"Um-hm,” she agreed. Bending her head, she tasted first one nipple and then the other. He let out a small groan and clenched his hands into fists. She traced the curves of the snake tattoo up his side and over his shoulder, nuzzling the nape of his neck, and then planting a kiss there as well. His skin was soft and warm, glowing a deep bronze in the pink lights.
Grateful she'd had so little to drink, Keya filed every sensation away, her lips following the path of her hands until he grabbed her wrists and said, "Wait."
Two hours would not be enough, Malachi knew. Probably two days wouldn't be enough, and maybe not even two weeks of full-time enjoyment of this glorious woman would satisfy him.
Malachi shifted his grip to hold her delicate wrists in one hand then he reached around and unhooked the clasp of the halter. The gold fabric slid down leaving her bare to the waist as well. "My turn," he said.
Keya pulled free and shook a finger at him. "Your request was for viewing also," she teased. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled and arched her back a little, reaching for the button at the back of the dress skirt.
He'd touched her breasts—under her shirt anyway—their one night together. Seeing them now, petite and round, with small dark pink rosebud nipples, his fingers and his cock twitched as he thought about all the places he wanted to put his mouth. He sent a silent prayer of thanks that fate had given him another night with Keya.
When the button released, the entire dress pooled at her feet. She stepped backward and bent to scoop up the gown, placing it atop his jacket and shirt on the chair. Without being asked, she turned in a slow circle wearing nothing but a pistol, a knife, a scrap of lace panties, and strappy golden sandals.
It was impossible to keep his gaze in one place for long. Keya's body was toned, her shoulders strong, her stomach taut. Her golden ivory skin was smooth and unblemished. "Would you turn one more time for me?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
She turned, allowing him to take in the slight flare of her hips and the curves of her glorious ass. "I had no idea you were this beautiful," he said. "I wanted you because you were smart and strong and gorgeous, but I am kicking myself that I missed seeing all of you."
Completing the turn, she tilted her head and said, "I feel the same way. Even though you’re still wearing pants." She sauntered over to the panel and tapped it. Their order waited, perfectly chilled. Keya removed the dish of ice cream and took a bite. "I knew it would be good," she said after a drawn-out mmmmmm. "But not this good."
Malachi removed his trousers as she took a second bite and winked at him. When she licked a pink drop from her bottom lip, his control disintegrated.
In three steps he was at her side, pulling against his body. He kissed her, licking her cold strawberry tongue.
Pulling back, she said, "You didn't—"
"I need to touch you.” His words tumbled out in a rush. "I need to touch you, make love to you, Keya. Please." Malachi could not remember the last time he'd wanted a woman like this, except her.
She pushed gently against his chest and took a step back. A wistful expression crossed her face and vanished. Taking another small bite of ice cream, she nodded at the display hovering above their food. "We have a little over an hour before the ship drops out of FTL. Communications will resume and I need to brief my client about—"
Her words faltered and stopped as he swiped his finger through the ice cream and painted one of her nipples with it, then bent down to lick it off.
"Oh," she whispered. "That feels so..."
He painted her other nipple and licked it clean, loving the way she leaned into him.
"I'm going to remove your weapons now. You're off duty for the next hour." Mine for the next hour, he thought.
Nodding, she threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him close for a long kiss. He unclasped the holsters and placed the lacy bands and their respective weapons on the table.
Taking her hand, he led her to the bed, lowering her to sit on the edge. He knelt to remove her shoes, placing a kiss on the inside of each knee. Looking directly into her eyes, he caressed her backside and worked the lacy scrap of underwear over her legs and off. Slow, he reminded himself. An hour was more than they had four years ago. He rose and moved the clothes on the chair to take a clear packet from one of his pockets. The ultralight condoms were a perk of having access to advanced tech.
Keya cleared her throat. "I have the female condom as well," she said.
Malachi nodded and dropped his boxers. He rolled on the condom with one hand and reached for her with the other. But Keya leaned back on her elbows, eyes bright with desire, chest rising and falling on shallow breaths. Fates, he was grateful for the light illuminating her face and her gorgeous body.
Determined to use every minute to convince her this was just a preview of what a longer interlude could be between them, Malachi moved at a deliberate, relentless pace. He tasted and teased every curve and hollow until Keya’s eyes fluttered open.
“Death by foreplay,” she whispered, and brushed her lips against his throat. “Your turn.”
This man drove her to the edge of control, his lips, teeth, tongue, and hands waging a multi-front attack on her senses until she could either surrender or return fire. Keya didn’t want to know how often Malachi ended his evenings engaged thusly with the women from his data file. Pushing those thoughts away, she shifted her weight to her knees and leaned over his glorious chest, determined to show him that tonight he was hers alone.
She took a moment to admire how Malachi looked, laid out on the soft white sheets. Gorgeous and confident, his smile playful and open. Keya let her fantasies from the past four years guide her, hands and mouth roaming, recording scents and textures for playback on the lonely nights that were sure to come. As tempted as she was to rush toward climax, she kept her pace as steady and as inexorable as Malachi had. Her own desire ratcheted higher as his thighs bunched under her tongue, one knee pulling up, his fingers clenching the sheets.
