Magnetism

Magnetism Kim Knox

Book one in the Planetary Bodies series.

Orlena Sol is not meant to be in her room, naked…with her superior officer. The crew of the CMC Theseus doesn’t have sex. At least not with each other. But there’s a new hunger in Dareh Andersen and he’s looking at Orlena as if she’s all too edible. He’s ready to fulfill her fantasies, which makes no sense. He’s always wanted anyone but her. Orlena is convinced there’s more to his sudden interest. She fears his desire is simply a dream, a lie. Something other, something outside and beyond them is at work…but it’s a force she doesn’t want to fight.

Ellora’s Cave Publishing

www.ellorascave.com

Magnetism ISBN 9781419932861 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Magnetism Copyright 2011 Kim Knox Edited by Grace Bradley Cover art by Syneca Electronic book publication February 2011 The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

MAGNETISM Kim Knox

Magnetism

Chapter One Orlena Sol erupted from her bed. Naked. Chill air slapped her bare skin and she grabbed her sheets and blankets, huddling back into their warmth. She let her head fall into the synthetic plumpness of her pillow. Shit. That kind of loss of time—a small black hole forming in her memory, with no idea of where, what or who—hadn’t happened in years. Not since she was little more than a deckhand on one of the big constructor arms out past Umbriel. Her bad years. A hot breath escaped her and she stared up into the pitted darkness of her room. She was in her room? She frowned. It wasn’t her cramped cabin on the CMC Theseus. She lay in her own quarters on the Uranian moon, Miranda. The familiar sounds and smells washed over her in the heavily vibrating silence. The metal walls, the overstarched cotton of her sheets, the fading scent of grass and willowy trees from the air fabricator all screamed it. Which made no sense. Her last memory was of being belted into the navigator’s chair aboard the Theseus. She could still taste the anger at Captain Jannes’ decision to let that fucked-up pilot on board again. She knew they had to have one of the cult as their pilot. No ship mined Uranus without one now… But Zev was trouble. Yes, she was supposed to have an other-sense about the currents and eddies of Uranus’ atmosphere, but the woman was skittish, a freak, a planet-worshipper. And she was bad luck. Orlena was with Dareh on that one. She pressed her fingers into her scalp and willed her memory back. The atmosphere scoops on the Theseus had stood open, ready for the payload of helium-3 and hydrogen deuteride. Shan, Callie and Dareh were feeding vital signs through the monitors, nerves taut, ready to contain the load. Jannes barked his orders, his words quick and low, and Zev’s light voice wove through his. Syato stood silent as she always did, her attention 5

Kim Knox

fixed on the curve of the screen and the fast-moving currents of Uranus’ methanestained atmosphere. Her face had its usual stern mask, but her gaze was alive with the wealth about to flow into their ship. A familiar situation. Nothing out of the ordinary. But then the instrumentation panel had lit up, claxons pounded and their wellordered ship dropped into chaos. Orlena dug the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. After that everything had become fractured. She had the vague memory of hurtling the ship out of the atmosphere and making for the relative safety of the moon, Cordelia. The ship had touched down on its rocky surface, there was a wild rush of heat through her body…and then absolutely nothing. Her heart pounded. She’d made it back to Miranda, but what about the rest of her crew? She scrambled out of her bed, the sheets wrapped around her, unable to stay still with the push of heat and fear in her blood. “Contact with first mate Dareh Andersen.” Orlena willed her breathing to slow as she waited for his reply, forcing herself to be calm to count the seconds. This was Dareh. He never rushed anything. “Len?” Dareh’s voice was little more than a croak. “Where are you? Are you with the others?” There was a long pause and Orlena cursed his slow deliberation of facts. “No.” His reply made her stomach turn over. “I seem to be in the corridor outside your rooms.” “What?” Orlena shuffled across the floor to deactivate the locks to the outer door. It clunked back into the wall and she found herself staring at Dareh as he stood in the metal frame of the open door. The muted light from the empty corridor formed a halo around his dark head. Her gaze moved from his face…and she realized something that forced her to take a back step. She quickly closed her eyes. “You’re naked.” “I noticed. Did you finally slip me that rekkie you promised?”

