by Hayes, Susan
“Who says Trevar gets to have me?” Sonja snapped and then moved to the edge of her chair as he watched in bemused silence. This wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting.
“I owe you an apology. You were working, and what we did was rude. At least, I think it was rude, that’s why I’m apologizing. It’s not for any other reason. Got it?”
Trevar snickered from behind her. “You tell him, kitten.”
“And you, behave yourself.” She threw Trevar a look that would have made a Tarin think twice before interrupting again, and then turned her attentions back to Deke.
“I’m not sorry I kissed Trevar, and I’m not sorry for this, either,” she declared and reached out to snag her fingers in the collar of Deke’s uniform, tugging him closer.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m choosing not to choose between you. You think I only want Trevar, but you never asked me. We’re three grown adults, with no one to answer to but ourselves. So my choice is not to choose at all. What you two do with that information is up to you.” She leaned in and brushed a feather-soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. Fire streaked through him, searing his veins and turning his control to ashes in nanoseconds.
“Come here,” he growled and hauled her into his lap, barely remembering to be careful not to let her injured feet touch the ground. Her laughter was the sexiest sound Deke had ever heard, and as she curled into his lap without hesitation, he knew that his decision was already made. He’d take everything she was offering, any way he could. If that meant sharing her with Trevar, so be it. Trios were the norm in Alliance relationships, so it’s not like this was unfamiliar territory…he and Trevar had just never considered partnering up.
Not until now.
“Consider this a declaration of intent.” He stroked a finger down the smooth line of her jaw until he reached the point of her chin, then tipped her head up. There was a hint of doubt in her beautiful eyes, and that was the final blow. This woman was so lovely she could have had any man she wanted, but she looked at him as if she was unsure that he wanted her. Him, with a head so full of tech he’d once had a woman question if he was even human anymore.
He had intended to be gentle, but that plan fell apart the moment his mouth took hers. Lips parted, breath mingling, he wrapped one hand around the back of her slender neck and drank her in.
Sonja felt as if she’d stepped into the heart of a star. Deke’s first kiss had molten pleasure coursing through her, and she felt as though she was on the verge of combusting. Her move had been a calculated risk. She hadn’t been certain he’d respond to her challenge, but now she was astounded by the passion she discovered lurking beneath his cool exterior.
He kissed her with a single minded purpose that was intoxicating. After a lifetime of living on the periphery of other people’s lives, to have all of one man’s attention was a heady sensation. He explored her mouth slowly, tasting and teasing until she was trembling in his arms. Strong fingers clasped the nape of her neck, his index finger stroking back and forth in tiny caresses that sent sparks of desire shimmering down her spine.
“Holy shit, the ice man has thawed,” Trevar muttered and Deke’s head snapped up, ending the kiss and leaving Sonja aching for more of his touch.
“Don’t fucking call me that,” Deke snarled, and she caught the pain in his eyes as he looked past her to glower at Trevar.
“Sorry. You know I didn’t mean it. I’m going to blame the lapse on the fact most of the blood in my body is not currently in my head.”
“Ass,” Deke muttered, but the tension was already leaving his body. It was odd, because most elites she’d known, including her fathers and brothers, were generally quick to anger and slow to calm down. It was a side effect of the genetic enhancements, which tended to amplify all aspects of the recipient’s nature. The men grew bigger, stronger and more dominant. Her oldest brother, Nikolai, wasn’t nicknamed Griz for his teddy bear-like personality. When he was unhappy he was as growly and dangerous as a grizzly bear, and damned near as big.
Deke was different from any other elite she’d ever met. For that matter so was Trevar, with his shaggy locks and easy charm. They weren’t cut from the same cloth as the spit and polished officers she’d been introduced to at countless social functions. If any of those types had been the ones to find her passed out in their cargo bay, Sonja imagined that her grand escape would have ended far differently. Thank the stars above that wasn’t how it turned out.
Sonja glanced out the view screen and laughed inwardly. She was going to have to change her vocabulary. The stars weren’t above her any more. They were all around her.
Trevar didn’t know what was hitting him harder, the emotional impact of finally feeling Deke let go of his control, even for a minute, or the physical effects of watching Sonja enjoy herself in the other man’s arms. He hadn’t expected to feel anything really. Not envy, and certainly not a fresh wave of lust. He’d thought those days were behind him.
He and his former partner, Cory, had chased more than their share of tail around the galaxy in their time, laughingly calling it training against the day they claimed a scroll of their own.
Cory had been dead ten years though, and in all that time Trevar had never shared a woman with anyone else, or looked for a new claiming partner. Now here he was, his cock hard enough to hammer steel as he watched an unclaimed scroll nearly half his age offer herself to his best friend while he could still taste her on his lips.
The universe was a whimsical fucking mood tonight, that was for damned sure.
