“There was. I know it! My father was one of the top scientists on board. They had to have had a lab! There's just been some sort of mistake. Maybe.... No, never mind,” she dwindled off into thoughtful silence.
“What? What's goin’ on in that head of yours? I can't help if you won't tell me what your idea is.” He turned the chair she was seated in so that she faced him instead of the map on the computer screen. She looked up at him, but her expression was completely unreadable, sealing him out, holding him at arm's length like she had from the first.
Such a hard ass, he thought for perhaps the hundredth time, unconsciously bringing his hand up to run it lightly along the side of her jaw. She flinched at the contact, a flash of some unknown emotion steeled over her face, then quickly disappeared, covered by the cool facade once more.
He dropped his hand, suddenly embarrassed by his lack of control. “Your idea?” he persisted.
“I just thought that maybe since something has control over the ship, it could also have command over how it projects the layout."
Despite her best efforts to ignore it, his proximity made her nervous. She could almost feel her tentative grip on her control slipping with each passing second. She found it nearly impossible to focus completely on the important task at hand when it took no more than his scent, the light touch of his breath, the most innocent contact to bring heated memories surging through her.
“You might have a point—if they had scientist aboard ship, it was for a reason, and whatever that reason was, there would've had to have been a lab—but does it really matter now? I say we just start looking for Hunter and Osborne and see what they know. If we find a lab on the way, so be it, if not...."
He straightened, moving away from her then and turned to go.
“You're right. I had just hoped there might be some clue we could find hidden in the labs that would clear everything up. It was just wishful thinking ... Let's go.” Breanna followed him out, mentally kicking herself again for her stupidity. Why did he have this effect on her when no one else ever had before? Was it just the circumstances they had been put in together or was it something else?
They walked down the wide corridor to the first of a series of stairwells, which continued on into the bowels of the ship. Breanna paused at the opening, reluctant to make the descent. They would be almost helpless in the narrow opening, encumbered by its closeness, but there was no other choice. The ship had to be searched until the missing men were located and she couldn't very well send her men off to search and then refuse to participate because it made her as uneasy as everyone else.
After sending her a searching glance, Caleb her proceeded down the steps. Dragging in a deep, sustaining breath, Breanna followed him after only a moment's hesitation. The hollow sound of their footsteps reverberating off the walls around them in nerve-grating, metallic loudness, set them both on edge. They moved slowly, cautiously downward until they had reached the bottom. Like the rest of the ship, the area seemed deserted ... lifeless. After a brief reconnoiter, they continued their descent into the lower levels of the ship, taking each set of stairs warily until they had reached deck 23, just two levels above the hold.
Caleb stopped Breanna with a restraining hand on her shoulder before she had a chance to go further, leaning close to her ear. “Wait a minute. I think there's something here. The air ... it feels ... different. Do you feel it?” he whispered.
Breanna frowned, wondering, at first, if it was merely one of his ploys to initiate intimate contact. She realized very quickly, however, that he was right. “Yes, I do."
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when her headset, which was now draped around her neck instead of on her head, screeched a loud metallic protest. Breanna jumped at the unexpected noise and fumbled with its controls, turning it off. It seemed almost like a bad omen. It had certainly thwarted any attempt on their part to surprise the men ... or whatever was nearby.
Caleb waited patiently as Breanna turned off the headset. He didn't like the way the radios had been acting up since they'd been on board. Could it have something to do with what was happening to the ship? Did it have the same effect on the headsets as it had on everything else on board? It seemed unlikely if not down right impossible, but then, so did everything else which had happened to them. He'd just have to talk with Breanna about it later. Maybe she knew more than she had told him.
“I wonder why these keep acting up?” she asked softly, though she didn't expect an answer.
Caleb shrugged his shoulders in response.
She had forgotten, in her wrestling with the radio, why they had stopped. How strange. It wasn't like her to forget something important, but to save her life she couldn't remember. A little embarrassed, she prepared herself for ridicule and asked. “Why did you stop me?” she felt dumb for it now, seeing his mocking gaze on her.
Caleb felt his amusement vanish when it occurred to him that he couldn't remember why they'd stopped either. He pondered her question. Something strange was going on here. Why could he not remember why he'd stopped her? Particularly when he knew it was something important. It felt almost as if something had picked his brain of the information. The more he thought about it, the more it eluded him. But he couldn't just tell her he didn't know. She'd think he was crazy.
“I thought we could check out this level before we go down to the bottom. I think this is as good as any other place to start your search,” Caleb said, relaxing when she nodded her in agreement.
They left the stairwell and headed toward an intersection of three halls—one branching off to the left and another to the right.
“Which way would you like to go, Captain?” Caleb asked.
Breanna looked dubiously at the two corridors. “Let's just keep going this way.” She turned to look at him. He seemed satisfied with her response. She was glad, though she didn't know why.
“Fine by me. You're the boss."
The corridor was rounded with dimmed lights ringing it at regularly spaced intervals. No doorways marred its smooth surface. They walked down the twisting, turning corridor for several more minutes, before Breanna spoke up. “I don't think there's anything down here. I don't see much point in continuing, do you?"
