“I do.” Pulling back a little, he took her mouth in a gentle but passionate kiss. “I love you, Nina of Earth. I think I loved you from the first minute I saw you in my dreams, but I didn’t want to admit it.” He shook his head. “I tried to think of you as just a means to an end, but I couldn’t…you’re more than that. You’re the female I’ve been waiting for even though I didn’t know I was waiting.”
“Oh, Reddix…” She snuggled closer to him, and he hugged her tight, crushing her to him, making her feel completely loved and secure at the same time. “I feel the same way,” she whispered at last, looking up at him. “Like we belong together.”
“Maybe because we do.” He ran his fingers over her bare shoulders and down her sides, ending by cupping her bottom in his big hands. “Mmm, I know we just finished but…”
“I’m ready for round two if you are,” Nina assured him breathlessly. “I think…think maybe there’s still some bonding fruit in my system.”
“It does take a long time to wear off, I think,” Reddix murmured with a smile. “But I have another reason to make love to you again, sweetheart.”
“Which is…?” Nina raised her eyebrows at him.
“To bond you to me.” Reddix kissed her again. “Now that my Touch Sense is fixed, I can give you the Deep Touch. And Goddess, you have no idea how much I want to do that.”
Nina’s breath caught in her throat. “The Deep Touch? So that means…we would be bonded together…forever?”
“Forever,” he assured her, a little grin playing around the corners of his sensual mouth.
“Then let’s go.” Nina grabbed his hand. “I love you, Reddix. I can’t wait to be yours forever.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.” He pulled her against him for another hot kiss and then, swooping her up in his arms, he carried her into the bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-seven
“I’m so sorry—I really am.” Maggie looked so comically upset that Nina almost had to laugh.
“I told you—stop apologizing! If you hadn’t mixed up the signs for the cake layers, Reddix and I never would have gotten together.”
“She’s right you know, doll—they were tragically close to calling it quits for all time,” Kat murmured, smiling.
The friends were all meeting at Kat’s suite to give Maggie and Nina a going away party. Though the girls were going in different directions and saying goodbye their friends on the Mother Ship, both were excited to be leaving.
“I’m glad everything worked out for you and Reddix,” Maggie told Nina. “But I can’t help feeling like I caused a big problem for a lot of people—not just the two of you.”
“Oh please…” Olivia made a shooing gesture. “Baird loved helping me with my bonding fruit “problem.”
“And I got to keep little Daniel for the first time overnight.” Sophie stroked her baby nephew’s soft cheek, and he looked back at her with his strangely beautiful silver and gold ringed eyes. “Good practice for when my own two finally come.”
“I owe you one in the babysitting department,” Liv conceded, smiling at her twin. She looked at Maggie. “And I don’t think Lissa was too upset—was she?”
“Not from what I heard about how well the metal of the ship conducts their, ah, activities,” Kat said, smothering a smile.
Lissa blushed and smiled back. “Saber didn’t mind helping me out, and so far, our neighbors have no complaints.”
“Wait a minute—back up.” Nina held up a hand. “Are you saying that when you make love…”
“Everybody in the immediate area gets into a ‘loving’ mood.” Olivia nodded. “That’s right.”
“It seems to be how things work when a Touch Kindred and his bride make love on board ship,” Lissa said, her cheeks still pink.
“Oh my God.” Nina put a hand to her face. “Oh no! So that’s why all the people in the suites around mine have been staring and whispering at Reddix and me!”
“Probably so,” Kat remarked. “Though they should be thanking you. It’s not every day you get to experience actual bone fide sexual healing.”
“How did you heal him, anyway?” Sophia wanted to know. “Did the swamp witch Lissa told us about have anything to do with it?”
“I don’t think so.” Nina shook her head, frowning. “I don’t really think she had much interest in Reddix at all. She only wanted to heal him because she had this crazy idea that it would somehow free her son—who she seemed to think was Reddix’s half-brother.”