I toss and turn,
I can’t sleep
Your kiss burns,
Through my dreams…
"Deja Voodoo" Kenny Wayne Shepherd

She had kissed him. He couldn’t believe that she’d kissed him. He shouldn’t have done it, though he hadn’t really had any choice in the matter. One minute they were laughing over some joke he had made…the next she was leaning towards him, her eyes half closed as if afraid to watch him pull away.

He should have pulled away. But he couldn’t. He had seemed hypnotized by her, by the contrast of dark lashes brushing against her blushing cheeks. By the fullness of her red lips. Then those full lips touched his in a kiss that was almost chaste. But the emotions sparked by the feeling of her mouth against his were anything but chaste.

Wedge groaned as he felt himself react to the memory of her. He rolled over onto his side and tried not to think of how much he had wanted to pull her into his arms and…

She was so damn beautiful. She had always been pretty, but now…now, she was absolutely stunning and seemed to be growing more beautiful with each passing day. Full breasts that strained the fabric of her jumpsuit, tempting him to….Don’t think about that. Narrow waist flaring out to wide hips. Shapely legs that seemed far too long for someone her height. He wondered what it would be like to have those long legs wrapped around his waist as he…

Calm, Antilles, calm. Stop thinking about her. It was a joke. The kiss meant nothing. Just some strange little impulse that meant nothing to her. And should mean nothing to you. He knew that was a thought lie as soon as it entered his mind. He had seen the desire in her eyes….

Those wide, whiskey colored eyes that seemed to be able to read his very soul. She knew all of his secrets. Knew of how he had killed the men who were responsible for the deaths of his parents, and she had never looked at him with pity or with revulsion. Even knowing his darkest secrets, she still looked at him with compassion and love. Hell, if it had been HER father that had been killed, he KNEW she would’ve climbed into that Headhunter and blown the bastards into subatomic particles.

She was definitely a woman who knew her own mind and didn’t let anyone take advantage of her.

That stubborn pride that she pretended was not part of her nature. He had always been drawn to that strength. More so after his parents had been slaughtered. The thought of his lost family quenched his desire, but it quickly renewed when he thought of all the times she had curled up next to him, as if SHE were the one that needed comforting. Silently offering him part of the strength that infused her, but never making him feel weak for accepting her gift.

She was his closest friend, and Gods, he wanted to get so much closer. To feel her bare skin under his hands. To hear her screaming his name as he… "I HAVE to stop thinking about her!" he growled to himself, trying to force his fantasies from his mind.

Wedge flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, fighting a lost cause with his very active imagination. He threw his pillow over his head, painfully aware of how much he wanted the black-haired woman who had had the audacity to kiss him. Gods, what’s going to happen when HE finds out about the kiss? Sighing into the pillow, he wished the bed would swallow him up. "Booster’s going to KILL me!"

She had kissed him. She couldn’t believe that she’d kissed him. She had kissed WEDGE ANTILLES. It was wrong. She shouldn’t have done it. He was like a brother to her. And she KISSED HIM!

It was WRONG! Wrong, wrong, wrong!

It hadn’t been that much of a kiss. She let out a frustrated sigh. Liar, it was an INCREDIBLE kiss. The contact had lasted only a few dozen beats of her racing heart, the gentle press of her mouth against his, but….Gods, his lips had felt wonderful against hers. Warm and soft with the potential to be…

She rolled over, curling up in a ball as she began thinking about what Wedge could do with that mouth of his. It’s because he’s forbidden. That’s all. I can’t have him so I want him. It’s sort of disgusting on one level, but natural. He’s male, I’m female. He’s attractive… She shivered against the warmth that thought generated. Too attractive for his own damn good… Mirax thought sourly. Wedge had always been handsome, at least to her. Lanky and lean. With intensity that….Another shiver ran down her spine.

There had always been passion in Wedge, though most people never saw it. His quiet vitality always seemed to be eclipsed by the people around him, but her father saw it, as did his parents.

Gods, he missed them. Sometimes she could feel his grief as if it were her own. That passion had increased tenfold since his parents were murdered. A passion that now took the form of flying. The only thing Wedge seemed to think he was good at.

I’m sure he’d be very good at a great many things…

"Sithspawn," she growled, flopping over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. He’s Wedge Antilles, my almost adopted brother. I cannot fantasize about him and those deep brown eyes…Oh gods, here I go again…

She had never thought of herself mooning over a pair of brown eyes. After all, her eyes were a boring shade of brown. But Wedge’s eyes were deep, almost taking on a velvety color when he was serious. Gold flecks illuminated them when the grief left him for those all too brief times and he let himself smile and laugh. And when the grief caught him and the rage returned….The eyes of a predator. They would scare her if she didn’t already know Wedge would never hurt her. But there was a fire in him and it burned bright in those deep brown eyes. Giving him an intensity that no nineteen year old man should have. Mirax wondered if he would look that intense while he was….

Mirax threw her pillow over her head, trying to block the insidious thoughts that seemed to be ever creeping through her mind. "I’m never going to sleep tonight…"

Continued in Part Two