6

Magnetism

Orlena felt fresh heat burn in her face. He never let her forget that. How she’d sidled up to him in one of the dives in the lower levels of the habitation complex and threatened to drug him and fuck him. That had been before they crewed on the Theseus. About a day before. Drink and drugs had exited her life from then on. Mainly from sheer embarrassment. Orlena risked a peek at him, wanting a clear memory of his long, lean and very naked body…and he caught her staring. A slow smile touched his mouth and she wanted to hate him, especially as that particular smile ran a quick ripple of need through her flesh. It was unprofessional to be attracted to her senior officer. But she was. She couldn’t help it. And there he stood, disgustingly at ease with his lack of clothes. “What do you remember?” Orlena turned away, turned back into her room. It was safer. Just. She paused. “Low lights.” A pale glow filled the room, catching on the dull metal walls. The sudden tightness of the thin sheet wrapped around her body made her start. “What are you doing?” “Sharing.” Dareh had caught her sheet in his right hand. He tugged and she stumbled back toward him. “I’m the guest, after all.” “Dareh.” His name came out with more harshness than she intended, but his hand was too close to her bare skin, his other hand firm and warm on her sheet-clad hips. He’d always found her attraction funny. Something he made sly digs about. Never to act on. “I have no memory after landing the ship. How did we get back here?” He tilted his head, an automatic movement. He didn’t take his gaze from hers. “Sit.rep on the CMC Theseus.” The system’s impersonal voice filled the gloom. “The Cinque Moon Confederation ship Theseus is docked in three-four-zero hangar, habitation level four. Engineers are running a diagnostic.” “How did it get there?” Her question sounded composed, normal, but on the inside her thoughts swirled. She’d fixed her attention on the hard plane of Dareh’s jaw, the 7

Kim Knox

dark shadow of stubble and the tempting curl of black hair across his cheek. Her fingertips ached to explore his skin, to follow that touch with her mouth. It didn’t help that he smelled great and that she pulled in his scent with every steadying breath. “You docked the ship yourself, second mate Sol.” “Do you remember that?” Orlena made the mistake of meeting his gaze. The sparse lighting glowed in the blue-green of his eyes, a color she’d never noticed before. Because she made a conscious effort not to stare at him. She’d always had the knowledge that staring could turn into drooling. She forced her gaze down, fixing instead on the smooth line of his collarbone. “I don’t.” Dareh played with the sheet he held, his fingers an agony as they skimmed her bare shoulder beneath. “There was a flare. Some sort of wave burst up from the lower troposphere. You landed the ship. Callie pronounced us safe to head home. We docked.” His smooth voice eased through her flesh, somehow always molten without effort. His shoulders lifted as he pulled in a breath. “And then…I have nothing.” He paused and turned his head to the metal ceiling. “Location of the crew of the CMC Theseus. Excluding us.” “Captain Jannes is aboard the CMC Theseus. Engineer Shan Rayner is in the corporate offices of Uranian Operations. Bosun Callie Thiago is in the lower levels at Outpost Alpha. Purser Alexandra Syato is in the Millicent.” Her crew was accounted for, which made their slightly different but mutual amnesia very strange. “Jannes’ insurance covers med visits. We should—” “What?” Dareh exposed her shoulder to the chill of the room and she sucked in a quick, startled breath. He moved closer, the heat from his bare skin finding the gaps in her hurriedly thrown-on sheet. “I’d say this was officially downtime.” “You’re not Dareh Andersen.” The words burst from her, because this wasn’t him, this was some kind of fucked-up dream. One she would wake from and find herself alone in her bunk aboard the Theseus, her skin hot and her body deeply unsatisfied.

