Fusion (Crimson Romance) by Candace Sams Page A

bay, she’d had her full attention on her location, where her room was positioned, and how to get to the nearest exit. Then there’d been that roll-playing scenario in the passageway, enacted for the benefit of their suspicious enemies. Now that was over she was faced with the actual appearance of the man whose ultimate mission was hers. The same huge man she’d be making love to in front of total strangers.
    • • •
    Soldar couldn’t take his eyes off her. In regular light, she was so much lovelier. He realized she was seeing him in a new way too. That was why she stared as intently as he.
    Her eyes weren’t blue as he’d thought. They were really an unusual shade of blue-green. They were so brilliant that the difference from what he’d seen outside the ship was stunning. He couldn’t have stopped his next words if his life and hers depended on it.
    “I looked but didn’t see,” he softly told her. “You really are the loveliest thing I’ve ever beheld.” He slowly walked forward, put his hand on her left cheek and drew her closer. He folded her into his embrace even as he lowered his head over her upturned, goddess-like face. He allowed himself the luxury of gliding his lips against hers. They weren’t a Master Sergeant and a Colonel. For this moment, they were just a man and a woman. They were lonely, frightened, and close to death. He’d seen the desire in her gaze and meant to answer that unspoken call.
    His body burned.
    It seared and drove into him in a way he could never forget. The kiss deepened. It went on and on until time and their present circumstances were lost. Nothing mattered but the moment. Nothing mattered but holding her close, caressing her slender body, and sharing that blazing, rapturous instant.
    He finally broke the contact though the blood in his veins cried out to continue. He dropped his hands, aching to continue his caresses. “Under normal circumstances I’d be thrown in the brig for two months for touching any subordinate like that.”
    “Breaking the rules is our mission now,” she responded. “We’re only buying a little time for our people even if this works.”
    He shook his head to clear it and get his mind back on matters at hand, then backed off and turned to gaze at the room. For a long moment neither of them spoke. He finally found a subject that would keep his mind off sex. “How many poor bastards lost their lives when the Condorians stole these luxuries? I’ve no doubt half of what we’ve seen was due to their killing. It’s been a long war. Aigean couldn’t have maintained this level of quality without their thievery.”
    “I-I was just wondering the same thing,” she admitted. “I’m not sure I can sleep on one of these beds. I’m used to transport cots friends and I shared in shifts.”
    “Indeed,” he responded while trying to breathe normally. Even as he’d made another attempt to capture his professional bearing, he knew there’d come a time very soon when they’d have to engage in sex. It was their cover. Still, he found himself unbelievably elated at the prospect. He should exhibit a blasé attitude to fool the enemy. But how did one do that when he so desperately wanted her?
    His need was driven by going so long without a woman. He’d had men — friends who’d shared each other for the sake of dimming the lonely hours. But he simply preferred women, their warmth and femininity. And this one was all the things he craved, right down to the long, lean-looking, and shapely legs and the soft —
so ultra-soft
— fully kissable lips.
    “I-I need a cold shower,” he blurted. “Maybe you could scrounge up something to eat. We have to keep focused,” he suggested, more to remind himself of duty. “See what you can do.”
    • • •
    Lyra watched him walk away.
    It was obvious he was as shaken as she. She ran her hands through her hair and prowled the room and the scrumptious delights there. It wasn’t long before she had two plates