“Worse? I’d already broken his bloody neck and was working on getting myself out of there when you and your partner showed up. So don’t give me that!”
He snorted.
“Really? Pipsqueak like you hanging beaten, up three feet from the floor? And yeah worse. Someone who looks like you, who gets herself caught like that is certainly gonna be the main entertainment for a block party in that hellhole.”
“So we’ve done the fact you think I was unprofessional in letting you touch me during the mission, and now we’re onto that I’m basically crap at my job? Is there anything else you’d like to throw into the mix, handsome?”
He raised a finger and opened his mouth as if to raise a point but no sound came out. He dropped his head and shook it as he sighed in frustration. “Yeah, Drew’s right. I’m a dick.”
“Yeah, I’d listen to your partner. He sounds like a sensible guy.” She sighed, and stepped back a little to consider him with a confused expression. “Now is there anything else you want to argue about before I go and argue with Admiral Buchanan?”
“No ma’am.”
He let out a breath and started back where he came from before. He had taken a few steps when he stopped and spoke over his shoulder. “Yes, there is. You look great in that uniform.”
* * *
Hours later, Jason had worn himself out in the gym, had three cold showers, but still couldn’t sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes all he could see was Arita in that sexy cocktail dress, or the image of her as she slowly stripped off the formal uniform.
“Ugh. You, Jason, are a sick man,” he told himself as he pulled a pillow over his face. He needed to sleep, wanted to get up early to try and hit the gym at the same time as she did. Just to check that she was healing okay…after all, it was less than a couple of days since she’d taken a round to the side. Turning over, he pummeled the pillow, about to drop his head onto it when a scream split the air from the corridor outside.
In a flash he had slipped on a pair of shorts and had his sidearm in hand ready to do some damage as he ran outside, clearing the corridor and looking for the source of the ear piercing shriek. Drew appeared a second later with his own pistol in hand as the two exchanged confused looks.
Another scream and this time it seemed to come from the quarters next door. Arita’s quarters.
She sounded like she was being murdered and Jason couldn’t think of anything else but kicking down her door and tearing apart with his bare hands whatever was hurting her. He ran to her door with Drew close behind.
Another scream rent the corridor, followed by muffled sounds… Jason leaned in to try and hear. Was that sobbing?
An ensign chose that moment to step out of the lift, and looked at the two of them in surprise for a moment before he too heard the noises from behind Arita’s door and his face cleared.
“Just ignore it, guys. The boss gets nightmares. You’ll get used to it.”
“What? Nightmares?” Jason said as he looked at the door. “You mean this goes on every night?”
“No, not really, but most nights. Try not to let it bother you.” The ensign said in passing before he disappeared into his own quarters.
The screams. Jason had heard them before too but in the deep timbres of his own voice. Theirs was a dark world and demons haunted them in their sleep. The idea that she was being tormented like this pulled at every protective instinct that he had.
“You heard the man, mate. Let’s go get some sleep.” Drew stifled a yawn as he headed back to his own quarters.
Jason paused for a moment. “Yeah, sleep sounds good.”
He turned with the other man but slowed down. As the door slid shut behind the tall heavy-worlder, Jason pulled a one-eighty and headed back to Arita’s door. She was still crying, the soft sounds all but ripping him in two.
He hesitated for only a few seconds before he tapped the chime. No response. He tapped it again. She was still crying and he gritted his teeth in frustration. The door-lock was Alliance fleet standard for personal quarters and after a quick but careful bypass to avoid alarming security, he closed the circuit and the door opened with a swish.
It was dark inside and his eyes took a moment to adjust. He could hear her whimpering and wisely decided to leave his side arm on a nearby table before he went any closer.
She was curled up in the corner of the bed, a small ball wrapped in the duvet. The snuffling sounds were quieter now, but occasionally a hiccup and a sigh would shake the covers. Then it would start again.
Jason wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to soothing tormented women. Most men would try the direct approach, but that wasn’t so easy, or wise, when the woman you were trying to help was capable of killing you seventeen different ways with her bare hands.
Despite the risk, he had to try. Nothing else mattered but to soothe her pain, to help take away what was tormenting her. He’d probably get hurt but he wasn’t thinking of himself when he gently sat next to her and touched her shoulder.
She moved before he’d registered the touch of his hand on her skin. In a heartbeat he found himself flat on his back on the bed, a viciously sharp blade to his throat and the weight of his far too attractive commanding officer straddling his hips.
“Who the f… Jason? What the hell are you doing in here?”
He pretty much expected this and kept his hands at his sides, avoiding any other movements. She was fresh from being woken up from a nightmare and she had a knife at his throat. Not a good idea to try anything.
“I heard you screaming. Crying. I wanted to see if you were alright.”
She seemed to realize she still held the blade at his throat and moved it. The blade folded away and disappeared out of sight but she didn’t move, still frowning at him. He resisted the urge to smile. With a confused expression on her face, the frown making the ridges down to the tip of her small nose dance, and her hair a tousled mess around her face, she instantly re-defined his mental image of cute.
“You broke into my room to check that I was okay?”
