To Boldly Follow – ebook

From To Boldly Follow, Chapter Seven

Did she mean..?

Was she..?

She slowly blinked again. The gleam in her deep brown eyes suggested this was more than flirting. The words role and play were buzzing in my ears.

Was I interested in that? It wasn’t what I’d planned for the evening. Not what I’d promised myself I’d do.

A persistent, very sultry Janeway voice in my head was instructing me to say, “As you wish, Seven.”

Meanwhile the majority of my brain pulsed with disjointed excuses and insecurities. I wasn’t anybody’s captain. Parker couldn’t possibly mean that the way it had sounded. Wouldn’t it be better if Parker were in charge?

Certainly, in plenty of J/7 fanfic, Janeway was not in charge. Various of my imaginings of how Parker could take charge, inspired by the fanfic I’d read, played out in my head. Vividly. In full stereo. Activities I hadn’t truly thought about actually experiencing — there had never been anyone who made me want to forget all about composure and dignity and what nice women shouldn’t do.

The image of my costume undone and Parker’s mouth on my breasts swept away all the reasons why I knew I should say no, emphatically no, because I don’t… I wasn’t… I couldn’t…

Hadn’t all my pep talks about wearing the costume and going boldly forth been about leaving Quinn Simmons, Pale Girl, behind? For at least a little while?

“Let’s get a drink at the real bar,” Parker suggested, loud enough for others to hear, if they cared.

The reception had grown even more crowded. Okay, I thought. A harmless drink at the bar, that’s all Parker had meant.

My legs were shaky, my breathing was shallow, and there seemed to be a haze in the air. None of which was helped when Parker leaned close enough to whisper in my ear, “Maybe we can live action role play a story that’ll be our little secret.”