Ice and Fire
Chapter 12: Just One Kiss
"Great, I was hoping he'd do that." Mike grinned at Amanda's open-mouth before he lightly grasped her hand, "Now the parents have left us alone we can have some fun."
He turned to the Vulcan pilot - waiting with patient grace for them to depart so that he could return to the Insala - bowed perfunctorily, uttered a brief farewell, and then shepherded her through the airlock.
"But … what about the inoculations…and the decontamination, " Amanda stuttered, shuddering inwardly at what that might actually mean as Mike whisked her down a deserted, orange-lit corridor towards another intersection at the far end, "Shouldn't we…?"
"Trust me. We will - but not just yet! This may be our only opportunity to explore Kwil'inahr for another six months." His grin widened at the look she threw him. "Once we've gone through decon, we won't be allowed back. Come on, where's your sense of adventure? "
"Gibbering in a corner," she advised him, only half jokingly. "Sarek specifically told us not to be late…"
He stopped in mid-stride, turned her to face him, hands on her shoulders, head on one side. A quirky smile lifted the corner of his mouth as he asked softly, "And are you going to do everything Sarek tells you from now on?"
"Of course not." Hot blood swept up her neck and into her cheeks. "I … don't want to antagonise him unnecessarily, that's all."
"He's a Vulcan," Mike stated. "It's not possible to antagonise him."
"Never?"
"Not that you'd notice." He shook his head in perplexed wonder at her wide-eyed look, and groaned theatrically. "Please don't tell me you've fallen for him, Amanda?"
He silenced her quick rebuttal with a finger on her lips, "It's happened before. You wouldn't be the first by any means. Human women fall at his feet on a regular basis. Tell me, is it the pointed ears, or maybe … all that supposedly repressed emotion?"
Irritated by his observation, Amanda batted his finger away. "I don't intend to deny it…"
"Hah! I thought so…"
The blue of her eyes intensified darkening with sudden anger as she regarded him, "Only because it's not correct."
No, she thought, I'm not falling in love… I've already fallen! The fiery glare she directed at him masked her discomfort.
Mike drew away and raised his hands as if in entreaty. "I hope that's true, Amanda, for all our sakes. This is not the time to get involved – and with Sarek of all people."
"You don't have to remind me of that," she exclaimed. "I'm not a child, Mike – and you aren't my father."
"No…no, I'm not." He ran light fingers through his hair in exasperation. Expression troubled, he continued to observe her. He leaned closer, his voice barely above a whisper. Neither of them needed reminding that they were on a Vulcan station. "Perhaps that's the problem…"
"You'd prefer to be my father?" She murmured back in mock innocence, mistaking his meaning on purpose.
But the ingenuousness of the remark brought the twinkle back to his eyes and a slight upward tilt to his lips.
"Not likely," he exclaimed. He took her hand, raised it to his lips, and planted a soft kiss into her palm. "I've seen how you look at Sarek, that's all. How he looks at you, Amanda. I don't want you to get hurt."
His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips and swept over her breasts, soft as a caress. By no means oblivious to his appeal, Amanda understood his unspoken invitation. Her body, roused inadvertently by Sarek's tender incursion into her mind the day before, reacted to the stimulus. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears and her pulses raced. Unable to prevent it, she swayed towards him. Immediately his arms enveloped her, pulled her into an embrace. The next moment, Mike's mouth covered hers in hungry possession.
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