On top of everything else, her obvious fluency in their language surprised him. She was skilled in many areas, but as far as he knew, she’d only spoken English standard and very bare-bones Earth Spanish. And that she’d picked up from her time in New Phoenix and Tempe while at school.
When she finished talking to the man he seemed soothed but continued eying Ford with a less-than-pleased look. “We told him what happened,” Emi explained to Ford.
Ford couldn’t stop touching her, her arm, hair, face, ensuring she was real and not a dream. “What I’d really like right now is some time alone with you,” he softly said.
That’s when he caught the hint of fear in her face. He was still a stranger to her, even if his most cherished dream had finally come true.
Emi had told Ford to call the commander Yanna. Apparently also sensing her fear, he spoke. “Erin?”
They knew her as a different person. Erin.
It was funny in an ironic-twist-of-fate sort of way. And explained what he thought was idiocy on the part of the Beyants. For her new identity, she’d taken on the names of her three husbands.
She nodded and spoke to the Beyant men again. After a moment, Yanna stood and kissed her forehead in a brotherly way. Ford bit back his jealousy. Obviously the man cared a great deal about Emi. Even the way Ford had seen him carry her from the pod in the vid showed his tenderness.
But as Yanna left the cabin, he shot Ford an unmistakable look with a universal meaning—Don’t hurt her.
The older man, the ambassador, also kissed her forehead and glared at Ford before leaving the cabin.
Alone. He stared, drank her in. Now he understood what the hell that phrase meant, because he felt like he’d been thirsty for years and now she was the only thing to quench the unslakable craving.
“Emi,” he whispered, not daring to try to kiss her. “I love you so much. I never wanted to give up hope. I refused to believe you were dead. I could feel it in my heart.”
She touched his face, exploring. He’d shaved that morning, over ten hours earlier, before they docked. He knew she felt the stubble there. Her fingers brushed through his hair, feeling it.
Then she leaned in and laid her head against his chest. “Can we just lie here?”
They settled on the bunk together, Ford’s arms around her. “Yeah,” he said, his voice so choked with emotion he could barely speak. “I’d like that a lot.”
Erin closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the man’s heart pounding in his chest. The waves of emotions from him had nearly flattened her with their intensity when she stepped onto the bridge. He loved her, of that there was no doubt. His crushing grief exploding into brilliant joy when his eyes met hers on the bridge.
Her husband.
One of them.
Aaron. Caph. Ford. She silently rolled their individual names on her tongue. They felt right.
He was not lying. There was no way he could be lying, not from what she felt from him.
“Why can I feel emotions?” she quietly asked.
“You’re a trained Class 2 empath, babe. And a kick-ass Alpha-ranked healer. That’s a doctor. You graduated top of your class. You also have a degree in psychology.”
Erin took a deep breath. It would take time to get used to her new—old—name.
“What did you say my name is?”
He nuzzled his face in her hair. She could easily get drunk feeling his happiness. He slowly spoke as if savoring the words himself, pressing his lips to the top of her head with each word.
“Doctor. Emilia. Hypatia. We call you Emi, but Aaron calls you Em a lot of the time.”
“How do I love all three of you?”
He told her their story, starting when the men first met years ago and ending before her nightmare began. He hadn’t shifted position, his arms gently unmovable around her. She suspected she might have to beg him to let her out of his sight, much less his arms, as he was so desperate not to lose her again.
“You’re not jealous of them?” she asked.
“No! Never. I love them, they love me, and we all love you. There’s nothing to be jealous about.”
“Do we all…sleep together?”
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah.”
She suddenly felt a wave of fear from him and immediately pinpointed its source. “No, I haven’t had sex with anyone,” she said. “No one’s harmed me. They took me in and saved my life. They treat me like one of their own. They’ve all been very sweet. I’m like a daughter or sister to them all.”
He laughed, the sound warming her heart even as she felt his warm breath against her scalp. “Gods, I missed that.”
“What?”
He shifted her in his arms so he could look into her eyes. “Your empath skills. Being able to almost completely read my mind like that. I can’t wait to talk to Aar and Caph. We have to call them right now. They’re going to be so happy.” He grinned and nuzzled her nose. “After we get out of bed.”
She hated to be the bearer of bad news. “We can’t.”
He sat up. “What? We have to! They’ve gotta be going crazy that they can’t find me. They have no idea where I am.”
“Not until after we reach Mars. We have to sign the treaty first.” Then she explained the situation to him.
His face fell. “Doesn’t this qualify as an emergency?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Life-threatening emergencies only.”
He groaned. “I’m a stupid fuck, that’s what I am. But I saw you, heard your voice on the station. I couldn’t wait and knew I had to find you. I was afraid you guys would leave and that Aaron might overrule me trying to find you. I had to be with you.”
He was a handsome man. She reached out and touched his face. “I’m glad you came after me.”
His sweet blue gaze never left hers even as he pressed a soft kiss against the flesh of her palm. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She leaned in, closed her eyes, and kissed him.
Something exploded inside her. Not memories exactly, but more like experiences, emotions. Her body and soul remembered his love even if her mind didn’t. She felt desires she hadn’t felt since…well, ever, that she could remember.
He broke their kiss and touched his forehead to hers. “Babe…if you don’t want to do this right now—”
She shut him up with her mouth, her lips slanted over his.
He grabbed her and rolled her over onto her back, now desperate to love her, to make love to her, wanting not to satisfy himself she felt, but to show her his love for her.
He opened her shirt and kissed his way down her chest, between her breasts, his tongue lapping at her navel. “I’ve missed you so much.” She felt warm wetness against her skin that she knew were his renewed tears.
She wrapped her fingers in his hair. “I’m here. You’re here.”
They shed their clothes and he kissed her all over, tasting her, loving her. Even if her mind didn’t remember him, her body had obviously been eagerly yearning for this reunion. She responded to everything he did and instinctively loved him back as if it were the most natural thing in the universe. As if they’d spent lifetimes loving each other in this very way.
He slipped his fingers between her legs, filling her pussy. She arched her back, softly moaning as he caressed and teased her. Then he lowered his mouth to her sex, his tongue expertly flicking her clit. She exploded immediately, crying out, sobbing his name. As she came down from her climax he raised up on his arms over her and gently slid his stiff cock inside her.
She thought her heart would break from the joy she felt in him. His hope, living for this moment, her back in his arms, was the only thing that had kept him alive all these months.
Her.
His love for her.
His conviction that, somewhere, she still lived.