Operation Phoenix

by Susan Hayes

  “How did your parents make the adjustment? They spent their whole lives indoors, and now they’re in a farming colony. That’s a big change.” She ordered another mug of tea, bringing it to him once it was ready.

  “They struggled at first. Dad says they took turns. One would want to go back to Earth, but the other would find a reason to stay. They kept that up until neither of them wanted to go back any longer.”

  She sank down into the other chair. “My parents have never been outside. Never seen a sunset, or walked in the rain. I don’t think there’s anything in the galaxy that would tempt them to leave home.”

  “Travis always said it would take grandchildren to make them leave Earth.”

  “He was probably right.” She stared into her mug of tea. Having kids wasn’t something she’d given much thought to. Finding out what happened to Travis had been the driving force in her life. Her parents would be happy if she gave up the IAF when her contract ended. They’d be thrilled if she got married, had kids, and went back to living a safe, sheltered life. She just wasn’t sure that safe was what she wanted.

  They sipped their tea in companionable silence for a while.

  “You’re thinking too much again.”

  Trinity shrugged. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  Despite his fatigue, his blue eyes lit up and he crooked his finger at her, then patted his lap. “Then come here and let me distract you.”

  “I’m not sure that chair was designed to hold us both.”

  “Are you disobeying me, Butterfly?”

  There was a note of challenge in his voice that made her pulse race. “We’re off-duty, which means you can’t order me around.”

  “Three.”

  “You can’t start counting every time you want me to—”

  “Two.”

  She set down her tea and sauntered over to him, making sure to take the long way around so he had to wait a few more seconds.

  “If the chair breaks, I’m telling supply it was your fault.”

  He wrapped a strong arm around her waist and tugged her onto his lap. “It’s not going to break, and stop being contrary, brat.”

  “Admit it, you like it when I’m contrary.” She draped herself sideways across his thighs, her legs dangling over the arm of the chair.

  His lips grazed her ear. “You know I do. Just like I know you like it when I’m bossy. It’s one of the reasons we’re so good together.”

  She turned her head and kissed him, her fingers stroking the rough skin of his cheek. “I’m not admitting to any such thing.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. I bet you’re wet right now,”

  She could feel the hard shaft of his cock pressing against her ass as they teased each other, and if he touched her, he’d find out she was just as turned on as he was.

  “Is that a yes? Or is do I need to check for myself?”

  “You’re Nova Force, you always want proof.”

  His only answer was a dark chuckle that reverberated through her like the tolling of a bell. She was wearing loose-fitting pants and tank-top --her standard sleep attire--and he stroked his hand down her stomach to the ties that held her pants closed. A quick tug was all it took to undo the knot. Seconds later his fingers were pressed against her pussy, and he uttered a soft groan as he found what he was looking for.

  “Tell me you’re not too tired for this.”

  She shook her head. “I think I need this more than I need sleep.”

  His eyes gleamed with desire as he slid his fingers into her folds to stroke the swollen hood of her clit. “The only thing in the world I need right now, is you.”

  Every time he said something like that, she slid a little further down the slippery slope that led to a place she wasn’t ready to go, and to emotions she wasn’t ready to admit to. Instead of answering him with words, she raised her hips to press against his hand and kissed him again.

  His fingers threaded through her hair and he pulled her in closer, twining his tongue with hers as he branded her lips with a kiss that scorched the air between them. It was like falling into the heart of a star. Heat and fire streaked through her, her heart racing so fast it made her dizzy. Every touch of his hand made her clit throb and ache with need.

  He tightened his grip on her hair, tugging her head back so that her throat was exposed. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, uttering a low groan as he blazed a trail of open-mouthed kisses up to her ear, then back down again. His fingers never stopped pleasuring her, circling and stroking her clitoris until she was squirming in his lap, her breath coming in soft pants as he pushed her up the scales of pleasure.

  He let go of her hair, his newly freed hand moving beneath her shirt to cup her breast in his calloused palm.

  “You know what I want to see, Butterfly. Are you ready?”

  “What happens if I say no?”

  He growled her name, his fingers moving faster, pushing her closer to her breaking point.

  She laughed as a shimmering bubble of joy and need filled her heart. She was still laughing as an intense orgasm unfurled inside her, leaving her trembling and dazed in its wake.

  “That is my favorite sight in the whole galaxy.”

  “I probably look like a fish out of water. Eyes popping, mouth open, flopping around—”

  “This is no time to bring up fish.”

  She sucked in her cheeks and pursed her lips into a fishy-face, and his expression turned thunderous.

  “You’re going to pay for that.”

  “What are you going to do, spank me again?”

  “Don’t tempt me.” His next kiss was possessive, savage, and hotter than a supernova.

  She revelled in the knowledge that she had the power to break him like this. “But I like tempting you.”

  “You’re going to be the death of me, little minx. Hang on tight, I’m taking you to bed.” His voice was rough with need and heavy with promises of pleasure.

  He cradled her in his arms and stood in a demonstration of strength that sent her libido straight into the stratosphere. There were still a hundred reasons why falling for Dax was a bad idea, but right now, she didn’t care about any of them. She just wanted him, anyway she could have him. For as long as it lasted.

