by Susan Kelley
“Lieutenant?” Box shifted his feet. Uncomfortable with his injured ribs or nervous about the insult he intended for Mak? “Sir, I’m glad you were here. If a…a regular soldier had been in charge, we’d all be dead. And you saved my life on Dewell after I disobeyed orders and left my post. I know I haven’t been a good junior officer to you.”
Mak couldn’t detect any hidden meaning in the corporal’s words. Could they be sincere? “We’re both trying to do our jobs, corporal. It’s part of your duties to point out any problems you foresee with my orders. Chain of command etiquette prefers such problems are shared in private.”
“Yes, sir. I apologize for letting my personal feelings interfere. It won’t happen again.”
Mak nodded. “Get your shower. I’ll close up the ship and run a sterilization sweep.”
Once on the bridge, Mak held his hands beneath the wall-mounted sterilizer before touching the control panels. The engines hummed with startup as he punched in the commands for a ship-wide sweep for pathogens and toxins.
More than ten minutes had passed since he’d carried Molly to his room. His only prior experience with women didn’t include any knowledge of how long it might take one of the complicated gender to bathe in the tiny showers of a starship.
He entered his room and found her still there. She wore one of his shirts and watched the cleaner as it finished up her clothing. The shoulders of the shirt sagged down her shoulders and the short sleeves hung past her elbows. The synthetic material copied the properties of cotton, soft and clinging as it did now to her breasts. The sight of them pressing against his shirt woke his body as much as her kisses had.
“I’m just waiting for my clothing. It’s almost done,” she said, seemingly unaware of his reaction to her wearing his shirt. Her damp hair hung heavily across her shoulders. She plucked at the shirt stretched across her chest. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
A small hoarseness marked her voice, and her face looked a little pale. Otherwise, she seemed recovered and steady on her feet. “I thought I felt the ship start up. You’re not thinking of leaving before we collect data are you?”
He wanted to take her in his arms and assure himself she was unharmed. But that would only expose her to the toxins lurking on his clothing and skin. “I’m running the detox program.”
The cleaner pinged to signal completion of its laundry cycle. Molly smiled and looked around. “Shall I change while you’re here?”
Uncomfortable heat rose to Mak’s face. “No. Wait until I get into the shower.” He dropped his weapon belt to his desk and then pulled off his boots. He ran his hand along the seam of his armored clothing. It peeled away and allowed him to step out of it.
Molly squeaked and put her hands over her mouth, but she didn’t look away from him as he walked to the shower. Odd reaction for a doctor who had probably seen many naked men before. And despite all his physical superiority he knew Recon Marines looked like other men on the outside.
Her unwavering gaze caused a reaction in his body stronger than seeing her in his shirt had. Damn. He hurried the few steps into the shower and closed the door behind him. When he emerged three minutes later he found his shirt folded on his cot and Molly gone.
Mak picked up the shirt and held it to his face. He slipped it on over his head. Probably a mistake to have her scent so close but he couldn’t resist. Couldn’t resist anything about her and to hell with the general’s orders.
****
Molly’s face flushed when Mak walked into the lounge to join them. All of them attended the meeting. Box and Pender had put together a meal and set the table for a family style dinner.
Mak wore the shirt she’d used, causing Molly’s face to heat even more. Then his intense gaze snagged hers and her discomfort settled into something deeper and filled with longing.
“You saved us, lieutenant,” Hector said. “Thought of lots of ways I might die in the outer worlds but being gassed wasn’t one of them.”
“At least it was going to be quick,” Helen said with a grin. “Took us less than two minutes to lose consciousness.”
“Do you have any idea what it was, Mak?” Molly asked.
Mak set down his fork as if reluctant to stop eating. “I have an analysis running now. For it to linger for so long it must have been a level ten weapon. In its original strength, one breath would have killed you.”
“And you?” Helen asked. “Would it have killed you?”
Mak picked up his fork again. “Not if I got out in time.”
“We have to retrieve all the data left behind.” Molly didn’t feel hungry as she recalled the bodies crumbled around the room. “Maybe we can figure out what happened. Do you think this was a chemical lab rather than a human experiment lab?”
“No. It was doing the same work as the others. The corporal and Pender will be using the small toxin detectors you have in the lab to put together a portable device. It should detect anything airborne. While they’re doing that, I’m going to use a portable air conditioner to flush out the facility. It will take a few hours.”
“Then we can go back in?” Molly asked.
“With oxygen masks for backup. We’ll test and retest.”
“I can’t wait to read their notes,” Hector said.
They all ate in silence for a while, the sun shining brightly through the small viewing port. The soldiers, including Mak, cleared the table and stacked the dishes in the cleaner.
“Does the sun ever set on this world?” Helen grumbled.
“We’ve been here for fourteen hours,” Mak answered. “It is time for sleeping. This portion of the planet has only two hours of dusk between sunset and sunrise.”
“No wonder I’m exhausted,” Hector said.
Molly thought the gas might have more to do with that than the actual hour. “We’ll reassemble in the lab in the morning. The gas analysis should be complete by then. When Mak gives us the word, we’ll go back in and figure out what happened.”