Dark eyes locked on hers, he tugged her gently over him so she was positioned above his straining erection. His look became a question. As soon as she nodded, he pulled her down hard, filling her in a single thrust.
Keya shuddered, bracing her hands on Malachi’s chest. His stare pierced her heart as deeply as he pierced her body. With infinite tenderness, he brought one of her hands to his mouth and kissed the fingertips.
Then, faster than she could blink, he rolled her to her back and began to stroke an intense rhythm. Overwhelmed by the sensation, by the intensity of their connection, Keya let herself fall over the edge into bliss.
"When will you sleep?" Malachi asked, holding a towel wrapped around his waist.
Although she'd been tempted to invite him into the shower, Keya was glad she'd taken a quick rinse first. The man was more addictive than the most illicit club drug. Even though she was fully dressed and expecting her teammate at any moment, all she wanted to do was lick the drops of water beading his tattoo.
She took a sip of the hot caf. On the clock, she chanted to herself. On the clock. "Not for another six hours or so, depending on the downloads. You?"
"I could adjust my schedule," he said. "Give Hector an early break."
Adding more material to her fantasy bank would be marvelous except for the part where they wouldn't see each other again once they reached their destination. Already she felt the imminent pain of leaving him.
Keya didn't have time for many physical relationships, but in every other case, the encounters had been pleasantly stimulating, like a good workout. With Malachi, she craved more. After their one night together, she'd felt empty for weeks. And no one else had compared since, if she were honest with herself.
"Something to consider," she said, and handed him the stack of clothes sent by Quantum's AI.
Not wanting to dismiss the champagne and caviar, she used a different panel to order tea and sweet rolls for Alix. Their lean form belied a true love of sugary treats.
At first she t
hought the low chime was the door, but as data scrolled through her virtual display she realized they were between jumps, in real-time space. "Outside view," she said. The holowall changed to a bright star field, a pink-blue nebula lighting the middle distance.
"Beautiful," Malachi’s low voice spoke over her shoulder. She turned toward him and smiled. He looked much as he had at boarding: white shirt, tailored black suit, no tie, black shoes. "And by the way, you are the only woman to look almost sexier in uniform than in an evening dress."
Liking the idea of being the only woman in any category for him, she smiled. "Glad this does it for you, handsome. I wear a uniform more than ninety percent of the time."
"If we were not expecting guests, I would find out how long it would take for me to get you out of that uniform," he said, reaching for her top button.
"But we are expecting guests," Keya replied, a slight tremor in her voice as she struggled to keep her hands at her sides and her lips to herself.
The door chimed and Keya said, "Identify."
"Alix Smythe and Hector Kahananui," said the ship.
"Open," Keya said.
When Alix walked through the door, they looked about like Keya felt, a heady mix of shell-shocked and well-loved. Their bright crimson hair was disheveled, and their uniform was missing two buttons, but their smile was wide and their body relaxed. "Just came straight from the cabaret," Alix said. "It gets pretty intense in there."
"Were you in a fight?" Keya asked.
Alix bit into a sweet roll and chewed for a moment before answering. "In a manner of speaking. A guest made unwelcome advances toward one of the performers. Some of the scientists and I stepped in."
"Anyone hurt?" Malachi asked, casually taking a sip of Keya's caf.
Alix's gaze flicked to the cup and then to Keya's face. "No, my principals distracted the threat so I could put him in restraints. They're back in their cabins now, sleeping off the effects of too much everything, including excitement."
She wanted to ask about Alix's missing buttons, but now was not the time.
"How about you, Heck?" Malachi said. "Anything exciting to report?"
Hector dropped into a chair and rubbed his eyes. "The opposite. I've been staring at the displays for too long. Sent off all our data, tagged it 'urgent.’ Next jump is in when? Six?"
"Unless something changes," Keya said.
"Right, so we should get a response before then." Hector took a sweet roll and placed it on a small plate.
Malachi poured him a cup of caf and passed it over. "I can stay on until then, Heck. Once this briefing's over, you can get some rest."
"Thanks. Let's get to it then," Hector said.
Malachi went through an abbreviated version of the new data with Alix. Hector jumped in to provide detail or examples when they asked questions.
After about ten minutes of listening, Alix said, "Your mission is to suppress or filter information about the presence of certain alien lifeforms on Earth and Earth's colonies."
Keya had been thinking the same thing, her sense of unease and dismay growing.
"It's not that humanity can't handle it. It’s just that while we believe we're working with one specific species right now—and for the most part they have not been hostile—Earth's government wanted protocols in place to disseminate the information slowly," Malachi said.
"Nobody wants revelations to lead to revolutions," Hector said.
"Is the missing artifact a key to better understanding with this one specific species?" Keya asked.
"That's the real mystery right now," Hector said. "If so, why would one of them take it?"
"We also aren't sure of the timeline," Malachi said. "It's possible the artifacts found on Sahkra are quite old and that the sites being explored by the sultan's team have been abandoned for generations, centuries or longer."
Keya looked across the table at Alix. "Looks like we took a job in the middle of a larger conflict."