  Dax almost hadn’t come to see her tonight. He wanted to protect her by keeping his distance, but he hadn’t been strong enough to stay away. Having her in his arms made everything feel like it was going to be okay, even when he had no proof that things would work out that way.

  He carried her across her quarters to the sleeping alcove that contained a bunk that looked barely wide enough to accommodate them both. What few nights they had managed to be together had been spent in his quarters, which were palatial in comparison. Apparently, the designers of the base hadn’t considered that the inhabitants might want a little company from time to time.

  He lowered her to her feet slowly, letting her body slide along his. Veth, he loved the way they fit together. As she stripped out of her clothes, he watched, arrested at the sight of her naked form. The memories of their time together had become the basis of all his nocturnal fantasies, but they were nothing compared to the real thing.

  She turned toward him with amusement gleaming in her amber eyes. “Need a hand?”

  “If you’re offering to strip me naked, then I’m all for it.”

  She walked over to him and undid the fastenings of his uniform, batting away his hands when he tried to help.

  “If I can’t help you, then I’m going to help myself to something else.” He cupped her breasts in his hands.

  “You’re impossible.”

  “You forgot sexy, arrogant, and amazing.”

  She laughed as she stripped off the top of his uniform and let her hands drift down his body to the waistband of his pants. She had them undone in seconds, and he had to bite back a groan as she slid a hand inside to caress the hard shaft of his cock through his briefs. Every touch made his balls ache. “I love i
t when you touch me like that. When your hands are on me, everything is right in my world.”

  “It’s the same for me.”

  That simple phrase nearly prompted another confession. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her. Not that she was beautiful, or sexy, or sassy. She was all of those things, but she was also so much more. He’d fallen for the girl she’d been ten years ago, but he was in love with the woman she was now.

  The words danced at the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t utter them. This wasn’t the right time. Once the investigation was done, and their futures weren’t at stake, then he’d tell her. He kissed her instead, tongues chasing each other through the sweet warmth of her mouth as she tugged his pants down lower. When she reached inside his briefs and wrapped her fingers around his dick, he nearly lost his mind. Blood surged to his cock, and he rocked his hips against her hand as lust flowed through him.

  They worked together to get his clothes and boots off without letting go of each other. As soon as he was naked, he made for the bed, stretching out on his side with his back against the wall. When he patted the mattress beside his rock hard cock, she cocked a brow in confusion.

  “How is that—oh.” Her cheeks darkened when understanding dawned.

  “I’m greedy.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “And so are you. So, come here, and we can be crazy together.”

  She joined him on the narrow bed, settling herself so close that he could feel her breath fan against his balls. Perfect.

  He guided her legs into position, thighs parted, one foot on the bed. Her trimmed hairs were already sticky with the evidence of her need. He leaned in and blew a puff of air across her labia, then turned to press several soft kisses to her inner thigh.

  The heat of her mouth was almost searing as she returned the favor, taking the tip of his cock past her lips and teasing him with her tongue.

  “Fraxx, yes. Hands are good, mouths are better.”

  Her laughter thrummed against his dick and she arched her hips toward him, her meaning clear: her mouth was busy, his wasn’t.

  He buried his head between her thighs, licking and sucking at her succulent flesh. He didn’t stay focused on one place for too long, stretching things out until she was trembling and he could feel her ragged breaths against his skin.

  That was when he parted her folds with his fingers, exposing her clit. He drew it into his mouth, working the delicate nub with the tip of his tongue until she was riding his face and moaning aloud. Her mouth was busy too, working his cock as her fingers pumped his length. It was the best feeling in the whole damned universe, and if he didn’t stop her soon, he’d empty himself into her mouth instead of where he wanted to be.

  He worked her clit harder, sliding his fingers into her channel in a hard, fast rhythm that he knew would take her over the edge into bliss. Her cries grew louder with every lash of his tongue, and he knew she was close. He closed his teeth gently on the pearl of her clit, and she came hard, her cries of pleasure muffled against his cock.

  She was still trembling with aftershocks when he slid down the mattress, pulling out of her mouth before she could finish him off.

  “I wasn’t done with you.”

  “And I’m not done with you, either. It’s time to move, lover. I need to be inside you, now.”

  She moved with languid slowness, and by the time she was on her back he was caught up in a firestorm of need that not even plunging into the icy lake outside would quench. He moved over her, lips slanting across hers as he settled himself into the welcoming cradle of her thighs. He was fighting to go slowly, but Trinity took matters into her own hands. Her legs wrapped around his hips and tightened, bringing them together.

  A twist of her body and he was inside her, wrapped in the silken heat of her body. At that moment, a truth revealed itself to him. He might never have a normal life or the trappings that came with it, but with Trinity, it wouldn’t matter. Wherever she was, that was home.

  Her inner walls flexed around him, and he forced himself to move slowly, not wanting to hurt her. The delicious slide into her body stretched out into a pleasurable eternity, but finally, he was seated balls-deep inside of her.

