Lana's Comet (Outer Settlement Agency) Read online

  “Wait! I need my shoes.”

  “Hurry up. Did you kill him?”

  “No.”

  He shook his head and waved her over to the main thoroughfare. “Good. It’s not as if they’ll go to the authorities about it. And uh, good work back there.”

  “I feel as though we’ve been here before,” she said. “Running down the street, hand in hand, leaving a trail of wanton destruction behind us.”

  “That’s nothing to be proud of.”

  “And yet…” She trailed off giving in to the grin that matched her own. “It’s okay to have fun. Remember? Doctor’s orders.”

  “That is wildly inappropriate.”

  She meant to refute him. Totally. Meant to just lay right into him, but it was hard to do with his mouth against hers. Thinking about anything other than the fullness of his lips and how his smooth tongue danced with hers, proved a welcome difficulty.

  This kiss was softer than the one before.

  Unrushed.

  Perhaps, not the best time for that. She broke apart, tugging his lips between her teeth as she did, eager to hold on for a touch longer, but knowing she couldn’t. Not here.

  “Now, that’s wildly inappropriate from a superior officer. You should hang your head in shame,” she said and leaned her forehead against his.

  He chuckled, a warm breezy thing across her nose. “Agreed. Quite troubling.”

  “But we’re also adults.”

  “I agree.”

  “Smart.”

  “I agree.”

  “Slightly criminal.”

  “Tragic.”

  “But mostly good.”

  “Another fair assessment.”

  She looked up into blazing blue eyes as hungry as her own. Desire was a hard thing to hide, but not for her. She saw it written all over his face. Flared nostrils. Eyes, narrow at the corners, but pupils dilated. This man wanted her.

  Lucky for him, she wanted him too. “There’s too much to lose to play each other false. We’re adults.”

  “And?”

  “And I have an empty room these days.”

  Cyprus snorted and a huff of air tickled the tiny hairs on her neck. “We can’t. How do you think I found you, Lana? We’re all chipped. Everything’s recorded. They’ll know if I go to your room.”

  “Of course you did. How else would you investigate Michi’s disappearance?”

  Chapter Eight

  No one commented on the two of them walking back in. Why would they? This was a busy base with busy people. Having handed over the details of two absent trainees, security would have moved on to other issues.

  At least Cyprus hoped so.

  Her dormitory was quiet, thanks to him and the hours of training he’d shoved their way. Today would have been especially hard. Mental exercises involving replicated loss of families, light torture and noise overstimulation would have left them exhausted.

  That was the plan.

  The real test would be how they handled an unexpected round of the same tomorrow.

  “You’re doing it again,” she said the second the door closed behind them. “Thinking too hard. Your eyes kinda glaze over. Forget OSA for one night. I won’t think about Meash and we won’t entertain thoughts of all the impossible problems we have to solve. That’s an order, soldier.”

  “And tomorrow?”

  “We save the galaxy.”

  Soft lips cut off his chuckle and for a brief moment, he almost believed it’d be that simple. He wallowed in the comfort of that fantasy – her fantasy. It wasn’t a bad place to be. “I’m to follow your orders?”

  “Remove your tunic, Dhoma.”

  And damn him if he didn’t.

  “And your pants.”

  They’d never fallen to the floor faster.

  “Very good. Now, remove my clothes.”

  “Are you testing me, Lana?”

  She didn’t answer and that was fine with him. Testing implied unknown outcomes, but he knew where she’d lead him and he followed her down the path of ruin on eager feet. He’d follow her straight into hell for more of this.

  Her dark shoulders rose and dipped as he removed her top, per her command. Unable to control himself, he dropped kisses along the valley between her shoulder blades and his tongue tasted the salt of her flesh, evidence of their earlier physical exertion.

  Then it all went to shit. His vision blurred and his eyes burned as if staring at a too bright star, but it had nothing to do with her. Not directly. “Damn it.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  At least, that’s what he thought she said, but it was hard to hear past the whirring rovers in his head. His eyes slammed shut against light, suddenly too painful for his retinas to process.

  “I’ve gotta go.”

  “Tell me what’s wrong.” Her hands tugged on his forearms, even as he jerked away. Her grip didn’t lessen – the opposite – she held onto him with a miner’s grasp. “You’re hypersensitive.”

  “I need to get to my room.” He reached blindly for his shirt, but she smacked his hand away.

  “Sit.”

  “I’m not your patient, Lana. I need—”

  “I know what you need.” A shuttle blasted off in his ear, but it was just her, opening and shutting cabinets. “This is a common Kin-Humanoid ailment, although I’ve never seen it come this hard or fast.”

  Coming hard and fast? There was a joke there, but he was in no mood for it. The drilling in his temple made sure of that. He looked down to see his chest reddening and could imagine what his face looked like.

  “There’s no need to be embarrassed,” she said, with a clinical ear against his chest.

  And there it was. Aw, crap. “I’m not. It’s a reaction to…to overheating and—”

  “Uh huh, right. Lay down.”

  “You have a kit?”

  “Even OSA can’t strip me of my credentials. I may be a trainee grunt, but I’m still a doctor.”

