by Susan Hayes
“Or?” He already knew what was coming next. The little minx was going to make him work for it.
“Or you can join me in the pool. Towels are in the bag. Bring them with you if you go with option two.”
He took a deep breath and started undoing his flight suit. There was no chance in hell he was letting this opportunity pass him by.
Trinity’s hands were shaking as she continued to strip off her clothes on the way to the hot spring. She’d just jumped off a proverbial cliff, and she had no idea what happened next.
When she heard his booted footsteps behind her, she grinned and lengthened her stride. Don’t trip. Please don’t let me trip. Tripping is not sexy.
She went to her favorite pool, the one directly beneath the hole in the cavern ceiling and finished undressing. The light this far in was dimmer, but it was still enough to see by.
She stayed in the shadows, using them to hide her nudity as she picked her way carefully around to spot where a natural rock shelf made for an easy entry into the steaming water.
The rocks were slippery. It took all her attention to gracefully ease into the spring without causing more than a ripple. She was going for seductive siren, an effect that wouldn’t hold up if she slipped on a rock and went under.
Once she was waist deep and sure of her footing, she finally looked up. Dax was still half dressed. He stood stock still, his eyes full of heat as he stared at her.
“You coming?” She asked, lowering herself the rest of the way into the water before taking a few gliding strokes that carried her away from the ledge.
His lips quirked up into a wicked grin, and he started undressing again. “I’m not sure which way you meant that, but either way, I hope the answer is yes.”
She hurled a handful of water at him. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“A man can hope.”
He toed off his boots and stripped naked with efficiency, and she enjoyed every minute of the show. Needs and desires she hadn’t indulged since coming to Victor Base flared to life at the sight of his naked form. He prowled to the same spot she had used to enter the water and dipped his foot in. “That’s hot.”
“Thus why it’s called a hot spring.” She beckoned him toward her. “It’s totally safe, I promise. Entirely carp-free.”
“I wouldn’t do this for anyone else.” He sat at the edge of the pool, legs dangling for a moment before hopping in.
He hit the slick surface of the rocky ledge and lost his footing, disappearing under the water with a large splash.
She expected him to surge back to the surface immediately, but several seconds passed, and he didn’t reappear. Concerned, she swam toward where he’d gone under. Where the fraxx was he?
She got her answer a split second later when an arm snaked around her waist, pulling her under, though he didn’t keep her there for long. Within a few seconds, they were both at the surface again.
“Nice moves, Romeo,” she spluttered as she wiped the mineral-infused water from her eyes.
“What? You’re naked and in my arms. I’d say that worked out nicely. Now, there’s just one more thing I need to do.” He ran a hand up her spine, not stopping until his fingers found the tie fastening her hair back. He undid it and tossed it toward the rest of their clothes, then ran his fingers through her hair, unraveling it so that it fanned out around her. “Perfect.”
“Yeah, it is." She closed her still smarting eyes and leaned into his embrace, letting her other senses take over. She could detect the subtle scent of citrus and spice mingled with the more pungent odor of the spring water and feel the power of his body wrapped possessively around hers.
He loosened his hold just enough to turn her around, his lips found hers, and she was swept into in a storm of desire. She twined her arms around his neck and held on as he laid claim to her mouth, stoking the flames of a fire that had started burning the moment he’d walked back into her life.
His hands glided over her body, gently at first, but soon his touch was as demanding as his kisses. Deft fingers teased and toyed with her breasts, every flick of his fingers adding to her pleasure. His mouth left hers to nibble on her earlobe, and she shivered. “You still like that?”
“You remembered?”
He uttered a low growl and bit down gently before replying. “I remember everything, Butterfly.”
She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the blue depths of his gaze. “I tried to forget. But I never did. Not really.”
He slid his hand between her legs to cup her pussy. “Then you remember how much I loved to watch you come.”
She nodded, and he leaned in to kiss her again, timing it so his tongue slipped into her mouth at the same moment his fingers found her clit. She wrapped her legs around his hips to give herself the leverage she needed to rock against his hand, arching her hips in time to his slow, measured touches. Every caress stoked the fires burning inside her, and soon she was trembling in his arms, craving more than he was giving her.
“What do you want?” he asked between torrid kisses.
“More.”
“Harder? Faster? Do you want my fingers inside you? Tell me exactly what you want, or you don’t get to come.”
She nipped at his lower lip and rocked her body against his. She remembered this game, the way he used to love making her blush every time he talked dirty to her. This time, things were different. “Fuck me with your fingers, Dax. Let me ride your hand while you use your thumb to rub my clit hard. The way you know I like it.”
His eyes widened and a low groan rumbled up from deep in his chest. “Damn, Trin. You keep talking like that, and I’m going to be inside you in seconds.”
She flashed him a grin and tightened her legs. “Not until I come.”
He drove a finger into her channel and pressed down on her clit hard enough she saw stars. “What did I tell you about being a brat?”
“Brats get spanked or some such nonsense.”