“Nah. Give it time, there's got to be something down here. They wouldn't just have built a hall leading nowhere. Besides, I'm curious as to where it leads now."
Breanna felt a touch of annoyance at his comment. You'd think she was an imbecile! Like, she couldn't figure out the corridor had to go somewhere! But that was hardly the point! They had a purpose for being here. She was quite sure of that!
Strangely, her anger vanished almost as abruptly as it had surfaced and she wasn't sure in the next moment why she'd been irritated at all. She felt a little flicker of doubt, feeling, vaguely, that there was some threat she needed to be aware of, that she needed to keep her wits about her. She felt a little reassured that she remembered why they'd come. They were looking for a couple of her men that were missing....and something else. It was the something else that she couldn't remember, but finally she decided, since she couldn't, then it couldn't possibly be anything she need worry about.
“I don't know about this,” Breanna whispered, dimly aware that they really oughtn't be wasting time searching what was obviously a dead end.
She glanced at Caleb as she spoke and studied him as they walked steadily towards their unknown goal. He seemed so full of purpose. Every action he took had some significance in a larger goal of which she knew nothing. What could it be?
Quite suddenly, she wanted to scream at him to tell her. Her curiosity was eating at her, burning her up inside. She didn't know why, but she felt this insane urge to know the man, to know his thoughts, his life, his goals. It was the first time she had ever felt such yearning and she didn't know if she could stand it.
He wouldn't let her get close to him, not that she really thought it would be wise to do so. It would endanger her independence, would endanger her livelihood
to be emotionally attached to another person. But she couldn't help the way she felt. She had been missing something in life, something she couldn't quite understand ... still couldn't. She had a strong suspicion that it had something to do with what she felt for Caleb. How strange that such a misfit of society would be the answer to what she had sought long and hard to find. But then again, she was also a misfit—just another kind.
Breanna dropped her gaze from his face to travel down one well muscled arm to the hand which gripped the large gun used solely by point men. His hand was large, with long tapered fingers. He didn't have “working man's” hands. They looked more suited to finer work than that—like an artist's hands. They'd felt like artist's hands when he was wringing such pleasure out of her, she thought dreamily, then berated herself for thinking of such things.
Yet it was okay just to think about it, right? As long as she didn't go any further she'd be alright.
“What are you looking at?” Caleb asked, obviously amused that she was studying him—again.
“Nothing,” she said, a bit too quickly than was believable, even to her own ears.
“Aw, come on now. You don't expect me to believe that do you?” he said, enjoying the chance to aggravate her. It was really the only time he could talk with her, be it teasing or not. He didn't feel completely at ease with her, perhaps because he didn't know if he could trust her.
“What would you have me say? That I was studying you?” she asked incredulously, giving a humph of contempt. Far be it from her to admit to anything he could embarrass her with. Breanna quickened her pace in an attempt to get away from him.
Caleb pulled her up short with a quick hand around her arm. “I know better than that. You're just too chicken to admit it. And why are you all of a sudden walking so fast? Tryin’ to get away from me?” He laughed when she tried to jerk her arm from his grasp. She turned around and slapped at him with her free hand, the blow missing his face and glancing off his raised arm instead.
“Hey, no need to get rough!” he laughed and shouted at once. He slung his gun over his shoulder and grabbed both of her hands, pinning them down near her waist on the wall behind her.
“Let me go you ... you ... oaf! You big jerk! Why can't you just leave me in peace!” she growled at him.
“Calm down. Do you want everyone to hear you? That'd be a pretty picture. Me and you pressed up against the wall with the whole squad around us."
“If you'd let me go we wouldn't have that problem,” Breanna growled at him. He gave her a dubious look that said he didn't believe her for a minute. She settled down after that, however—the thought of someone finding her in such a position a bigger worry to her at the moment than her freedom.
Caleb relaxed his grip but didn't release her. She was such a wildcat. He didn't know what she would do if he let her go—run away or scratch his eyes out. “What's got into you anyway? I was just teasing.” He studied her face as he asked the question. Her eyes, which had sparkled with anger before, now appeared moist with tears.
“Nothing ... There's nothing wrong with me. Will you just let me go now? I promise I won't try to hit you.” Her voice cracked with emotion. Breanna blinked rapidly to banish the tears she felt come to her eyes. What in the world was happening to her? She'd never been one to show such an outburst, especially one of tears—and she wasn't about to start that.
Caleb felt like kicking himself for wreaking such havoc on her. She looked so vulnerable ... fragile ... alone ... so much like himself it was unbelievable. Her bottom lip quivered in reaction to her outburst—a betrayer of just how nervous she was. Caleb studied it, fascinated by its smooth heart-shaped perfection. His casual study was interrupted by her sudden seizure of it with her teeth. He looked up and met her violet-eyed stare. She regarded him almost expectantly.
He shouldn't be so close to her, it was too risky for both himself and her. Yet he couldn't help but be drawn to her. It was almost as if some higher power had thrust them into each other's paths. He brought his face closer to hers, until they were just inches from one another, until he could feel her own breath mingle with his.
