Star Cruise: Marooned (15 page)

“Can’t Level Four wait till tomorrow?” she asked when they parted, both panting a bit. “After all, it’s been a couple of years since this place went on the inactive list.”
 

He was tempted, but the blinking red indicators refused to be ignored. “Wait here with me then. I’ll work faster with the visible incentive.”

“Flatterer.” She sank into the other chair, waving a languid hand for him to proceed.

But now Red encountered his first real roadblock since activating the control board. Level Four had extra layers of security applied. He tried the techniques which had gained him access to the other monitors and information, but nothing worked. “PolyStarMed made it a real challenge to see what’s going on in Level Four, past or present.” Frustrated, he banged his fist on the offending tab. “Sealed up tight, physically and visually.”

“But there’s no one down there, right?” Meg came to look over his shoulder.

He spun the chair to check the life support vitals. “Our party are the only living creatures registering in the entire facility.” Pointing one hand at a line of sensors, he said, “Level Four does report here, to that extent.”

“Well then, if you can’t reconnoiter tonight, there’s no use sitting here getting worked up over it. Maybe you can ask Bettis to help you tomorrow. He was pretty exhausted and in a lot of pain, but if you’re worried, you could drag him up here now. Not sure how functional he’d be, though.”

“Yeah, good idea to have Bettis take a look tomorrow, see if he can drill down further than I was able to.” He stood, stretching. “I don’t like not having complete intel on the situation around us—that kind of omission can bite you in the ass—but it seems we don’t have any choice. No alarms sounding, no life forms down there on Four, guess I can wait a few more hours to check. We’re not planning to live here long term anyway.”

“So, you’re ready to explore Level Two now?” Her voice was teasing, the sexual innuendo clear from her heavy lidded gaze.

“Only as far as the first door on the left, I think you said?”

Holding hands, Meg and Red strolled to the gravlift and made the short trip to the second level, stepping off into a reception area. Scanning his surroundings automatically, Red registered a built-in couch and several small tables, and hallways radiating off the main room.

Meg glanced at the closed doors on the first corridor. “Do you mind if I take a second to check on the Bettises?”

He craved her undivided attention for the rest of the night, but he could spare the brief time required to ease her concern about their passengers. “Of course not. Good idea, I’ll come with you.”

Meg walked softly across the floor and into the hall, Red on her heels. She knocked gently on the door, but got no answer. “I’m sure they’re fine, probably asleep,” Meg said, biting her lip. “I don’t want to wake them.” Her lips curved in a grin. “Or interrupt them, as the case may be. This is their honeymoon, after all.”

“Callina’s been a trooper. When we were on the beach, Finchon had a chance to ransom her along with his own sorry ass, and he refused.” Red grew angry when he remembered the man’s callousness.

“You’re not serious?” Eyes wide, Meg stopped in her tracks.
 

“Apparently, there’s no love lost between the two of them. We both know he could have ransomed all of us and not felt the effects on his credit account. I didn’t expect him to pay for me, I don’t mean comet dust to him, but I sure as hell expected him to save his stepdaughter and her husband at the very least. If I’d figured out a way to escape the cage before you arrived, I was going to take her with me. She was the weakest; she was my priority.”

She cupped his cheek with one hand for a moment. “I know you’d never let them have Callina, not while you had breath left in your body.”

He captured her hand and kissed her palm. “I’ll try not to ever disappoint you, Meg, I swear. Soldier’s oath.”

“I don’t think you could,” she whispered. “Our room is this way.”
 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Red allowed her to lead him to the room she’d picked for them. The Bettises had exchanged knowing glances when she staked a claim to it, but made no protest, only proceeded further along the hall and found another room with a large bed for themselves.

