by Jay Shaw
“An orgasm, please.”
“And an orgasm.” He said without batting an eye.
It wasn’t a drink she usually went for – too creamy – but the look on Mark’s face had been priceless.
“What’s this?” She asked when the barman slid a hollow-stemmed martini glass across the counter. The contents glowed like they had their own internal energy source; silver glitter suspended in a swirl of fluro-pink and lime green with dry ice wafting from its surface.
“An orgasm.” Mark pulled a face and picked up his comparatively boring bottle of Zefeirian ale. “Not what you were expecting?”
Julia laughed, bringing a second hand up to help balance the vibrant monstrosity as she followed Mark. “Ah…no. Milky Way orgasms tend not to be quite so exciting.”
“Guess it depends on who’s providing them.” He slid over to make room for her in the booth. Lenti, Anora, and Ange were dancing so they were alone for the moment. “I’m happy to stick with the local brew.”
Mark raised his bottle and drank like a man returned from three days in the desert. Julia focused on the way the muscles in his throat worked as he swallowed.
“You make a good point.” She pushed the cocktail toward the middle of the table.
“Needed that.” He gasped as he thunked the half-empty bottle on the table within easy reach. “Not enjoying your orgasm?”
“I’ll wait and hope for better later.”
She squawked in surprise when Mark lifted her legs across his lap, tickling the back of one knee.
“Why wait when I can…” His hand grazed over the silk of Julia’s stocking; the tips of two fingers slipping beneath the lace of her garter to stroke at a smooth thigh.
“Should you wish to continue, I could depart.” Hayden dropped into the opposite side of the booth; his body art glowing in the dark, only to surge to life whenever a colored light strobed over him.
“No.” Julia tried not to stare as she rescued her leg from Mark’s lap. “No, it’s fine, Hayden. Thanks.”
“Cease not on my account.” Hayden rumbled a laugh, dimples flaring as he turned to watch the gyrating confusion of sweaty Earthers on the dancefloor.
“S’kay, was just helping Julia with her orgasm.”
Hayden jerked his head back round, a disbelieving look aimed at Julia. She pointed to the glass in explanation, its contents having dimmed to a muddy unappetizing gray.
“It’s called an orgasm.”
Hayden continued to stare, his expression unreadable. Julia felt like she was sitting in the principal’s office. The urge to fidget strong as hot color infused her from chest to hairline.
“Perhaps Miss Green would enjoy one.” Mark swigged at his beer, smirk hidden behind the neck of the bottle.
Hayden shifted his gaze from Julia to Mark; stony silence conveying more than mere words could ever have hoped to achieve.
“And on that note, I’ll leave you men to chat.” She patted Mark’s forearm before sliding out of the booth to join her friends on the dancefloor.
Three songs later Julia noticed Hayden was still watching Ange. She nudged her friend, rolling her eyes toward the table where identical expressions of interest graced both men’s faces. Ange grinned and put extra sizzle in her moves. Hayden was suddenly interested in the overhead architecture and Julia couldn’t hold back a laugh; a laugh, which was cut off when Mark got to his feet, downed the last of his beer, and stalked through the crowd to her side.
He crushed Julia to him and her body lit up. A frisson of pleasure sparked to life by the feel of him behind her and his hands on her hips; guiding her, encouraging her to let loose.
It was after three in the morning when they finally left the dancing. Julia shivered in the cool of the corridor and Mark slung his jacket over her shoulders; a date-like gesture that made her smile.
“What?”
“This is our first date.”
“It is.”
“We’ve kind of done things backwards, haven’t we?” She ducked her head, letting her hair fall forward between them.
“Are you sorry?”
“No.” She said, squeezing her arms around his waist from behind.
He turned in her embrace and lifted her chin until their eyes met. “Neither am I.”
His lips coaxed hers to open and she was assaulted by the heat of his mouth as he kissed her. Mark pulled out of kiss long before Julia wanted him to and walked them more quickly from the relocator to their quarters.