Breanna felt her heart jerk as his hands released hers and came to rest almost possessively on her waist. Slowly they inched upward until his hands rested just below her breasts. Her breathing quickened at the touch that was light, yet still powerful in its soft intensity. She could've freed herself. She could've turned her head away, but she didn't. She found herself, shamefully, wanting him to touch her, to kiss her like he had before, to make her mindless with ecstasy.
Caleb felt Breanna's heart beating rapidly beneath the flesh his hand rested on, his own keeping a near identical rhythm. He pressed his length to her, wanting to be close to her and closer still. He had never felt such urgency before. It had always been there, but never with such intensity. God but he wanted her!
When Breanna saw the desire in Caleb's eyes, she felt her own become a conflagration. Her body seemed to throb with heat and sensation all over, but most intensely at her pulse points. Her breasts ached. Her nipples were distended and painfully sensitive, sending waves of nearly unbearable sensation through her with each gasping breath she took that dragged them against the rough fabric of her suit. Blood flooded her labia, making her pussy feel swollen and needful, throbbing with an ache that desperately needed to be assuaged as her desire escalated from pleasure to hover at the edge of pain.
Almost unconsciously, she curled her pelvis upward, pressing her aching clit against Caleb's rock hard cock. He groaned with pain and pleasure, a sound that was almost animalistic in his need. Releasing his grip on her abruptly, he caught her zipper, pulling it down even as he covered her mouth, parting her lips with his own and tongue fucking her mouth.
She stroked his thrusting tongue with her own, sucked it greedily as she felt his hand slide down her bare belly and cup her pussy. Blindly, she sought the zipper of his suit, slipping it downward until his cock fell heavily into her palm. Clenching it tightly, she stroked his cock in rhythm to the thrust and retreat of his tongue in her mouth.
When his fingers parted the flesh of her pussy and began stroking her cleft, massaging her clit and sending jolts of pleasure and need through her and then moving along her cleft and delving into her passage, she could no longer contain the pleasure, could no longer bear it. A needful moan clawed its way up her chest, emerging from her throat as a whimper. She tore her mouth from his abruptly. “Fuck me now, Caleb,” she whispered feverishly. “I need your cock inside of me, baby. I can't wait. I can't wait."
“God!” Caleb ground out, jerking her suit from her shoulders and then bending down and capturing one nipple in his mouth and sucking it as he dragged her zipper down her leg to her ankle. Slipping his hands around her waist, he lifted her, bracing her back against the wall.
Gasping almost hoarsely, Breanna wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him as he caught his cock and pushed it frantically along her cleft until their flesh engaged. “Yes!” she cried, hunching her hips to engulf his heated flesh, feeling a mind drugging fire course through her blood to her brain as the walls of her passage clutched at his turgid flesh.
He growled, thrusting, retreating slightly, then pushing her back up the wall as she slid down it and thrusting again, working his way inside of her in desperate lunges until he was embedded in her to the root of his cock, groaning as he felt her passage kneading the length of his cock until he thought it would explode.
As she felt a fresh wave of moisture flood her passage, easing the death grip her pussy had formed around his cock, Breanna began moving, urging Caleb. Leaning closely to his ear, she traced the whorls with her tongue.
He shuddered, groaned and shoved her tightly against the wall, withdrawing slightly and then ramming deeply again.
Breanna groaned. “Like that, baby."
Grinding his teeth, he withdrew and rammed into her again so hard and deep Breanna thought he would rip her in two. She bit his shoulder, sucking as she felt the first
ripples of her climax.
He gasped hoarsely as he managed a dozen desperate strokes and paused again. “God! I'm coming,” he growled warningly, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, his face contorted with the effort to hold his climax at bay.
The jerking of his cock inside of her, his desperate words, sent her into full fledged climax, making her body convulse around him. She cried out with release.
It pushed him beyond control and he began thrusting in quick, short plunges, shuddering with each thrust as his own body convulsed with the opiate of ecstasy.
For many moments afterward, they leaned against the wall, reveling in the dissipating after quakes, relishing the sublime feeling of satisfaction that flowed through them like warmed wine. Finally, as Breanna began to slip downwards, Caleb withdrew from her, allowing her to sink slowly toward the floor until her feet touched.
He leaned against her, kissing her throat, the side of her neck, kissing her lips before he pressed his forehead to hers, nuzzling her nose with his own. “Sorry, baby,” he sighed gustily. “Sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't think of anything except how good it felt to be inside you."
A shiver skated along Breanna's spine at his words. She'd felt much the same, not as if something else were controlling her, she decided, but as if something beyond her had taken her ability to control herself. She touched his cheek, stroking it. “It's all right. I wanted it too."
She frowned, pushing him away slightly so that she could look at him. “I didn't mean to ... give in to that, though.” Turning her head, she glanced around a little blankly.
“Did we come here to fuck?"
Caleb frowned, straightening, thrusting his cock back into his suit and dragging the zipper up as he, too, looked around. “No,” he said finally. “At least .... I'm not real sure where we are."
Breanna swallowed with an effort, feeling strangely bereft now that Caleb had moved away from her. Concentrating on setting her own clothing to rights, she probed her mind for some memory of what had led up to their love play.
Endless Night Page 11
