Craving His Touch

Wanting

Rica’s POV

My pulse was so loud I thought the whole corridor could hear it.

Captain Dave Flick had me trapped against the bulkhead, his larger frame blocking every possible escape. His scent—dark, heavy, pure Alpha—poured into me with every shaky breath. It made my head swim and my legs press together without my permission.

I hated that it affected me. I hated that my body was already answering him.

His fingers still held my chin, thumb resting against my lower lip with just enough pressure to remind me who had control. Up close he was even more intimidating: sharp jaw, short black hair slightly disordered, the black captain’s uniform stretched across broad shoulders and a chest that looked carved from stone. His eyes stayed locked on mine, dark and intense.

“…Rica,” I heard myself say, the name slipping free before I could stop it.

It felt like giving something away. The suppressants were failing faster now that I was this close to an unmated Alpha. Heat was waking under my skin whether I wanted it or not. A warm trickle of slick already threatened to soak through the stolen pants, and the shame of it burned hotter than the flush on my face.

Dave’s nostrils flared. A low, hungry sound rolled through his chest and straight into me.

“Rica,” he repeated, like he was already claiming the word. His free hand settled on my waist, fingers spreading over the strip of bare skin where the jacket had ridden up. The contact sent sharp sparks racing under my skin. “Dangerous name for a stowaway who’s about to make my life complicated.”

I tried to turn my face away. His grip only firmed.

“I’m not yours,” I forced out, though my voice came thinner than I wanted. “I never asked for any of this. Let me leave at the next port and no one has to know I was here.”

His mouth curved into a slow, dangerous smile. The hand at my waist drifted lower, brushing the edge of my hip, far too close to the place that had started to ache.

“That chance is gone.” His voice dropped into a rough murmur that twisted something low in my stomach. “Your scent is all over this deck now—sweet, open, already giving you away.” He leaned in until his lips nearly touched my ear. “I can tell exactly how wet you’re getting for me. How empty you feel.”

A broken sound escaped before I could swallow it. Fresh slick followed, warm and impossible to hide. My cheeks burned with humiliation and the unwanted heat rising inside me. I was supposed to be the Omega who ran from a forced marriage and stayed free. Not this trembling mess pinned by the first Alpha who found her.

Yet my wrist was still caught in his hand, my legs unsteady, and my body kept leaning toward the very thing I was trying to refuse.

Dave eased back just enough to meet my eyes again. His gaze had gone almost feral.

“Tell me the truth,” he said, voice tight with restraint. “How long before the heat fully takes you? Because if it’s only a few hours, you’re not leaving my sight—or my quarters.”

I bit down on my lip hard, fighting the fog of his pheromones. But the solid press of his body and the way his thigh had ended up between mine made clear thought almost impossible.

“P-please…” The word slipped out small and needy before I could catch it.

Satisfaction darkened his eyes. His thumb brushed my lip again, gentler this time.

“That’s a beginning,” he whispered. “But I intend to hear you ask properly before this night is over.”

The dim corridor lights flickered across his face. Somewhere beyond the bulkhead the ship’s engines kept their steady rhythm, reminding me we were only meters from crew quarters and possible patrols.

Anyone could walk past.

And the worst part?

A dark, quiet part of me was starting to hope no one would.

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Dave’s POV

I couldn’t draw a full breath.

Rica’s quiet “please” landed harder than any order I had ever given or received. My chest constricted. The hand locked around her wrist and the one resting at her waist both trembled for a second before I forced them steady. This went deeper than want. Something I had buried years ago was splitting open.

She looked fragile against the bulkhead—black hair disordered, grayish-blue eyes wide and shining with fear mixed with unmistakable need. The flush on her cheeks and the parted shape of her mouth made something in my chest ache even while the rest of me burned.

I was the captain. Control was supposed to be absolute. Yet her scent wrapped around me so completely that I felt unmoored.

“Why you?” I asked, voice low and rough. My thumb brushed her lower lip again; it was soft and unsteady under the touch. “Five years on this ship and I never once stepped outside the rules. One look at you and all I can think about is shielding you… and taking you apart at the same time.”

Rica’s breath caught. She didn’t pull back. Instead her free hand rose and settled over my heart, fingers curling into the fabric of my uniform like she needed the anchor. That small contact sent heat racing through me, but it also tightened my throat with an unexpected tenderness.

“I’m scared,” she said, the words quiet and stripped of every earlier sharp edge. “I left so I could belong to myself. Not so I would end up feeling… this.”

The honesty struck deep. I saw past the defiance she had worn like armor: a woman who had already been hurt, brave enough to board a ship full of strangers, and braver still to admit fear to an Alpha who had her pinned.

I rested my forehead against hers. Our noses brushed. The solid deck kept us grounded, bodies pressed close in the narrow corridor. I felt the rapid beat of her heart, the warmth of her skin, everything.

“I know,” I answered, just as quietly. “I’m scared too. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. It isn’t only your scent, Rica. It’s the way you keep fighting yourself while still leaning closer. That makes me need to protect you.”

A soft sound escaped her. Her fingers tightened on my jacket. I felt the next wave of her heat rising—stronger, sweeter. Slick soaked warmer through her clothes against my thigh. My knot pulsed hard, demanding to lock us together, but I held the urge down.

Not yet.

I moved my hand to the small of her back and drew her tighter against me. Our mouths were close enough that I could taste her breath.

“Tell me what you need right now,” I said, voice thick. “Not what the heat is demanding. What you want.”

Rica’s eyes searched mine. Moisture gathered at the corners, yet she didn’t look away. The pull between us felt electric—hot, sharp, impossible to ignore. Her body shook, but the hand on my chest stayed steady, as if she was choosing the moment.

“I want to feel safe,” she whispered. “And I want you to kiss me. Just once. Before the rest of it takes over.”

My heart slammed hard. I cradled her cheek and brushed away the single tear that had slipped free.

“Then that’s what you get.”

I closed the last fraction of space and kissed her.

It began carefully, almost restrained, then deepened the instant she made a soft sound and kissed me back with equal force. Her fingers slid into my hair. My arm locked around her waist, holding her like I had already decided she wasn’t going anywhere.