“I thought you were being gutted or something at first. Then I heard you crying. I tried the chime but you weren’t answering.”
He realized he rather liked her straddling him like this, even if she could have killed him. In his mind he could easily imagine her straddling him for an entirely different reason and with far less clothing.
“Huh.”
Her reply was a soft grunt rather than a word, and she blinked sleepily. Combat capable, but not really awake, he realized and took a chance. Hands around her waist he eased her down and onto her side.
“You really don’t understand what’s going on do you?” His voice was soft as he slowly stroked her back. He knew she didn’t wear perfume but she smelled nice and he figured she must use a different shampoo before she went to bed because her hair smelled like flowers.
She yawned and settled, not into the pillows but against him. “I screamed. You broke in to check on me. I nearly sliced your throat. In a moment, when I can be bothered to move, I plan to kick your ass and throw you out.”
*
His glance at the bedside table caught a glass of water and a medication pack which he deduced held something to help her sleep. He chuckled softly as he held her close. “Well until that happens, I’m just gonna stay here and try to see if I can cop a feel while you sleep.”
She chuckled softly. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“Yeah, so I’ve been told. If it starts to hurt too much, I’d be very happy to massage it for you.”
She lifted a hand to punch his arm, but the blow had nothing behind it. Jason chuckled as he caught it easily, bringing it to his lips to kiss along her knuckles. He liked this, liked the softness he now saw was hidden under the hard mask she wore, liked that she was comfortable enough to share it with him, albeit under the influence of whatever the docs had her on so she could sleep.
And it wasn’t all the drugs; she could have called security a
t any time and had him removed from her room. Hell, she could have had him thrown in the brig and left to rot. But she hadn’t. Instead she was nestled tight into his side, her head pillowed by his arm. Not quite what he’d had in mind when he’d envisioned getting into her bed.
Long minutes passed and her soft even breaths whispered against his neck. She was asleep. He watched her for a while. The mouth that he knew to be soft and sweet was parted slightly. He fought the urge to kiss her again. Damn. Holding her this close was doing all sorts of things to him again and didn’t help with the perpetual hard-on he had.
But he wasn’t so much of a jackass to try anything right now even if his body was screaming at him to ignore his morals. His presence in her bed was an implied trust and he couldn’t betray that. He couldn’t betray her. But he couldn’t just stay here without touching her.
He reached up and slowly brushed the hair away from her face. She was so beautiful. He lightly touched her facial ridges, careful not to wake her. When he reached the tip of her nose, she stirred and he smiled as she wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
He was still smiling as he closed his eyes and not long after, he too drifted into the oblivion of sleep.
Chapter Seven
Arita swept into the gym with a spring in her step even though she was late. She was normally in the gym at five, but it was already pushing six and she still needed to work out.
“Good morning, gentlemen…and I do use that term loosely,” she chirped as she passed Drew and Jason slugging it out on the exercise mats. Jason smiled at her, taking his attention off Drew for the moment, which earned him a hard right to the jaw as his partner took advantage of his distraction.
She chuckled as he picked himself up off the mat. “Eyes on the prize, Scott, or you’ll be back down there.”
Crossing to the punch bag, she dropped her towel on the bench and started to pull on her gloves. Lightly padded over the knuckles, they protected her skin from grazes and cuts. She personally didn’t give a rat’s ass what her hands looked like, but the higher up’s got edgy when faced with evidence that she might actually…shock, horror…have to use violence occasionally. Something to do with humanity’s weirdness about women and combat. She’d never understood it.
Stepping up to the bag she rolled her shoulders and deliberately avoided the temptation to look over at Scott again. Stripped to the waist, all the satin skin and heavy muscle she wanted to explore with her fingers and lips was on display. She had to ignore it, or she’d think too much. And thinking too much brought her to last night, and the fact that her dreams were filled with being held in a strong, protective embrace. Her sheets had still held his warmth and scent this morning when she’d woken, tipping her off that her dream-visitor had been a little more substantial.
The bag had been re-stuffed since her last workout and she started with light jabs first before slipping into her groove. Soon she was throwing a flurry of strikes against the bag, quick and powerful and designed to overwhelm the target into submission.
“Damn lady, you’re gonna break that thing again.”
Arita paused her attacks long enough to glance at Jason who was taking a drink from a canteen. Drew was nowhere in sight, leaving the two of them alone. He capped the canteen and set it back down on a nearby bench as he wiped off his sweat with a towel.
Gorgeous, shirtless and sweaty…she started throwing punches again to avoid watching how his muscles rippled with his every movement. She wanted…fuck, she didn’t know what she wanted. Something she couldn’t have.
“Then they’ll have to replace it again. They’re used to it. We go through a lot of bags,” she said between punches, working her way around the bag to the other side. “You got nothing better to do than drip sweat on the floor?”
“What?” His brow furrowed as he looked down at his chest. “I’ve been working out for an hour.”
He tossed the towel over to the benches next to his duffel before he took place behind the bag and held it still for resistance. “Does it happen that often?”