The moment the doors hissed shut, he was pushing her backward. His hands on her upper arms and his mouth on the arch of her neck as her back came up against one of the pillars.
“It’s later, Beautiful.” Mark growled, holding her still with his body as he unzipped his jeans.
She lifted her leg over his hip and he gripped her thigh, eyes locked with hers. The night’s slow burning heat ignited white hot when he yanked aside the flimsy scrap of lace and buried himself inside her; their cries filling the silent darkness around them.
~*~
They lay on top of the bed, clothing rumpled and askew in the blue light of second moonrise falling through the picture windows.
“I don’t think I can remember having a better date.” Julia murmured with the lure of sleep thick in her voice, fingers scribing slow patterns across his chest through his unbuttoned shirt.
“High praise, indeed.” He mumbled somewhere near her ear.
His scent was intoxicating; his mouth, his touch, his heat…
How did one ever get out of bed, when you had a lover like Mark? As eager for your body as you were for his? Julia wondered within the confines of her own mind. She marveled at the ease with which one encounter would blend into the next. Their bodies responding to even the lightest whisper touch from the other.
“Mark…” Julia murmured with passion and confusion in her voice. “I…”
“I know.” He answered, his own voice cracking with an emotion she couldn’t name. “Me too.”
Mark held her as he joined them once again; the pain of overuse insignificant to the pain of being apart. Tears ran down her cheeks as she pulled him against her; needing him closer still. He looked into her eyes and kissed away her tears; his heart speaking to hers in that moment, the abyss before climax.
“Stay.”
“Always.”
Consciousness clawed at the cotton wool of sleep. Julia’s mind rebelled, nestling deeper into the warm nothingness, but to no avail.
Her body was boneless; fluid and weary beyond calculation, yet glowing and humming, and warm. She was aware of the nearness of him, of his every sleep-filled breath. She sensed his body was aware of hers in the same way. Of its own accord her body turned toward him, her eyes drinking him in.
The morning sun caressed the contours of muscle and bone, absorbing into his skin, allowing it to glow from within. Dark hair fell in that familiar way across his forehead. The sweep of dark lashes concealed formidable strength under the guise of vulnerability as he slept. Her desire to see the whiskey of his eyes was strong, but Julia resisted. This way she could look at him to her heart’s content.
“Morning.” Mark said without opening his eyes, voice husky with sleep.
She snuggled into his side and closed her eyes, smiled when his arms moved up to keep her close.
“Morning.”
Chapter 11
“Turn it down.” Mark paced, hand rubbing the nape of his neck and hair wild; an outward sign of his turmoil. “I mean it, Archer will have other candidates.”
“No. It’s my job, and surprise, I’m damn good at it.”
Julia stood half way between her riled colonel and the door. Her brows drawn together and jaw clenched. It was just another in a litany of similar discussions they’d had since Colonel Archer had given her her own rescue team. The offer had arisen when Julia met Colonel Archer in her office after her third glider training exercise. Current emergency medical staff were transferring back to Earth, having served thei
r required stint on the Dragonus outpost. A situation which left Colonel Archer with two options; either assemble a new rescue team, or rely on the military exploration teams to back each other up. Something that might work in theory, but if the teams were off-world the delay would be costly in both time and lives.
Sarah Archer, being of sound military upbringing, went with the logical option. Julia had twelve years’ experience as an advanced paramedic, eight of them as a rescue helicopter pilot. Admittedly the experience was on another planet in alternate reality. But, as Sarah had pointed out while Julia sat across the Commander-In-Chief, it didn’t take away from the fact that she had skills. Skills Phoenix City was more than willing to take advantage of.
Julia had left Colonel Archer’s office after the expected thankyou’s, handshakes, and I won’t let you down’s, and raced to find Mark; thinking he’d be as excited as she was. It was the next step in establishing herself in her new life.
