by Imogene Nix
Her bra was removed with an efficient move from the sexy captain.
“I’ve dreamed of you.” His rough words hit her hard in the solar plexus just as his fingers closed over her breasts. “The nights I’ve dreamed of filling you. Of drinking you and sucking your breasts like this.” He bowed his head and took the small bud into his mouth. Sensations of lightning streaked through her and she cried out. Her fingers settled in his hair, pulling his head closer so he’d take more.
Carmichael’s fingers found the waistband of her pants and his fingers dove deep, just finding the damp hairs at her center when the jangle of a communications device split the air.
She stiffened, aware that at any second, with a small move he’d have them within her aching empty core. But they remained still, listening as the answering service kicked in.
“Hey, Kumi. Are you still coming around? Ren and Selina have just arrived. If you can’t, let me know, otherwise I’ll worry.”
Tomi! She closed her eyes, willing her heart rate to settle and her body to stop throbbing with the hunger.
Finally, Carmichael raised his head. “This can’t... This won’t happen again.” He’d pulled away from her emotionally as well as physically, stripping out of his jacket and holding it out to her, while he averted his gaze.
She could see the fine tremors in his hand. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “No. No, it won’t.” Kumi accepted his jacket and pulled it around her. “I’m going to shower and dress. Ring Tomi. Tell him we’ll be there soon.” Then, with the remains of her shredded dignity wrapped around her, she left him.
* * * *
The stilted atmosphere in the room was pure torture. Kumi avoided Carmichael’s eyes and kept as much physical distance between them as possible. Selina kept watching him as if expecting a second head to grow, Tomi was frowning, and only Renjiro was smiling.
The food probably tasted delicious, but to be honest, he couldn’t even recall what he ate. How could he? She was sitting beside him, but might as well have been a million miles away.
“So you have news?” Kumi placed her fork down on the plate.
“We do. In fact, it’s news for all of us. Tomi, would you like to go first though? You are, after all, the head of our family.” Her cousin, Renjiro, had lately been made a senator for their planet, but while his designation might have changed, his attitude toward life hadn’t. Right at this second, Renjiro looked proud and Carmichael noted the faint smile on Kumi’s face as well as the broad grin on Selina’s.
Renjiro as a senator and Selina as a senator’s wife seemed incongruous. In Carmichael’s formative years, the only contact he’d had with senators was when they came to bestow their presence on those from his village or to lecture on the importance of the Federation, something which happened with surprising regularity at his small school. What he hadn’t learned about the history of the Federation and Reunion in school he had learned during his years in the Federation Navy.
The federation of planets had been formed three centuries before, in order to give the human colonists a protective powerbase. They’d believed in the adage of power in numbers. Those that didn’t join became the Independent Planets. But their independence had come at a high cost as hostile aliens encroached. Unable to protect themselves and their people, they had entered negotiations with the Federation. There had been resistance though. Pockets of resistance mobilized to destroy what had been achieved.
Reunion had been one of the first planets to join the Federation, and there were families with long and glorious traditions of serving in the Senate. The Ito family was foremost. Even he, a farmer’s son and now naval captain, understood their importance.
When Tomi Ito cleared his throat, Carmichael tugged himself back from his thoughts. “Captain, as you are aware, the relationship between planets and the Naval Command is very close. I have been duly deputized by the Naval Commission to inform you that the Emancipation, with you as captain, is to be stationed on Reunion, effective immediately.”
His chest tightened at Tomi’s words. “Here?”
He’d never considered that they’d place the Emancipation here. On Reunion. Until now, the naval ship hadn’t been associated with any home-world. His beleaguered mind whirred slowly back to life. He had more than his fair share of offices and enlisted men from the planet. Maybe he should have guessed it was coming. But the truth was he hadn’t.
Reunion. He didn’t know if he should view it as a promotion or demerit.
The congratulations flowed around him and he snuck a quick glance at Kumi. She kept her face composed. Her eyes, though, were shadowed, as if she was trying to find a way to forget the announcement. That cut him all the way to the core. The ache radiated and it took several minutes of careful breathing to bring it under control.
“You said there was other news?” Kumi cocked her head to one side and he watched, fascinated, knowing the whole time she was attempting to ignore him and his study of her.
Selina and Renjiro grinned broadly. “Well, since our favorite people are here...” Selina giggled, and he watched in amazement as the hard-nosed, ex-freighter captain smiled and her face transformed with a radiant glow.
“What my wife is trying to say is, we’re going to be parents.”
The chorus of congratulations rose several decibels and Kumi stretched forward to hug Selina.
“Carmichael and Kumi, we want you to be the child’s Cultural Guardians. We know you will do the right thing, take care of him or her should anything happen to us.” Selina’s eyes were watery. “Please say you will, Carmichael and Kumi.”
A lump formed in his chest. CG? It is the ultimate in trust. That any parent... That Selina and Renjiro, with his whole extended family... His mind boggled at the honor.
Then it occurred to him that it would tie he and Kumi together. Forever.
