They barely made it inside the door to the soft carpet where he lowered both of them to the floor and turned over onto his back, letting her sit on top of him.
She sat up straight and stretched back, letting herself enjoy the feel of him filling her.
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he said, his voice almost a hush. He slowly worked his hands along her waist, up to her breasts, then around her shoulders before moving back to her breasts and down along her hips.
His hands were still wet, but she could feel the hardness in them, and the tenderness. His touch sent shivers through her, causing her to move on him.
He thrust up into her, trying to hold her still, but this time she would control him.
And there was going to be no waiting this time around.
She shoved him back down and started to move on him, faster and faster.
For a moment he kept his hands moving on her breasts, her shoulders, her back, seemingly everywhere at once. Then he just dropped his arms to his sides and let her take complete control as she picked up her pace until finally a second release hit her, even more powerful than the first one in the pool.
And once again he joined her with more passion and love than she had ever felt before.
She had no idea how long that moment lasted. It felt like it went on forever, and yet was over far, far too quickly.
As the waves of pleasure subsided, she slumped down onto his chest and hugged him. He put an arm around her, breathing hard.
They lay that way on the carpet until they both had caught their breaths. Then she pushed herself back up to look into those wonderful green eyes. He was still inside her, but she could feel his passion starting to subside.
She smiled at him, then quickly kissed him before once again pushing herself back up to sit straight on him.
“Now that was some dessert,” she said.
He smiled and laughed. “That it was.”
“You ready to get to work?” she asked.
He nodded. “I might be able to concentrate on something besides you, now.”
She laughed and stood, standing over him, straddling him, letting him stare up at her naked body from his position on the floor. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
He couldn’t seem to do anything but just stare up at her. He opened his mouth, but not one word came out.
She held that pose just long enough that he would never forget the view, then stepped back out onto the pool deck, retrieved her gun and clothes, and headed for the bathroom.
The entire time all he did was lay there on the floor, his magnificent body completely exposed as he watched her.
And she loved being watched by him. Far more than she wanted to admit.
Her knees were wobbling and she wanted to just go back and sit on him again, hold him, make love to him all night long.
Somehow she made it to the bathroom. They had work to do first.
But she knew, without a doubt, there would be a next time. And as far as she was concerned, that next time better be pretty damned soon.
CHAPTER TEN
RED JUST LAY THERE on the carpet and watched Mattie move to the bathroom. There was no doubt in his mind she was the most beautiful and sexy and passionate woman he had ever been with.
And maybe the most dangerous as well, not because of her ability to kill someone with a simple hit, but dangerous to his mind. As she had walked to the bathroom, all he wanted to do was ask her to come back.
Yet he knew they had work to do and little time to do it if Carson was right.
The thought of his friend being gone forced him to climb to his feet. Carson would have liked the two of them together, of that Red now had no doubt.
He moved back out onto the patio, retrieved his gun and clothes and headed into his bedroom, doing his best to push out the fantastic memory of what had just happened and the wonderful images of her standing naked in front of him at the pool.
Or standing over him in the living room.
She knew how to make a sexy memory, that was for sure.
There would be time for more memories if he had his way.
But right now he and Mattie had to figure out what had caused Carson’s death and what to do next to stop a possible sector invasion Carson saw coming.
If there was anything they could do.
He cleaned up in the master bedroom bathroom, dried his long hair as best he could, slipped on a clean dress shirt and slacks, and rolled up his sleeves again. He left his gun on the table just inside the bedroom door.
He didn’t trust her completely, but at the moment they needed to work together, needed to give and take a little trust to get this job done.
In the process they needed to survive and get to know each other better.
And make some more wonderful memories.
He had just dropped onto the couch when she came out of the bathroom.
She simply took his breath away every time he saw her. No woman had ever done that to him. He wanted to go to her, hold her, kiss her again, but he knew that would not help what they needed to do right now, so he just smiled at her smile and said nothing.
She had left her jacket off and now only wore the white blouse. She also had rolled up the long sleeves on the blouse giving her a look of an office worker after hours.
She put her jacket on the small table near the door and he heard the slight clunk of her gun in the jacket pocket. She also dropped her shoes near the door, picked up the data pad she had brought with her and walked toward him barefoot.
So she was trusting him just a little as well.
That was a good start at least.
And the sex had been a great start.
She moved over behind the couch, leaned down and kissed his upturned face.
He kissed her back until she pulled away, smiling. “Someday,” she said, “you are going to have to tell me how you suddenly grow extra arms.”
He laughed. “Trained in message therapy,” he said.
“Oh, my,” was all she said to that and he smiled again at her. She clearly had enjoyed that skill.