The others filed out, leaving Mak and Molly alone.
“What word?” Mak asked.
Molly laughed though it hurt her throat. “I think I left something in your room.”
“You didn’t.”
“Let’s go check.”
Mak led her to his room. As soon as they were both inside she closed the door. As he turned toward her, she walked into his arms. To her surprise, he enclosed her in a tight hug. She lifted her face and his lips found hers. He lifted her without breaking the kiss and carried her to his cot.
His clever hands found their way under her shirt, slipping beneath her practical support bra. He braced himself on one elbow as he stretched out beside her cupped her breast with his other hand. The cot insured their bodies fit tightly together along their lengths.
Mak threw his leg over her thigh, his knee pressing in to separate her legs. His cock pressed against her, as big and hard as a few hours before when he’d escaped into the shower. She tugged his shirt out of his pants and then pushed it up. He sat up and drew his shirt over his head, dropping it heedlessly to the floor. She followed suit, unsnapping only the top fastener before lifting her shirt over her head. But when her hands went to her bra, Mak stilled them. He undid the hooks himself, exposing her breasts slowly to his intent gaze.
She pulled his lips back to hers. He pressed her back into the firm mattress, his bare chest teasing at her nipples. The sensation filled her with heat so the rest of their clothing seemed too much and too tight. She pushed him away, earning his groan. But his disappointment turned to eagerness when her hands went to the buckle on his belt. They helped each other, their hasty fumbling amusing but Molly couldn’t laugh. Any clinical analysis of Mak’s perfect body became meaningless as her desire to be in his arms drove her to tug him down on top of her.
He landed in perfect position, bracing himself with an elbow beside her head. His other hand touched her opening, and she was ready for him. His fingers thrilled her but her body longed for more with an int
ensity she’d never experienced. He didn’t protest her urgings to replace his teasing with what she really wanted.
His first thrust sent her nearly to the edge she’d struggled to reach with any other man. He groaned and held still for a moment, as if savoring the fit of their bodies as much as she did. She moved her hands to his hips and guided him into motion. His long, strong rhythmic strokes stole her rational thoughts until she only thought of their bodies joined together. Nothing in her life had prepared her for such a loss of self as they melded into one. She whispered his name as if she couldn’t hold so much of him inside.
“Molly.” He groaned her name through lips pressed together.
She lost track of time, didn’t care about it, as muscles she couldn’t identify tightened into joyfully tense anticipation. They all seemed to expand at once and then contract again. She might have said Mak’s name again, but her voice was lost in sensations and Mak’s answering groans.
After a few moments awareness returned of their heavy breathing, a light sheen of sweat shared between their bodies, and Mak’s weight on top of her. Her mind sought a word to describe her feelings as she ran her hand over his sculpted back. Repletion. Total.
Mak moved, lifting her lethargic body as he did so they switched positions. He lay on his back with her sprawled half on top of him. Her heart still pounded and every muscle seemed made of putty. His arm pulled her tight against him and his heat held her there.
Molly slept for a while but something woke her. Her head rested on Mak’s shoulder. Though he didn’t move except to breath she sensed he wasn’t asleep. “What’s wrong?”
“You need more sleep.”
She propped herself up, glad for the soft light from the floor lamp near the door. Mak’s hand played with her hair hanging loose down her back. His other hand rested behind his head while he stared at the ceiling. “Tell me what you’re thinking about.”
He looked at her, his dark gaze sweeping over her face. An unusual twinge of uncertainty ran like a shiver through Molly. Physically he was the most beautiful man she’d ever met. Handsome men never gave her plain face and husky figure a second look. Even from what she knew of the Recon Marines and their social awkwardness, Mak could indulge lustful urges with any number of beautiful women. Unless he was in deep space with little choice. Should she mind if simple lust led him to her body?
He sighed and looked back to the ceiling. “I’ve never been in charge of an expedition where the soldiers under my command weren’t Recon Marines.”
“Kory and Andy do their best. Don’t be hard on them.”
“I’m not criticizing them. I’ve nearly gotten them both killed and today it was you and the other doctors I endangered.”
She sat up, tugging the blanket around her chest when his gaze dropped to her breasts. This was too important to allow his distraction. “Andy and Kory were injured by their own acting without forethought. And who could have guessed that they’d have a poisonous gas hanging in their halls? And that it would still be potent?”
“I should have considered it. And I should never have allowed my men to be in position to make a mistake.”
“Are all the Recon Marines so arrogant?”
Mak frowned. “I’m not arrogant.”
“Then you’re a god?”
“What?” He sat up too, folding his legs so they faced each other on the narrow cot. He tugged the pillow around and covered his lap with it since she had the single blanket.
“You’re the almighty one, protecting us mere mortals, seeing the future, omniscient to all possible threats and dangers? All powerful?”
“No. I never said that.”
“That is what your words imply.”
“You civilians twist words.”
She put her hand on top of his. “Mak. I’ve been doing some reading on psychology and I think I understand your distress each time we search a new lab.”
“I’m not distressed.”