As soon as Meg crossed the threshold, Red on her heels, and the door closed behind him, he took her in his arms for another soul wrenching kiss, long and deep. He was an excellent kisser. His arousal made its presence known, hot and hard against her stomach where his body pressed close to hers. Suddenly impatient to see all of him, Meg wanted his clothes off
now.
Eyes closed, her tongue still busy tangling with his, she fumbled with the fastenings of his shirt. He tried to help and their hands bumped into each other. Breaking off the kiss with a laugh, he stood unmoving as she finished undoing the tabs, spreading the shirt open to reveal his muscular upper body and taut abs. She yanked the garment free of his pants and he shrugged it off.

She took a moment to admire the intricate dragon tattoo starting on his left shoulder, twining onto his back, where the unfurled wings followed the line of his shoulder blades. The tail extended the length of his spine and ended above his butt. The colors were intense—red and black, with hints of gold and turquoise. “This is amazing art.” She traced the silhouette with a fingertip, feeling him shiver under her touch. The slight movement brought on an answering twinge deep in her. Her own arousal intensified. Free arm circling his waist, she pressed a kiss to the center of his back, rubbing her cheek against him. “I was watching from the trees when the Shemdylann examined this, when you were on the beach. I was terrified for you.”

“Crxtahl asked me what it was and I told him some bullshit. Luckily, he believed me.”

“Luckily? It’s more than just a dragon?”

“It’s the emblem of Team Twelve.” She felt him squaring his shoulders as he spoke, unconsciously assuming a military stance. “If the enemy figured out I was Special Forces, I’d have had to obey Order One.”

“I don’t understand?” The mood had turned dark somehow. Puzzled, keeping her hand on him caressing his side and then the taut muscle of his abdomen, she moved to face him.

His face was set in grave lines, the usual cheerful expression gone. “We’re not allowed to fall into enemy hands, Meg. We know too much, starting with the all access code. The code’s the merest tip of the classified info in my head. Even if I am on inactive status, retired.”

“But prisoners must get captured occasionally. How do you—”

“It’s a Mellurean mind implant.” He tapped his left temple. “Instant suicide.”

Shocked, she leaned her head against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. The thought that she might have lost him was horrifying. “No.”

“Has to be that way.” She felt him shrug. The vibration of his deep voice rumbled against her ear as he continued. His strong arms held her tight. “You accept it or you aren’t on the Teams. Simple decision, yes or no. Any good warrior makes peace with the idea of his death before he goes in harm’s way.”

“I had no idea.” This stern military incarnation of the usually easygoing, cheerful Red was very different than anything she’d ever seen from him, almost like a stranger stood before her. But she’d grown up on the frontier; she was no sheltered Inner Sectors girl. This side of Red was reassuring to someone used to men of integrity and unyielding belief in doing what was right. She hadn’t met many of those crewing luxury charter ships. If anything, his revelation strengthened her attraction to him. “My dad would have been happy if I’d brought you home. I’d be proud to introduce you.”
 

Red hugged her. “I’m honored—I hope I get to meet him someday and tell him how special you are. But, hey, enough of this grim military talk. We get wide discretion on when to enact Order One. Obviously, since I’m still alive and kicking.” He tilted her chin gently upward with one finger. “I give you my word of honor, I’ll never abandon you.” He kissed her lips and then asked, “My turn?” He gestured at her shirt.
 

With a little start, absorbed in thinking over what he’d revealed to her, she said, “Absolutely.” She ran her hands over his chest, flicking the flat buttons of his nipples lightly, then sliding her palms down his body, skating her left under his waistband and inside his swim trunks. She grasped his heavy penis, delighted to find she couldn’t quite circle his girth. Red took a deep breath as she stroked him, but continued to undo her shirt.

“A little help with this,” he said, pulling on her sleeve.

Removing her hold, but not before a final caress across the top of his penis with her thumb, she shimmied and her uniform top fell to the floor on top of his. Meg thoroughly enjoyed his masculine murmur of approval as his hands went to the full cups of her black lace bra, tracing the lace with a fingertip, much as she’d admired his dragon tattoo. “Good thing I didn’t know you had this confection on underneath that serious uniform. Gives me all kinds of ideas.” He swallowed hard. “You’re gorgeous,” he said as he lowered his head to take her lips for another kiss.

