Trapped with the Alien Transporter (Ragrim Explorations #1)

Chapter 11

Hsinth never really went back into the topic of his shithiss—or whatever it was called—no matter how much Ophelia tried to sidle around to it. She could be more direct and blame her brain for needing an answer, but while there were some things she couldn’t help, being unnecessarily rude wasn’t one of them. And after everything they’d been through together, rude was the last thing she wanted to be, no matter how curious she was.

That had been yesterday, and when the lights had faded in the cycle Hsinth had set to simulate the twenty-five-hour Republic cycle, they’d sought the warmth of the bed and each other. The temperature didn’t fluctuate in their simulated night; it was just always cold in general, but there was some comfort to be found in the touch of another warm body at her back.

Now that they were both awake and Ophelia was trying to put some space between them, she’d organized breakfast—more of those noodle bowls for both of them—and started them on hanging more cloth. They were down to smaller scraps at this point, and after rigging up a frame around the bed, they were adding some there, too. It was the only thing they could do to keep busy that was actually helpful, and she was going to ride that emotional feedback wave as long as she could.

“No chance we can move the oven in here, is there?” she asked, looking longingly at the box of hot rocks and wishing she could just drape a cloth around herself and sit on it.

Maybe they could rig up a tent around them and curl around the box like cats. She had seen a few animated TV shows in her youth that had something called a kotatsu table from Japan. They’d been a little stove in the middle of a box table with a blanket around the edges to trap the heat in. In the cool Colorado winters, she would have killed for one.

Mom would have never gone for it, since she did as little as she could. Her only goal had been to make Ophelia a functioning human being. Ophelia could have gotten one when she’d been asked to leave at eighteen, but who had the money for luxury imports?

“No,” Hsinth said. “I thought about it, but the connectors for it are where they are and I’m not a ship tech. Moving it would risk a fire or me frying everything in the ship, and then instead of just an oven in an inconvenient place, we wouldn’t have any more heat.”

Ophelia swallowed past a dry throat. “Ah. Right.”

The ship wasn’t quite keeping them warm, but it was at least keeping them from turning into popsicles. Their own efforts, plus the fire rocks, had seen to that.

It was insane how much more clearly she could think now that she wasn’t twitching at every random sound. When anxiety wasn’t clawing at her throat and telling her that she needed to get away from the sound, except the sound was everywhere, she could relax. She could think more than just three seconds ahead, she could think hours ahead. Days even. Days of cold, boring, nothing.

“So you and your sister both ended up being transporters?” she asked. With the way the ceiling rose slightly in the middle of the room, she was stuck holding layers of cloth for Hsinth to drape along the ceiling, now. At least one of them could reach the ceiling here.

“Yes,” he said. “Although obviously she’s much better at it than me. Her ship isn’t quite… this,” he said, sweeping an arm around them.”

Ophelia winced. She had implied that his ship was a trash heap, hadn’t she?

“Sorry about that,” she said. “I just… I had expectations for how this was going to go. How it needed to go. And then it didn’t and I suck and I’m sorry.”

“You don’t suck,” Hsinth said.

The way his eyes dropped to her mouth was gratifying, but then he pulled her into his arms, cloth and all, and Ophelia was certain that if Hsinth was familiar with mixed messages, he wasn’t applying them here.

And she should know, because she was the queen of miscommunication.

It was too easy to lean against him; too easy to feel his arms tighten around her and be comfortable with it. It was too easy to pretend that this was real and not two people seeking warmth in each other because, hello, ice hell planet.

Ophelia had had sexual relationships before, but they were always fast and awkward. The goal had always been to get an inconvenient urge out of the way, or finally get to the point where it felt good for her, and by then, the men she’d been with were usually out of juice. Once she’d figured out that what she needed was firm touch to the point where most men were either worried about hurting her or went too hard, she’d mostly given up on sex.

Sex or no, here was Hsinth, willing to hug her as tightly as she wanted, always available for heat leeching, and somehow just as interested in touch as she was, now that Ophelia was able to function like she normally was.

And she was functioning. Functioning enough to start to feel a flutter in her stomach when she was laying in the bed with her back against his own, or gods above, the few times he’d rolled over in his sleep to spoon her.

It was a lot to process, especially given their frightful, frosty situation. Was she finding herself turning to him for comfort because of who he was as a person, or was her constant urge to touch him based on their being trapped together? Or was it something she’d crafted around the fact that he’d understood that something was bothering her and actually tried to fix it?

Despite the cold, she felt almost hot in the many layers of clothing she wore. Were their efforts on warming the room finally working, or was she starting to get sick?

“This is exhausting,” Hsinth said. “Not having anything to do.”

“Do you normally keep yourself very busy?” Ophelia asked. “I would have thought that with the long hops through space, you’d have hobbies or something.”

“It’s usually just figuring out what I’m picking up from the planet I’m going to,” Hsinth said. “There are vid-sims that I could use, but I didn’t want to just play my life away without doing something, and it was always easier to know what I was picking up.”

“And your lack of knowledge about Ysenys?” she asked dryly.

Ugh. She could have kicked herself for bringing it up again. It was a habit she was going to have to break. Letting things go had always been a problem for her.