“I know why they bother you. You’re wondering about your humanity.”
He opened his mouth but clamped it shut without saying anything.
She enfolded his hand in both of hers. “Not being perfect is part of being human. Regretting injuries to other people is being human. Worrying about those you’re responsible for is being human. Making mistakes is being human, Mak.”
He tugged on her hand so she fell against his bare chest. With an impressive show of strength, he rolled her beneath him, the blanket sliding off the side of the bed. His hand cupped her breast. “And what we’re doing now, doctor? Is this being human?”
She slid her leg up alongside his. “I’m not sure. We better test it.”
****
Mak retrieved the blanket and drew it over them. Molly sighed and snuggled closer to his side. Her breathing evened out as sleep reclaimed her.
He lay awake, thinking about what she’d said. She made it sound so sensible but it was more complicated than what she learned in her psychology studies. Those monsters and freaks they’d encountered could have been him. How could he think himself better than them? Would one slip up in the lab have made him and his brothers into cannibals?
The speed and fluid grace of the monster on Julian had reminded him of his brothers. And how much of the horror endured by those men had led to the science behind the creation of the Recon Marines? Had some of the same scientists worked on both programs? He felt no hostility toward the poor men they’d encountered, not even the one who’d murdered those poor villagers and eaten human flesh.
Molly was wrong. He had been careless. In both instances when his men were injured, it could have been prevented if Mak had been alone. He wouldn’t have set off the bomb that injured Pender. And Box would never had been in reach of the monster. From now on, Mak would do a complete reconnoitering of their target before any of them left the ship. He would be the first and only one through the door.
Probably Molly would have some more psychological theories about that, but he would endure any number of lectures as long as she remained safe. That such a woman of superior intelligence, a woman of science and medicine, would work to convince him of his own humanity almost made him believe it himself.
From what he’d read of Molly, she was the premier genius in the universe, the smartest woman anywhere. Certainly smarter than he was. And she thought of him as human. Did she make her judgment from a scientific viewpoint or something less factual?
He tightened his arm around her but not enough to wake her. A lesson he’d learned from Acacia was that a woman could share her body with a man without loving him. Sexual intercourse didn’t equal love. A woman could walk away from a man and never look back. He’d learned he had little understanding of what love felt like.
Molly surprised him constantly with the way she understood him and interpreted his words. He felt more at ease with her than any person other than another Recon Marine. By studying psychological writings, she strove to understand him even more. She treated him so naturally without any of the awkwardness many civilians displayed in the presence of the Recon Marines. But he must not place too much importance on her attitude. She was a person who pursued knowledge just for the sake of learning, wanting to know everything. Like he did.
His body yearned to join with hers again but she needed sleep to recover from the poisoning. She was physically strong and as courageous as any soldier. Everything about her seemed perfect.
Mak knew he’d done more than disobey the general’s orders. Not only hadn’t he kept a physical distance from Molly, he’d gone far beyond that.
A new dread had been added to this hellish mission. When it ended, Molly would have no more need of his presence.
Chapter Eleven
Molly woke alone in Mak’s bed when the cleaner chirped. Her neatly folded clothing sat on Mak’s desk chair. None of his warmth lingered beside her so he must have risen a while earlier. But what was in the cleaner?
She stood up, grimacing against soreness in unusual areas. Unusual
for her. How long since she’d lain with a man? More than a year. Two? So long ago that she remembered no details. A colleague probably, celebrating a discovery or mourning a failure. And giving her none of the satisfaction of her time with Mak. Her multiple times with Mak. Her giggle sounded loud in the empty room.
After a quick shower she pulled on her crisp clothing. Curious, she checked what the laundry cleaner had just completed.
Mak’s armored clothing. He would only have worn it if he went back into the lab facilities. Alone.
“Arrogant man.” She stomped up to the bridge but found it deserted. Only Pender occupied the lounge, glancing up from his sandwich.
That left the lab. Mak, Andy and Hector stared at the screen on the wall. Mak looked at her over his shoulder, the only one who heard her enter. His dark gaze swept her body, and his mouth quirked into his half smile.
Molly wasn’t in the mood for his charm. “Did you go back there alone?”
His eyebrow went up and his smile withered. “The plan was for me to enter alone and sterilize the building.”
“With the small portable we carry onboard? You would have to walk end to end slowly. It would take hours.” What if the gas had overcome him while he was in there alone?
“Two hours and seventeen minutes.” Mak gestured at the screen they’d been watching.
Molly noticed what filled the screen and decided to finish their discussion in private. Chemical analysis equations streamed back and forth. She wasn’t a chemist but she understood the science of toxins. Using gas in warfare against humans had been banned for centuries. But everyone knew the military still had a supply of the poisons and the means to treat those exposed to them. As a physician, she’d studied the known weapons. But the chemical compound on the screen looked like none she’d seen before. “What is it?”
Mak shook his head. “It’s a class six nerve gas with a hydrogen delivery system. I’ve never heard of it being used even against hostile wildlife.”
“Why would they have it here?” Andy asked.
“It kills quickly. Their previous experiments had taught them to beware their creations,” Mak said.
