by Susan Hayes
“Only part of it,” Lance held up two fingers less than an inch apart. “It was a really small bomb.”
“Still not convinced. I’m grateful for a chance to get out of the medical center, but maybe we should stick to visiting places that haven’t had security breaches.”
“By that criteria, you shouldn’t be allowed in your office anymore, Doc.” Blade’s joke fell flat. It was a reminder to all of them that despite an extensive investigation, they still knew nothing about who had broken into Alyson’s office to leave the warning. All Corp-Sec’s efforts to determine where the threat might come from had failed, too. They were operating in the dark, and that fact haunted Dirk every hour of the day.
They made the rest of the journey in silence. It wasn’t until they were almost to their destination that Alyson spoke up. “You told me tonight was about relaxing and enjoying ourselves, and that’s what we’re going to do. The second we walk through those doors, we’re going to put all of this aside for a few hours. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” One of the most fascinating things about Alyson was her ability to say just the right thing to set those around her at ease. She was a true empath, reading people’s moods in a way he couldn’t even begin to understand. His upgrades allowed him to interpret body language and read micro-expressions humans couldn’t even detect, but he still didn’t understand others the way she did. She amazed him in so many ways.
Lance went up to the door and entered the security codes, spoke a voice command, and set his hand down on the scanner to verify his identity. Only then did the door open, letting all of them enter.
“So, where are our hosts?” Alyson looked around in confusion.
“At the Nova Club for the evening. Come on, we still have a little way to go yet.” Lance pointed to an almost unnoticeable door.
“They gave us their house?”
Lance entered another access code and the door slid open, revealing a staircase. “They loaned it to us for a few hours. You’ve been stuck in the med-center for days, and this is one of the safest places on the station. We’ve arranged for a Corp-Sec transport to get us home, too. In case anyone saw you leave.”
“So, we have this whole, amazing place to ourselves, and we’re going to the basement?”
“Trust us,” Dirk said.
Her hand tightened around his. “With my life.”
It was the highest compliment he had ever been given. When words failed him, Dirk did the only thing he could think of to show her what it meant to him. He pulled her into his arms and slammed his mouth down on hers. Need tore through him. He didn’t simply want her, he craved her. The heat of her mouth, the slender lines of her body pressed against his, the soft moan that reverberated against his lips as she gave herself over to him.
After a lifetime spent as an outsider, adrift, distrusted, and feared, she gave all of them the one thing they yearned for: acceptance. In return, he’d happily give her everything he had to offer. Even his life.
“Uh, Dirk? This date would go a lot better if you let go of our girl long enough for us to actually arrive,” Blade pointed out with a note of impatience.
“Before you let go, I have a question. What was that for?” she asked.
He stared down into her soft gray eyes and finally found the right words. “For being you. No one else sees us the way you do.”
“And how do they see you?”
“Outsiders,” Lance answered.
“Dangerous,” Blade said.
“Unworthy.”
“You’re none of those things. Not to me.”
“And that’s why we’re falling in love with you.”
Dirk had no idea which one of them had spoken. It didn’t matter. All three of them knew it was true. It wasn’t until he felt the weight of three surprised gazes that he realized he’d been the one to utter the words.
Alyson didn’t say anything, and her face was an unreadable mask. His brothers were staring at him like he’d grown a second head. Yeah, this is going well.
When she started to laugh, an icy hand wrapped itself around his heart and started to squeeze, but then she stroked his cheek and smiled. “You really don’t have a subtle bone in your body, do you?”
“Not really.” He leaned into her touch and thanked the stars above she understood. It was one more reason in a very long list why she was the perfect woman for them.
“Don’t change.” She looked around at the three of them. “I’m starting to like it.”
* * * *
Alyson was so distracted by Dirk’s confession that she didn’t pay much attention to where they were going. Stairs. Walls. Desks. It looked like an office of some kind. Lance was punching a code into yet another keypad when she finally took a good look at the pictures and notes that covered the walls. There were lists of corporations, rosters of names, some of which she recognized as cyborgs that lived on the Drift. There were images, too. “Hey, those are from outside my office door. And is that the forensic report on the weird pyramid message I got?”
“You’ve been busy working on your own projects, so you’ve never been down here.” Blade gestured around them. “Welcome to our group’s headquarters, or as Lieksa likes to call it, the bunker.”
“Good name for it.” She started to walk toward the nearest wall to get a better look, but Dirk caught her hand, stopping her. “We’re not here to work, remember?”
“We’re here, for this.” Lance stepped aside as the door slid open, revealing an impossible vista.
A meadow of blue-green grass and wildflowers lay on the other side of the threshold. Even standing where she was, she could hear the twittering notes of birds singing.
“How? What?” She rushed to the door and peered inside. The illusion—it had to be an illusion—was even more amazing up close. The sky overhead was a familiar shade of pale blue, and the hills that rose in the distance were ones she had seen countless times before. This was Cassien Alpha, her home planet, and the scene in front of her was a stunning recreation of the area where her grandparents lived.