* * * *
The news wasn’t exactly unexpected, Kumi reflected on the way home in the vehicle with Carmichael. Captain Snow, she corrected herself. Selina and Renjiro had been officially paired for over a year. As to the other...well, she could ignore that. Maybe. So long as she didn’t have to see him too often. She glanced out the window, the fiery glow of day muted to the deep shadows of night.
They were just coming in to land on the pad when a ping and a clunk were followed by a loud bang. The air-car wobbled a little and she reached out, gripping the secura-straps. Her horrified gaze settled on Carmichael’s face. She expected him to grin in the superior fashion and tell her there was nothing to worry about. Instead of that, his face looked taut in the glow of the instrument panel. Anger, shock, and concern washed over her.
The vehicle shuddered. “Something’s hit us, hasn’t it?”
“Yesss,” he hissed, jerking on the controls as their transport nosed down. “Brace yourself, I’m not sure I can hold this.”
A whine started, it split the air while the rapid beeping of instruments reinforced just how precarious their situation was. Her heart lodged in her throat, and though she wanted to scream, she bit her lip, trying to hold it in.
It felt like forever, but it couldn’t have been more than seconds as he cursed and swore, pulled and fought. The craft bucked and rolled wildly. Kumi was sure she’d be sick, but she held on tight as the asphalt rose to meet them.
The landing was rough, jarring them both hard. Afterward, she sat there blinking. “Carmichael? Are you okay?” She reached for the snaps of her belt, her chest and shoulder aching where the webbing had pulled tight. He didn’t answer.
Finally free, she turned back in the seat, her eyes wide open. “Carmichael? Please, you’re scaring me.”
“We have to get out of here.” He wrenched on his belts, tearing them from his body, his voice hoarse and low. “You’re okay, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good, then we have to move. At least we’re near your building.” He shoved against the door, and it squeaked, but refused to move.
The tiny car
shook. An acrid tang rose. She knew that smell.
“Smoke.” A bubble of panic clogged her lungs and hysteria almost overwhelmed her. She pushed the emotions away and reached for her door. It didn’t budge. “Carmichael, how do we...”
In the short period of time she’d been working on her door, he’d freed himself from his seat and levered his legs up. “Cover your face.”
“What?” She complied, tugging the light jacket over her head.
Bang!
His hands pulled at the garment. “We need to hurry.”
The licking tongues of fire crept along the length of the vehicle, but she watched as he turned and scrambled out the windscreen before reaching for her. “Come on.”
She reached for her bag. “I just need—”
“We don’t have time.” He gripped her hand tightly and tugged.
She fell among the glass strewn metal of the front of the vehicle. The scrapes and cuts hurt a little, but she ignored them as they tumbled to the asphalt.
Winded, she looked back, noting that the back of the air-car now glowed. “Oh my gods!”
Moving was instinctual. They rose, rolling away from the radiant heat, and then scrabbled to their knees and up. The door looked so far away, but they pumped their legs, hoping to gain safety while her lungs ached.
She didn’t have time to question anything as the sound and shockwave tore through her clothing, lifting both herself and Carmichael like kites on the wind. The shock thrust them against a wall and held them there for an instant before letting them drop with sickening thuds.
Heat and pain clawed at her, but she refused, absolutely refused, to give in to the gray-black which filled her sight.
“Car... Carmichael?” She realized he was on the ground, slumped beside her.
She willed her body to move, an inch. Her fingers flexed. She reached, touching the bleeding skin of his hand. “Don’t be dead.”
He groaned and never before had she felt so drunk or giddy at a sound.
Noises filled her consciousness. The sound of thudding footsteps, the crackle of flames. Screeching, groaning metal. She focused on the people who crowded around.
“Are you okay?”
“Call a medic.”
Hands touched her. “I’m okay. Him. He needs treating.”
Kumi made to stand, but gentle hands kept her still. “Wait until the medic has checked you. He’s awake too, so no doubt they’ll check both of you out.”
Groping in her pockets, she found her communicator, depressing the button. “Tomi? It’s Kumi. I need you.”
* * * *
Carmichael’s body ached. In fact, it was safe to say he was one big ache. The bed in Kumi’s spare room might be comfortable enough, but right now, he couldn’t tell. The medic from the Emancipation ran the wand over his nude body. The clothing he’d been wearing was little more than rags. It’d been torn, scorched, and bloodied.
“Captain, I don’t have to tell you how lucky you are.” The loud words left him wincing.
“I’m glad to be lucky, rather than slightly unlucky.”
The medic opened his small cache of medications with a long-suffering sigh.
“What are you giving me?” He frowned and groaned as even that taxed his bruised body.
“A light analgesic is about all you need. I’m also going to prescribe a sonic bath and some skin spray. We need to be sure you have no foreign particles and that will seal your abrasions.”
“Good. Once that is attended to I can—” He started to rise up on his elbows, but the firm hands of the doctor pushed him back against the pillows. He sucked in an unsteady breath as more than a twinge assailed him. His stomach roiled, and he fought the nausea as he accepted the welcoming embrace of the bed.
