by Susan Hayes
There hadn’t been another attack in the days after Crews’ murder and things were calming down, though the constant need to be on guard weighed on everyone. Corp-Sec offices across the Drift were working together, tracking down any lead and working every angle, but so far the Drojo Cartel was as elusive as smoke in a ventilator shaft. For Dash, the threat of another attack and his own recent brush with death made it clear to him where he wanted to be, and with whom. Mack was dealing with it in a different way, working long hours and chasing data, looking for the answers, trying to find a way to regain control of the situation. It didn’t usually bother Dash to see Mack get like this, but this time there was too much on the line.
Once he was out of headquarters, his mood lightened, and he pushed the gloomy thoughts to the back of his mind. He crossed the crowded causeway and headed for one of their preferred food vendors to pick up the order he had made this morning. The plan had been to surprise Lieksa with an impromptu picnic at her workshop. Mack’s decision to stay a little longer wouldn’t throw things too far off track. In fact, Dash’s head was already full of ideas on how he and Lieksa could spend the time waiting for Mack, and not one of them included eating lunch. He was definitely in a ‘life is short, eat dessert first,’ kind of mood.
* * * *
Lieksa was elbows-deep in a maintenance bot’s innards when the door to her workshop opened. “If you’re bringing me yet another damaged unit, Zale, I swear I’m going to start jettisoning them out the nearest airlock and claiming they were lost in transit.”
“That’s an interesting way to greet visitors. As it happens, I come bearing gifts of food for the sexiest tech on the station.”
Her head snapped up, and she dropped everything to bound across the room, only to stop a foot away when she remembered she was covered in grime. Dash looked hot as hell in his uniform, and she didn’t want to mess it up. “Hi! Welcome to the land of broken toys.”
“Hi, sweetheart. I thought it was about time we saw where you worked.” He closed the distance between them in a single stride and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in close before kissing her hello.
The second he touched her she melted into his arms and kissed him back, rising up on her toes to twine her arms around his neck. It felt like it had been ages since she had been in Dash’s arms, even though it had only been two days.
“Now that’s the kind of welcome a man could get used to,” Dash murmured the next time he came up for air.
“Your uniform is going to wind up with permanent stains that way.”
His lips curved up into a wicked little smile. “There’s an easy fix for that. No stains if you take off the work clothes before saying hello.”
“I’m not getting naked in my workshop.” She gestured to the cluttered metal surfaces and shelves full of out of service bots and spare parts. “Too many pointy, sharp things in here, for one thing.”
“I solemnly swear that whenever and wherever you are naked, Mack and I will protect you from all things cold, sharp, or pointed.”
A pang of disappointment dampened her good mood. “I’d be more likely to believe that if Mack was here to speak for himself. He’s still at headquarters, isn’t he?” Mack seemed to spend every waking moment working. While she understood the need driving him, it was starting to feel like he was using the work as a way to keep some distance between them.
“He’ll be here soon. We planned this little surprise together. He had one more report to finish reading, that’s all.” Dash stroked his fingers down her cheek and bowed his head to nuzzle her cheek. “I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she confessed in a low murmur before forcing herself to adopt a light, breezy tone. “I’m glad you’re here, and with food, too. No one’s ever brought me lunch before. You’re going to spoil me. If you let me go, I’ll clear off a place for us to eat.”
“I’m not ready to let go of you, yet. The way I see it, we’ve got a couple of choices. One, you can give me the grand tour of your workplace while we wait for Mack to get here. Two, we eat now, and he can forage for leftovers when he arrives. Three, we do something to light a fire under Mack’s ass. Personally, I’m a fan of option number three.”
She lifted her arm and gestured around them. “We can take the tour without moving. Behold my workspace in its entirety. So, I think I’d like to hear more about option three. What was your plan?”
He smirked and waggled his brows. “You and I get naked and enjoy some mind-blowing sex, which I will relay to Mack in real time. I guarantee that will launch him out of his office and on a direct course for this place at light-speed. You game?”
Suddenly she didn’t care about propriety. “Now is when I remind you that you vowed to protect me from all things sharp and pointy while naked.”
He cradled her in his arms, and when he spoke his words held a note of truth that resonated deep in her heart. “I will always protect you, Lieksa. You’re the most precious thing in my life.”
Words failed her, and the lump in her throat would have made it impossible for her to speak anyway, so she answered the only way she could; she held him tight and kissed him. It was a wild, passionate kiss driven by the tumult of emotions churning inside her. There were tears on her cheeks as he lifted her into his arms, her name a low groan on his lips as he took everything she offered him, devouring her, body and soul.
They were locked together, mouths fused, limbs wrapped around each other—even their breaths were shared. At that moment, she knew she was falling for them, and that knowledge sent her heart soaring into an orbit so high she would never survive re-entry.
Somehow Dash managed to keep hold of her while finding an empty shelf to stash the meal she had forgotten he was holding. Once both of his hands were free, he carried her back to her workbench and cleared off a corner, knocking everything to the ground with a clatter.
