Perhaps neither one took it seriously at first beyond a way to get Phlox off their backs. Perhaps they should have paid more attention to the ship's grapevine that didn't find it mysterious at all.
But when she dropped the robe, he felt like he'd just grabbed an open plasma conduit with his bare hands. When they got down to it, it was like they had their own personal warp drive. It had never been like this before, not even with Natalie.
After the first time, she stopped trying to make sense of it. There was nothing logical about her attraction to him, and neither his people nor hers would approve. She'd wanted to feel emotion, to let herself loose, and with him she could do that with no shame. It was better than trellium, better than anything her mother had told her of the mating.
He'd lost so much, was so afraid, but not with her. It was easy to give her all that he had, and she made it easier for him to hold on for another day if only so he could come back to her and do it again, feel alive again.
Was this delirious love?