He stopped moving, denying her the orgasm that had been building inside her. “Sweet thing, that wasn’t nonsense. That was a warning—and a promise. One I’m about to make good on.”
“What? Hey!”
He ignored her protests as he headed toward the edge of the pool near where he’d dropped the towels she’d asked him to bring. Without a word he reached out and grabbed the nearest towel and spread it out on the floor of the cave.
She had a good idea what was coming next. What she didn’t know was why it made her clit throb and her heart race. She wasn’t into to spanking. At least, she didn’t think she was. But that didn’t explain why she was turned on right now.
“I want you on your hands and knees, facing away from me.”
She hesitated, and he bowed his head to kiss her tenderly. “You can say no, Trin. If you do, we go back to what we were doing before, no harm, no foul. But if you say yes, I’ll make sure you enjoy this just as much as I do.”
“Don’t enjoy yourself too much or I might decide that turnabout is fair play.” She let go of him and turned toward the ledge, but before she could do more than set her hands down he boosted her out of the water and onto the towel.
“Hands and knees. And if you sass me again, I’ll start adding swats to your total.”
“May I ask what my current total is?”
“Five.”
She whipped her head around to stare at him. “What did I do to deserve that many?”
He held up his hand and raised a finger for each point as he spoke. “One for the death glare you shot at me the day I arrived. Don’t think I didn’t notice that. Two for telling my team the story about the carp. You know what they’ve been ordering for me every meal since? Fish. Every. Single. Meal.”
She snickered, and he wagged a finger at her. “You going for six?”
“No, sir.”
He stroked a warm hand over her ass. “Good answer. The last two are for sending me into that decontamination torture chamber without any warning of
what to expect, and for luring me into the devil’s swimming pool.”
She managed not to laugh, but it wasn’t easy.
“You ready to accept your punishment, Butterfly?”
His words made her inner walls pulse, and her pussy grew instantly wet and slick.
She nodded, then turned her head to face forward. “Yes, sir.”
“You’re beautiful, Trin.” He stroked her bottom one last time, and she bit back a soft moan of anticipation. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her, and that led her to the realization that she trusted him. She wasn’t granting him absolution, but she was willing to trust him again.
He slid a finger along the crack of her ass, following it down between her legs. For a brief second, he penetrated the folds of her pussy, giving her clit a single flick before withdrawing his hand completely. “Ready?”
He didn’t give her a chance to answer as his other hand came down to smack her right cheek with just enough force to sting. “One.”
A heartbeat later his hand came down again, this time on her left cheek. Her skin was hot and tingly where he’d smacked her, and her clit was throbbing in time to her pounding heart. She’d expected it to hurt, but all she felt was turned on and eager for him to do it again.
The next three blows came down in quick succession, each one landing in a different spot. Her head bowed, and her thighs quivered as the pleasure increased with each strike, and when the last one landed she let out a ragged sigh, not sure if she was happy or disappointed it was over.
“Pink is definitely your color,” he said, then she felt the heat of his mouth as he moved in and kissed her heated ass cheek.
“You liked that?”
“I did. Feel free to be a brat anytime you like. Just know that every time you do, I’m going to do this again.”
She moaned in pleasure at the thought, then moaned again, louder as he placed a hand between her legs and fingered her soaking folds.
“You liked it, too. Veth, you are the perfect woman for me.”
He slid two fingers into her channel, curving them downward so that he hit her g-spot on every stroke. She was so close to coming it only took a minute to take her to the edge and then push her over into an orgasm that stole her breath away.
Dax counted to twenty, then gave in to the need to have her back in his arms. She came eagerly, tumbling back into the heated pool and curling up against his chest with a sated sigh that made his cock throb. He could listen to her make that noise every day for the rest of his life, and never grow tired of it.
She pointed to the shallow point where they’d entered the pool, and he carried her there, taking care not to slip this time. He found a perfect spot and settled himself so that his back was to the rock and the water only rose to mid-chest.
“This is good,” she declared, twisting in his arms so that she was facing him, her legs straddling his thighs.
“It could be better. We could be up there, where’s its dry.”
“Nuh uh. Rock is cold and hard. Hot spring is warm and comfy.” She leaned in and brushed her lips across his. “Think of this as therapy to help you get over your childhood trauma.”
“You’re sassing me again.”
“You can put it on my account. As much as I look forward to you collecting what’s owed, I have something I’d like to do right now.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“You.”
He rocked his hips upward, letting her feel the hard length of his cock as it lay trapped between their bodies. “I’m all yours.”
“We’ll see.”
Her guarded words were a reminder that no matter how well things were going, he wasn’t forgiven. Not completely. Not yet.
She reached between them, wrapping her fingers around his aching shaft and he stopped thinking about the future, forgiveness, or anything else. She rose to her knees and drifted close enough her breasts rubbed against his chest and the crown of his cock pressed against her entrance.
