Corsairs: Kaspar (Corsair Brothers 2) - Page 37

To his credit, he doesn't bitch and moan about how I'm a tease, or how I'm leading him on, or any typical guy bullshit. He just sighs, and that's all I hear. I sneak a glance backward and he's got a hand on his brow, as if trying to control a headache—or a ball ache—but that's it. It pleases me, oddly, that he's not going to be a pushy bastard about things.

Pleases me and irks me at the same time. He's just going to let me go? Just like that? My pride's a little wounded, which is stupid. He's letting me determine what's too much and what's not, so I shouldn't be hurt that I'm apparently not sexy enough to make him crazed with lust. Stupid. Stupid stupid.

"These look like fruit," he says behind me, suddenly.

"Huh?" I turn around.

Kaspar swims over to the water's edge and tugs on something that looks like an underwater vine, lodged in the rocks. A moment later he pulls up a bulb of something that looks like a puffy strawberry. "Fruit?"

My mouth waters. It looks beyond amazing. I'm so hungry, too. The tabs take care of our nutritional needs, but god, I want to chew on something badly. "You think we can eat it?"

"One way to try," he says, and lifts it to his face.

"Wait!" I yelp.

He pauses. "What?"

"You can't just eat something you found! What if it's poisonous?" Surely he can't be that insane, can he?

Kaspar looks at me from over the fruit, a grin on his face. "I was going to sniff it. To see if it smelled good."

"Oh." I flush. Talk about jumping to conclusions. "And does it? Smell good?"

"Doesn't smell like anything, really." He shrugs. "I guess we can always pluck a few and bring them back to the lean-to and try them."

Common sense wars with hunger. I know it's not smart to just grab the local fauna on an alien planet and start chewing on it, but I'm absolutely starving and this place hasn't exactly been swimming with things for us to eat. I'm fine thanks to the tabs, but I keep staring at those big, juicy pink fruits that are dripping with water and imagine how juicy they are. How fresh.

It's hard to walk away from that when you've had nothing more than a tab a day for the last several weeks.

I hesitate only briefly. "I guess we could try one. See if it's poisonous."

Kaspar gathers a few of them and sets them on the shore next to our discarded boots. He pauses, staring down at mine.

"What, what is it?" I race over to his side, worried he's found something crawling into my shoe. "What did you see?"

To my surprise, he brushes the fruit aside and picks up one of my raggedy boots. He flips it over, looking thoughtfully at the sole. The entire thing's clumsy looking, I know it is. They're cut down from alien footwear, and hand-stitched back together so they'll fit my feet. The stitches are terrible and the seams are falling apart, but since I don't have any other options, I can't complain. Kaspar studies it with a fierce frown on his face, though. "This is your shoe?"

"Yeah?" I'm a little defensive. Okay, a lot defensive. I've made do with what I've been given, and I don't like his criticism. "It's not like there's a lot of human shoe stores in deep space."

"No, there aren't." He looks thoughtful, then holds it out to me. "Still isn't right, though. When we get back to mesakkah-controlled space, I'll take you to the guy that handles Zoey's clothing. He has a lot of human stuff. We'll get you kitted out right."

I'm strangely touched by his suggestion. He's not making fun of my shoe, then. He's mad because it's all I've got. Just when I get my back up, Kaspar says something to make me calm down again. "Thanks."

He studies me thoughtfully. "Sophie will have stuff, too. We'll make her give you some of hers."

He's told me a bit about Sophie, and I'm not sure she'll be so keen to share. He's talked dismissively of Sophie a few times, as if she's just another crew member, but it makes me wonder what her agenda is. Is she looking for an alien sugar daddy? Is that why she hangs out with them?

I might have to claw her eyes out if she tries to take Kaspar.

27

KASPAR

Alice is breaking my heart.

I hate that her clothes are falling apart on her. I hate that her shoes are a butchered version of someone else's boots. I hate that every time I treat her with a hint of kindness, there's a hint of surprise on her face, as if she wasn't expecting it.

I hate that there's the same hint of surprise when we kiss. It makes me want to punch every single slaver from here to Risda. I've always known that it's hard for humans. Of course it is. It was hard for Zoey. It was hard for Sophie. It's been hard for the other humans we've rescued and run across in our years as corsairs. It's just never quite gutted me as it does when Alice looks at me.

Tags: Ruby Dixon Corsair Brothers Fantasy
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