“You two might want to hang on to each other a little tighter. I’ve suddenly got a strong urge to get out of hailing distance before anyone dirt side puts two and two together and figures out we might know something about a runaway scroll.” Trevar touched a finger to his lips and waited for both of them to nod before activating communications, audio only. He received permission to launch less than ten seconds later, and he had the docking clamps retracted and the thrusters engaged before he even got around to wishing the controller a good night.
As the orbital launch array fell away, Sonja gasped softly and he took a second confirm she was okay.
“It’s amazing,” she breathed, and he realized that she wasn’t talking about the planet, but the expanse of space that was unfolding in front of them. Stars filled the inky void, brilliant lights that shone with a clarity no one on Earth could ever experience. The blackness between the stars was absolute, making every speck of light seem even more precious.
“Give me a second, and I’ll show you something even better,” he said and tapped out a brief sequence of commands. The lights in the cockpit dimmed and the ship rolled as it altered trajectory. The three of them watched in silence as the vista changed, and then the river of blue and white light that was the Milky Way galaxy flowed into sight, highlighted against the curve of the Earth below. Stars without count blurred together into an ethereal glow with dazzling spots of blue, violet and indigo shining through here and there.
“No matter how many times I see that, it always takes my breath away,” Deke confessed quietly and Trevar had to agree with him. The cosmos was full of beauty on a scale that defied comprehension, but this was one of his favorite views. It had been since the first time he’d seen it, and would be until the day he died.
Sonja reached out one slender hand toward the view screens, framing the beauty between her fingers as if she could actually touch the constellations. “It’s so much more beautiful from up here.”
“Spoken like someone who has waited all her life to see it for herself,” Deke chuckled and tugged the girl back into his arms with a flash of smug satisfaction strong enough that Trevar felt it without even trying.
“All your life, huh? Well then, kitten, welcome to the party.” Trevar glanced over at her and she turned to beam at him, her smile as bright as the stars outside.
“Thank you. I mean that. Thank you both. Whatever happens, wherever I end up, I’m grateful to
have gotten to see this, and to have a chance to make my own choices. I…I know you two could get in a lot of trouble if you get caught. So, thank you for not tossing me onto the station for the general to deal with. She would have sent my ass back to Earth faster than light speed.”
“She doesn’t need the credits as badly as we do,” he deflected Sonja’s praise, suddenly feeling badly about taking her money. Before he could ask her how she knew the commander was a woman, she asked them another question.
“What are you going to do with the credits?”
Deke answered, in part because he knew Trevar would want to focus on navigating them away from the station, but mostly because if Trevar started talking about their goals, he wouldn’t shut up for at least an hour. “We’re working on a down payment for a ship of our own. Once we have it, we’ll leave Alliance service and work for ourselves. Same job, only we’ll be our own bosses, and of course we’ll be hauling much more interesting cargo than the Alliance usually lets us transport.”
She laughed, snuggling deeper into his arms and lowering her head to his chest. “Sounds like you two are looking to run away from home, too. You’re tired of being told what to do, same as me.”
“You got that right,” Trevar grumbled as he studied the displays in front of him.
“I have one last question to ask,” Sonja murmured. Deke glanced down to see that her beautiful eyes were filled with fatigue, and for the first time he could see how tired she really was. The shock of her wild ride in the cargo hold had faded, but there were shadows lingering beneath her eyes.
“What’s that, sweetheart?”
“Where am I sleeping tonight?”
“My bunk. Don’t worry, I won’t be in it. Trevar and I are going to be up for hours yet.”
“Don’t want to be stealing your bed.”
Trevar chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, kitten. Tomorrow we’ll talk about sleeping arrangements. Tonight, you need to get some rest.”
“’Okay, but not yet. Can I stay up here and watch? Or am I going to be in the way soon?”
“You’re not going to be in the way. You can stay right where you are until we activate the jump engines. You won’t want to miss that.”
She nodded and he felt her grow relaxed and heavy in his arms. It was the most amazing feeling in the world, and as far as Deke was concerned, she could stay there for the rest of the damned night if she wanted. He was already formulating a plan to address their sleeping arrangements. All he needed was a few hours to program the holo-room. If things continued to work out between them, neither man was going to need to use it for recreation this trip. Not when they had something infinitely better to occupy their time.
***
CHAPTER FIVE
“How much longer do you think she’ll sleep?” Deke asked for the sixth time in the last hour, and Trevar finally gave in to the need to laugh. The Arca was flying on automatic pilot, leaving the two of them free to relax in the small amount of space that was the officially designated recreation area on board. In reality, it was a combination mess, gym, and observation lounge, separated from the galley only by a half-wall that doubled as a counter.
“How the fuck would I know? I’m always long gone before a woman wakes up in the morning. She had a rough night, and we have no idea what happened before she stashed herself in our cargo bay. It’s been what, ten hours? She’ll be up soon.”
Deke slouched a bit deeper into his chair. “So, we’re actually going to do this? You, me, and her?”
And there it was. He’d been waiting for Deke to broach the topic the younger man had been avoiding since they had tucked Sonja in last night and left her to heal and sleep. “Why shouldn’t we? Our kitten seems to have made her feelings pretty damned clear.”
