Quantum (11 page)

Rain started falling faster, chattering on the surface of the water around them, a cool contrast to the warm springs. He shifted closer and finally,
finally
, his chest brushed her breasts, making the ache within her deepen.

“This is a bad idea,” she managed to get out, even though she’d apparently forgotten how to breathe.

“I know. It’s probably the worst idea I’ve ever had.” He reached up and cupped her face, the water from his hands tracking down her neck and making her shiver.

“Then we shouldn’t.” Her words weren’t much more than a whisper as he leaned down toward her.

“No, we definitely shouldn’t,” he murmured a split second before his mouth landed on hers.

Unlike their last kiss, this one wasn’t filled with frustration and confusion. The near-combustible heat was definitely still there, but this time they came together in a harmony instead of furious discordance.

She reached up to frame his face, the two days’ worth of whiskers on his cheeks pricking her palms.

His hands splayed across her lower back, and she pushed herself closer to him, winding her arms around his shoulders to anchor herself to him. The kiss deepened, became a little wilder, and his tongue sliding into her mouth dragged a moan from deep within her soul.

Oh god.
Her heart pounded, pumped waves of heated blood through her veins, until she wanted to forget everything and get lost in the sensations forever.

When his hands started slipping downward, she surged up against him, even as he cupped her butt. Wrapping her legs around him felt like the most natural thing in the world, pressing up against him a need she couldn’t deny.

He lifted her, lifted them both out of the water, and then lowered her onto the flat rocks below the cracks of the hot springs. Warm water flowed around her, while the rain above started falling more heavily.

She tightened her hold on him as he lowered his weight onto her. Somehow, he’d managed to shed his boxer briefs without breaking the consuming kiss, and now he came up against her gloriously naked, sending a delicious shiver of anticipation through her. The hot, heavy length of his erection pushed against her core, and her lower abdominal muscles clenched as a wave of expectant pleasure radiated outward.

The kiss came to a short end, and when she opened her eyes, she found him gazing down at her, eyes still hard, but with an edge of vulnerability he probably had no idea he possessed.

Hell, this was all going to end badly. She should get up and escape him while she could. Because when the truth came out he’d be furious at her betrayal.

Except he shifted his hips subtly against her, and it was too late. She was too selfish, because
damn
, even knowing she’d inevitably hurt him, even aware of Rian’s suspicions, she wanted him.

She urged him onward by pulling him closer still. As he slid inside her, a deep groan reverberated through his chest, and she felt every sweet vibration.

Oh god
, he filled her in every way possible, and it was too good, so much better than she’d expected. It should have felt wrong, it shouldn’t have been so consuming and profound with everything standing between them. But it gave her a sense of something she didn’t want to name and didn’t want to recognize.

His mouth left hers and blazed a path down her neck, leaving tingles and fine shivers everywhere his lips touched. Each caress built her higher, made her feel fuller still, and each stroke of him inside her speared straight to the depths of her.

He closed his mouth over her right nipple while his hand cupped her other breast. He wasn’t slow or gentle, but she didn’t want him any other way. The sensations within her crested, as his thrusts against her grew shorter and more concentrated.

“Zander.
Zander—
” His name was torn from her in the storm raging through her, in the arc of lightning through her limbs, in the thunder vibrating deep inside her.

A cry wrenched from her, and she arched as it all became too much, but exactly in the way she needed. Zander hauled her up and caught her mouth in a searing kiss, swallowing her cries as his body tightened against her. He groaned against her mouth and broke the kiss, but set his forehead against hers.

In that second, even as she came apart and felt him coming deep inside her, she’d never felt so physically connected to someone, the pinnacle hitting heights she’d never experienced before with another man, leaving her trembling and breathless.

Blissful languor flowed through her, relaxing her muscles, and she let herself fall limp in his hold.

Zander sighed, the sound deep with contentment, and lowered them both back to the rock. Droplets of rain pricked her in the few places he wasn’t covering her, and she shivered as the brisk temperature registered on her cooling skin, despite the shallow flow of heated water around them.

Zander lifted his head and glanced at the sky, diamond beads of water dusting his already wet hair. “We should get inside and dry off before it gets much colder.”