  “OW!”

  “Mind the needle.”

  “Lana, your bedside manner—”

  She gave him a kiss above the injection site on his arm. “Feeling better?”

  “No. Yes. Should I leave now?”

  The lid to her kit snapped shut. “Why don’t you take your medicine? I get my vitamin, bio and viral boosts once a month.”

  “It’s not the same.”

  “How is it different?”

  “I don’t have to sit here for this.”

  “You’re letting your pride get in the way of good common sense.”

  “You can’t imagine what a person with Kin genetics goes through and I have it worst than most. It’s not something to be proud of.”

  “A few hundred years ago, people who looked like me were discriminated against.”

  “It’s hardly the same thing. Only a lesser advanced, still drooling society judges on superficialities. But twenty-five percent of me isn’t human. It’s in my blood.” He stood up to test the strength of his knees, but she pushed him back down again.

  “Not true. Kin are perhaps the most human among us, genetically speaking. Just designed. Listen, the point I was trying to make was that the idiocy of judging on skin color is as ridiculous as thinking Titan is square. People advanced beyond that archaic thinking. This is heading in the same direction. Laws today—”

  “Laws dictate behavior, not thought.” Something cool touched his cheek and he leapt off the bed in horror. She jumped up with him and her small fingers wiped away tears he hadn’t shed since childhood. He tried to turn away, but she held his face pinioned in her hands and brushed her lips against his.

  “We won’t rid the galaxy of asses, Cyprus. We can’t change them, any more than we can change who we are.”

  “So we ignore them?”

  “We spite them.”

  “How?”

  She answered his question with a kiss and a crooked smile. “We thrive. We laugh. We have success as they waste precious energy wallowing in their foolis
hness. We live. We kiss. We—”

  He took her, rough and needy. The moment had no time for foreplay. He flipped her on her back, paused one agonizing moment for permission, then drove himself so deeply inside her that he saw her soul.

  And it was beautiful.

  He’d half expected her to be a playful lover and maybe she was. But not tonight. She clawed and bit and pushed and groaned into the bed.

  She swore too and he did spare a smile for that. She could put the very best of pirates to shame.

  Everything about her held his attention and his manhood found a place inside of her that he meant to remain in as long as possible.

  He flipped, bringing her with him until she straddled him. He didn’t pull out of those velvety walls, not that she’d let him, but he also didn’t move, savoring the moment. Needing it to last.

  Each day of his existence had been a fight for control. He guarded himself against what people thought of him. Against expectations of Kin and Human alike. Against inferiors and superiors.

  Against his very nature.

  And for the first time, he could feel himself losing the battle. He wanted this. He wanted her. He wanted the right to ask, beg and demand this from her.

  He drew his hand down, cupping one full breast in his palm. The dark areola tightened as he flicked his thumb over her nipple. She tried to fall back to the bed, but he wouldn’t let her. Not quite. “Turn around.”

  “Is that an order, sir?”

  “Absolutely.”

  The wild thing stood on the mattress, slapped her hip against his face and came back down to her knees, facing away. She moaned as he slapped his manhood against her and went into a delicious round of swearing as he entered her.

  Tight.

  Wet.

  His.

  Definitely his. He’d keep this. He’d keep it as long as she’d let him stay.

  Soon her walls clenched around his cock and she cried out. He screamed with her, gathering a ball of her hair in one hand and rubbing her clit with the other. He came violently, spilling himself into her and wishing that he didn’t have to let her go.

  Awesome thing about wishes – ever so rarely, they come true.

  When he collapsed next to her, she kissed his chest, nuzzled his jaw and closed her eyes. “We’ll feel bad about this tomorrow. Not tonight. Okay?”

  He grunted his agreement. An agreement completely full of shit. He had every intent of beating regret away. He wouldn’t have it. It hadn’t come when he fell asleep and it sure as crap wasn’t there when he woke up the next morning, exhausted and smiling. Lana lay curled up against him, with an upturned nose pressed into his ribcage.

  “Silly Earthling.”

  “Huh?”

  He opened his mouth to clarify, but she’d gone off into delicate snores and he let her rest. She’d earned it.

  A kiss on the top of her head was all that he’d chance. Then he leaned over and grabbed his omnitablet from the nightstand to address the runaway roommate. Before he could start, the indicator blinked. He blew up the message, projecting it against the wall.

  “Well, hell…”

  A promotion. In the middle of this shit storm, his dream drifted from the skies and right into his lap. Now what? The gold ring he’d wanted dangled millimeters away. His name, his face and his new position as a Venus based trainer stared right back at him.

  Lana’s arm tightened around his waist and her snores took on a lower resonance as she drifted deeper into sleep.

  She’d patched him up. Twice.

  He’d saved her. Twice.

  She’d saved him. Twice.

  He meant to make love to her, twice.

  But what about afterwards? Last night he’d started to believe this could work out. This promotion would change that, but he didn’t regret his involvement. They’d have to be careful, but the line of no return was crossed weeks ago. Then last night they’d crossed it again.