“How?” She asked again.
“Apparently, our bosses are rich enough to have an entire sim-suite at their disposal. Lieksa helped us track down a program with data from your homeworld, and we recognized this area as similar to the one you have projected on your wall.” Lance cocked his head toward the door. “You going to go in? Or are you going to stand and stare at it?”
She kicked off her shoes and stepped into the sim. Her bare toes sank into the soft grass, and a light breeze swirled around her, making her dress flutter around her knees. Even the scent of the flowers was exactly the way she remembered it. A green and silver butterfly rose from the meadow to dance in the air in front of her, and she chased after it, just the way she used to do as a little girl. She forgot that it was an illusion and ran in the sunshine, letting go of all the dark worries and fears that had taken root in her soul over the last few months.
Footsteps pounded up behind her, and she spun around to see all three of her men running toward her, grinning and hooting with laughter as they raced across the field.
She squealed and broke to the left, leading them a merry chase for as long as she could. It didn’t take long for them to catch her. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her high into the air as her captor crowed in triumph. “Got you.”
“Yes, you do. The question is, what are you going to do with me?” She managed to twist enough to see that it was Lance who had caught her.
“That’s a loaded question. You sure you’re ready to hear the answer?”
There wasn’t a doubt in her mind. Not anymore. “Yes.”
“You two are in charge of organizing dinner. I’m taking our date on a tour,” he called out to his brothers.
“You’ve got ten minutes, then we’re coming to join you. Meet you by the pool?” Blade asked.
“There’s a pool?” she asked.
“Uh huh. Want to take a pre-dinner dip with me?”
“I didn’t bring a swimsuit. No one mentioned that was a possibility.” And she might not have believed them if they had told her. Even now, surrounded by the interactive hologram, it was hard to wrap her head around what she was experiencing.
Lance cradled her in his arms, then lowered his head to brush a kiss across her lips. “That was intentional. I’ve never been skinny dipping before, but I hear it’s fun. Want to try it with me?”
She laughed. “You’re trying to get me naked? Now? I thought we were having a dinner date.”
“Damn right I’m trying to get you naked. I don’t care about dinner. I want you, Alyson. I want to strip this pretty dress off and devour you, then carry you back to the others, lay you out like a banquet, and spend the rest of the night showing you what it’s like to be loved by three men at once.”
Her heart started to hammer against her ribs, and a frisson of heat danced over her skin. “I want that, too.”
He groaned, lifted her high enough to kiss her again, and started jogging across the meadow, sending a cloud of jewel-colored butterflies rising into the air.
It was a magical, wonderful moment that should have been perfect, but she was haunted by a faint, nagging voice reminding her that moments like this always came with a price.
By the time they arrived at the edge of a brook-fed pool of crystalline water, her stomach was twisted into knots. Amid all the fear and chaos of her life, she had finally found something good to hang onto. Lance, Dirk, and Blade were more than her bodyguards, they were her strength. Almost everyone she had opened her heart to had hurt her. If she did this and they walked away from her, she wouldn’t just be hurt, it might cost her everything, including her life.
“You’re frowning,” Lance said softly. “Why?”
“I… it’s…” She gave an embarrassed huff and decided to be honest. “I’m worried about what will happen if I stop fighting this and give in.”
Lance stared into her eyes as he lowered her gently to the ground and held her close.
“What do you think is going to happen?”
She shrugged and blushed a little. “I don’t know. I think that’s the problem. This is uncharted territory for me. I only trusted one other man the way I trust the three of you, and it didn’t end well.”
“What happened?”
“He cheated on me. We were engaged to be married, and I found out he’d had a mistress for almost the entire time we’d been together.
He made a strangled choking noise and shook his head. “So he was an asshole and an idiot?”
Her embarrassment faded a little, and she nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Anyone who cheated on someone as amazing as you doesn’t deserve to have you in their life. And for the record, if you left us, that wouldn’t be the end of anything. We’d follow you. Across the Drift or the fraxxing galaxy, for as long as it took to convince you we belong together.”
“That’s sweet. And a little scary. I think there are a few laws about stalking someone you should probably read up on.”
He chuckled and nuzzled her hair. “Probably. You know what I mean, though, don’t you?”
“I think so.” She understood, but that didn’t mean it was easy for her to accept. Not once in her life had anyone come after her. Every time she had walked away from the people who were supposed to love her, they’d let her go without a fight.
“Don’t think. Feel.” He touched a hand to her chest, right over her heart. “Right here.”
Alyson closed her eyes and laid her hand over his. “I haven’t followed my heart in a long time. You’re going to have to show me the way.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lance had never seen Alyson like this; vulnerable and unsure. They had been so busy enjoying the chase, it hadn’t occurred to any of them to wonder why she had held them at arm’s length for so long. Now, he could see the truth, and it made his heart ache. Someone had hurt her, leaving her tender heart scarred and wary.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and bowed his head until their mouths were only a whisper apart. “I can’t lead you somewhere I’ve never been. We’ll have to find our way together.”