8

Magnetism

“You’re some—” She waved her hand and the sheet slipped to expose her breast. Hastily, she recovered herself, her face burning. “Figment.” “I’m real.” His head dipped and his mouth ghosted hers, so close their lips almost touched. She felt his mouth lift in a smile. “And naked.” Her gut twisted, the pain sharp and sudden. The little digs aboard ship she could laugh off, but there in her rooms, in a place Dareh had been a fantasy, it hurt. He thought it was harmless fun. It wasn’t. “I’m not playing games here.” “Then where?” “Dareh.” She bit out his name and pulled back from him. She tugged at her sheet, but he held them firm and she struggled to wrap what she had around her nakedness. “We have to work together. The taunts I can deal with in work hours. Here? No.” “Taunts?” His mouth thinned and his knuckles whitened, pulling the material from her grip. It slipped from her shoulders. “I have never taunted you.” Orlena stared at him. This Dareh had to be a figment, some insane dream, because she’d endured a whole Terran year of his asides and remarks about her need to jump him. He knew how attractive he was. And how she would never have a chance with him. She’d witnessed the adoration of others, the sly press of contact details against his palm in the docking bays, the lust that followed him as he strode across a hangar. She’d been one of the lust-filled watchers, after all, and been all too aware of those other interested looks. She straightened and tilted her head, just as he did. She took slow breaths, mimicking him, and held his narrowed gaze. “’Sleep well, Len? Did I keep you up again?’” She dropped her head to the other side. “Or how about, ‘I can help you with those kinks, Len’.” Her lips pressed together. She had never called him on it before. It was a ship thing…and she’d kept their socializing to a minimum outside of work time. But he was in her room. This was her private place and he wasn’t pulling his crap now. “Well?”

9

Kim Knox

Color formed a slash across his sharp cheekbones. He released his hold on her sheet. “I apologize.” He glanced around her cluttered room as if seeing it for the first time. “I need something to wear.” Orlena turned away to the alcove that housed her clothes. She bit down a curse. She could have pushed him, dropped the sheet and pressed her body against his. Called his bluff. And felt the pain of him stepping back in horror. Boxes were tucked in the back of the dark alcove, stuff from her room’s previous resident. He’d moved to the upper levels after his crew traded their liquid diamond haul for an obscene amount. He’d left everything behind. “Here.” She yanked a pair of trousers and a long tunic out and threw them onto the bed. She glanced down at his feet. “His boots may fit.” Dareh shrugged the tunic over his head. “You’re hiding a relationship from the crew, Len?” He tugged on the trousers. “And you kept it from Callie. She’s going to be pissed off.” Orlena wanted to believe there was something in his voice, an undercurrent that said her having a man disturbed him. She had to admit, she was probably projecting. This was Dareh. He could—and did—have anyone he wanted. She fought with herself—deny it or make up a lie. She could do neither, so she said nothing. Instead, she pulled a shirt and cargos from built-in drawers and dressed in silence. “That serious?” “You don’t seem concerned by our lack of memory.” He shrugged, as laconic as ever. “Our job drops us into an alien atmosphere. No one knows what’s really down there…and how it affects us.” Orlena snorted. “You following Zev into a bit of planet-worshipping?” Dareh dropped to her bed and pulled on one of the black military boots she’d tossed to him. He muttered something sour under his breath. “I’ve made Jannes very aware of what I think about the cultists. But they have a monopoly on guiding ships.” He cursed again. “Bloody superstition.” 10

Magnetism

He pulled on the other boot and there was a heavy thunk. Orlena blinked. That sounded as if her door locks had engaged. More than engaged. She pressed her hand to the central panel on the doorjamb to open the connectors. There was a slow whine that jarred her teeth…and nothing. “Central systems. Open the locks to room six-two-four, level twelve.” She waited in the semi-silence, but the overriding computer didn’t reply. The vibrations of the room increased and the low glow of the lights flickered. The air stirred and a wave of warmth brushed her skin. Dareh stood. “First mate Dareh Andersen. Override room controls.” He was answered with more silence. Orlena pinched her palm and let out a bitter laugh at the quick burst of pain. “No. Not a dream, then.” Dareh rubbed at his jaw and stared up at the vents. He frowned. “There’s an environmental change.” He drew in a deep breath and his frown deepened. “You can smell the metal. It’s going to get hot in here.” He pried open the door panel and exposed dead circuits. “And soon.” She closed her eyes. What was going on? This didn’t happen on Miranda, not anymore. Decades back, when the colonists had started the first constructions in the Uranian system and the moon had been marked as one of the five to build the expansion ships, the habitations had been thick with faults. But everything had settled. Now the habitats on the five Uranian moons were completely safe. Was that their problem? Had the colonists become complacent? Already sweat trickled down her back. Seemed that they had. “What kit do you keep here?” She opened her eyes. “Basic. You’re welcome to try to hack the door.” She dropped down beside her bed and hauled out a battered metal case. Something she’d had when she worked out on the construction arm. She had no use for it on Miranda. Every dent in the case was a memory. Often a bad one. 11