“I hope none of that was important,” he said as he set her down on the newly cleared space.
“If it is, I’ll just repair it again,” she said.
“I love a woman who is good with her hands.”
“That’s because these hands have saved your sexy ass, twice,” she replied, waving her fingers in the air. It was a lame response, but her brain misfired the moment Dash uttered the word love. It didn’t matter he hadn’t meant it as a declaration. After her recent emotional revelation, simply hearing the word was enough to cause a short circuit.
“You think my ass is sexy, huh?” he asked as he tore away the stained, lightweight coverall she wore to protect her clothes.
“I think you’re sexy from head to toe. I have since the first time I examined you. You were flirting with me, which I found totally distracting. I’d never worked on an infiltration unit—cyborg before you.” She corrected herself quickly.
“Unit. Cyborg. Lover. I don’t care what you call me because I know you’re talking about me as a man, not a machine.”
He was easing her out of her regular clothes now, keeping her distracted with kisses and caresses as he worked.
“Not just a man. My man,” she clarified, reaching out to rest her hand over his heart so she could feel it beat against her palm.
“Yeah, I’m all yours. And you’re all mine. From your cute toes to this glorious mane of red hair. Mine.” He wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger and tugged gently. “I dreamed about doing this so many times.”
“Pulling my hair?” she asked, laughing now.
“Playing with your hair. Laughing with you. Stripping you naked so I could make love to you. The day we learned the Salan had been destroyed with all hands on board, a piece of my heart went dark.”
“The ship was destroyed the day after my resignation and your transfer. I just wish…” she trailed off and kissed him again. Regret wouldn’t change what happened. The time they had lost was gone, and there was no getting it back.
“You’re here. I’m here. That’s all that matters.” He lifted her off her perch and set her
back on her feet so that he could finish removing her clothes. Once she was naked, he stripped off the top half of his uniform and laid it on the workbench.
“To make sure you don’t get cold,” he said before boosting her back into the same spot.
“And to be sure we’re not interrupted, I’ll get the door,” she said and then raised her voice to address the workshop’s AI. “Computer, please secure the workshop door.”
“Yes, Technician Kiv. The door is now secured.”
“Technician Kiv, did you just lock Mack out of this workshop?” Dash asked with a wicked chuckle as he shed the rest of his clothes.
“Yes, I did. If he wants in, he’s going to have to knock and ask nicely.” She should have locked it earlier, but she had been distracted by Dash’s kisses.
“Then let’s give him a reason to get here so I can see his face when you finally let him in.”
“Speaking of seeing, I think it’s time you gave him a sample of what he’s missing out on.”
Dash took a step back and raked his heated gaze over her, clearly enjoying himself. “I’m opening the link now.”
While he was communicating with their missing partner, she indulged in a long, leisurely perusal of the man standing in front of her. A body like his should be illegal. He could have been forged from steel or sculpted in marble by a master artist, and in a way, he had been. He was a masterpiece of genetic manipulation and biotechnology, and sexy as sin, too.
“Tell him to hurry,” she murmured, reaching for Dash.
“He heard you,” Dash said, then moved in close, his eyes never leaving hers as he dropped a scorching kiss to her lips.
He parted her legs with one hand, positioning himself between her thighs. She was on display for him, wet and aching with the need to be touched. “Need you,” she whispered, aware that Mack would hear every word she said.
“Tell me what you need from me, sweetheart. I want to hear it.”
“Touch me.”
“Touch you where, exactly? Here?” He palmed her breasts, and her nipples tightened into diamond-hard peaks.
“Not there. Lower.”
“You want me to fuck your pussy with my fingers? Make you come all over my hand?”
His words inflamed her, and so did the fact that Mack was seeing and hearing everything they did. She wasn’t one for public displays, but this was a private show. She nodded, but Dash shook his head.
“If you want me to touch you, sweetheart. You need to say the words.”
“I want you to make me come all over your hand.”
Dash groaned, and his cock went rock hard in an instant. “Hands on the counter behind you. That’s right, lean back and show me that pretty pussy.”
She felt a dark thrill chase down her spine as she did what he instructed. Both of them loved it when she let them take command during sex. It turned them on, and knowing she could do that for them was a turn-on for her. She settled back on her hands, arched her back and spread her legs wider, giving him exactly what he wanted.
“So sexy.” He left one hand on her breast while the other drifted slowly down her body, bypassing her pussy to trace a swirling pattern across the damp skin of her inner thigh. “You’re so wet for me right now.”
“Just for you.”
Dash chuckled. “Oh sweetheart, he didn’t like that at all. Mack says I’m a bastard and you are going to pay for that when he gets here. He’s on his way.”
“Then you better hurry up and enjoy these few minutes you have me all to yourself.”
He growled low in his throat and cupped her sex in his hand. “All mine.”
