Loving Seven
By Susan Thompson

This is a sequel to Kissing Kathryn. Hopefully there will be several more before this series comes to an end. Thanks as always to my beta reader~BeachBum.

(Updated 11-03-2008)

Hostile aliens had attacked Voyager repeatedly for the last ten days, but yesterday we finally passed out of their territory. Tired beyond measure, I had retired to my quarters and gone almost immediately to bed. I hoped I would sleep without dreams and for most of the night managed to do exactly that. But I should have known she would make her presence felt even through my exhaustion.

Somehow the dream always began in the middle of a hesitant first kiss. Lips parted and were so close that our breath was exchanged freely. A touch, a brief caress and she darted away again. I pursued her lips and captured them in hungry demand. She returned the kiss with ferocity, asking no quarter and plundering the softness in her stead. The dream kisses were the guilty pleasure in which I immersed myself without hesitation and just as I was starting to drown in them a sound intruded on my consciousness.

I tried to push the noise away by telling myself it was simply the manifestation of another dream trying to intrude. Slowly, reluctantly, I emerged from subconscious fantasies and opened my eyes in the darkness. The harsh chime sounded again and I realized someone was at my door.

"Computer, what time is it?"

"The time is 0303 hours."

Three o’clock in the morning? Who the hell…oh. There was only one individual aboard my ship with the audacity to awaken the captain in the middle of the night without a good reason. Briefly, I considered my alternatives. Answering the door wearing little more than a nightgown probably wouldn’t be a good idea. Arousal still sang through my veins and with the object of my desire standing right in front of me things could be extremely uncomfortable.

I could pretend I didn’t hear the chime and eventually she would give up and go away. The thought had barely passed through my head when I heard the entrance to my cabin open. I suppose I really shouldn’t have been surprised that she would let herself in without awaiting a response.

I realized that if she let herself into my quarters without permission there would be no reason for her to stop in the living area. That thought caused me to sit up and throw the covers back. I was sitting at the edge of the bed and had just reached for my robe when her silhouette filled the doorway. Her brashness gave me the excuse to withdraw into anger to cover my desire, but I had no more than taken a breath to tear into her when I made the mistake of looking into her face.

Seven’s expression gave me no reason to think she’d come to my quarters for a late night philosophical discussion. Her gaze was feral, pinned to my body in naked want. Eyes half-lidded and lips parted with ragged breaths; there was no question why she was here.

I felt a gasp rip from my throat and longing tore through me so strongly that it felt like molten lava burning my blood. "Seven!"

Her name was only a strong whisper in the room that quickly vanished into memory as she strode toward me. Still, I clung to my beliefs that I couldn’t allow anything but friendship between us. The friendship had long ago become something deeper, but I wasn’t at the place where I could admit that yet.

"Stop," I said, and was horrified by how uncertain my own voice sounded.

Seven must have thought the same because she never broke stride. She crossed the room and pushed me backward onto the bed. Her hands were on my shoulders and in seconds her body was pressing down against me.

"What are you doing? Stop this instant!"

"You know perfectly well what I am doing, Kathryn, and I do not believe you wish me to stop."

She was so close that I could feel the heat from her breath slide into my open mouth. My brain struggled uselessly against the onslaught of sensations and I tried to come up with a reasonable argument that would make Seven stop what she was doing. Unfortunately, my body didn’t really want her to stop. Traitorously it was already reaching for her. My arms slid around her waist, my hands cupped her buttocks and I felt an implant against my palm.

Seven surged against me and threw her head back at the contact. Then she lowered her head and my lips were already parted in expectation. Before my dream could become reality I felt the ship rock and Voyager came to an abrupt stop in space. If not for inertial dampers we would have been thrown across the room and into the bulkhead.

"Red alert! All hands to battle stations!"

There was no time for regrets or recriminations. Seven and I could only exchange a brief glance before she stood and walked out of my quarters, headed for her duty station. I shook off my haze of desire and reached for the uniform across the back of a chair. There would be time for second thoughts and remorse later. Right now my ship was in trouble.

TBC

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