  She stroked her fingers down the nape of his neck, using her nails just enough to add a bite of pain to her touch. “Give me what I need, Dax.”

  Her whispered request snapped the last threads of his control. He pushed his upper body higher, using the height as leverage for his next thrust.

  They came together hard, his hips moving at the same pounding pace as his heart. The alcove filled with the sounds of their lovemaking. Low moans, the slap of skin on skin, panting breaths and the rhythmic thump-thump of his thrusts. It was an intoxicating melody that swept him up, away from everything and everyone but Trinity and this one, perfect moment.

  He laid claim to her body. When that wasn’t enough, he tore his lips from hers to nip at the soft flesh that lay at the juncture between neck and shoulder. He needed to mark her, to show everyone that she was his.

  Her nails raked his shoulders in response to his love bite. She was his match in every way, meeting him thrust for thrust as they chased each other through a realm of primal passions. He felt the tightening coils of need in his groin and started fucking her harder, his rhythm dissolving into an uncontrollable rush toward climax.

  He reached between them to finger her clit. He wanted to see her come once more before the end.

  She uttered a wild moan and closed her eyes, arching herself up to meet him as she lost herself in pleasure once again. Her pussy clenched around his cock as she orgasmed, and the sensation was enough to send him hurtling into an orgasm that turned him inside out.

  They stayed tangled up for a few more blissful moments, but eventually, Trin slipped away to clean up.

  While she was gone, he straightened out the bed and then perused the alcove. This was the one place she had some of her personal items displayed. There was a hand-carved box her father had given to her one year during the Festival of Light. The last time he’d seen it, it was in her sleeping cubby in a place of honor beside her bunk.

  There were holo-pics of her and her family, including one he’d seen a thousand times. He’d taken it the day before he and Travis had left for basic training. Travis was standing with his parents, and Trinity was looking up at him with adoration and a hint of sadness. That was the night she’d snuck into his room and asked him to make a promise he hadn’t been able to keep. “Keep him safe for me, Dax. Please?”

  Guilt and regret hit him like a double tap to the chest. If he hadn’t fraxxed up the day Travis had died, things would be so different now. He’d walked into the ambush because he was distracted. Hell, they’d both been distracted because they were arguing. They were going on leave after that mission. Travis was trying to talk Dax out of going back to Earth. At first, Dax had thought it was because Travis just wanted to indulge in some downtime on one of the pleasure stations that catered to IAF soldiers, but it gradually dawned on him Trav’s reasons were more personal. He didn’t want Dax anywhere near Trinity, who was home for a visit between semesters. Dax had wasted the last moments of their time together in an argument. If he’d been paying more attention to their surroundings…

  He looked at his best friend’s smiling face, then back at the bed where he’d just finished making love to Trinity. Was he making the same mistake again? Letting himself get distracted?

  Trinity’s soft laughter floated in from the other room, and he turned away from the holo-vid.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I was just thinking that if you stick around, I’m going to start buying turtleneck sweaters so I can hide the marks you keep leaving on me. I’m pretty sure that hickeys are not approved of by the IAF.”

  “If you weren’t in the IAF, you wouldn’t have to hide them.”

  She reappeared at the door, looking puzzled. “Why would I leave the IAF?”

  “Because this isn’t what Travis wa
nted for you.” He knew it was his guilt talking, but he couldn’t seem to stop. “Your parents would be thrilled if you quit and came home.”

  “I’m not going back to Earth. I like it out here.” She gestured around them. “Okay, maybe not right here, but even this is better than Athens Two. Do you remember what life was like there? The recycled water that was never quite clean, or the air that got so close you felt you were slowly suffocating?”

  He nodded. “I remember.”

  “Then why suggest I go back?”

  “I didn’t actually mean that you should go back home. I don’t want to go back, either. I get it. I just meant that now you know about Travis, you don’t need to stay in the military.”

  “Maybe I want to.”

  That was news to him. It should have made him happy. That’s what he wanted, too, but he might have screwed that up for her, too. Would Colonel Bahl consider Trin after seeing the pictures of them together? Re’veth, the colonel had outright suggested he should be keeping his distance.

  “I’m guessing by your silence that you don’t like the idea of me staying in the IAF?”

  “That’s not it.” He sighed. “I just don’t know what’s going to happen if we don’t find a suspect and close this case. We’ve talked about this, Trin. The brass want to hang this on someone. In a few weeks we might both be looking for new careers.”

  Trin’s expression morphed from anger to resignation. “Right. I thought you were making decisions for me again, but you’re just worried about the future. Yours, and mine.”

  He walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms, tucking her head under his chin. “This isn’t the time to be thinking too much about the future. There’s too much at stake in the here and now. We need to stay sharp and avoid distractions.”

  She stiffened, pulling away so that she could look him in the eyes. “Are you calling me a distraction? This?” she gestured to the two of them. “Is this a distraction for you?”

  Somewhere in the last few minutes, he’d lost control of the situation, and he wanted very much to get it back before things went into a nosedive that ended in a smoking crater.