Her only answer was a gentle sigh as she swayed against him, and he finally gave in to the need that had driven him for weeks. His mouth claimed hers in a searing kiss that sent his senses spinning. She tasted sweeter than any fruit he’d ever savored, and he knew he would never get enough of her. Not her sweet taste, or the subtle notes of her perfume, or the way her body fitted against his. This was why he had waited so long to kiss her - because once he had her in his arms like this, there wasn’t a force in the universe strong enough to make him let her go.
His brothers were still within view, arranging the food and wine they had brought on a blanket stretched out among the flowers. They would be joining the fun soon, but for this one, sweet, delicious moment, he had Alyson all to himself.
The two of them were wrapped around each other, but despite the challenges, he managed to shed several layers of clothing and weapons without letting go of her. It wasn’t until he began pulling off his shirt that she started to help. Her soft fingers glided over his bare skin, across his chest and then down, following the waistline of his pants until her hands were stroking up and down his back. When his shirt hit the grass, he turned his focus to her.
“Tell me there’s an easy way to get you out of this dress or I might just tear it off of you.”
“No need to get violent. The zipper’s in the back.”
“Then all I need is your permission. Do you want this, Alyson?”
She smiled up at him, her lips swollen from his kisses and her eyes full of trust. “Yes. I just hope—
He cut her off with a kiss before she could finish her sentence.
He pulled her in tight, letting her feel the hard length of his cock as he rocked his hips and ground their bodies together. His fingers found the zipper of her dress and tugged at it until it stopped midway down her back. Her warm skin was bare beneath his hands, their tongues tangled, bodies melded together from thigh to chest.
A light shrug and the straps of her dress slid off her shoulders, a slight wriggle and the entire dress began to slide downward. She let go of him long enough to let the dress fall to the ground, and then she was back in his arms again, blushing and naked except for her panties; which were nothing more than a scrap of fabric and lace that hid very little.
The sunlight played over her pale skin, highlighting every dip and curve of her slender frame. He wrapped a handful of her shining hair around his fingers and tugged her head back before kissing his way from her mouth to the exposed lines of her throat. Her hands splayed across his chest, and her hips rocked in time to his. He tore his mouth from her flesh to look around and quickly spotted the perfect location to continue their tryst. Lifting her again, he carried her to an outcropping of smooth, sun-warmed rocks near the center of the pool. He gritted his teeth as the water rose to his thighs. The cool water did almost nothing to quench the need burning inside him, but it did help to clear his head a little. Too bad it came too late to remember he was still wearing his pants…and boots.
“Did you forget something?” She was giggling.
“I got distracted. See what you do to me? A couple of kisses and I’m walking into lakes with my clothes on.”
“That might be the most flattering thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“That’s me, master of flattery.”
“So, now what, oh master?” She gestured around them. “And don’t you dare think about dunking me.”
“The last thing I want is for you to cool down, sunshine. In fact, I think it’s time I turned up the heat.”
He set her down on the flattest of the stones so she was sitting about a foot above the water. She let go of him and settled herself carefully into her new throne, reclining back on her hands and letting her toes dangle in the water.
She looked stunning, like a water fairy or a mermaid from an old Terran folkt
ale. He tore open his pants and leaned in to kiss her, working his way slowly downward from her lips to the perfect rise of her breasts. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. There was so much of her he wanted to stroke and savor. He moved slowly, enjoying every second of exploration until she was moaning and trembling beneath him.
“You are gorgeous,” he whispered, and sank down. She blushed and moved her legs closer together, but he stopped her, setting his hands against her inner thighs and pushing back until she stopped resisting.
He eased her legs apart until he could fit his shoulders between her knees, and only then did he remove his hands and reach for the knife still strapped to his thigh. He had her panties cut off before she had time to protest, and he winked at her as he stuffed the ruined garment into his pocket.
“You aren’t keeping those.”
“Oh yeah, I am. I’m thinking of starting a collection.”
“You’re going to be buying me replacements, then.”
His cock went harder than hull plating at the idea of buying her underwear. Lace and silk in every color and cut he could find. “That’s a brilliant idea. We’ll buy them, you can model them, and then one of us can tear them off and add them to the collection.”
She laughed. “Well, I guess I know what to get you all for your birthday and any other holiday, then.”
“Fraxxing hell, yes please.”
He dropped one shoulder and eased her leg over it, then did the same on the other side so her knees were over his shoulders and he was caught between her thighs. She was still blushing when she reached for him, her fingers tangling in his hair as she drew him in closer. “I think that’s my line.”
“Huh?” he muttered, barely able to think anymore.
“Whatever it is you’re going to do. My answer is, yes, please.”
He groaned, turned his head to kiss the soft skin of one of her inner thighs, and then moved in to press his face against the slick lips of her pussy. The heady scent of her arousal filled his senses, and he parted her lips with his fingers, exposing the delicate pearl of her clit. He lapped at it with the tip of his tongue, and she arched upward, crying out with delight and surprise.