Another tremor raked down her spine, and she crossed her arms against the chill. A glance to the left revealed the thermal blanket she’d brought down to dry off with had become too wet in the steady rain.

“Since I ended up stuck in the water far longer than I wanted, getting dry sounds like a great idea.” She sat up as Zander moved back, and the cooling air and cold rain hit her full force.

Goose pimples raced over her skin as she stood, ready to make a dash to their cave. Before she could take a step, Zander wrapped his arms around her and scooped her up against his chest.

“I told you, my foot is fine.” Even as she said the words, she wound her arms around his shoulders, because the heat of his body chased away the cold.

He shrugged but didn’t answer as he climbed the slight slope of the rocks.

Inside the cave, Zander lowered her to stand near the fire and then went to fetch another thermal blanket from the packs. As he turned and came back toward her, heated anticipation lit his eyes as his gaze swept over her body. An answering swell of desire throbbed through her, riveting her when he stopped in front of her and dropped to his knees.

Her breath caught as he smoothed the cloth over her skin, methodically drying her, starting at her neck and working his way downward. With each caress, her flesh became more and more sensitive, until the rasp of the material became too much.
God
, she wanted to feel his large, warm hands moving over her skin instead, wanted to press herself shamelessly against the unyielding hardness of his muscles, despite the fact they’d only been together moments ago.

Once he finished with her feet, leaving her dry apart from her hair, she reached for the blanket. Instead of handing it to her, he spread it out over the sand next to the fire.

“Aren’t you cold? I could dry you, if you want.”

He grinned at her, the first real smile she’d seen from him since they’d met in the spaceport, probably because she’d sounded so damn eager.

“I’m mostly dry, and no, I’m not cold.” He moved down to the blanket and then reclined, folding his arms behind his head.

She swallowed, taking in the picture of virility.
Oh, mama.
She’d been with a few men over the years, had a couple of serious relationships that hadn’t lasted, but none of them could compare to Zander. The man was in a league of his own.

And how will I ever look at him again without picturing him like this? Firelight flickering over the muscled planes of his body, waiting to give me everything I want.

She wouldn’t be able to, because this image was searing into her mind.

Slowly, she dropped into a crouch and then crawled forward, reveling in the way he stared hungrily at her. She moved over his body, until they were face-to-face.

“Hi,” he murmured, sliding a hand around to the back of her neck, where his fingers tightened a little at the base of her skull.

“Hi,” she returned as she leaned toward him.

Zander pulled her down the short distance between them, and their mouths fused together in a luscious kiss. Beneath her palms, where she braced them against his pecs, his muscles tensed and rippled against her skin.

His fingers drifted from her neck, along her spine, making her want to arch into his caress. He stopped at her waist, both of his hands gripping her hips and urging her back. Currents of pleasure shot out in the wake of his touch.

She didn’t need any more hints than that. As she shifted back, she reached down and took his erection in a gentle grip. Zander hissed out a breath, followed by a groan as she slid her fingers down to the base.

Giving him pleasure, seeing him enjoy himself, was satisfying in its own right.

His gaze caught hers, and the intensity in his eyes made her heart skip a beat.

“Are you just going to tease me, or is this leading somewhere?” The unevenness of his voice made her pulse pick up speed.

She guided him to her core and lowered herself. “Is this what you want?”

“
God, yes.
” As he shifted restlessly beneath her, his hands tightened where they held her hips.

She released her grip on him and took him all the way inside, sighing in relief. Tension built at the resulting swell of ecstasy within her. She started up a rhythm, rocking against him and holding his gaze.

Watching him, with him watching her, their gazes locked on each other, made the rest of the world fall away, placing her somewhere intimate, where each second created invisible ties that bound them together.

Sensation built in her chest, making it hard to breathe. Yeah, she’d decided to throw herself into this moment with him, to enjoy whatever short time they had together. But as she stared down into the depths of his eyes, she wanted more…more than the secrets and half-truths leading to her inevitable betrayal.

She wished they could have met under different circumstance, that they’d had a chance to establish something true and real between them. Instead, she could only close her eyes and hold on to the fleeting physical pleasure.