Kim Knox

He traced the reinforced corner of the kit box and rubbed his fingertips together. A fine dust drifted to the bed. “Dried blood?” She shrugged. “They banned projectile weapons.” His gaze was speculative. “I always pegged you for an enforcer.” Orlena couldn’t help her smile and she sank onto her thick mattress to watch him work. A darker stain ran the length of his spine, proving that the first of the heat was starting to get to him. She thought about suggesting he take off his clothes. It probably wasn’t a good idea. She pulled at the collar of her shirt, her skin tacky and hot, and glanced up at the vent. The ripple of air burst through the black slats. It was going to get very hot. Still, Dareh was a natural with technology. He’d been in charge of Jannes’ security for years. “So is it fried?” The list of soft curses tugged a wry smile from her mouth. It took a lot to puncture Dareh’s calm. “It’s working. Everything says it’s working.” Orlena flicked the top button on her shirt and flapped the material against her chest. “But it isn’t. Obviously.” “Obviously.” The word was almost a growl. So something new about the man she’d been working with for a year. He didn’t like heat…or being defeated by tech. His fingers tightened around the diagnostic rig, his knuckles white. He rolled his neck. “It will work.” Sweat stuck her trousers to her thighs. Orlena swore under her breath. It seemed she hated the heat too. In one swift tug, she pulled off her trousers and dropped them to a puddle of sticky cloth on the floor. Dareh glanced back at her. His skin gleamed with damp in the low light and she blamed the heat on the color in his cheeks. Though she wasn’t sure how she could blame the burning air for the slow slide of his gaze over her bare thighs. A fresh warmth prickled along her skin. “Don’t.”

12

Magnetism

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I didn’t know you were off-limits, Len.”

13

Kim Knox

Chapter Two Orlena looked pointedly at the exposed panel. “The door.” He turned back and she pinched the bridge of her nose. It would be easy to point out she was so very available. But she couldn’t. He was playing with her. He was a bastard like that. “So how long have you and—” He made a vague wave with his free hand “Mr. Box been…involved.” “Mr. Box?” “The man keeping clothes in your room. In a box.” Her mouth thinned briefly. “Dareh…” “The door. Yes.” He muttered to himself, gripped the rig between his teeth and pulled off his long tunic. Muscles flexed in his back, his skin shining, and Orlena left out a slow breath. He was torturing her more than he ever had on the ship. “Are you collecting gossip for Callie?” “We need something to occupy time between hauls.” He let out a soft laugh. “And since when did any of us have anything more than casual screws?” Orlena pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to think about his casual screws, not with his back only a meter away, all slick and hot and completely kissable. “The job doesn’t help.” “True. Days spent cooped up with Jannes, with me.” She heard the smile in his voice. “And we atmos.miners have a fearsome sexual reputation.” He was laying it on thick. It reminded her of the times aboard ship after a break, when they hadn’t seen each other for a week or more. She didn’t want his reputation repeated, not when he was hot and half-naked in her room. “Can you stop?” She rolled

14

Magnetism

her neck, the heat dropping like molasses into her lungs. Soon it would be hard to breathe. She pushed her fingers through her damp hair but found no relief. “I know you have the option to fuck every sentient thing that passes your way. You remind me of it often.” Orlena stifled a groan and sank to the tiled floor. The moisture-lined ceramic was almost cool against her bare thighs. It didn’t help. Not with the embarrassed warmth filling her face. She hadn’t meant to say the words that had burned on her tongue for a year. But she was hot and it made her crabby. Dareh had paused. “Is that what you think?” Now there was no going back. Well, she had been avoiding thrashing out the need she had to jump him. “It’s what you tell me. All the time.” His face was a hard profile, his mouth thinned. “I’ve shared nothing.” A short bark of a laugh burst from her. “You were displaying the bite marks from a fuck buddy only ten days ago.” Her gaze skimmed his waist, the memory of the bruises still sharp in her mind. “I see they’ve healed.” “My fuck buddy?” A hint of anger lined his voice. “I thought you had a reputation to uphold. Why deny it now?” “I will not justify my lifestyle—” “So it’s a lifestyle?” Orlena gave him a sharp grin and he turned his attention back to the panel. It was a pleasant change to have Dareh on the defensive. Yes, she was being shitty, needling him, but she was hot, the floor was unpleasantly wet now and every breath was a labor. “You were down on the lower levels when we first met. Plenty of kinks for a lifestyle down there.” He swore and the diagnostic rig clattered to the floor. “I can’t fix this.” He wiped his hand across his face. “And you’re not helping, Len.”

