The Tracker's Dilemma: (A Mandrake Company Science Fiction Romance) (13 page)

She grew oddly aware of her body as he touched her, of the way her nerves were affected by the massage, the small movements of his hands, hands that had the strength to dig in and rub the tension from knotted muscle, yet were gentle enough that the service felt pleasurable rather than painful. She hadn’t had many massages in her life, never feeling that comfortable with touching of any sort, and didn’t have much of a basis for comparison, but she did like this one so far. Her body agreed, loosening in response, and she remembered the way her cat had basked in his sunbeam, stretched out in pure sybaritic pleasure.

Her nipples tightened beneath her shirt as his fingernails scraped lightly across the side of her neck when he switched positions again, and warmth tingled between her thighs. She almost laughed, realizing she found this more arousing than all of the kissing Professor Alberti had inflicted on her as a precursor to their union. As if rubbing saliva-covered tongues together should be arousing. She’d been too busy thinking of the unsanitary aspect of it all to find it anything but off-putting.

“You can read the good bits to me, if you wish,” Tick said, shifting his hands to the side of her neck, his thumbs to the back of her head and rubbing her scalp through her hair. That felt amazing. Her eyes wanted to close rather than to stay open and study the file.

“The good bits?” she asked, remembering that he had spoken. “About genetically engineering fruit trees to produce a superior yield, even in harsh conditions?”

“Well, maybe there’s something in there about genetically engineering humans to thrive in harsh conditions. Not that Grenavine was that harsh, but I seem to remember from my history classes as a boy that there were a lot of heavy metals in the environment, so our insides had to become good at clearing them from our bodies. Sorry, I don’t know the science terms for that. I just remember it being in the books that a lot of the first colonists’ babies were born with birth defects or were stillborns because of elements that were toxic to us, so the scientists tinkered with our genes as an alternative to just trying to purify the air and water on the planet, though others did try to do that too. I think that was a part of the reason we planted so many trees everywhere and got really into growing forests. The druidism and nature worshipping came later. The early colonists were just trying to lock up the toxins in flora that lived a long time and could hold a lot.” Tick’s hands paused. “Sorry, I’m sure you know all of this, and it probably has nothing to do with the ESP. In fact, I don’t know how it could.”

“No, don’t stop.”

“Talking or massaging?”

“Both.”

His words were spurring ideas for her. She actually wasn’t that familiar with the history of Grenavine. She’d known they had done minor manipulations to their population early on, before the stigma against genetic engineering had spread across the system, but she’d thought it had been for aesthetics, such as creating predominantly green eyes among the population, rather than for practical reasons. She definitely
had
noticed that they had enhanced methylation systems, and it had been one of the reasons she’d been eager to have them in her study, as they already tended toward good health, but she hadn’t realized that had been inculcated with gene manipulation as a survival mechanism. Ankari had speculated that their good health arose from living in a more natural and less industrialized environment than the people in the rest of the system, and that could certainly play into things, but this made even more sense. And was it possible that some of those early genetic manipulations had affected their brains in a manner that could make them more receptive to enhancements offered by the symbiotic relationship with the intestinal flora?

“I’m getting excited, Heath.” Lauren pulled up the holo keyboard and typed in search terms, her fingers flying.

“About me or about your research?”

“You?” she asked, puzzled as only half of her mind heard him—the other half was already focusing on the new files opening before her, ones detailing the work the early geneticists had done to the population, to the
human
population, not the fruit tree population. She glanced at the last-opened date on the file. Yes, Hailey had been in here today. Lauren fished in her pocket for her tablet, so she could copy the files, or at least take pictures of the display in case they were protected.

Tick chuckled softly. “I guess that answers my question.”

He ran his hands from her shoulders to her upper arms, giving her a squeeze, a signal that the massage was ending. A surprisingly intense feeling of distress surged through her—she didn’t want him to stop touching her.

With her free hand, she clasped one of his before he let go. “Don’t stop. It feels good.”

He hesitated, and she worried she had offended him with her demands, especially when she wasn’t prepared to reciprocate, at least not with sexual favors, presuming he still wished those. When she finished studying the file, she would consider offering to return the massage, as that seemed fair. Even though she never found touching to be necessary in day-to-day life, a part of her wondered what it might be like to have him remove his shirt and to slide her hands along his shoulders and back.