But this time, the momentary rapture didn’t leave her feeling buoyant. It left her feeling empty.

Chapter Ten

Nadira

The
Imojenna
was unusually silent when Rian left his cabin, running a hand through his damp hair to shove it off his forehead. As usual, he’d shaved in the shower and then chucked on some random clothes, all without combing his hair since he’d gotten out of bed. In fact, he wasn’t even sure he actually owned a comb. It wasn’t like he gave a good goddamn what he looked like. While he maintained a respectable level of personal hygiene, he never went so far as making sure he actually looked presentable.

The silence dogged him as he made his way across to the galley. Without the engines running and the rest of the crew either sleeping or passed-out drunk from the festival the night before, he could actually hear the birds chirping outside as dawn touched the horizon.

As he stepped into the communal room, movement in his peripheral vision at the large central table jacked his system, and he had his pulse pistol out and aimed before he’d taken another step.

“Good morning to you, Captain.” Ella didn’t look up from the commpad on the table next to her simple breakfast of bread, fruit, and cheese.

He puffed out an annoyed half breath and shoved his gun away. Apparently Ella hadn’t made her damned Jasmynah tea yet today, and without the scent to forewarn him, he hadn’t expected to see her up and around.

“Not sleeping in with the rest of the crew?” He continued over to the galley bench and made a coffee.

“I did not stay out as late as the others.”

“Of course you didn’t,” he muttered as his mug started filling. He added some brandy for extra flavoring and tossed some bacon in a pan on the cooktop. While his breakfast started sizzling, he went over to the viewer and turned it on, first checking the progress on the stolen Reidar files that Tannin had the ship’s systems translating and then bringing up his daily newsreel. He had the ship’s computer filter all the stories that came through on the Universal News Net, looking for clues that might link to the Reidar.

One of the first reports that came up caught his attention with sharp, icy talons.
Mystery Wreckage: Shuttle Crash Site Discovered in Tocarra Wilderness.

A perky brunette news anchor launched into the details—which weren’t many. It was presumed the shuttle crashed shortly after takeoff from the Tocarra spaceport two days ago, but no survivors had been found. The authorities were investigating, as no distress beacon had been activated.

He stepped nearer to the screen, pausing the reel on an aerial shot of the crash site. Something didn’t look right. There was a long gouge in the earth, as though the shuttle had made one frecking rough landing, but everything within a few hundred feet around what was left of the wreckage was burned. Of course, there was a chance the craft had simply exploded or caught fire after the collision—

He looked closer, enhancing the picture and focusing on a spot to the top left of the screen. It looked like a second impact site. And he had absolutely no doubt it was the after-burn pattern of a missile.

God frecking damn it.
Somehow he knew—Mae had been on that shuttle. The last message he’d gotten from her had said something about heading to the
Swift Brion
via Tocarra. It explained why she hadn’t contacted him. Because she’d never made it to the flagship to begin with.

“Rian?” Ella’s voice jolted him out of the cold rage he’d started sinking into. He looked down to find she’d come over to stand next to him, concern written across her features. “Whatever is going on with you right now, just take a moment to breathe before you go running to do something about it.”

He flicked the picture off and slammed the remote down on the table then stomped back toward the galley to retrieve the almost-burning bacon.

“I’ve told you before, princess, stay out of my business.”

She stared at him, a flash crossing her features that could have been frustration, but nonetheless, she returned to her plate at the table with even steps.

Half turning and giving her his shoulder, he slapped his bacon between a couple of slices of toast and added more brandy to his coffee then took the plate and cup and headed for the bridge, the fury toward the Reidar tightening his shoulders in arctic waves.

He set down his breakfast and left it untouched, rotating his seat to the console and tabbing up communications. With a few commands input, he tracked down the
Swift Brion
, but the ship was too far out of range to get a direct linkup unless he paid the exorbitant fee to have the transmission go through a transit gate.

Muttering a few colorful curses under his breath, he instead sent a subspace message, which would take at least a day, if not longer, to have Zander comm him ASAP. Whoever or whatever was currently sitting at the helm of the
Swift Brion
, he’d get some answers. And once he found out what had happened to Mae, so help him god, whoever was responsible would pay in pounds of flesh.