15

Kim Knox

“What?” She tried to look innocent and knew she failed. She pushed herself up and sat on the bed again. At least that was dry. “Don’t like the switch around? This time I get the little digs in about your sex life.” His gaze was on her legs again, fixed there, until it slid in too slow a way up her body to her face. “So your new man is making you feel confident, is that it?” A dark smile touched his mouth and her stomach did a crazy little twist. “I like it.” Orlena blinked and a biting hollowness emptied her of all desire. This was what he wanted? He liked the idea of a woman already attached to someone else? Was that the reason he’d never made a pass at any of the crew, even the luscious Alexandra Syato? Fuck. No. Not like this. She stood up and tugged the shirt down to cover the tops of her thighs. Dareh watched her, his eyes darkening with something she couldn’t quite name. Maybe anger, maybe hunger. “You like your women unavailable? Is that what turns you on?” Anger, it was definitely anger burning out from him, and her inability to breathe suddenly had nothing to do with the heavy air. Her heart thudded and the coil of need in her belly twisted tight again. Even knowing it wasn’t her that he wanted couldn’t stop the familiar burn of desire. She’d ached for him for too long. He closed the short gap and his hot hand found her hip. The touch of skin against skin parted her mouth. His attention fixed there and her lips burned, her mouth dry. “What turns you on, Len?” The rough-whispered question peaked her nipples and his fingers pressed into the flesh of her hip, gripping her, urging her closer to him. “Playing away? Want me to fuck you against the wall? Screw him out of you?” Her back hit the bulkhead and she let out a soft groan. He unbuttoned his trousers. “It’d be a pleasure.” “No.” Her hand splayed against his chest, the heat of his damp skin, the heavy thud of his heart pushing through her. But she didn’t shove him away, put any distance between them. “We work together. I’m not just another easy fuck for you.” 16

Magnetism

He teased the sticky tendrils of her hair from her neck, his fingertips electric against her skin. His tongue traced a slow, slow path down to her shirt collar. “Nothing about you is easy.” His breath sent a shiver coursing through her and she felt the curve of his smile. “It makes it…interesting.” Orlena bit at her lip and her free hand tightened into a bloodless fist. She wanted the pain to divert her thoughts from the fire licking at her flesh. It didn’t work. She knew how she could stop all of it. She could tell him. Tell him there was no secret man who left clothes in her room. That there hadn’t been anyone for so long it was embarrassing. Her own fingers, a device or two, but no live man for too many months. Yet…she couldn’t say it. Dareh pressed against her, his hands hard on her ass, the promise of his erection so promisingly close. It would be a crime to stop. So she stepped over the line. “What makes you think he won’t come storming in, find us, take you out?” He paused against her neck and his grip on her ass tightened to just the edge of pain. “Is that what you have planned?” His question was a soft, low growl that vibrated through her flesh. “Why you’re doing this?” “Why? Does that turn you on?” With an easy strength, he lifted her. He pushed between her thighs, pressing hard against her sex. “You turn me on.” His mouth caught hers, his lips sure and delicious, his tongue hot. She fisted her fingers in his damp hair and deepened their kiss. He tasted…hot and indescribably good. So good, she gripped him with her thighs and locked her ankles over his ass. His erection taunted her. She wanted him there and then, fucking her, driving out every thought. “What does he do?” The question was raw against her mouth and it hitched on the rise of hard need taking her body. She had to admit it, admit there was no one in her life. But she couldn’t. Her thighs squeezed and she rolled against him, the first push of his cock into 17