“Please,” she added, when he remained still, as if uncertain. That should take the edge from her command.

“Always happy to oblige a lady,” he murmured, his hands moving back up to her shoulders, fingers and thumbs resuming their kneading.

He bent his neck, and she saw his jaw in her peripheral vision, noticing that quite a few hours had passed since he’d shaved and that early beard growth darkened his skin. He lifted one hand, brushing her hair back, tucking the locks behind her ear. A little thrill of pleasure ran through her nerves, her nipples tightening again, poking against her bra as if they wanted to be freed. A silly thought. And how odd that having her hair touched should stir such sensations. She never bothered fiddling with her hair or even her breasts when she used tools to give herself orgasms. Those had always involved stimulating the clitoris directly. She thought of the clumsy way Professor Alberti had gone about that, leaving her wishing she had simply used her own hand. Strange that memories of sex and stimulation kept entering her mind.

His lips brushed the side of her neck, the touch warm and dry, and new sparks of sensation lit up her nerves. “You smell good,” he said, his voice slightly husky.

It occurred to her that he might be thinking of sex, even growing aroused from touching her. As much as she enjoyed the massage, the way he was still rubbing away knots with his strong fingers, she ought to push him back and end this encounter, lest he believe it would lead to other things. Even if she could imagine having sex with him, who would do such a thing on the floor of a cave? How primitive. And dirty. Besides, they were down here on a mission and had work to do. Further, his entire company was missing. This was hardly the time to—

She swallowed as his warm lips trailed up the side of her neck to her ear. He nuzzled her, the scrape of his beard stubble teasing her skin, then caught her earlobe in his mouth. She was on the verge of pointing out that she had been out in that bacteria-ridden jungle without cleaning and that putting anything of hers in his mouth was highly unsanitary when his teeth grazed her soft skin, and he sucked on the lobe. An intense wave of pleasure coursed through her body, and she almost gasped.

“Heath,” she said his name, though she couldn’t get more out. The words tangled on her tongue, her ability to be rational momentarily lost. She turned toward him, conflicted as to whether to push him away or pull him close. Her mind argued for the former while the growing heat between her legs acknowledged that desire had been awakened and that he might be able to slake it better than she could.

A grinding of stone against stone came from the back of the cave. He jumped back, as if she’d slapped him. Her hand
was
hovering in the air, as indecisive as her mind, but she hadn’t been thinking of striking. A slap would be a poor reward for his attentive massage.

Tick—Heath—spun toward the back wall, and she remembered the noise, realized his spring backward hadn’t had anything to do with her.

She lowered her hand as a portion of the wall—some kind of large, hidden door—pushed outward. It had been so cleverly disguised that she never would have guessed it existed. Judging by the way Heath gaped at it, he hadn’t seen evidence of it, either.

“
Finally
,” a male voice floated out, accompanied by footfalls, many footfalls.

Disappointment washed over Lauren as Captain Mandrake, Sergeant Hazel, and the rest of the missing men strode out into the lit cave, shaking their heads and grousing as they walked around the grow beds and toward the computer station. Her time alone with Heath was over.

He glanced at her as the men approached, his expression hard to decipher, though he looked like someone who had been caught. Or maybe made a mistake.

She lifted her chin and told herself it was good that the others were returning. Who knew what else he might have tried to do if they had remained alone? It had been as she originally suspected—the massage had been offered in an attempt to get close to her, in the hope that she would initiate sex, or that he would initiate it and she would allow it. As if this wasn’t, as she had asserted earlier, a ridiculous place for such an encounter. Further, it disappointed her to have her suspicions affirmed, to know that his interest in spending time with her was likely based only on a desire to find a shuttle bay to dock in. So transparent. So predictable.

Lauren spotted Hailey walking in with the second group of mercenaries and turned back to the computer. She did not care if her sister knew what she had discovered, but since Hailey was being secretive, perhaps Lauren should be too. She hurried to copy the files, so she could shut down the system before her sister drew close.