“It wasn’t exactly on my list of planets to visit,” he said. “Earth, yes. I’ve transported humans before, but it was always to places I already knew about. Before Hasila and I split our business onto different ships, she was always in charge of setting up pickups. I’ve been trying to play catchup ever since. I think I’ve done passably, but I’ve always been a little lost when it comes to new places.”

“I don’t know,” Ophelia said. “You did manage to pick me up.”

She didn’t flirt . What was she even doing?

Hsinth smiled at her. “Yes, I did. Are you well? You’re a little red.”

“I’m fine,” she said quickly.

“Maybe you should lay down,” he said.

“I– sure,” she said. Maybe it would be a good idea. They could keep talking, and she could reset from standing around and making a fool of herself.

She dropped onto the bed with a huff, forgoing the blankets so she could spread out over everything.

“Better?” Hsinth asked. He dropped down next to her and she pulled her arm and leg back with a squeak.

“I mean, I was hoping to enjoy the bed without losing most of it to you, but sure,” she said. “I’m trying to relax.”

“Then relax,” he said. “How can I help?”

What were we talking about before I tried to put my foot in my mouth? “So you and Hasila used to trade stuff together?”

“We did,” he said, gently pushing her limbs out of the way and laying down.

She normally didn’t notice how big he was, but he really did take up half of the bed and then some.

“And then one day I realized that we were arguing over every little thing. She wanted to focus on planets with established trade-bases. I kept angling for waystations and satellites and small colonies. Eventually we decided it was better for us to split things. She bought me out of the original ship we were using and I used the money to buy the Engsth .”

“This ship?”

“Yes. This very safe, very modern ship,” he said. Then he snorted. “I’m sorry. This very safe, very old ship. I’m working towards an upgrade, but it’s slow going. More once I can establish myself as a primary trader on some untapped markets. Although depending on how damaged the Engsth is, I might have to get that new ship sooner than I meant to.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry things turned out this way.”

“Hush,” he said, turning onto his side. “Now come over here. If you insist on being on top of the covers, we can lay like this and keep warm.”

He tugged her over until she lay with her back against his belly, heavy arm draped over her waist like a blanket. She had the absurd mental image of Hsinth and his reptilian-esque heritage suddenly growing a side-sail like a flying lizard for her to use as a blanket.

“So you guys just don’t do well with cold, do you?” she asked.

Hsinth’s arm tightened around her. “Why would we? Do reptiles on your planet do well with it?”

“Not so much, no,” she admitted. “We have snakes that live in the far north or far south parts of the hemispheres, but they hibernate over the winter. There’re turtles too, but I think they sink down into the mud.”

Hsinth stilled. “What’s a turtle?”

The thought of showing him Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles occurred to her, but would that be insulting? Oh gods, there were so many old movies about various reptilian beings like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, and old conspiracy theories about lizard people.

“Relax,” Hsinth said again. With him pressed up against her like this, it was a pleasing rumble against her back. “Stop thinking so hard.”

His hand began drifting up and down over her belly in a soothing manner.

“It’s hard,” she admitted. “I always had to think about what I might say that could accidentally insult someone, and now I have to think about that with you and—”

Ophelia,” he said, pressing his mouth to the top of her head. “It’s fine. We’re aliens to each other. There are going to be misunderstandings.”

The idea of being any kind of alien to him hurt in a way she couldn’t quite name. His hand started rubbing in wider circles until he was brushing up against the underside of her breasts and down low, just above her hip bones. The idea of anyone touching her belly where it began a decline to meet her hips would have normally made her yank his hand off, but this was Hsinth. He wasn’t that familiar with humans. Or was he? It was hard to keep track sometimes.

And the feel of him touching her, getting closer and lower all the time was making ideas that she’d considered buried spring to the forefront of her mind. The feel of his hands against her skin. The ability to finally touch him without all that pesky fabric in the way.

“Ugh,” she groaned aloud, pushing back against him to give herself a little room from his hand.

Something hard pressed against her ass, and she knew without a doubt it was the same something she’d felt the other night.

Only this time, she was more awake. This time, she was more prepared.

This time, she wanted it.

The tiniest noise came from Hsinth’s throat, and Ophelia froze.

“Hsinth?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said. His voice was deeper than it normally would.

“I can stop,” she said, hating herself even as she said it.

His hand pressed against her belly. “What if I don’t want you to?”

Her stomach swooped and fluttered, and she ground against him again. “Are you sure?”

Huge fingers fisted in the outer layers of her shirt. “Are you?”

She wiggled around in his arms until she was face-to-face with him. His hand pressed against her back, and she promised herself that by the time she was done with him, it would be firmly planted on her ass.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked.

Hsinth’s dark eyes dropped to her mouth. “That’s where you press mouths together, right? That’s a human thing. We don’t really do it, but… I’ve always wanted to.”

He’d never done it before. He’d never done anything before.

Fuck . She’d never been a first of any kind for anyone before. The idea of being Hsinth’s first… well, everything was so mind blowing and nerve-racking that she didn’t quite know what to do with it. She’d never been trusted like that.

Yet deep in her soul, she knew that she was going to do everything possible to not screw it up.