  If she were awake, she’d tell him he was thinking too hard. So he reduced everything to basics. Keep the woman. Get the promotion. Save all of humanity…in that order.

  Done.

  He slid out of bed, careful not to disturb her. If she’d just been a trainee, he’d have given her exercises to make her a lighter sleeper. OSA agents needed to make explosive movements from any starting point. He’d have had sirens and lights waking her up at random intervals.

  That was then. Now? Lana could sleep as soundly as she wanted with him at her side. How exactly, would take some work to figure out. She would finish camp highly ranked, close enough that a relationship wouldn’t be questioned. More than that, they had two supremely different specialties with no overlap. Hell, if he got up to an even higher-level training position, they might let him choose the medic for the course.

  Or not.

  One damned break was all he needed.

  People owed him favors, starting with his brother. While getting dressed, he dropped his omnitablet on the electro charger and grinned as it landed next to hers.

  And he grinned even harder because hers rested next to someone else’s.

  He ran his fingers over the third device and found it biolocked to one Michi Yoshisumi. Brilliant. He pocketed the thing and snuck out the room moments before the morning alarms sounded.

  With little time to spare, he dipped into his quarters for a gel cleansing, removing the filth of the streets from his shoes and the fragrant aroma of their lovemaking from his body. He stepped out to find that he wasn’t alone.

  Only one other person was coded for entry. His brother lounged on the white sofa, feet dangling over the edge. “Morning, Cyprus.”

  “Vin. Isn’t it a little early for you to rise from your tumble of bodies?”

  “I know you don’t believe it, but I take my job seriously.”

  “Is someone questioning your ability as a security chief?”

  “Just me. I doubt myself sometimes.” Few things shocked him, but an unconfident Vin was one of them. His brother’s hands shielded his face, muffling his words. “When I heard that two of my brother’s trainees disappeared, I told my boys to send notice to you and get on with their business. Imagine my surprise when I come to check on you and you’re not here? I find that you’ve been kidnapped. Held prisoner by some buxom—”

  “You finished?”

  “Did you finish? How many times? I don’t know whether to arrest you or cry out in pride. Help me, Cyprus. What do I do?”

  He almost wished he’d splurged on a water bath. At least then he’d have a wet towel to throw on the dick’s face. He’d beat the smile off him, as soon as he wiped his own away. And that might take some time.

  A shove got his brother’s feet off the sofa and Cyprus slid in next to him. “I like her.”

  “But she’s all…humany.”

  “I know that.”

  “But you’re prejudiced.”

  “I am not!”

  “Mother will be happy to hear that.”

  “Mother doesn’t think—”

  “Give her a call sometime. Let her see your face. Tell her about this girl who has you pissing off protocol. Good gracious, you’re smiling again.”

  “I’ve gotta get rid of it before the first session…and keep it off when I get there.”

  “What the hell has this girl done to you?”

  “Woman. Not a girl. Here.” He got up, but not before he handed over Yoshisumi’s omnitablet. “I need you to break the biolock.”

  “That’s illegal.”

  “Highly. And I need you to scan my office for recordings…in the next ten minutes.”

  “Who are you?”

  “And I need that tablet soon, Vin.”

  “Is this the girl’s, sorry, woman’s? Are there incriminating pictures up here?”

  “No, it belongs to the other one. The runaway. She left it behind and I need it for personal use.”

  “Yeah, we need to talk about her.”

  “We need to talk about a lot of things. After t
oday’s training, I’ll stop by.”

  Chapter Nine

  She woke up alone.

  Not a great feeling.

  His rich musk lingered on the pillow, but his warmth was gone. The one thing tangible thing left behind was a long string of blond hair.

  Had she made a mistake?

  Last night felt good – real good – and she wanted more of it. But she wasn’t an idiot. This was too dangerous to continue while they were here. If something was meant to grow between them, it had to wait. It would take getting through this section of training before finding out where she’d go for her upper level preps. And that could take a few months.

  At least they’d be able to date.

  Assuming they were on the same planet or moon…or at least shared a lunar orbit.

  And also assuming Meash didn’t kill her.

  And super assuming he left this morning because he had to, not because he wanted to.

  She looked out the full-length window and realized they hadn’t bothered to close it during last night’s festivities. Good thing they were too high up for anyone to see them.

  Probably.

  If he’d been here, they might have laughed about it. But he wasn’t and Lord, it hurt. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. It made sense for him to leave trainee quarters before first bells and maybe he didn’t want to wake her up. Yep. That’s what she told herself.

  Twice.

  And she held on to that hope with tightly clenched fists as she got ready and headed for the gymnasium. Her heart banged a steady trillion beats per second, but she kept her head straight and took her position in line. She didn’t acknowledge Cyprus and he didn’t acknowledge her.

  He spoke to the group at large in a voice stretched thin and hollow, not at all sounding like a man happy from a night of lovemaking. “I know I have been hard on you all. It isn’t to break you. It’s to make you understand that you no longer represent Titan or Mars or Venus or Earth. I am building you up to represent the Outer Settlement Agency and our job is the universe. You stand here on the precipice of greatness. That you made it this far proves your caliber.”