• • • • •

“Where have you been, Cap’n?” Tick drawled, shifting a few steps to the side so he could hide his lower half behind some leafy green beans vining up poles. He doubted anyone would intentionally look at his crotch, but he didn’t want any knowing smirks from the men, should Mandrake or someone else notice that he was dealing with a bean pole of his own. Talking to the captain and the others should result in that problem going away soon—nothing like a bunch of crude, lumbering men to kill the mood—though it was already on the way down, thanks to the frosty look Lauren had sent his way before turning back to the computer.

She probably thought he’d been trying to get her into bed—or onto the floor of the cave. What had he been thinking with that kiss? He hadn’t had it in mind when he offered to give her a massage, but she had been surprisingly pliable beneath his hands, even leaning back into him, seeming to enjoy his touch, to perhaps want more of his touch. And all of the blood in his brain had rushed to his cock when he’d seen the outline of her pert nipples pressing against the thin material of her shirt. His reaction had been stupid, of course. Nipples got hard sometimes. That’s what they did. A cold day or a breeze could cause that. Yet he and his overly charged penis had been certain it was a sign that she wanted him, that she would want his touch all over her body, not just on her shoulders. And she’d smelled so good, that faint orange scent always lingering about her, mingling with the floral aroma of her shampoo. He’d wanted nothing more than to lean close, to taste her skin as he pressed his hard body against hers, pushing her against that console, wrapping his arms around her and thrusting into her—

“Trapped,” Mandrake said. His eyes narrowed as he regarded Tick, then glanced at Lauren, the tense set of her shoulders, the way she ignored everyone and hastily went about her work.

Dear Buddha, Mandrake didn’t think he’d been bothering her, did he? Tick didn’t know how much Mandrake would care if he
did
think that, but he wouldn’t want the captain believing he had Striker’s morals. And what if Lauren felt that Tick had been bothering her? Or at the least trying to manipulate her? Damn it, why hadn’t he just kept his hands to himself?

“A black ship came down out of the clouds and started shooting at us,” Sergeant Hazel said, looking toward the cave exit. “Bigger than a combat shuttle, probably big enough to have engines and fuel for interplanetary travel. You didn’t see it, Tick?”

“No, I can’t believe I didn’t hear the commotion,” he replied, pulling his gaze and his mind from Lauren—she was shutting down the computer and turning to talk to her sister. “We were delayed back at the shuttle, though.”

“Our microbiologist didn’t want to come?” Hazel guessed, lowering her voice.

“No. Yes. I mean, she was fine.” Kicking and screaming had not been involved, as Striker had predicted. “But Hemlock, Sparks, and Gavrikov disappeared out into the woods—apparently, Hemlock had seen someone out there, spying on the shuttles. We lost contact with them, and Striker went off to look.”

Mandrake growled and stalked toward the cave entrance, tapping his comm-patch. “Ankari?”

He walked outside, the waterfall drowning out the conversation.

“So you had to run inside to escape being fired upon?” Tick asked Hazel.

“Yes. There was no warning, no chance to bargain, nothing.” She flicked a piece of dirt off the barrel of her rifle. “Even after we ran in here, they tried to swoop down and shoot inside. We thought they were going to land and come in after us. The captain was preparing for a fight, but Keys found a command to open a door back there.” Hazel waved at the still-open slab of rock. “Since the ship was hovering instead of landing and dropping men, the fight wasn’t looking good for us. We lobbed a few grenades, but ground troops aren’t generally a match for a ship.”

Tick nodded. He knew that well.

“The captain wasn’t happy about the idea of being trapped back there and maybe having the ship collapse this cliff on top of us.” Hazel pointed toward the ceiling. “But Keys ran back there, and he must have figured we had no choice but to stick with her and keep her safe.” Her lips flattened with displeasure, probably a silent commentary on this mission thus far. “I thought there’d be a way out. I sure hoped there would be after the door closed behind us, leaving us in darkness. We walked through some tunnels, found some bedrooms and a giant seed storage area, but that’s about it. Keys kept looking, like she expected the underground facility to connect to something more interesting, but seeds were the highlight of our discovery, at least as far as I’m aware.”