BioCybe (12 page)

“Not that. Where and how?”

“Oh. I installed it into the shuttle after Omega V. Anyway,
we needed to get out quickly and until now, I haven’t had a chance to properly
test…”

He made a noise, and this time she did look at him, appalled
as he paled further.

His eyes were closed and breathing labored. Just as she was about
to engage the medi-droid he opened them. “You hadn’t tested it? You just used
it?”

She nodded. “I couldn’t afford for us to be found. So I
just…” She’d taken a risk, a calculated one, and it had paid off. “Look, it
worked, right? That’s all that matters at this point.”

Tendrils of anger burrowed through her system. He should
thank her for getting them out of there in one piece. While those security guys
weren’t ever going to make it in any army, they had enough grunt to do them
both some damage.

He unclipped the harness, the chink echoing in the silence.
“Just get us out of here.” Sandon brushed past her, and she closed her eyes.
Counted to five.

“I don’t know why you’re so damned angry. I saved our
carcasses back there.” The sullen words escaped and he hissed.

Levia spun toward him and stopped as she saw the tension in
his stance.

“Yes. But at what cost, Levia?” He swiped an unsteady hand
over his face.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you go into situations, get yourself beaten to a pulp,
then take a chance on technology that you haven’t checked.” He shrugged. “Do
what you think is best. I’m going to lie down.”

She watched his retreating figure, wondering just what the
hell she should do now.

* * * *

Sandon seethed for the next several hours. Sleep was the
last thing he wanted, but he also knew that if he spoke again now, it would
more than likely destroy the connection they’d formed. So he hid. He seethed.

“Bloody hard-headed woman.” More than once, he was sure she
came to the door, but at those times he feigned sleep while his mind played on
its current favorite topic: the many ways Levia took chances with herself. The
more he thought about it, the more his anger grew. “She wants to take chances?
Fine, I don’t care!”

He realized that right now, if he spoke to her, he’d say
something stupid. When the hail blared and her terse, “We’re nearing the
Echo
.
Strap in,” rang through the cabin, he sat up with a curse, knowing he should be
there, on the bridge.

He banged his hand on the comm button. “Hang on. I’m on my
way.”

Sandon hastened to the bridge, wrestling with his conscience
as the need welling inside himself unfurled. By staying away, he’d fed his
anger, and a chink of regret trickled through his nerve endings like a frozen
cube of ice. He’d accused of her things he had no right to blame on her. He
needed to apologize, and he hoped she wouldn’t just deck him there and then.

Levia’s spine was stiff and straight when he caught sight of
her, and he sighed.

He wrapped the straps around himself just as they jolted to
an almost sudden stillness. Sandon frowned, realizing this wasn’t the way she
normally piloted, and he chanced a quick glance at her.

He noticed the pale tone of her unpainted face, and the
jerky movements thrust home just how childishly he’d handled the whole
situation.

She was hurt and still had accepted his criticisms with only
a single outburst.

“Levia, I—”

She raised a hand. “No worries. It’s done.” Not once did she
turn in his direction, and frustration built within him.

The chasm that had existed before was little more than a
crack compared to the distance that stretched between them after his actions
and careless words.

She rose and, without looking in his direction, staggered to
the rear of the shuttle. “I need to manually interface with the ship to engage
the tractor to the
Echo
.”

He knew exactly what that meant—employing the neural net
interface straight into her brain. The very thought of it, that they’d turned
this woman into what she thought of as only a machine, kept his gut churning.

“Before you go, Levia, I need to talk to you.”

At his words, she whirled. “Right now I’m not sure I want to
discuss anything with you. My sole purpose aboard the
Golden Echo
is to
pilot your ship and ensure we meet the demands of the PMA.”

An arctic blast couldn’t have been more effective in
chilling his marrow. “Look, Levia, I’m sorry. I was out of line. I should never
have said what I did. It was wrong and cruel, and I didn’t mean it. I was
just... I was angry and let that cloud my judgment.”

But she turned away and started walking off the bridge. “A
professional relationship is all I’m interested in.”