“She did, didn’t she?” Deke lifted his hand slightly in his minimalistic version of a shrug. “I just never thought about us partnering the same woman.”
Trevar pushed himself out of his chair and started pacing the small space as he organized his thoughts. He didn’t like talking about the past, but if they were going to do this with Sonja, Deke needed to know where he stood. “I never thought about it either, because I never expected it to come up. You know I was partnered before, and you know how that ended. Not to mention the fact that most of the women we meet are either off limits or professionals. That said, I consider you a damned good friend. The only man I trust to have my back no matter what. So I have no problem sharing Sonja with you.”
Deke cocked a brow at him. “Did you rehearse that?”
“Maybe. If you repeat a word of that I’ll beat your freckled ass from here to the ashes of Krytos, we clear?”
“Crystal. And for the record? I consider you my best friend. Now, can we be done with this emotional shit or do we need to hug first?”
“I’m your only friend, asshole, and if you try and hug me I will hurt you.”
“Well, damn. I was hoping to see you two hugging it out.” Trevar spun around to see Sonja leaning against the galley counter. She must have showered, because her hair spilled over her shoulders in still-damp waves, and her face was alight with cheerful health with no sign of fatigue or fear. She was wearing the clothes they’d found for her…at least some of them. Apparently the pants hadn’t fit, because he was being treated to an eyeful of long, bare legs. His cock went instantly hard and the temperature in the lounge felt like it went up five degrees in three seconds or less.
Holy fuck, his clothes had never looked so good.
There wasn’t much in their wardrobes that would come close to fitting her much smaller frame, but they’d found the best of what they had and left it at the end of her bunk. She’d picked out one of his sweaters, and the knitted, dark-blue fabric came down past mid-thigh. Her feet were encased in a pair of thick socks, soft enough to act as a cushion in case her feet hadn’t fully healed yet, and so big that they sagged around her slender ankles even though she’d folded them over.
“You look like you’re feeling better,” Deke observed, and Trevar felt slightly better when he noted the other man was staring at her like she was the desert cart at New Vega’s finest eatery. At least he wasn’t the only one losing his mind at the moment.
“Much better.” She absently tugged at the edge of the sweater where it hit her thighs. “Thank you for letting me have your bed, and for the clothes. This is yours, isn’t it, Trevar?”
“Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”
“The top, it smells like you,” she said, blushing slightly at that confession.
His mouth opened, but his brain was too busy short circuiting to form actual words for a long few seconds. That shouldn’t have been sexy, but damn, when she said it, it was.
“You gave her a dirty sweater? For fucks sake, we did laundry three days ago.”
“I gave her a clean shirt, thank you. I’m not a total barbarian.”
Sonja couldn’t help it, she giggled. The two of them were being so cute. And the scene she’d witnessed between them a few minutes ago had touched her deeply. Sonja hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but when she’d left Deacon’s room she’d heard their voices and followed them down the narrow corridor. Her brazen courage of the night before had faded, and she hadn’t even been sure what to say to them now. What if they had changed their minds?
Listening to their conversation had disabused her of that notion. They still wanted her, and as she watched them, she knew she still wanted them, too. They were so different, but she wanted them both.
“What are you laughing at?” Deke asked, pushing out of his chair to stand next to Trevar.
“The two of you. You’re really cute when you bicker at each other. How long have you been friends, anyway? Because you sound like my brothers. Well, one of them. Nicolai bitches and snarks at his best friend the same way. They were at it all the way to the ceremony yesterday. I thought Alayna was going to smack them both by the time we got there. Alayna is my new sister-in-law…and I’m babbling, aren’t I?”
&nb
sp; “You are. It’s adorable. And I need you to back up a bit there. Is that why you were all dressed up and on the base last night? You were at the base generals’ bonding ceremony?”
“Well, yeah. Not even my parents were going to keep me away from my brother’s bonding ceremony, though I did have to take an extra bodyguard along. Not that it stopped me from running.” She grinned at him.
“Oh, fuck.” Deke groaned and scrubbed a hand over his beard.
“You’re brother’s the general in charge of Fort Saken? I thought his name was Neilson?”
“That’s my brother’s partner, Colin. They run the place together though, Nikolai runs security.”
“Kitten, you are going to be the death of us, you know that, right? Just so I’m clear on the details, your family is rich and happen to own one of the biggest robotics companies on the damned planet, if not the whole system. And your brother is the commanding officer in charge of the base we stole you off of? Anything else you want to tell us? Is your mom on the Council of Regents? Maybe you’re related to High Commander Jax fucking Spartan? Yeah, I bet you’re cousins…”
She laughed and shook her head. “Nope, not related to the Spartan family. I’ve met them, though. Lovely people, and Jax’s sister is a lot of fun.”
“Of course you have,” Deke groaned again and then crossed his arms across his impressively broad chest. “Anything else?”
“Nothing comes to mind.”
