Learning to Blush Read Online Free PDF Page B

and kissed her cheek. “You’ll get home one day. You’ll see your family again. We’ll push the Frians back and get you out there. Be patient,” he pleaded. He pulled her shirt over her head and then unhooked her bra, leaving her standing there, perfectly naked.
    He put his arms around her and kissed her stone-like nipples and then kissed her mouth. She wasn’t kissing back. He frowned with frustration. They didn’t have sex nearly as often as he would have liked—probably only a small fraction of the amount other married couples were doing it.
    When Mary announced she was pregnant a couple of months ago, Graham had to admit he was jealous of Peyton, who was still walking around the ship like he was cock of the walk. Mary did some medical research work under Fie during the day, but she would spread her legs for her husband nearly every night, whenever he desired her.
    Ellie and Graham seemed to be on different schedules all of the time. One of them always seemed to be too tired or too stressed to be intimate. He felt lucky if they had sex once a week . At this rate, they might actually have to win the war with the Frians before he was able to sufficiently impregnate his own wife.
    He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, hoping to entice her with foreplay, but as soon as he laid her down and moved his body over hers to kiss her neck, she snapped, “I am not in the mood.”
    “I’m trying to get you in the mood,” he explained irritably. He knew perfectly well that she was, in all actuality, in the mood, and was just refusing him to be contrary. He could hear her pulse quicken, he could feel and even smell her desire towards him. She was just trying to punish him.
    “Take away my demotion and the pain in my ass, and then we’ll talk,” she said, rolling over onto her stomach.
    He wasn’t surprised by the tactic. She would punish herself if she could at least punish him, too—she made that clear early on in their marriage. “Eleanor, you know I don’t like to see you unhappy,” he reminded.
    “I’d be happy if you left me alone,” she lied with a huff.
    “Don’t act like you don’t need me, Wife,” he told her in a warning tone.
    “I’m not acting. I just don’t need you,” she chirped bitterly.
    He threw his arms up in the air with frustration. “Fine. Sleep alone. You’ll come to me eventually,” he told her gruffly, getting up from the bed and straightening his uniform. “I will be the mature one, since I care about your happiness more than you care about mine.”
    “Sure you do,” she doubted, pleased with herself for making Graham pout.
    She listened to him leave and fell into a weary sleep on her pillow. She knew that when she woke there would be a lot of work to get done.
     
    * * *
     
    Warp speed. It wasn’t what the Swarii were used to calling it, but Ellie definitely felt warped when she was going through it. The sensation of going through warp speed made her feel like she had been turned into clay and was being squeezed by a giant hand.
    She never had to actually pay attention during it, however. That’s something Braum or Jio, who were presently on the command deck with Graham, would do for the ship. Her only job had been to strap herself into a chair and then try her best not to vomit.
    This warp speed was even worse, or it felt worse, because she had gotten the small Ghost-Class ship—not even the size of an RV, to stay in a warp jump about 30 times longer than any ship… ever . So, as soon as she came out of “warp jump”, she celebrated by finally vomiting and passing out.
    When she awoke again, her skin felt cold and the console underneath her was making alarm noises and flashing an angry red light.
    She felt disoriented even as she tried to find her piloting manual. The board in front of her was lighting up and telling her to initiate a landing sequence, despite the fact that she could literally see Earth in her sights. She figured Earth couldn’t see her