Then she came around the couch and sat in a chair facing him. Clearly she felt that a safe distance for both of them at the moment.
He couldn’t agree more.
“Where do we start?” she asked.
“I think we have two choices,” he said. “We could go through every bit of the data Carson gave us together, seeing if either of us missed something.”
She nodded. That made sense, but he knew that neither of them had missed anything.
“Or we could try to get into the ship that brought the attackers here,” he said, “see if we can find anything there.”
Her eyes slightly enlarged. “You think they had one and it’s still here?”
He had surprised her with information she didn’t have and hadn’t thought of.
“My people tell me it is,” Red said. “You think that might be a something important?”
She nodded. “We can try to get in their ship. See what we can see, download any data they have in there and where their last flight came from. It might back up Carson’s data. And besides, Carson’s data will always be here when we get back. We have entire organizations working on it right now.”
“I agree,” he said. “But any ideas how we might get permission to board that craft?”
“Smile nicely at the men outside,” she said, laughing. “I’ll bet their chief of security hadn’t thought of that ship either.”
Red laughed. “I’ll bet you’re right. Can you call Sector Force headquarters and pull a few strings?”
She nodded. “I can try.”
“Good,” he said. “I’ll call my people and see if they can help as well. Between us we might get something or someone to budge to let us in that ship.”
“Never hurts to try,” she said.
“But first we have to stop at my ship,” he said. “I have some equipment on board that can sense bombs and other
kinds of traps that might have been set for anyone going aboard.”
“Of course you have a ship,” she said, shaking her head and standing.
“Comes in handy when you want to haul around a lot of stuff,” he said, laughing.
“I’ll bet.”
He headed for the bedroom to get shoes and his gun.
By the time he came out she had her shoes and jacket back on and he had no doubt she was armed and very dangerous.
And that was one of the many, many things he liked about her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MATTIE WAS SURPRISED that Red’s people had discovered the attackers had come on a ship. She spent so much time on the big intersystem passenger ships, it just hadn’t occurred to her they hadn’t also arrived in some similar fashion.
When she contacted Sector Force Headquarters, she asked them to check any registry of any odd ships in the port here. And then do whatever it would take to get her permission to get on that ship.
Red had done the same for his people.
She gave him one more kiss on the cheek just before he opened the door to the suite.
“That was fun,” he said. “You up for a rematch?”
She just laughed. “When you are and the time is right.”
With that he gave her one of his soul-melting smiles and opened the door to his suite.
Again she asked herself how one man could be so attractive, kiss so well, and smell so good at the same time.
Outside in the foyer four of the station police sat. Two were asleep, but jerked awake as she and Red approached. They were all wearing tourist-like bright clothing, but clearly all were uncomfortable in the look. And none of them could hide their guns well under those bright flowered shirts.
She and Red walked up to them. “Gentlemen,” she said, smiling at them with her sweetest smile, “we need to talk to your chief of security at once. Can you have him meet us somewhere close to the port, please?”
“But it’s late,” one of the men said, his voice a half-whine.
“We know,” Red said. “But this is a matter of station security. You think that firefight this afternoon was bad, there is much worse coming. We need to talk to your security chief and now.”
With that Mattie turned away and Red matched her step-for-step.
It felt wonderful having him at her side. She loved working alone, but this was a feeling she had no doubt she could grow to like.
Behind them the four station security officers thundered along all the way to the lift like a herd of cattle.
She and Red got on the lift and smiled at the four men watching them.
“We’re headed to the port,” Red said to them. “We do not plan to leave. Have your chief meet us near my ship.”
All four men nodded like their heads were on the same string as the lift doors closed.
She could barely contain the laughter until the lift had moved them far enough away from the four officers.
Red laughed with her.
“Those poor men are just not used to something like this,” she said. “I’ll bet that up until today shoplifting was the worse crime they had seen in a very long time.”
“No bet,” Red said, laughing as well. “But if something gets wild, let’s try not to let them get killed. They all seemed to be married and such snappy dressers.”
“Deal on that,” she said after she stopped laughing.
She and Red were halfway across the main lobby, walking at a steady pace before the herd of officers behind them began to follow. The restaurant covered by trees was to her right, a few open gift shops were to the left.
There were less than two dozen people in the large lobby.
Then she noticed it. Near the front desk, sitting on a couch, was a man pretending to read some sort of tablet. He had jerked slightly when he saw them coming.
“Man sitting to the left,” she whispered without breaking stride.
“Two more near the trees on the right,” he whispered. “Looks like the ship had more crew on it.”
“Seems that way,” she said, scanning the others in the lobby.
“Those are the only three I see,” he said.
“I agree,” she said. Again they were out in the open, caught in a horrid position.
