
Jhela-3
couldn’t be rivaled.
Trees growing on clouds, giant winged creatures and insects as big as she was.
The week hiking there had been the trip of a lifetime and had taken a huge bite
out of her savings. But what was the point of piloting cruise liners for the
rich if not for the chits and the sights?

The moment she got tired of flying or seeing new worlds she’d
quit.

Silva wondered how many other pilots in the bar said the
same thing. Her gaze shifted to the occupants of the bar, most gave her a nod
after checking out her uniform. It was a rather bright red emblazoned with the
corporate logo and her name. There were a couple of aliens in the green
uniforms of a rival company that ran smaller more personalized tours. Even a
couple of aliens in plain clothes, private pilots perhaps? Then her gaze slid
to the two men in the dark blue of the Allied Planetary Military. One was
Amayan,
tall and fine boned with skin like midnight, and the other was a
Klokian
.
His skin was as white as the ice below. Her heart kicked over as the long
tentacles that grew instead of hair, fur or feathers lifted off his head, as if
he was noticing her arrival without even turning.

For one mission in the APM she’d had a
Klokian
military police officer on board. Filid had been amazing and fascinating, his
culture so different from hers. He’d been the only male to ever even tempt her
to break the no-fraternization rule. But they’d come close once. An almost kiss
that hadn’t even involved lip contact, just the soft brush of a tentacle over
her cheek. That touch had promised so much more before he’d done the right
thing and pulled away, leaving her aching for something she could never have.

His tentacles had fascinated her. They weren’t alive in
their own right—not like some species who had formed a symbiotic relationship
with another creature. On a
Klokian
they were like extra limbs, or
sensory organs. The
Klokian
were telepathic and it was their tentacles
that picked up the thoughts for them to read.

Filid had let her touch them once after they’d had a couple
of drinks and their guard had been down. Tentacles no thicker than her finger
had wrapped softly around her wrist, caressed her skin. Heat had flared in his
eyes that she didn’t need to be telepathic to read. And she’d no doubt he’d
been able to read her like a
plex
screen. She’d wanted him even though
she couldn’t have him—not without them both losing their jobs. After that
there’d been less-than-accidental contact, as if they were magnets that
couldn’t pull away. Despite the risks, they’d danced around each other even
though they both knew it couldn’t go any further.

The untapped desire had frustrated them both to the point
where lust had become anger. They hadn’t parted friends. She shivered as the
memory swirled through her blood and twisted in her belly. Never fixing things
with Filid was the one regret she carried.

Later she’d watched pornos on her
plex
about the
things those tentacles could do and the pleasure that could be had. At night
she’d imagined Filid doing those things to her. But he was long gone from her
life by then, on another ship and on another mission. Interspecies porn had
been hot property in the APM, as if watching what they couldn’t do would take
the edge off the need.

On cruise liners the no-frat rule applied to staff and
passengers—sometimes that rule made for a long stretch between fucks. She
needed to get laid in the next ten
trics
before she was due back on the
Lunar
Bird
. Her body was making mating pheromones and she was sure the other
pilot had wrinkled his nose in disgust when they’d swapped shifts.

Pity he was immune to his own scent, somewhere between
rotting
hairfruit
and
ghabra
dung. However, interspecies
relations had been drummed into her by the APM, and she knew how to be polite
even if the other pilot didn’t.

The pilots’ bar was the perfect place to find someone. Reserved
for pilots and navigators of the ships that docked, it was the Moon’s way of
saying “thank you and spend some extra chits”. It was also a way of picking up
an easy lay that didn’t expect her to swap
plex
numbers.

She glanced at the
Klokian
again, memories of Filid
now close to the surface. With a sway of her hips she sauntered over to the bar
with the sole aim of getting her complimentary drink and getting the
Klokian
male into a bed…or at least into a quiet dark corner in one of the many shows.

His tentacles lifted up as if he was sensing her move
closer, the movement was so familiar a lump formed in her throat. Maybe this
was a bad idea and she should pick someone else. Then he turned his head. His
strong nose was in profile for a moment before he swiveled on his seat.

Her heart forgot to beat.

Filid. My Filid.

She almost broke step.

Of all the men, in all the bars, on all the inhabited moons.

He was as beautiful as ever, but the apparent fragility of
his white, almost luminescent, skin was a lie. It was like armor, tough and not
quite smooth, and you never bet against a
Klokian
in a fist fight—she’d
learned that one the hard way when she’d first joined the APM.

Filid scanned her uniform. “
Lunar Bird
?”

Silva nodded and took the seat next to him. “It’s bit
clunkier than an APM xi-wing.” She smiled, hoping to see a flicker of
recognition in his dark-blue eyes.

Did he remember her as the pilot he’d almost seduced? Or was
she just another brown, spotted alien in his eyes? She hadn’t been once. She
remembered his eyes being hot with lust. Right now there was lukewarm interest.

He seemed more guarded than he had been. Had he learned to
put up walls?

That he was so open was one of the reasons she’d been so
attracted. He came from a society that was based on honor and honesty—it had to
be when thoughts were virtually on display. She came from a place where lying
and cheating to get ahead was expected. After the war
Lekithia
was
ruined.

His expression didn’t change as he gave her a more thorough
inspection. Did he see her not-so-polished boots and her less than perfectly
pressed uniform? She no longer had to maintain the high APM standards of dress.
However, her hair was braided, as it always had been. His gaze paused on her
hair. She remembered him running his hands over her braid and bringing to his
lips. He’d been as fascinated in her hair as she’d been by his tentacles. Yet
there was nothing more in his eyes when his gaze settled on her again.