His mouth was hot, coffee-flavored, his tongue tangling with hers possessively. Hard as it was to focus under the sensual attack, Meg persisted in her effort to undo the fastening of his trousers. Red stepped out of them and the swim trunks underneath as soon as she undid the belt and eased the garments off his hips. After kicking off his shoes, he picked her up and carried her to the bed, where he laid her on the mattress as gently as if she was a breakable piece of art. He stood by the bed for a moment, drinking her in with his eyes. The way he focused on her felt like a caress and she stretched like a cat, enjoying the moment.

A hot throbbing deep inside made Meg shift her hips as she gazed at his naked body, all muscles and hard planes, the jutting arousal leaving her in no doubt he found her as attractive. “Consider me impressed.”

He laughed, eyes crinkling in that way she found so sexy every time he did it. Oh, yes, it had been hard to adhere to her self-imposed rule about no fraternization. “The feeling is mutual,” he said, sitting at the end of the bed to remove her shoes, followed immediately by her slacks. He ran his hands up the outsides of her legs, pushing her thighs gently apart. Sliding a hand into the vee of her body, he shifted the gusset of her panties out of his way as he inserted two fingers into her. Leaning close, he whispered, “So hot and wet—your response to me turns me on like you wouldn’t believe.”

“We’ve been doing foreplay for quite a while now, haven’t we?” she said, moving against him as he stroked his fingers in and out of her, massaging, testing what made her respond. He seemed to know all the right places to touch. Meg’s arousal grew, the delicious tremors peaking under his attention.

“Ever since I signed onto the damn
Far Horizon
, and you started trying to ignore me.” He slid her higher on the bed, then drew her underwear off ever so slowly before putting his mouth where his fingers had been, his tongue laving her sensitive places in a rhythm that had her threading her fingers in his hair, urging him on as the sensations built to an irresistible climax. She arched against him, holding him as close as she could, trying not to scream with pleasure as the orgasm unleashed in response to his caresses.

“You taste so good,” he said, shifting to where he could gaze into her eyes. Slowly, he unfastened the bra, casting it aside on the floor. “The perfect size,” he murmured, kneading her breasts with his hands for a moment before moving over her so he could swirl his tongue over first one nipple, then the other, tugging and sucking until she wanted to scream with pleasure.

Meg rubbed his shoulders and wrapped her legs around him, holding him as close as she possibly could. “I want you inside me.”

“There’s nothing I want more, but we don’t have protection.”

“We both had to give the captain clean health certificates from the Guild before we lifted off,” she said. “So, I’m not worried. And I’ve had the injects, not getting pregnant this year.”

“All right then, you don’t have to invite me twice.” As she parted her legs to give him access, he guided the blunt head of his penis into her soft folds.

Meg moaned in pleasure as his girth filled her, soothing the ache she’d had after her first orgasm, which had been intense, but nothing compared to what the more intimate contact would provide. As he pumped in and out, going slowly until she could get used to his size, she clenched her inner muscles in a rhythm she hoped would drive him to lose some control.

Red grunted and held still for a moment, buried deep inside her. Smoothing her hair from her face, he kissed her forehead. “I’m not going to last long if you keep doing that.”

“We have all night, we can play this game more than once,” she whispered.

“I like the way you think.” He drew his hips back and then plunged into her, his release powerful, triggering her own as she fought to hold him as tightly as she could, locking her legs behind his butt to hold him. Losing track of where she ended and he began, Meg surrendered herself to the sensations deep in her core and splintered in a climax more intense than any she’d ever experienced before.

Hours later, there was a gentle knock on the door. A bit disoriented, lost in a good dream where she and Red were walking through shafts of sunlight in the woods on her home world,Meg didn’t fully awaken until the second set of knocks. She rolled over, grabbing the sheet to cover herself and padded to the entry. Allowing the door to open a hand’s width, not revealing the bed, she found Callina waiting. Brushing hair from her eyes, Meg said, “Did you sleep okay?”