“We’ll be in their crossfire in ten steps,” Red said. “Any chance they are just more security officers?”
“Zero,” she said. “They are trained military. Dressed the same as the attackers this afternoon. Can you get them both on your side?”
He chuckled and she smiled.
The guy sitting on the couch had his gun out of his jacket when she placed a single shot in the middle of his forehead.
She had her gun put away almost instantly without missing a step.
Red didn’t allow the other two to get off any shots either. He dropped both of them with two shots and had his gun back in his back holster before their bodies hit the ground.
The two of them just kept walking toward the port.
After four or five more steps to make sure there were no other attackers lurking in some hidden location, she turned around and shouted back to the four confused officers standing with their guns drawn behind them.
“Sorry for the mess, gentlemen. Make sure your chief of security meets us.”
“Think that stupid ship is empty now?” Red asked, shaking his head.
“We can only hope so,” she said, touching his arm. “Have I told you how good you are?”
He smiled down at her. “What exactly are we talking about?”
“Oh,” she said, turning and smiling up at him, “just about everything.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
THEY REACHED THE PORT to be met with the Chief of Security, a man named Lovell. He was clearly ex-military, but a long time past. The soft life of living on a plush station like this had sent a lot of his muscle downward to rest in a fairly large stomach.
But he still wore his uniform well and had managed to get dressed and down to the port without missing combing his thinning hair over a bald spot.
“Thanks for meeting us, sir,” Red said, giving the man clear respect. That was a great way to get an official to do something, but Mattie wasn’t sure if Red actually didn’t respect the man.
“What just happened back there in the lobby?” Lovell demanded.
“We were ambushed again,” Mattie said. “Your men saw it all and I’m sure you have it on camera. We couldn’t let the attackers get off a shot for fear of them accidentally hitting a bystander or one of the employees.”
Lovell just shook his head. “At some point I’m going to need statements again from both of you.”
“Understood, sir,” Red said. “But first we would like to board the ship that all these killers came here on. You are the only one on the station that has the power to allow us to do that.”
Mattie watched him for an instant and knew he was going to let them.
“Are you sure it’s now empty?” Lovell asked, his thick, round face showing worry.
“No,” Mattie said. “And we’re not sure it’s not rigged with explosives, either. But we have equipment to scan the ship before we try anything to make sure it’s safe and won’t blow up half this station.”
With that the Chief’s face went white. “You have that sort of equipment?” Lovell asked, first looking at Mattie, then at Red.
“On my ship, sir,” Red said.
Then he motioned that the Chief move over out of earshot of the other offices with him and Mattie.
She knew what he was doing and it was a risk, but one they needed to take at the moment.
Red, in hushed tones, quickly described to Lovell the basics of what Carson had found and how an attack was probably due soon.
“A fleet of ships in The Emptiness?” the Chief asked. “I thought they were only a myth.”
“You know something about them?” Mattie asked.
“Just a little,” he said. “Nothing solid at all.”
S
omething still wasn’t adding up to Mattie. But at least they were another step closer.
The Chief’s face went pale. “You think that’s one of their scout ships?”
Red said, “We need to find out, don’t you think?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MATTIE WAS JUST AS STUNNED at Red’s ship as she was with the suite he had rented. It was sleek and just sitting in the dock looked fast. And it was much, much larger than it looked.
“Wow,” she said as she entered and saw the plush blue carpet and light wood walls in the wide hallway that led through the middle of the ship toward a wide recreation room in one direction and toward the front of the ship in the other.
It had a fresh meadow smell. There was faint jazz music playing in the background. “How big is this ship? It feels more like a liner. And do you keep the music playing all the time?”
Red laughed and turned toward the front of the ship and she followed.
“Music and lights come on when I key in my password on the door. It can hold thirty people comfortably with everyone having their own bedroom.”
“But you travel in this alone?” she asked. “No crew, no help?”
“None needed,” he said. “This is basically my home and normally in port I stay here on the ship. But I had heard about the nebula views and wanted to be closer to where Carson was staying this time.”
With the mention of Carson’s name she didn’t say anything more and neither did Red. But there was no doubt she felt comfortable in this ship. Completely.
Her entire home back at the Sector Force headquarters was close to the size of this ship and, when there she loved it, loved being able to be alone and yet have room to move around. Clearly she and Red were alike in more ways than she wanted to think about at the moment. She had a hunch that would be both good and bad if they survived this coming fight.
He turned and went into what looked to be an equipment room of some sort, only without any windows. This was not the room where this ship was flown, she knew enough about ships and how to pilot one to know that. This room with walls of different machines and control panels and large screens was more like a defense room of some sort.
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