by JAX
He was glorious to watch, his muscular arms flexing with each movement and his tight, muscled thighs doing an erotic dance that she just couldn’t tear her gaze from. The defined ridges of his abs were like stair steps down to the magical part of him. The sight that enchanted her was his cock, deflated now, but still large and inviting. She resisted the urge to reach out and stroke him, not quite ready for another round of heaven before she got some much needed sleep. She trusted that he was more than capable of fulfilling the silent promise of good things to come he’d made while washing her. It would be a difficult transition to be in the habit of trusting someone, but if anyone deserved a chance to try to earn her trust, Dare just showed himself worthy.
* * *
7
Sunlight filtered in to spill across Dani’s face. She groaned and cringed away, enjoying the warm, comforting weight against her back that had been there all night.
Sunlight? Warm, comforting weight?
Confusion filtered through her brain and she forced open her eyes to find a beautiful sunrise showing through the large viewport in Dare’s quarters that she hadn’t noticed until he’d opened the maroon curtains last night. That was just before they fell into a deep sleep on the most comfortable bed she’d ever laid on. And as reluctant as she was to move, the sunlight was bright and insistent and had broken her out of her warm cocoon.
She reached back behind her and came in contact with a very warm, muscular chest.
Dare.
Memories of last night flitted through her mind, bringing with them her body’s instinctive reaction. She was afraid she was becoming very much addicted to the attentions of Dare MacFadyen. She shoved that thought aside to worry about later. There were still several stages of their joint plan to complete before she would have to worry about what leaving him behind would mean.
Dani sat up, blinking and trying to let her eyes adjust to the yellowish warm light.
“Sorry,” Dare mumbled, his voice low and gravelly. “I forgot about the sunrise and sunset program when I opened the drapes last night.” He rolled over, reached for the large hardwood headboard, and pressed a few controls until the light faded to a tolerable level and the curtains slowly slid closed.
Blessed darkness, or at least murkiness, returned to the room and Dani resisted the urge to burrow back down into the covers and see if she could recapture the warm, comforting safety of a few minutes before. After all, she probably already looked too needy and dependent after letting Dare take so much care of her in the shower last night. She needed to remember that she was an independent woman, and that she definitely liked it that way.
“Why do you have a sunrise and sunset program in your quarters?”
“It’s actually in all the rooms. The guests love it since several of their planets only have close moons and the suns are too far away to be visible from their homes.”
She laughed, a low chuckle that took only minimal energy. Dare pulled her back close against him, his morning erection cradled against her ass crack. “I haven’t slept so well in ages. I should keep you captive here in my quarters and tempt you in my bed as often as possible.”
Dani instinctively curled back into the covers and the warmth she had been craving a few minutes ago. She looked back at Dare over her shoulder and nearly laughed at the surprised expression on his face. Apparently he was just as surprised by his revealing words as she was. But on the bright side, she wasn’t the only one who seemed smitten. She could think of nothing worse than having this attraction be one sided. Well, not attraction exactly. She knew there were emotions involved, but she was still afraid to examine them too closely. There had only been one man to ever earn her trust, and that had been Devil MacFadyen. And while his grandson was like him in so many ways, she wasn’t quite ready to fully trust Dare MacFadyen. Sex—even amazing sex—was one thing, but trust was an entirely different notion, and one she didn’t give lightly.
A soft knock on the door startled Dani, and Dare’s large hand stroked a path down her arm, soothing her. “It’s all right. Probably just Carl to give me some sort of update. Stay here and I’ll find out what’s going on.”
Dare climbed over her, lightly rolling out of bed and grabbing a robe from the end of the bed before pulling the bed curtains closed to give Dani her privacy.
The soft sound of him padding to the door made Dani smile. For such a large man, he was very graceful and light on his feet. She wondered suddenly if he danced, and if he did how it would feel to dance with him and be in his arms in a slinky black dress where she actually felt feminine and petite.
Where the hell had that thought come from?
Probably part of the whole smitten package. It would definitely take some getting used to, these unguarded thoughts that popped up without warning. Thoughts she would’ve bet several days ago that she would never have for this man who was her captive.
“There’s been a development, and Dani needs to hear it too.” Carl’s voice was pitched low but carried clearly to Dani anyway. She could hear the concern and worry in those words, and her blood chilled.
What now?
A few seconds later, the door closed and the curtains around the bed swished open. “Duty calls. There’s apparently some news both of us need to hear. Are you all right to get up?”
Dani forced a smile. “While I’d much rather stay here lounging in bed curled against you, I think you’re right. We need to go find out what’s going on.”
Dani reluctantly pushed up out of bed and went to find her clothes. They were all neatly arranged in Dare’s closet and in his chest of drawers. She cut the thought short that the arrangement seemed rather comfortable and homey. Thinking about dancing with him was one thing, thinking about always having their clothes side by side was another thing entirely.
By the time Dani found her clothes and pulled them on, Dare was already dressed and ready.
Dani took the time to use the restroom, brush out her hair, and brush her teeth. Ah, vanity, she chided herself, but that didn’t stop her from performing the tasks.