Filid didn’t know her.

Silva tried to ignore the stab of pain that caused. She’d
thought of him often in the five years since she’d left the APM. Had he moved
on and forgotten her? Obviously he had.

She wanted to say something but didn’t want to make the
first move. Since he didn’t remember her it would be awkward. However, the old
attraction was still there. She wanted him, and this time she could have him.
If she also pretended not to know him. Could she push aside the feelings she’d
once had for him and just act on lust?

“I bet it is.” He smiled, revealing his dark teeth. Then the
grin widened and it reached his blue eyes the way she remembered. He was as
devastatingly handsome as he’d been six Allied Standard years ago and her body
remembered the old longing. Her nipples peaked and pressed against her
undershirt. She’d come here looking for sex and had found Filid. The one man
she’d never been able to have, even though she once had considered trading her
pilot’s wings for him.

She was glad she hadn’t because then she might have hated
him for grounding her. And she’d have never expected him to give up his posting
and position. But things were different now.

Filid sipped his drink. “Miss the APM?”

A little, but not enough to ever go back. Which was the way
she felt about
Lekithia
as well. She’d go back to
Lekithia
as
soon as she’d seen enough of the galaxy. As soon as she had enough chits put
away. Now she was sure she was just avoiding going home, ever. Flying on the
other hand she loved. Civilian flying was more fun and she got shot at less.
“Not really.”

But she missed him. They’d had a chance and mucked it up.
Even if he didn’t recognize her, was it possible he could be interested in
something fun and short term? Did she want him enough to pursue it even though
he didn’t know her anymore? If she was honest, she’d been half hoping he’d
recognize her the way she had him. That he’d be glad to see her and they could
do all the things they’d never gotten to do with the APM regulations between
them. She swallowed and shook off the doubts. He was here; she could still
cross him off her list. No regrets was her motto and he was a beautiful blot in
her life.

Unless of course he was merely being polite in talking to
her and he had no interest in sex. Only one way to find out—keep him talking
for a bit and look for clues. She was so tempted to say something to jog his
memory, but if he couldn’t remember on his own, maybe it was easier just to go
along with it. Pretend they’d never met before today and keep things simple.

Silva rested her elbow on the bar and angled her body toward
him. “Flying the
Lunar Bird
I get a mini holiday with every stopover.”

“Different guy in every spaceport?” His tentacles moved as
he was talking, the way some people moved their hands. What was he sensing from
her? She knew that he couldn’t read her thoughts exactly, only emotions. Once
that had been enough—more than enough, the idea that someone could possibly
read every thought in her head was scary. She didn’t know how he coped when he
went home.

She grinned and tried to sound as though she didn’t care
that he didn’t remember her even though she’d often thought of him alone at
night. She was going to enjoy this stopover and she was going to get laid. “You
know how it works.”

Back then she couldn’t have Filid, so she’d had some random
guy in the first spaceport, anything to stop the aching lust. It hadn’t helped.
And the tension between them had risen.

Silva glanced at the
Amayan
. Their culture was so
repressed and bound up in rules that it made serving in the APM look like a
holiday. Was Filid with the
Amayan
man? Or had they simply arrived
together? How together were they? Talk about contrast. The idea of being
between the two of them…she almost shivered with delight.

Filid laughed and his tentacles slithered over his shoulder,
trying to get closer to her. He’d read her thoughts as if she’d written them
down and handed them over, but she refused to let her skin heat. He would’ve
only sensed a strong desire as she’d looked at both men. It would’ve been easy
to fill in the gap.

“Tadao is my pilot. We’re here for prisoner collection and
to enjoy the Moon until the dock opens again for departures.” He took a moment
to slowly check her out, but his expression gave nothing away. His tentacles
did. They moved as if they had minds of their own—which they didn’t, as he’d
explained how they worked to her once—but they were receptors of sorts, picking
up signals that no one else could.

He could have been anything he wanted in the APM, yet he had
chosen to be a cop.

She wanted to reach out and trace her fingers over his rough
hide and run her tongue over his lips. How would his kiss feel? Hard? Soft?
Would she like the feel of his skin on hers? Her tongue darted over her lip in
a calculated move. What would he do with that lusty impression?

His eyes widened a fraction and a couple of tentacles eased
forward. Not close enough to touch, but enough to let her know he was getting
interested. It was time to know how interested. Was he keen for some private
fun? “Well you won’t see much of the Moon sitting in the pilots’ bar.”

She let desire blossom as her lips curved. Let him think she
was only interested in one thing. He didn’t need to remember her for her to
enjoy the sex and she needed some of that. Perhaps she’d be able to get him out
of her thoughts once and for all.

“No, but I want to finish my free drink first.” He beckoned
the bartender over. “You should claim yours.”

She should…she had ten
trics
. Long enough for a drink
and a fuck. And so far despite Filid not recognizing her, he was the only one
she wanted in the bar. Had he been planning on picking up before she’d walked
in?

The bartender placed her order down in front of her.
Arvarkian
beer with its simple sweet taste was what she always got. It was available in
all good bars across the galaxy, and while she’d tried other drinks she always
came back to the beer where she could get it. Unlike some of the drinks here,
it wasn’t pretending to be classy or something it wasn’t. She brought the
chilled glass to her lips but looked at Filid as she took a slow sip.