He gripped her hips, holding her steady as they slowly came together. Two bodies became one, and he groaned her name against her lips as he bottomed out inside her.
He intended to take it slow, but Trin had other plans. She ground herself against him hard and fast, sending a wave of water crashing over the edge of the pool.
“It’s going to be like that, is it?” he asked.
“Uh huh.”
“Tell me what you want.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I want everything you’ve got. No holding back.”
“Then you better hang on.” He tightened his grip and powered into her, lifting them both partially out of the water with every thrust. She clung to him, nails sinking into his shoulders, her kisses full of urgent hunger.
When he started to overheat, he rose to his feet, taking her with him. He set her down on the ledge, giving her a moment to lie back and brace herself with her hands, her legs coming up to wrap around his waist as he took her with punishing strokes.
He watched as she started to tremble and writhe beneath him, her golden skin flushed, lips swollen from his kisses, eyes glowing with desire. The moon had risen since they’d entered the cave, and the pale light shone down on them through the crack in the ceiling overhead. It reminded him of the first time they’d been together, and his control started to break.
Her hand moved, fingers pressing down on her clit, her fingertips grazing the length of his cock with each thrust, and he felt her body clamp down as her release finally hit. This was his favorite part. She came on a breathy cry, her hips snapping upward to meet his next thrust.
He didn’t stop until her head fell back and the last tremors ended. Then, he finally gave in to his own passion and emptied himself inside of her.
When his senses returned, he was slumped over her, his face pressed into the valley between her breasts. Lifting his head, he saw her smiling up at him.
“Hi, lover. Welcome back.”
He eased himself off of her, withdrawing from her body with more reluctance than he cared to admit to.
“I think I visited heaven for a second there. How about you?”
Her smile turned wicked. “I’m pretty sure neither of us is headed that way. Not after what we just did. I mean, you did call this the devil’s swimming pool.”
She sat up slowly, wincing slightly as she did. “I’m going to have bruises in some very interesting places tomorrow.”
“I bet there’s a med kit in the skimmer. I’ll run a dermal regenerator over any boo-boos you might have before we leave. If you’re walking funny tomorrow, my team will never let either of us live it down.”
“They’re like your family, aren’t they?”
He nodded. “They are. Dysfunctional, crazy, and occasionally homicidal, but yeah, we’re a family.”
She slipped back into the pool for a few minutes before they both left the water. They ate dinner wearing nothing but the towels she’d brought. They talked about the case, their lives, and all the places they’d seen since they’d both left Earth. He told her what he’d discovered about some of the research being done at her base. She admitted she had suspected some of it, but there was a difference between suspecting something and getting confirmation that she was the inadvertent overseer of some truly dark science.
Dozens of black-file projects had been undertaken at Victor Base in the last decade. From DNA splicing experiments with animals to biochemical research, the IAF wanted to explore every possible way to improve their soldiers and cripple the enemy’s troops. Some of those attempts were well outside what was ethical, or legal.
When the meal was over, they spread out more blankets and cushions and lay at the side of one of the pools where it was warm. They stayed that way, staring up at the stars and making love until it was time to go back.
It was the best night he’d had in a very long time. Now, he had to figure out how the hell to hang onto her once this investigation ended.
10
Dax paced the floor of his quarters, fru
stration and worry keeping him too wound up to stay still. Things with Trinity were perfect, but for every moment of happiness he had with her, the universe seemed determined to gift him with an equal amount of stress when it came to everything else.
He stomped by the window for the hundredth time as he tried to figure out what he and his team had overlooked. There had to be something. What the fraxx were they missing?
In the week since he and Trinity had spent the night at the hot springs, the investigation had slowed and then ground to a halt. Every lead they followed led to yet another dead-end. Every person of interest alibied out. The farther back in time they went, the longer it took to track down the current whereabouts of their subjects. Some were dead, others gone on to other jobs or simply faded into obscurity. They’d barely found any physical evidence, and what little they had uncovered could all be explained away.
The bi-weekly communications from headquarters had started arriving more frequently, and now he was being asked for updates at least twice a day. He knew the signs. Any day now he’d receive word that they were being pulled off the case and reassigned. Their next assignment would be a punishment detail, and so would the one after that. They were here to find answers to urgent questions, and their failure would come with a steep price.
His team wasn’t the only one with a target on their back. Trinity was the commanding officer of the base, and if they couldn’t find anyone else to blame, they might very well lay it at her feet. They couldn’t charge her with anything, but it might still be enough to kill her career.
Not that she was certain she was staying in the IAF. Now she had the answers about Travis, she was finally free to make her own choices.
Of course, if they didn’t find the missing piece of this fraxxing puzzle, they might all be looking for new jobs soon.
His comms chimed, announcing he had an incoming vid call. He hoped it was Trinity or a member of his team with some good news, but a quick glance at the sender's ID sent that hope spinning out of orbit. It was Colonel Bahl. If the commanding officer of all of Nova Force was contacting him directly, good news wasn’t likely on the agenda.