Dare led the way out of his quarters, pulling the door shut with an ominous click behind him as the security system engaged.
In the lift, they found several crew members from each of their ships and Dani smiled in greeting. However, the return expressions seemed to all be off somehow.
Maybe she was just still tired from the rather vigorous activities of the previous evening.
She’d have to ask Dare when they were alone if he had noticed it too.
When the lift opened, everyone filed out and Dani immediately heard loud laughter and voices from down the hall.
The crew who had preceded them out of the lift had disappeared headed toward the noise.
Dare lay a warm hand on Dani’s shoulder. “I don’t like the looks of this. The dining room is the other way, but let’s check this out.”
“So it wasn’t just me who noticed the odd way they were all looking at us?”
“No, definitely not. Something’s up, and I’m going to find out what it is before we head to the dining room to hear this new news.” Dare shook his head and kneaded Dani’s shoulder before dropping his hand. “You know, I could use a few days of boring once all this is done. No news, no developments, no mysteries.” He laughed. “Maybe you and I could invoke the captain’s privilege and just lock ourselves in my room for a long weekend once all this is done.”
Dani bit her tongue to keep from answering, but managed a small smile and nod.
The laughter and catcalling ratcheted up a few notches, and Dare’s lips tightened into a hard line. “This had better not be what I suspect it might be. Come on.”
Dani followed him down the hall to a large recreation room, and he slowly opened the door and peeked inside.
One entire wall was made up of a view screen, but instead of the blackness of space, there was—Dani blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.
No, still there.
Dahl
ia and Jared were very naked and definitely having sex of the caliber that she and Dare had enjoyed last night.
The sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and gasps and soft sighs snapped Dani into full reality, and heat seared into her face. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen people have sex before, but not two of her closest friends and confidants. From the elegant background in the room, Dani assumed the action was happening right here on Dare’s ship, but how … and why?
Dare stepped farther into the room and a sudden hush fell as the crew from both ships noticed him and Dani.
“What the hell is the meaning of this?” Dare’s bellow caused several of the crew to shrink away or to scurry to the far side of the room since Dare and Dani were blocking the only exit.
When only silence greeted Dare’s question, he flipped on the overhead lights and pierced Justin with a hard glare.
Dani almost felt sorry for the man—almost. But then a chilling thought formed. If they were watching Dahlia and Jared right now, did that mean that they had all watched her and Dare last night? Vivid memories of some of the more steamy scenes they’d shared replayed inside her mind and she cringed. If that was the case, no wonder the crewmen had looked at her strangely this morning.
“Justin?” Dare’s voice rang out again.
Justin slowly stood, obviously reluctant to face his boss.
“Boss, one of the men accidentally hacked into the security system while he was installing the weapons systems onto the ship, and, well … things got out of hand last night when we accidentally realized the channel was still open.”
“Last night?” Dare’s loud voice made it clear he wasn’t pleased with this explanation, and Dani’s stomach fell as her worst fears were confirmed.
“Yes, boss. Although if it’s any comfort at all, both crews thought last night’s entertainment was much hotter than this morning’s.”
Dare’s fists clenched, his muscles tightened, and the crews only cringed away farther as Dare’s expression turned more murderous. “No, it is not a comfort, Justin. But dealing with you and the hackers later will be very enjoyable.”
Justin’s face paled and he only nodded. Finally, mercifully, Jared bellowed on-screen and then slumped on top of Dahlia.
With the action obviously finished, someone turned off whatever was projecting the image and the screen went dark.
“No one leaves the ship, understood? I’ll deal with this later.”
Dare rested his hand on Dani’s lower back and guided her out into the hallway and down the hall toward the dining room.
Ten minutes later, Dare sat next to Dani in the dining room with cups of coffee in front of them. Carl was already there and seemed to be several cups of caffeine in already.
When Dahlia and Jared walked into the room, it was everything Dare could do not to make eye contact and give away what he knew. There would be time enough later to fill them in and right now he needed to hear what had happened to necessitate Carl pulling him and Dani out of bed so early this morning.
“News or breakfast first?” Dahlia stifled a yawn.
Dani smiled over at Dare and he knew she was struggling with not meeting Dahlia’s and Jared’s gazes also. “Definitely news.”
Carl, Dahlia, and Jared seemed clearly agitated, so Dare thought whatever it was needed to be said as soon as possible. And while he assumed Carl was astute enough to know about what had gone on in the recreation room, Dare didn’t think that’s what had the older man agitated.
Dahlia blew out a long breath and then fixed Dani with a concerned gaze.
Dani’s brow furrowed and Dare resisted the urge to reach out and smooth the furrows away. After seeing Dani so relaxed and happy last night, he hated to have anything destroy that. And due to the implied seriousness of the news, he resisted replaying last night inside his mind, or wishing they could go back upstairs and start all over again.
“Dani,” Dahlia began. “Gavin 2 got hold of a nuclear black hole device …”
Dani sucked in a breath that hissed through her teeth.