“I am.”
Her words seemed to set Dash free. His fingers plunged into her slick folds, seeking out her clit and capturing it between thumb and forefinger. There was nothing gentle or teasing about his touch. He was on a mission to bring her to orgasm. He worked the delicate cluster of nerves with the precision of a surgeon, pushing her up the scales of pleasure so quickly it was all she could do to remember to breathe.
He fucked her with deft fingers, first one, then two, curving them the perfect amount to make her gasp every time he brushed over the sensitive spot inside her. He added a third, filling her to the point of pain without quite crossing the line. She leaned back even further so she could lift her hips from the table, meeting his thrusts and taking him deeper.
He pressed his thumb hard against her clit, and she cried out as the pleasure became more than she could take. A few more strokes and she was trembling on the verge of orgasm, her body primed and ready. He took her over with a twist of his fingers, sending her flying.
She was still caught in the aftershocks when he lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist. “I need you.”
She managed a shaky nod, and he buried himself inside her in one long, slow push that nearly triggered another orgasm. She sat up, latching onto him as he took her into his arms. He moved with punishing power, his strokes wild and uneven as he gave up all pretense of control.
Lifting her higher, he buried his face into the crook of her neck and groaned her name, the sound muffled against her skin.
Primal instincts rose inside her, and she scored his back with her nails, urging him on. She rode his body hard, taking everything he gave her and giving him all of herself in return. His cock jerked deep inside her, and his body stiffened as his release came on with the force of a booster rocket.
“You undo me, angel,” he told her, his voice a ragged whisper as he cradled her in his arms.
“There’s no one in all the worlds who make me feel the way you and Mack do.”
He held her tight, whispering a litany of soft words that filled her heart with shimmering bubbles of pure joy.
* * * *
Mack was out of his chair less than ten seconds after Dash opened the link and flooded his mind with sensations: sights, sounds, and flashes of scent and touch. He cursed Dash in six different languages as he realized what his partner was doing.
Normally he would make sure he was seated and still during an open-link session like this, but this time he didn’t have that choice. He could either cut the link and deprive himself of the experience, or try to make it to Lieksa’s workshop while his mind was bombarded with an erotic display that had his cock hard enough to drill through the station’s hull-plating.
He was going to fraxxing kill Dash for this—right after he made Lieksa scream his name as she came all over his dick.
Thankfully the squad room was empty, which meant there were no witnesses to his hurried departure or the fact he bumped into two desks and a chair on his way out. He had no depth perception when he was linked to Dash in real time; even with the cybernetic enhancements, there were limits to what his brain and body could process. It had damned near gotten him killed more than once.
He managed to get out of headquarters without any serious problems. Navigating the bustling crowd on the causeway was more of a challenge, but he would have run naked through a plasma storm if it was the only way to get to Lieksa.
Forced to keep his pace to a steady walk, he experienced every second of his partner’s seduction of their girlfriend. Frustrated with himself for missing out, he swore that next time he wouldn’t let anything distract him from the one source of light and happiness in his life right now. That determination only strengthened when he caught Lieksa’s whispered words about the way he and Dash made her feel. He broke into a jog, but only made it a few steps before the deck beneath his feet lurched and he stumbled.
At first, he blamed his lack of depth perception for his misstep. Once he regained his balance and looked around, he knew that wasn’t the problem. The wail of alarms and sirens shattered the air, and everywhere he looked people appeared dazed and off-balance.
“What was that?” Dash asked via their internal comm channel even as he severed the shared link between them, freeing up Mack’s senses.
“No idea. You and Lieksa okay?”
“We’re fine. You?”
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“I’m good. Stay with her. I’m going to find out what the fraxx happened.”
There was a pause before Dash replied. “Our angel just threw my ass out of her workshop and told me to make sure both of us come back in one piece. She’s barely giving me time to get dressed first.”
“Meet me back at HQ.”
He didn’t like the idea of Lieksa being left alone, but she was right. She was currently in the lower levels of the station’s largest complex. She was safer than anywhere else they could take her, except maybe their own offices. He started to scan the area, looking for the source of the sirens, and his heart twisted when he realized they were coming from the one place he would have never expected. Corp-Sec’s headquarters.
Personnel started pouring out the main doors, accompanied by an acrid cloud of dark smoke. Some of the officers were limping, others were bleeding, and they all looked shaken by whatever they’d experienced. Re’veth. Someone had dared to attack the Corp-Sec headquarters.
This wasn’t a hunt anymore. It was a war.
CHAPTER TEN
Lieksa was curled up in one of the chairs in Mack and Dash’s living room while the two of them circled around her like Terran sharks. “It doesn’t matter how many times you ask me, the answer isn’t going to change. I’m not leaving the station. Not for a week, or a day, or even a couple of hours. I’m not the one with a bullseye on my back. Yesterday someone blew up your fraxxing squad room. If anyone needs to get away from here for a while, it’s the two of you.”