“Not so fast, Captain.” The too loud voice made his head ache, or it could have been the result of his movements. He didn’t plan on investigating that too closely right now.
“Madam Kumi...” He closed his eyes, realizing that right now he wasn’t much use to anyone.
“Is fine by the looks of it. I’ll see once I’m finished here. She looks a darned sight better than you. To be honest, you’re incredibly lucky to have gotten off as lightly as you did.”
Intellectually, he was aware of that. They’d been lucky to survive the attack. He’d bet his money on a light range missile being the cause of the damage to the vehicle. That meant the assassin had started his or her job and was close by.
Tomi and Kumi had somehow managed to hustle him inside, and the major domo had overridden the lifts to get them to her apartment with speed. The knowledge didn’t soothe him. Tomi had contacted his ship. His second arranged to have men shuttled down to ensure that Kumi was protected at all times, but it made him feel damned useless.
Frustration filled him. It was his job to protect her. He didn’t accept failure well, and right now it rode him hard. If he were honest with himself, this mission was more than just a job. This was Kumi he was protecting. He uttered a harsh swear word.
“You know, it’s not so bad. By tomorrow you should be up and around, Captain.”
“That’s not enough. I need to be out of here tonight. Back—”
“Captain, you are many things—brave, loyal, honorable. Remember, I’ve seen you in battle. But if you get out of that bed, then I will have to add one more adjective to my list.”
He grunted, attempting to ignore what he was sure would be said next.
“I’d have to add hard headed. You aren’t in any condition right now to protect anyone. Give it two or even three days and you’ll be sufficiently recovered, with the help of these sprays. But if you ignore my advice...”
Carmichael knew what the man was saying was correct, but it still chapped his rump. He tugged the coverings up over his waist with an absent flick.
“Right, almost done here.”
He felt the tingle of the application against his skin just as a knock came at the door.
“Enter.” Carmichael made to brush the irritation of the hypo-syringe away, much to the grunted dismay of the medic.
The door swung wide and Kumi stood there. Even at this distance, he could tell she’d been crying. Her eyes were red-rimmed. The bubble of fear that had lodged in his heart shifted.
“I came to see how you were getting on.” Her chin wobbled a little, as if she were barely holding it together.
“Madam Kumi, I was just coming to–” The medic frowned, and Carmichael wished he could throw him out on his ear while he checked to see how bad her injuries were.
“I’m fine.” She stepped inside and closed the door.
Doesn’t the damned woman realize I’m naked?
The part of him that seemed to always react when she was near, stood to attention. He nearly blushed, but instead he concentrated on reciting the articles of the Treaty of Destutin in his head.
“No, you’re not fine. You’ve got some nasty cuts and abrasions with a fair bit of dirt in them and a whopping bruise on your arm.”
The look she threw at the medic could have frozen icebergs. He saw the way Kumi’s eyebrows drew together and her lush lips flattened as she swung in his direction.
“I just... I just wanted to thank you. For saving me, I guess.” She turned away and he noted the charred edges of her perfect bob. “I didn’t really think it was serious before. I’m sorry. I should have listened.”
He raised a hand and she took it. A bolt of pure erotic electricity shot through him from the top of his head to the ends of his toes.
In that moment, he understood the truth. He’d die for this woman. She was the only one he loved.
* * * *
Kumi grimaced as she dressed. In the days since the air-car had been shot down, she’d agreed to every restriction Carmichael placed on her. She hadn’t left the apartment without adequate protection—that is what he deemed appropriate—but three burly security officers had felt like overkill, not that she’d complained about it. Never again would she argue with him. T
he fright of the attack on the air-car had stilled her heart. Both fear and panic had assailed her in that instant. Yes, that and one other emotion—loss.
He’d been prepared to die for me. Her stomach cramped, just as it did each time that thought rose.
She’d restricted her interaction with others to the bare minimum, her work being delivered to her door by courier. It wasn’t the way she liked to conduct her business, but she’d tolerate the need to stay out of sight.
She tapped away on her screen, scrolling through the information, requesting clarifications from Dobry. But tension crackled in the small apartment. It had been the same for days.
“Dobry, when will I receive the updated costings on the freighters?”
In the viewing screen, he grimaced. “Not until later, Madam. But... If you came in, you could access all the information I have on hand.”
“I can’t. Not yet. I have some personal issues, as I’ve explained.” She gritted her teeth. Dobry had become more insistent, but so far she’d been able to give him the carefully prepared excuses. It wouldn’t last too much longer. He or someone else would begin to question why she hadn’t been anywhere near her office. “Just send me what you have.” She clicked off the viewing screen and sat back, her hands steepled on the heavy wood desktop.
“I’m not sure this plan is going to work.” Carmichael’s voice filtered down the hall from his bedroom. She’d barely even entered there since the medic had left. They’d nearly... She cut off the thought as she concentrated on the sounds.
“There has to be a link somewhere.” The voice of his officer was angry and tired. She knew many of them were working around the clock to find out who and why the attack had taken place.
Kumi strained to hear the conversation. His people had been coming and going with increased monotony and the greater his mobility the more had arrived at her door.