“Melissa, he’d see to your safety and raise our child in a loving environment. I can sense it in him. He may get on my last nerve but he’s got a good heart.”
“He does,” she said, nodding. “But you don’t need to worry about that right now because you will come back to me, Roi. I’ll be down there to see to that. I searched for you, for what I thought was a dream my entire life. There is no way in hell that I’ll let you go now without a fight. And if our daughter is anything like her mommy she’ll help me out on this.”
Roi nudged her gently. “You mean our son.”
“Daughter.”
“Son.”
“I know someone who is sleeping on the floor tonight,” Missy said, laughing softly.
“Did I say son? I meant daughter.”
She snickered. “Oh, and Roi.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve decided to go by Melissa Majors.”
He grinned. “Good, because that’s what I was planning on putting on our checks.”
“Roi,” she scolded.
“I love you, Missy doll.” He rolled his shoulders, doing his best to ease the tension in them. “I’d still rather you not come to South America with us. It’s too dangerous.”
“Roi, I love you too and I have to come along. I’m an expert when it comes to information retrieval and they have critical intelligence that we need.”
“Yes, but I need you. Intelligence doesn’t mean shit if you’re not in my life.”
Missy arched a brow and smiled. “Speaking of intelligence, Colonel Brooks mentioned that you had a bone to pick with Intel. Seems that you think we’re worthless.”
Roi choked on nothing. “Umm, no … I think Intel is fabulous. Can’t get enough of their helpful tips. Wow, and their response time is off the charts. They have the…”
“Roi.”
“Yes?”
She chuckled. “Shut-up and kiss me.”
THE END
Unedited Excerpt from Project Exorcism: Paranormal Payload by Mandy M. Roth, coming soon from NCP!
Chapter 1
Lorelei Janelle plopped behind the control panel in the central observation deck to see what vessel had sparked the warning probe’s alert system. She didn’t like the idea of intruders in their vicinity, but it only happened every now and then so she couldn’t complain. As much as she disliked worrying about outsiders, she did enjoy the company. Her nights had been filled by erotic dreams of a man too good to be true and her days were a rude awakening to the harshness of her world. Her nocturnal lover hadn’t come to her in two weeks and her fear that her mind had finally given up generating him was great. It would of course wait until she’d mated mentally with him to then pull the plug.
“Unit One, this is Captain Vasil of the Alpha Brig Three requesting permission to enter atmosphere and dock. Emergency commission code 327 has been initiated,” a deep, familiar voice said in her earpiece.
Her inner thighs damped and for one brief moment, her breath caught in her throat. Who was this man that sounded so very much like her secret lover? How had he elicited that shocking response from her body with nothing more than his words? Fearing he was another Dsendiyun, she sighed. Lorelei was beginning to think the sex starved planet they came from encouraged them to ‘get lost’ as close to her people as possible. It wasn’t like they got any sort of sexual stimulation while they were here. Not unless they considered being chained together good fun.
Some men do.
Lorelei glanced up at the glass ceiling. Seeing no sign of a vessel near them, she doubled checked her radar to be sure she hadn’t imagined the entire thing. There was no ways she could have received a hail signal yet have the radars detect nothing. The electromagnetic waves that a vessel put out in a non-cloaked state would have shown up before. None did.
Having had many unauthorized vessels attempt to dock in her lifetime, Lorelei knew exactly how to handle them. She tweaked the computer’s controls, demanding a more precise reading. Varying the frequency of the waves being sent off, she hoped to initiate a reflection of some sort, allowing the radar system to accurately pinpoint the vessel’s location. It didn’t work. Tweaking the calibrations even more, Lorelei set the control towers sensors to ultra in hopes of catching a pattern of bounce backs consisting of the direct opposite waves than they were sending out. If the outsiders thought they were going to get away with active cancellation they were wrong. Dead wrong.
Much to her surprise, nothing showed up on radar. Having never had one elude her, Lorelei tried another approach. She shifted to the Commission based recognition systems they’d installed many years ago after a sanctified vessel crashed into their red sea. Instantly, a blimp appeared on the screen. Zeroing in on it, she brought it up closer and began to run a remote diagnostic on it. The main fuel tank had a crack so large that she knew they’d lost the majority of their liquid fuel as soon as it happened. Their life support systems were dangerously close to giving and their alternate source of power seemed to be having issues as well.
Who would be stupid enough to enter our atmosphere with that amount of damage?