She couldn’t have been more wrong about his reaction.
And that; had been over a week ago.
“This is ridiculous! I am not a damsel who needs protecting all the time.”
Mark’s scowl deepened and he shoved his fists into his hip pockets, never ceasing his back and forth.
“I love that you are strong enough and willing, but…”
“I want to keep you safe.” He held his arms out to her, but one glance at Julia’s stay away stance and they dropped back to his sides; useless. “Is that so wrong?”
She didn’t answer; too wound up in her indignant outrage – one foot stomp away from a full-blown redhead tantrum. She was used to defending her choices. She just hadn’t expected the censure to come from the man in front of her.
“Why train me in the gliders at all? Did you really think I’d be happy sitting here twiddling my thumbs, while you’re out risking your life, protecting others, and playing the hero?”
He opened his mouth to speak but decided against it; and resumed his pacing.
Her hair seemed to crackle with the static of feelings she’d held in check all week long and he was going to hear her, whether he liked what she had to say or not.
“I love a hero.” She permitted a resigned sigh to escape; a tiny glimpse of a smile at the corner of her mouth. “Every time he puts himself in danger, it’s with the vain hope his sacrifice will ease his burden of guilt. In his team and the people he protects, he sees the faces of everyone he couldn’t save.”
Mark gaped at her. Each of Julia’s words a physical blow; the depth of her insight into his psyche wiping away all ability to offer opposing arguments.
“Every time you fly out of here, or jump through a portal, I wonder if it’s the last time I’m going to see you. Will it be the day you sacrifice what we have, what we could have; for the sake of the past?”
She sagged under the words that weighed heavy between them. They’d taken a lot from her. Especially the last. “But with the sweet comes sour. I knew what you did when I chose to come here with you.”
Mark was stock still; his need to move curtailed by the jagged edges of her confession.
“You love me for who I am, and this is part of me.” She whispered. Her eyes downcast and tresses of bourbon fury hanging limp and exhausted around her face. “You’re just going to have to find a way of dealing with it. Like I have to when my heart and soul, flies through yet another portal into the unknown. And I wait.”
Her chest ached as she watched the man she’d chosen, who had chosen her, wrestle with his emotions. Hidden behind the rough scrub of his hands over his face and slumped shoulders. The silence, which had waited its chance, grew and morphed into the rough wounded space between them.
“This is my chance to lead a team. My chance to be of use. To prove myself.” She said, voice quiet in a last ditch effort to make him understand. “Maybe, when it’s your ass that needs saving, you’ll be glad your girlfriend’s a rescue pilot?”
Julia finished strapping on her thigh holster and shrugged into her leather jacket; its new shoulder patches left on the bedside table. No identifying insignias permitted for off-world teams.
“We’re two halves of the same whole, Colonel. Did you really expect I’d be happy to sit and wait while you’re off saving the galaxy from the bad guys?”
She was drained, unburdening her thoughts the way she had, had been wrong and the guilt sat like a burning ember on her heart. Mark stood by their bed, numb and scrunched in on himself; head full of new things to think about. His eyes were wide and wary as he watched her tie her hair into a loose knot. She wanted to stay and give him the time he needed; to listen, but time was not hers to command. She had to go. So she stepped over the emotional Grand Canyon between them, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
“I’ll see you later.”
She made to step back but his hand struck out like a cobra, a steel manacle around her wrist. He yanked her into his arms and kissed her, ferocious and intense, the taste of anger, and fear, and love heating her from within.
“You’d better.”
The growl in Mark’s order shivered down her spine as he released her.
Walking out the door was the single hardest thing Julia had ever had to do in her life until that point. She looked over her shoulder to Mark stood, his body held rigid with all he felt.
All Julia wanted to do was sit in his lap with his arms around her and listen to his heart thud beneath her ear. But she had to go. She imagined his view of her as she headed to the Birdcage to meet her team; her long legs clad in tight black BDUs, combat boots, with a holster strapped to her right thigh, and hair piled up off her neck. Her silver angel wings simulating movement as she jogged down the corridor away from him.
