Renegade Runner by Nicole Conway (e books free to read txt) 📕

“Let me take a look.” He put his own packaged meal down and started for me, purpose in every step.

NAKED.

Oh, crap.

I cringed back and looked away. “No! It’s fine. It’s just from walking. I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

“Or it reopened while we were climbing, or when we fell, or when you decided to jump out of the damn ship.” Phox crouched down, reaching out like he was going to start taking off my boot.

Um, yeah, no. Not while he was strutting around completely nude like that. Not happening.

“I didn’t jump out, I fell. Big difference.” I scooted away down the seat and attempted a glare of warning. Granted, it probably came out as a wide-eyed stare of utter panic, like a turtle realizing it was about to get crunched by an 18-wheeler. A big, completely naked 18-wheeler. “I said I’m fine, okay, so just … don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Get so close.”

His expression blanked for a moment as he studied me like he wasn’t sure what the problem was. A grim, almost guarded sadness settled over his features as he raised his hands as though in surrender and stood back up. “Fine. Suit yourself.”

He began to walk away, those perfect butt cheeks flexing with every step. I hated myself for even noticing that. Seriously, Brinna. Like you’ve never seen a naked man before? Come on. Grow up. This isn’t a big deal.

I relaxed, allowing myself a shaking breath of relief. I could not handle much more of this—not without risking a cardiac episode.

Phox only made it a few steps before he paused and glanced back down at me. “You do know I’m not gonna hurt you, right?”

I stared up at him in surprise. Of course I knew that. He’d had more than a few opportunities to hurt, maim, rape, or kill me and so far, all he’d done was … well, the opposite. He’d protected me, saved my life, and tried to take care of me.

“That’s not it,” I murmured.

“Then what is it? Cause you freaked out on me last time, too.” He sounded well on his way to being offended.

My mouth screwed up as my whole head flushed with tingly heat. It made my throat feel stiff and my insides flutter like I had live fish swimming around in my stomach.

“Hey, I mean it. What’s wrong?”

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, trying to think of a non-weird way to explain a feeling I didn’t even fully understand myself. “You make me … um, well, nervous.”

Phox cocked an eyebrow. “Nervous?”

“Y-Yeah,” I stammered, still willing my eyes away from the fully-exposed danger region. “But not like you’re going to hurt me or anything. It doesn’t make sense, I know.”

“Nothing you do makes sense to me,” he countered.

I pursed my lips, suppressing a thousand wrathful comebacks until my temper fizzled a little. Why had I saved this guy again? Suddenly, I couldn’t remember.

“Put your suit back on and I’ll consider it—you looking at my leg, that is.”

Longest. Awkward. Silence. Ever.

All of a sudden, Phox’s eyes narrowed upon me, his brows snapping together in a suspicious scowl. “You think I’m trying to mate with you,” he declared.

My soul left my body for a few seconds.

“W-WHAT?” I yowled like someone stepping on a cat’s tail. “No! Absolutely not! That … That is just … No!”

He crossed his bare, perfectly sculpted arms. “Aaaah, so that’s it. Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not interested. So whatever there is to you under that suit, while I’m sure it’s nice or whatever, you can keep it. I’m not in a position to be seeking out a mate of any species.”

Okay, now my whole body was blushing so hot, there was probably steam coming out of my collar. What the hell? Why did that make me so … angry? Angry and totally embarrassed. It shouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t like him. At all. What was there to like? Nothing, that was what. And what did that even mean—“not in a position to be seeking out a mate?” Seriously, who called it that?

“Oh, well, good. I’m not, either. Looking for a mate, that is. Or to mate. Or whatever.” God. Why was I so awkward? This was exactly why I’d never been on a single successful date in my life. Because normal stuff like intimacy and commitment freaked me the hell out and all guys, even human ones, might as well have been aliens from another solar system.

“It’s nothing personal, Brinna.” He moved a little closer, his expression drawn into a look of genuine concern.

I sucked the front of my teeth to keep from letting anything, any emotion, slip past my stupid lips. All I could manage was a stiff nod.

I didn’t do this—the whole relationship-with-other-people thing—well at all. Not on any level. I didn’t have best or even close friends back on Earth. Honestly, the time I’d spent talking to Phox was the longest I’d talked to someone other than my mom in, well, forever.

But that did not mean I was trying to sleep with him. And I wasn’t, for the record. Totally not.

“No, I get it. It’s fine. Actually, it’s a relief,” I managed stiffly. Calm, Brinna, just stay calm. And don’t look at his full-nakedness.

Phox didn’t seem to be buying any of the lies I was selling. “That so?”

“Yep. Cause I’m not interested in you, either. With all your weird skin spots and not having nipples. So, yeah. Glad we cleared that up.”

He glanced down at his bare chest in bewilderment. “I’m a male, why would I have … ? Wait, do human males have them?”

I was too embarrassed to even dignify that with a response. Getting up, I waved off his puzzled stare and shuffled past him to eat my meal ration in the cockpit alone.

“I’m serious, do they have them?” He pulled a disgusted face with his tongue sticking out. “That’s just … weird. Do they nurse your young too or something? You have them, right? Nipples, I mean.”

“Oh my god, Phox!