She knew what he was talking about but continued to work the bag, avoiding his gaze. Just her luck: a player who was too damn perceptive. No, that description didn’t fit. If he was just a player, she’d have bedded him and shipped him out, or avoided getting into this mess altogether since he was so damn good at the job. But he wasn’t, there was something about him…something that called to her and fascinated her all at the same time.
“Does what happen often?”
“Don’t give me that. You know what I mean Arita.”
His blue eyes were focused on her like she was a target. She didn’t like it. It was disconcerting and she felt like he was reading her mind. At least being human he really couldn’t read minds but he was sharp and he came pretty damned close to being able to.
She stopped punching and moved to walk around the bag, the side nearest the wall but he blocked her. Great, just what she needed, a pushy man before breakfast.
“I just don’t sleep very well.”
She stripped her gloves off with short, jerky movements. Tension swirled between them, so thick it could be cut with a knife. Memories of their mission…the office yesterday assaulted her. All she wanted to do was reach out and touch him, rise on her tiptoes and press her lips against his. Feel his hard body moving against hers again. But she couldn’t. She was his boss. More so, she was his commanding officer and he was enlisted.
“Yeah I heard it last night Arita. I could hear it through the walls of my quarters. I felt like…” He paused and took a breath. “What helps you with it? Like do you need sedatives or medication?”
Heat hit her cheeks. She hated this, hated the weakness it exposed, but as he spoke he backed her up against the wall in a way that both terrified and thrilled her. Lifting her chin, she looked him in the eye. “You were there last night, so you know I take medication.”
Leaning back against the wall to put a little distance between them, she ran a hand through her hair. It was loose, having come free from its confinement as she worked out.
“You helped. You stayed, didn’t you?”
“I helped?” He looked surprised for a moment then smiled as he brushed her hair back from her face. “I’m glad I did. I would never leave you if you needed me.”
He took his time stroking her hair and grazing her earlobe. She fought hard not to shiver from his touch.
“I can do it again, if you like… So you won’t have to be so haunted at night.”
She looked at him, wariness running through her veins. “That’s gotta be the worst pickup line I've ever heard.”
Her attempt at a joke fell flat as he moved in some more. Her instincts screamed at her to move, her experience and training supplied all the moves she could use to push him away then make sure he regretted coming anywhere near her.
She didn’t use any of them. Instead she lifted her chin, turning to meet his lips.
It felt so good to give into the temptation and not think about how wrong it was to be kissing him like this when it felt so deliciously right. She felt him groan and found pleasure in the knowledge that she could please a man like this with a kiss. He had her pressed against the wall like he had before and her nipples hardened, her breasts tingling at the memory of his touch. But while his kisses then were brutal and primal, he kissed her now gently, thoroughly as he thrust his tongue in her mouth, leisurely, taking his fill as if they had all the time in the world.
She whimpered against his lips, unable to believe the soft, feminine sound had come from her. But then it didn’t matter as he moved closer, hard body pressing into hers as he deepened the kiss. Instinctively she opened up, yielding to his unspoken demands as he slid his tongue along hers, stroking and teasing. Her hands lifted to his shoulders, clinging and holding him to her as she kissed him back.
She had always disliked being backed in a corner, disliked the vulnerability she felt but now this was different. She was trapped between the cold surface of the bulkhead
and the warm wall of his chest and she found herself relishing this kind of vulnerability. The hard bar of his cock pressed against her soft belly and her knees almost buckled.
“We can’t…” She pulled away to protest, but her hands stroked rather than pushed away. She couldn’t stop touching him, was having a hard time trying to remember why this was a bad idea. “Jason, please…”
“I know…” he murmured against her neck. A sigh issued from her lips as he licked and nibbled the sensitive column. “But I can’t help it…”
She didn’t want to stop him, but she had to. They were on back-to-back missions this week and the last thing she needed was two of her team, herself included, distracted. If it had been two other members of her team, she’d have told them to fuck and get it out of their systems, but she couldn’t. She was his boss…there was a line she couldn’t cross.
“Jason. Stop.”
He was slow to listen but he finally stopped, pressing his forehead against hers as he took deep breaths. He held her face with his hands as he gazed at her searchingly, his eyes peering into hers.
“Arita,” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Whatever you want. Whatever you need. You come to me, alright?”
She nodded, barely breathing at the look in his eyes. Soft and gentle, protective and possessive with the heat of their kiss not far away, it took her breath away.
“I promise.”
* * *
“Archangel this is Wildcard. Are you receiving me?” Nothing. “Shit!” Jason pounded the console with a fist in frustration as he leaned back in what used to be the co-pilot’s chair in defeat.
It had been days since they had been shot down and crashed into the jungles of this planet. They had been providing operational support for the ground team and covered their exfiltration. The ground team had managed to escape without a hitch. They weren’t so lucky.
As they headed up the stratosphere, a surface to air missile had struck them right in the engines. The pilot managed to get them out of the planet’s gravitational well before he started to lose control. Pursued by renegades in fighters, the pilot had attempted to land them on a small jungle planet where the perpetual high atmosphere storms would keep them hidden from the enemy hunting them.
The Colonel's Man Page 7
