I lost track of exactly how long that kiss went on. I just knew it was a thorough kiss. I knew my hands started doing some exploring, and I knew that sparkling purple dress she wore gave me plenty of access to plenty of things, if you catch my meaning.

But it went back to one of those things Einstein had said. I was paraphrasing here, but having your hand on a hot plate for a second feels like an eternity, and having your hands on a hot woman for an eternity feels like a second.

I probably wasn't doing it justice. Old Albert knew his stuff. Even if he'd been wrong about the whole speed limit of the universe thing. Which was something humanity discovered the hard way after doing some experimentation with folding space out where the sun's gravity wasn't quite as intense as closer in to Earth where it was throwing off early foldspace experiments.

That had been a surprise to some of the people who went out to explore the stars on generation ships. They got sufficiently close enough to the speed of light that they managed to get to those stars within a human lifetime from their perspective. But they got a pretty jarring lesson in relativity when they found that humanity was already there with faster-than-light ships we'd invented while the generation ships were traveling and out of contact with the wider universe.

But that eternity with a beautiful woman finally came to an end, sort of. She pulled away and hit me with a smile. I glanced to her hands that were on either side of me and then looked back at her with a goofy grin of my own. I was pressing against her with a weapon that didn't have anything to do with the…

I blinked. Shit, the plasma cutter. My chance of escape. I almost felt bad about doing this, but I started moving one hand down to where that thing was stuck in my waistband.

I kept expecting Arvie to sound the alarm. To send out a blaring red alert signal as he sent in some of those peacekeeping drones he'd mentioned earlier. But that moment never came.

"That was fun," Varis said.

"That was fun," I said, letting out an involuntary shiver that had nothing to do with the daring escape I was about to attempt and everything to do with the beautiful woman I'd just been pressing against.

She shook her head. "I know this might seem odd, but I can't remember the last time I had fun like that. So many warriors have tried to link with me over the years, and they all failed."

That sent a thrill of another sort running through me. So many warriors had tried to get with her over the years. All of them had failed, and yet here my human ass had gotten captured after getting into single combat with her. And somehow here I was. The one she'd chosen.

Even if it had been a subconscious choice at the beginning. Did that really matter?

My hands clasped around the plasma cutter designed for cutting through meat and bread and other things like that. Basically, think a lightsaber, but for food.

But it would cut through a person just as easily as it would cut through food. We had them back on Earth. I couldn't even remember if it was human or livisk that'd come up with this thing in the first place. Or maybe it was one of those designs both our societies came up with independently of one another, because the idea of using a lightsaber was just one of those cool things a lot of societies came up with independently.

"That was a pretty good time," I said, making my move.

Her eyes went. I'd pressed the plasma cutter up against her stomach on the opposite side of where I'd hit her with the shots back in that medbay. She looked down and then back up at me.

"I'm sorry," I said with a shrug.

"So wait, all of that meant nothing to you?" she asked. "You were just kissing me because you were trying to get that thing against my stomach?"

"Don't get me wrong," I said. "The whole kissing thing was a surprise, and it was a whole sequel trilogy of a lot of fun, but I also would be remiss if I didn't try to get out of here."

She looked up, and she seemed more annoyed than anything. Definitely not as threatened as I thought she should be considering I could potentially disembowel her.

Again, a lightsaber for cutting bread was still a lightsaber. Useful for cutting and toasting bread at the same time as well as cutting and cauterizing flesh at the same time. They were really useful for that kind of stuff.

"How was this even allowed to get in on one of our trays, Arvie?" she asked.

"I really wish you wouldn't use that name," he said.

"You're focusing on the wrong thing, you sack of bolts."

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I chuckled at that, and I also made sure to keep the one hand pressed against her stomach. Which was a touch awkward because my other hand had grasped her ass and was pulling her against me. She was still moving her body just so in a most distracting way.

"I apologize, General," Arvie finally said. "It would appear that one of the cooks who was putting together the spread accidentally left that on a tray, and it was masked from my scanners because it was hidden under a metallic…"

"Never mind any of that," she said, growling and turning back to me.

I was aware she was keeping up that gentle motion down below. Pressing herself against me and pulling back. Her mouth fell open, and it seemed like she was enjoying the hell out of it.

"Go ahead," she finally said, staring at me.

I blinked, staring right back at her.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"Go ahead and do it," she said, leaning in closer so that her lips were so close to mine that I could feel her breath on me.

I figured my breath probably wasn't the greatest considering the spicy livisk cuisine I'd been enjoying, but hers was a delight. I wanted to kiss her again. To taste her as our tongues dueled with each other.