Was this how Mark felt every time he went on a mission?
Perhaps now they had both seen the other’s side of the coin, they could accept each other for who they were.
~*~
The trip through the portal was instantaneous; rainbow mist riding up the nose of the glider to dissipate over the windshield. Julia materialized the little ship and engaged the cloak before climbing to a search altitude above the native forestry.
“Phoenix City, this is Rescue one.”
“This is Phoenix. Go ahead, Wings.”
“We’re beginning search grid, will report back in one hour. Rescue one, out.” She tapped her radio and punched in the code to sever the portal connection.
It was difficult to put aside her thoughts of Mark, but she was soon absorbed in an activity she had participated in so many times it was second nature.
Ten minutes in, the display bleeped a faint energy signature and four life signs. Julia flew to the location and circled so they could assess their options.
Glider two was pretty beaten up. A large scorch mark, black and smoking, had eaten through the ignition tiles on the port-side wing, and the rear hatch was twisted open. The little ship sat at the end of its mile and a half impact gouge with its cockpit overhanging a ravine.
“Open a channel.” Julia said to her crewman and First EMT, Zeb.
“Go ahead.”
“Glider two, this is Rescue one, acknowledge.”
Dead air was the only response she received as she continued to fly a slow orbit above the crash site.
“Major Dawson, this is Rescue one, do you copy?”
Zeb was reading the display and imputing incident details for download when they returned to Phoenix, but looked up when Julia said his name.
“Can you expand the cloak to shield both gliders? Whoever attacked them may still be around.”
“You’ll have to land first, but it’s not a problem.”
She nodded to show she’d understood and turned her attention to the hulking medic and the petite doctor who were already pulling on black double-layered gloves.
“Kate, Levi, you two okay for a low rappel?”
Both nodded; the tense lines of their bodies as they moved into the back cabin divulging the seriousness of the job at h
and.
“Opening rear hatch.”
Kate and Levi rappelled down the ropes they had tied off to the welded bars in the glider’s roof; their feet touching the ground a second or two afterward.
Julia missed the clear floor panels of SR4, but the display doubled as a live feed so she still had eyes on her team. It wasn’t the same, but she could work with it.
“Crewmen off rope.” Brendan radioed in her ear as he dropped the ropes over the side and held on with a gloved fist to the sidebar while Rescue one banked, ready to descend and land well back from the ravine.
“Got that cloak up?”
“Activating now.” Zeb focused on the holographic loading bar in front of him.
The sound of wind in a tunnel signaled the cloak adjusting to the new command, and Julia couldn’t help the heavy exhale that left her chest lighter.
“We’ll have to anchor the front so we can keep it from sliding over the edge.” Brendan explained two coils of cable shrugged over one shoulder, another two in his hands.
“Makes sense.” Julia agreed, tapping her comm open. “Levi, can we reach them?”
“The ground is too unstable to go in. We’ll have to tie the glider off so we can work faster.”
“Brendan and Zeb are on their way.” Julia confirmed, soothing the telepathic eagerness between her and Rescue one and watching her co-pilot, and assigned Marine, descend the ramp via the display.
They had hooked carabiners to the modified anchor points in the underside dips of Rescue one’s wings, before running the kernmantle ropes across the divide between the two gliders.
“Wings, the cables are attached.”
“Copy, Brendan, I’ll reposition to take up the slack.”
Julia hovered Rescue one ten feet above where she’d landed and micro-maneuvered to port, tightening the cables an inch at a time as the glider descended in increments.
“HOLD UP!”
Julia dialed up the inertia controls to make Rescue one heavier, before running over to Glider two with a field kit in each hand.
When she reached the rest of her team, Brendan was listening to Levi’s assessment of the situation; nodding, and making the occasional gesture for emphasis.