A crimson veil settled over his mind and he tore at the
straps and strode toward her, catching and gripping her arm.

She stilled, and he wasn’t sure if he should be thankful or
not as she turned, her face a mask of disdain.

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” She jerked, but he held on, desperate to
explain why he’d acted like a class A jerk.

“Not until you give me a chance to explain.”

Her brows drew close together and furrow formed between
them.

Sandon took her silence as a chance to say his peace. “I was
angry, yes. I was furious with you and even more so with myself. It seems I
can’t ever protect you from yourself or anyone else.” His chest rose and fell
in jerky movements. “No, I don’t know why you take those risks, and to be
honest, I wish there was some way to show you that you don’t have to.”

A tiny muscular twitch betrayed the depth of her emotions,
and he hoped it was a positive sign.

Without letting himself investigate that, he forged on. “I
want to protect you. To take you away from all this.”

A sad half-smile crept over her face. “You can’t. That
option was taken from me long before I met you.”

If only he could make her see that settling for the half-life
she’d lived previously would just make matters worse. “There’s so much more to
life. So much more to our existence.”

He leaned in, knowing that his breath fanned her face. He
needed to touch her so she’d read his fear that he’d damaged their fragile
accord. He framed her jaw lightly.

“Levia, you’re more than that. To me, you’re…”
The woman
I love?
Could he claim that? Was it true? Of course it was. In that instant
he felt no shock, only pleasure and a need to make sure she understood.

Her pupils dilated. “What do you mean?”

In her face, he read hunger and fear. It tore at his
emotions. He wanted to soothe her, to give her the entire universe. Instead, he
took a chance. “I mean, I…” He gazed deep, drew an unsteady breath, and
plunged. “I love you, Levia.”

Shock and wonder dragged at him, and he kissed her. It
started out as a soft and tender caress, nothing more than a brush of lip to
lip. The heat he associated with Levia scorched him. Her scent invaded his
mind, filling the empty parts of his soul. When her mouth parted, he pushed
deeper, seeking the heated recesses of her mouth and her taste. Her fingers dug
into his shoulders, gripping him, and he wound his arms around her waist,
pulling her closer, willing her to know just how deeply she affected him.

The instant of surrender, when she sagged against his frame,
left him hyper-aware of every inch of her body, the way she fit against him. His
mind chanted
mine, all mine
as he pushed on, hands fumbling against the
closure of her suit.

* * * *

Levia was lost as the myriad of sensations zinging through
her mind drugged her. Languor spread, leaving her soft-of-limb and dazed. Her
hands clutched at him, needing support as she fought against the euphoria and
other startling emotions which crowded her brain.

His taste filled her head, like a dark deep wine, and she
moaned low in her throat. When he pulled away, she couldn’t conceal the hunger
and a groan rose. Sandon’s chuckle as he pushed her into the cabin was a
glimmer of reality.

Planting a hand on his chest, she meant to push him back,
away. “No…” The breathless word escaped on a hiss.

The sudden tension in his frame had her holding onto the
oxygen in her lungs.

“Why, Levia? Why should I stop?”

Her mind whirled. What could she say? “I’m scared.”

“What are you scared of?”

If only it were so easy to pinpoint one thing. He deserved
the truth though. Every facet. “Of you and me. Of the pain that will come if
this is all a dream. Of where it will take us and where it will end.” She
closed her eyes, knowing that the next words were the most honest of all.

“I don’t ever want this to end. Why would I? I want to be
with you until time stops.”

She shook her head, her lips trembling as she fought her
emotions. “I’m not quite finished.” The whirl in her mind made it hard to form
a coherent sentence that adequately explained her fears. She opened her eyes
again, staring deep, searching for the power to continue. “I’m terrified of
what you’ll think when you look at my body.” The lump in her throat nearly
choked her. “The scars… They’re everywhere.” She wanted to turn away, but his
gaze mesmerized her.

“I don’t care about the scars, Levia.” He traced his thumb
over her lips and leaned closer. “They are what makes you who you are.”