Dare took her hand in his under the table. He had heard those devices were a hundred times more destructive than the nuclear warheads from Earth back during the twenty-first century. He could only imagine the kind of damage that could be done to poor Gavin 1.
“What happened? Tell me, Dahlia.” Dani’s face had blanched and her fingers tightened around Dare’s.
“Something went wrong and it detonated. But no one is sure which planet it detonated on. There were only limited messages from the planets giving that information and then nothing as the radiation began to interfere with communications.”
Dani’s blood ran cold as the ramifications of the news filtered though her mind. No matter which planet the device had detonated on, it would mean millions of lives lost. What could possibly be worth that high of a cost? And what had Gavin 2 been thinking? Obviously only about winning the war.
Dani’s thoughts turned to all the places on Gavin 1 she knew so well from growing up there and all the people who had been part of her troubled childhood before Devil MacFadyen had found her. Faces swam in her memory, and her heart clenched at the thought of them all dead.
“Dani,” Dare began, “I know how important Gavin 1 is to you. We can take the ship back and find out what’s going on since we can’t get communications through. But you need to eat something first. This entire morning has been full of shocks and you need your strength.”
The implied after last night hung in the air between them. She couldn’t argue with his assessment, although she didn’t feel like eating.
“I’m not sure I could eat without throwing it up right now.”
“You need to try. Let’s see what’s on board for breakfast and then we can make plans for how to handle everything.”
Dare motioned the waiter over and then ordered a full array of breakfast items for the table.
Five minutes later, the table was full of all manner of delicacies, but Dani’s stomach bucked at the thought of even nibbling on any of them. Dare was right, there had been too many shocks this morning and she needed time to process them.
Several times while everyone else ate Dare squeezed her hand and sent a concerned look her way. Something warmed inside her chest each time he did it, and she finally convinced herself to try some hot tea and a plain butter croissant. The bread seemed to help settle her stomach and she didn’t push her luck any further.
Jared pushed his plate away. “If we’re going to go back to the twin Gavin planets, we need to get started. Dare, Dani, is there something wrong? You mentioned several shocks this morning and I only know of one. You wouldn’t be holding out on us, would you?” He and Dahlia exchanged a look before pinning Dare and Dani with identical expressions of expectation.
Carl cleared his throat and it sounded like a cross between that and an aborted chuckle. “I’ll break this news so we can make plans and move on. Dare, Dani, you two finish eating.”
Carl filled them in in a concise and fact-based fashion as Dahlia’s cheeks turned bright red and Jared’s gaze turned nearly as murderous as Dare’s had earlier.
“Boss.” Jared caught Dani’s gaze across the table and held it.
“We don’t need anything but a skeleton crew to go back, even if we encounter bounty hunters. Although depending on which planet had the … incident … that may not be an issue any more.”
Dani hadn’t thought that far ahead, but Jared was right on both counts. “You’re right. Handpick the skeleton crew, offload the rest, and we can deal with this entire situation when we return. Just make it clear that no more of these invasions of privacy will be tolerated.”
“I can guarantee you that message will be clearly communicated. Although we might have to hire more crew when we return.” Jared turned his attention to Dahlia and squeezed her hand while shooting her a reassuring gaze.
Dani’s heart clenched. Apparently she wasn’t the only one on board who was smitten.
Dare tur
ned to Carl. “Why don’t you get us refueled and ready for departure, and we’ll all meet in the control room in an hour? Oh, and, Jared, you can let the crew take the two shuttle crafts. We shouldn’t need them on this trip and they’re going to need them to get everyone down to the MacFadyen headquarters.”
“Thanks, Dare.”
“It’s going to be another interesting day,” Carl said matter-of-factly.
The understatement hung in the air and no one bothered to break the silence.
* * *
8
An hour later, Dare sat in the control room with Dani beside him. Dahlia, Jared, and Carl sat around the room in front of the different consoles. “It’s going to be another long sixteen hours. We should probably take shifts.”
Dani shifted in her chair. “Dare, do you want to take first watch with me and we can wake the next shift in six hours?”
“I’ll take the next shift,” Carl jumped in. “Just call me on the com and I’ll be up here in ten minutes with a few pots of coffee to get me through.”
“I guess that makes us third shift, Dahlia.” Jared’s voice clearly communicated he didn’t mind, and would enjoy spending the first and second shifts with Dahlia while they waited.
The three filed out with well wishes for an event-free shift.
Dare turned his attention back to Dani. Her long red hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and even though she wore no makeup her pale skin was lovely. She wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, but her ample curves still made his mouth water.
Dare!
Get your mind back on business. If Dani’s not already too sore, you’ll have second and third shift to trace those amazing curves.
Dare started the preflight sequence and Dani seamlessly took over the controls where he left off, so within ten minutes they were on their way to the twin Gavin planets under full power.
“Dani,” he began.
She turned to him, her brows risen in question.
“I know you grew up on Gavin 1, but I don’t know much about your childhood other than the few references you’ve made to the fact that it wasn’t the happiest. Would it be too personal if I asked you about it?”