As soon as the question formed in her head, Lorelei knew the answer. The Dsendiyuns. Once located on radar, they were easy to spot with their flashy crafts and telltale too strong pick up lines. They would certainly have announced themselves to her by now. The tiny bit of thrill they got from trying to make her work at pinpointing their point of entry would have long worn off and she’d have gotten it right within seconds Not to mention their ability to stay cloaked for long intervals within the planet’s atmosphere was almost non-existent. No. Who or whatever approached them couldn’t be the notorious romancers from Dsendiyuns.
Disappointment shot through Lorelei, catching her by surprise. It had been a long time since she’d been touched by a man that her mind did not create. The two weeks that she’d gone without Sevan coming to her nightly felt like an eternity. She missed the feel of strong arms wrapped around her, the feel of him buried deep within her and knowledge that even though she’d invented him, he loved her. Her body was reaching the point where the desire to reproduce was almost on her. The only problem being, it had transcended her normal boundaries and infected her mind with a make-believe man who she mated with in a dream.
It was as absurd as it sounded and although she truly did love the idea of Sevan, she couldn’t live her life married to fantasy. Waking up and crying every morning would get her nowhere and she knew it.
Irritated, Lorelei stared at the radar, watching the blip approach. “No way would a Commission vessel venture into uncharted territory. The ship’s probably stolen and I bet it was those damn traders again. Probably want to try to nab off with more of our artifacts or to try to sell us more household cleaning equipment. I will not have my people’s legacy sold to highest bidder, nor do I need the latest and greatest debris remover. Do I look like a domestic goddess? No. I swear I will shoot them on sight if they attempt to take one thing.” She wagged her brows and smiled. “If they’ve come to take me to bed I’ll reconsider. Mmm, bloody hell I’m horny.”
Lorelei groaned as her nipples hardened. As much as she wanted to sneak away and ‘handle’ her current problem, she didn’t. Thinking about sex was the worst thing she could do. It only seemed to intensify her craving for it--for Sevan. And there truly were only so many times she could masturbate before her fingers pruned and her wrist hurt. Sadly enough, she’d hit that state long ago.
“Excuse me, Miss, but I am no trader, nor am I a thief. Not to sound shallow here but I tend not to agree to fuck someone until I’ve had a look at them. As shocking as it sounds, not all men stick their dick in whatever moves. Plus, as overly romantic as this sounds, I’m the last guy you want. I’m holding out for a dream, honey, and to date no women can stack up to her.” He cleared his throat and the sound wreaked havoc on Lorelei’s body.
She wanted desperately to come back with a witty comment but the tingling in her pussy fogged her mind enough that sh
e didn’t know or care how to respond to his comments. All she knew is that his voice was divine and so familiar that she was positive she knew him somehow.
“My ship’s run into a bit of snag and I need to work on it. If you’d be so kind as to tell your people to open the loading doors I will be out of your hair in no time flat. I’ll require some fuel along with the use of some of your tools. I can assure you that each one will be returned in pristine condition. Though, I have been wanting a new set of torch acceleration adjusters.”
Lorelei cursed herself for forgetting, yet again, that her voice transmitter was on. She had a bad habit of failing to remember to deactivate it after leaving the main tower. The teasing tone in his voice told her his comment was lighthearted, yet it was easy to tell she’d offended him. Why that mattered to her, she didn’t know. But it did.
“Need I remind you that I have just initiated a code 327?” The frustration was evident in the heavy sigh that followed his comment.
Not one to fall for a sexy voice or succumb to guilt, Lorelei readied her inborn defense mechanisms. “Need I remind you that we are not part of the Commission and we do not recognize their laws? If you’re seeking Commission friendly territory you will not find it here. We are not a repair station nor are we prone to allowing arrogant arses to dock for giggles. And for future reference you will not take that condescending tone with me again or you will sit there until your ship gives out. I am not one of your disciples, nor will I ever be. And, I’ll have you know that basing the choice of having intercourse with someone off appearances places you below a lechranki worm in my book.”
“Less than a blood sucking worm that eats its own vomit?”
“Mmmhmm.” Lorelei grinned from ear to ear as though she were just a child again. Goading this man had to be the highlight of her month. Why? She wasn’t sure but it felt good all the same.
There was some mumbling and then she heard another male laughing. “Shut up, Jordan,” the sexy man said, his voice reminding her of Sevan’s.
“Always good to know that you are an arse with everyone, not just people you are trying to sweet talk into allowing you to dock. And in case you should have the misfortune of needing repairs this deep into space again, might I suggest you pretend to be mute and allow someone to speak for you. Perhaps sending a holographic image would even work. Just be sure not to model it after yourself or it too will find a rather cold reception.”
To read additional excerpts and find out what’s coming out next from Mandy M. Roth please visit www.mandyroth.com and www.newconceptspublishing.com
Critical Intelligence Page 19