“But—” The quiver started down deep in her body, shaking her
to the core.

“Shhhh.” When he moved closer, rubbing his lips over hers,
she gave in, her body warming, but the taste of him stole her senses and she
gave herself up to the pleasure.

Her mind could barely compute the competing emotions. Need
and desire. Hunger and warmth. The deeper the kiss, the harder it was for her
to cling to that final thread of sanity. It thinned before snapping. She was
left reeling. The kiss was voracious as his hands moved down her body, playing
with the closures of her body suit.

She tried to suck in a breath, to push through the cloud
that settled on her brain, knowing she should stop this—stop him, before she
was too committed. The thought floated away on a haze of sensual desire.

When his lips left hers to feast on the skin at the side of
her throat, her knees buckled. Two steps backward and her legs rested against
the edge of the bed.

“Sa—”

“Shh… Let me adore you.” His gaze roamed over her, and she
understood the unvoiced question.

“Yes.” Something in his tone made her insides melt, and
right now she’d agree to just about anything. His words promised
pleasure—sexual or emotional, it didn’t matter, as her hunger overwhelmed her
thought processes.

“I love you, Levia.” His voice became deep and rough, the
timbre echoing through her nerve endings, setting them quivering.

Her skin cooled, and it was only then that she realized he’d
pushed down the shoulder of her suit, baring skin. A convulsive shudder wracked
her, and she started to raise a hand. He stilled it gently.

“No.” His breath caressed her skin.

Emotions she’d shied away from clamored, and she couldn’t
deny them. Accept or deny what he was offering. He claimed to love her. That he
wanted her. Could she let him? The time for decisions had arrived.

Levia tried to weigh them, but her mind was awash with
sensations and his touch soothed the ragged edges of her carefully banked
needs. She gulped, understanding it was time to strip away the tissue-thin
layers of protection she’d cloaked herself in.

“Levia?” He was asking permission to continue, and the
thought left her shaking.

Screwing up her courage was one thing, uncovering every scar
on her body was something totally different.

I don’t want to be afraid and alone. I want Sandon.
Her
body had made that clear, and she wasn’t one to hide from the truth. Now, she
stared at him, willing him to understand the chance she was taking. “Don’t
stop.”

“Be very sure, Levia. There’ll be no going back once you’re
mine. I won’t allow it.”

Was he also laboring under fears? The thought stripped away
the veil of her anxiety, demanding that she stop and consider. It seemed
logical that he was unsure, just like she was. Yet he was willing to move
forward, beyond the fear that enveloped her.

She could gain assistance from her neural enhancement. It
would tell her how his heart rate had increased and his respiration. But she
didn’t want that. She wanted the experience with the man who waited before her.

“I’m sure. No going back, Sandon. Not ever.”

His hands shook as he tugged at the closure of her suit,
pulling the zipper all the way down, uncovering the body she hid. Instinct made
her want to drag her hands up, to cover herself, but something must have
betrayed the reflex, and he stilled them.

“Don’t hide from me.”

Her knees assumed the consistency of custard and her face
flamed, but she stayed in his grip. Letting him see what very few had.

She knew of the ropey purple scars that crisscrossed her
body; she hated them. But as he trailed a cautious and soft finger over them,
all she could think of was the way her consciousness zeroed in where he touched
her.

In the cool air, her body responded with a shiver of
longing. Her pulse thrummed, and her body ached, breasts engorging, and the
soft, secret recess between her legs quivered.

“Sandon?” The tiny catch in her voice echoed.

“Trust me.”

Amazingly, she did. He pushed the suit over her hips and
down. She pulled at the buttons on his jacket, and with great concentration the
first, then the second popped free. His hands worked at her bra, and the
instant he released her breasts she sighed. Her nipples standing erect as his
fingers burrowed beneath the elastic band of her white panties, then they too
disappeared, forgotten.

His body was hidden beneath a thin undershirt, and she
bunched it in her hands. “Sandon? Take it off for me.” Her words slipped out on
a thready moan.