Alix gave her a tired smile. "That's against house rules."
"We are under contract to provide security for our principals, their equipment, and artifacts all the way to Sakhra’s main port at Mahatet," Keya said.
This time Malachi and Hector shared a glance. "Our missions are complementary," Malachi said.
"But you just said your mission is to suppress information about the alien—"
"This information already went on tour. It's part of the slow release to the people of Earth. We're only interested in the one artifact," Malachi said.
"The one that's missing, he means," Hector said.
"So our missions are complementary," Malachi said again.
For now, Keya thought. But once they found the missing artifact—if they found it—who decided what to do with it?
Back in their suite, Malachi sent Hector to rest and started opening the data packets from headquarters. The first set of messages confirmed his interpretation of the data from the cargo hold. His personal recorder had also picked up an alien presence in the Comets and Caviar Lounge. Without thinking, he rubbed the back of his neck. Ever since his first encounter in Boulder with these aliens—these “visitors” or whatever they called themselves—he'd had some kind of neurological connection with them.
The next message was full face, full voice from his boss. In clear terms, Malachi was directed to obtain the Rosetta Stone-like artifact. A slightly altered version, otherwise fully authenticated was about to appear in a "lost crate" at the port.
He paused the message, freezing his boss's face mid-scowl. The lost and “recovered” crate would take the heat off Keya, let her finish her job without a blemish to her record. But his livelihood and standing within the organization were at risk if he didn't return with the real artifact.
It bothered him to have the thing stolen on his and Keya's watches. They were both competent professionals. But professional pride and job security aside, his priorities were shifting. The image of Keya entering the lounge, looking gorgeous and confident, rose unbidden to his mind's eye. Joking with her over martinis. And finally having the chance to overwrite their hasty one-night stand with something that went a little deeper. When was the last time sex had felt that right? Not since Boulder. Not since her.
He didn’t have time to think like this right now, and it was probably the lack of sleep anyway. Malachi checked his weapons, added a few extra pulse rounds, and went to look for aliens.
After she'd confirmed Holt was on the mend, Keya requested a meeting with the sultan’s majordomo. The man was odd, his speech and his affect were just a little out of sync with the people around him, but he appeared to be good at his job.
He invited her to the reception room of the royal suite. The royal suite boasted an additional four or five hundred square meters and furnishings two or three times more opulent than those in Malachi's suite. She'd checked the amenities when everyone had first boarded as part of her initial security sweep and had been suitably impressed.
Once they were seated and tea had been poured, the majordomo launched into a litany of praises for Alix. According to him, Alix had rescued one of the performers from a life-threatening situation and then single-handedly kept the scientists safe as they joined in the fray.
Keya didn't know the man well enough to decide how much was embellishment and how much was truth, but she couldn't wait to ask Alix later. She opened her mouth to begin the updates on the cargo and on Holt, but the majordomo jumped in, this time to ask about Holt.
"Your man? How is he? His majesty was most distraught to learn of Mr. Velten's injuries. He asked me to assure you that all medical expenses incurred in the line of duty will be paid."
"That's very kind," Keya replied. She would have added those bills in anyway, but it was good she wouldn’t have to fight for it. "I visited Holt in the medical suite just now and he's healing quickly. Should be released by tonight, they say."
"Wonderful news, simply wonderful," the majordomo said. "Well," he leaned back and crossed one thin leg o
ver his knee, “anything else to report?"
"Yes," Keya said. "You recall the update on the cargo, one crate not accounted for?"
"It was an artifact crate, yes. You have news?"
"The crate has been recovered—"
"Marvelous!” The majordomo smiled and clasped his hands together. “You are worth every penny and more."
She held up a hand. "One problem...or rather, one item is still missing."
His face dropped. "Oh my, that is unfortunate."
"My team has a few leads to work with and we've reached out to our counterparts at the port. It's possible we'll get new information from Earth before the next jump. If not, we'll continue to work with what we have onboard."
"Understood," the majordomo said. He placed his half-full teacup on the gleaming natural wood table and stood. "Please contact me when you have an update." With surprising speed, he plucked the teacup from Keya's hand. Another servant opened the door and she was back in the hall, thirsty and perplexed.
Keya ran through a checklist as she walked away from the sumptuous suite. Malachi would be doing a walk-through with the scientists about now. Alix would have the other half of the group. She'd checked in with the sultan's personal bodyguards and received a terse report that all was well. Without stating it directly, the head guard made it clear that space travel did not agree with his majesty's constitution.
She wondered what Malachi was doing. Wondered if he had any open time between now and when they reached their destination.
For what? So her heart would break a little more when they got to Mahatet?
Their two hours together were the best physical release she'd had in years. But she didn't need a repeat and didn't need to see Malachi except in a business capacity.
Shaking off thoughts of dark eyes and sexy tattoos, she walked with purpose to the corridor that housed the science team. She used her access card to open live images of each set of rooms from a screen adjacent to the door panel. The live video feature had been installed in case of emergency, but it worked great for her purposes as well. Pressure-sensitive furnishings confirmed if the passenger assigned was present, and scanners around each room confirmed DNA.
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