And I was getting more and more distracted. I was forgetting that I wanted to try and stab her with the plasma cutter. I told myself it's not like gutting her with the plasma cutter was going to do a damn bit of good anyway.

It's not like I was going to be able to escape. I was stuck in a skyscraper in the livisk capital city at the mercy of a combat intelligence that would be able to take me down before I even made my way across the dining room.

That wasn't the way to do this.

But more than anything, I felt the emotion coming from her. There was a small touch of worry, certainly, but mostly there was amusement. Amusement and pride.

Now that was interesting.

"Why are you proud?" I asked.

"I'm proud of you," she said, leaning in and kissing along my cheek and then down to my neck.

I squeezed with my other hand. The one that wasn't holding the plasma cutter. It was an involuntary reaction. I let out a gasp as she kept kissing.

Then she pulled away and cocked her head to the side. That smile could launch a thousand space cruisers.

"There's a reason why I unintentionally started a mental link with you, human. I didn't even realize it at the time. It was something that came after I made my escape. It was a surprise, but the more I had time to think about it, the more I realized that yes, you were certainly worthy in a way no other warrior I've ever met has been worthy,"

She started kissing along my other cheek and down to my neck again, and she kept pressing against me as though she was totally and utterly unconcerned that I had a plasma cutter pressed against her stomach.

Then, finally, blessedly, frustratingly, she came back up.

"And I can feel your own emotion. I can feel the conflict in there. You're worried about your crew, but I also know how you feel about me. I wouldn't have gone across the stars to run a risky rescue mission if I hadn't thought you felt the same way."

"Rescue mission?"

"Of course," she said, leaning in and kissing me on the mouth.

I was so surprised that I worried I was going to activate the plasma cutter without thinking about it, and I opened my hand. The thing almost slipped, but I managed to pull it back up at the last moment.

She pulled away and smiled. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at me.

"You would have eventually gone insane if I hadn't rescued you," she said.

"Some rescue," I said. "You captured my crew and sold them into slavery."

"I've already explained that was the empress being her usual vindictive self. I wasn't aware of that," she said. "And I give you my promise on my honor as a general. We will find some way to get them out of there."

I stared at her. My eyes darted back and forth searching hers, and I felt something swelling between us. Determination. She was telling me the truth. Maybe it was a good thing we had this whole mental link thing going, for all that I totally didn't understand it. Otherwise I wouldn't have believed a word she said.

"So after I've told you all of that, Captain Bill Stewart, what do you say? Are you going to kill me and leave poor Arvie to avenge me? Or are we going to help each other? You do owe me your life after I rescued you."

"Like you weren't worried about going insane yourself," I said.

"I'll admit there was a touch of selfishness to it," she said. "But it saved both of us, didn't it? And I did choose you to begin with. The link doesn't lie."

"You say so," I said.

I opened my hand and the plasma cutter fell to the ground. This time it landed with a clatter. A drone started to move in like it was going to try and grab it, but Varis held a hand up and the drone backed off.

"No need for that, Arvie," she said, earning a sigh from the Combat Intelligence. "I think the two of us have come to an understanding."

"If you say so, General," he said, sounding exasperated that we'd come to an understanding that included that nickname.

I stared at her for another long moment. I thought of how incredible she felt pressing against me, and I realized I needed more than we could do here.

"So this window is kind of uncomfortable and I don't really want to toss a bunch of food off of that table," I said. "I happen to have a nice room that's just down the hall from here. Would you maybe care to join me in there?"

That desire that had been bouncing between the two of us suddenly flared up like a bonfire. No, not like a bonfire. It was like the tactical nuke I wish I'd sequestered away in places the sun don't shine had suddenly gone off. And it was bouncing between the two of us and removing my ability to think clearly about anything but how much I needed her in that moment.

I guess we'd come to an understanding doing the whole beauty and the beast thing on a speed run, though I was having trouble conceiving of a galaxy where I was the beauty and she was the beast.

"Do you always say this to the women on a first date?" she asked.

"The way I see it, this is at least our fourth date, right?" I said. "I beat you in combat once. You beat me in combat once. I shot you once. And if you consider that plasma cutter, then I think I'm three for four right about now."

She grinned, and then she grabbed me and started pulling me none too gently over towards the doors and back to my room.

And you bet your ass I allowed myself to be pulled along. That kissing was just the opening act. It was time to have so much more fun.

Even as I felt a small pang of guilt knowing I was having this kind of fun while other people were trapped working the mines in the very same city.

But we'd do something about that. I had her promise, and I knew her word was her bond because of that strange link between us.

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