Kim Knox

her flesh sparking lights behind her eyes. It had gone too far. And not far enough. “Why do you care?” “Tell me.” The easy, laconic man was gone and there was a fierce stranger in his place. Was it the heat, or how he got off? Did he need to know about her other man in detail? The thought that he’d stop if she didn’t seared through her. That wasn’t an option. She pulled at her fantasies, of how she imagined Dareh would want her. “How he fucks me? How he can’t wait?” She bit at his bottom lip, teasing it between her teeth. Her heart pounded and her fantasy burned over her mind, almost too real. “He shoves me up against this wall, his uniform still stinking from the kickback in the hangars, his hands gritty with dust.” She didn’t close her eyes. She needed to see him to tie fantasy to hot reality. “I don’t care and neither does he. He has to have me. Quick and fast and—” Dareh growled and took her mouth, ending her words with the demands of his lips, his tongue, his teeth. He thrust his hips, driving his cock deep. The sudden force broke her mouth from his, her breath short, her skin on fire. Playing was over. She needed him. “Now.” She bit his swollen lower lip, enjoying his hiss. “I want you now.” The dim lights formed a pale halo around his dark hair. His face had fallen into shadow and she couldn’t read him, only guess from his labored breathing, from the hard bite of his fingers into her flesh that he wanted this as much as her. “And him?” Orlena ground her hips against his, meeting his quick thrust that drove need hard through her body. She arched her spine and pushed down again. “Our secret.” For a moment, Dareh stilled. In the wet heat and the vibrations of the room he was a dark shadow. Separate. Alone. Her stomach hollowed and the urge to kiss him, to push away his sudden reluctance forced her to take his mouth again. She swallowed his groan. 18

Magnetism

He held her to the hot metal of the wall and freed a hand. It skimmed her thigh and dipped between their bodies. She jerked against him as his heated knuckles teased her sex and darted dangerous little sparks that tightened her legs around him. She moaned against his mouth, wanting to ride him, to sink down on him and lose herself, lose him in a wild surge. His unmoving cock teased her sex, tightening the coils low in her belly. He broke their kiss and his warm breath brushed her mouth. “Say my name.” “Dareh.” It came out in a rush, heavy with need. He stroked into her and lights danced over her eyes, a quick surge of heat firing through her flesh. He groaned, something low and sounding almost as needy as her. He was slow, easing into her again with a control she didn’t have. Her thighs trembled and she ached to take him…but he pinned her to the wall, controlling her as he controlled himself. “I want to go slow.” He teased her lip with his teeth. “Take what’s mine.” His possessiveness ran a hot ache up from her belly. Orlena had never imagined him—and she’d imagined him a lot—ever saying anything like it. It wasn’t him. Not the man she knew. “How am I yours?” He pushed deeper, stretching her, driving a surge of pleasure into her flesh. “Here. Now.” He leaned back and tugged at her shirt. Buttons popped and scattered to the floor and he peeled the damp material from her skin. His thumb traced over her nipple, a slow, slow tease that forced her to clench around him. “That’s how you’re mine.” Her body was on fire. From the wet heat of the air, the wall at her back and from Dareh’s touch, the tantalizing hint of his skin against hers. She pressed her thumb to his cheek, slicking away a trickle of sweat. She wanted to tell him the truth, but then he would lose any interest in her…and with him deep, deep inside her, she couldn’t let him go now. “Dareh…” His name was a whisper, a plea…and he responded. He kissed her, something thorough and totally consuming, swallowing her half moan as he drew back and thrust into her body. Orlena clung to him, meeting his slow 19

Kim Knox

strokes, desperate for every flicker of joy that flashed under her skin. Heat wrapped around her, the air and him, and his every sure stroke found her clit. Her thoughts dizzied from lack of air and she sucked in a heavy breath. “Faster.” Dareh grinned against her neck and rolled his hips, forcing her to gasp. “You always want everything done yesterday.” “Yes.” Orlena nipped his earlobe, the salt-sweet taste of his skin a delight to her tongue. “So do it.” He laughed. “I outrank you.” “Unfair.” He held her gaze, close enough for her to see the desire darkening his eyes. “Unfair?” The soft question prickled her skin and she pushed against him, meeting another easy thrust. “Len, I’ll show you unfair.” He found her mouth again and she shook, but he held her, devoured her, fucked her in his controlled, precise way. And she had to give herself over to it. To him. For these long moments, she was his. That thought ran through her, giving her pain, pleasure, and there, on the edge of her senses, was the promise of her fiery release. It rose up through her flesh, tightening her body, making her shake, and she grabbed at it, wanting it, wanting the release to burst over her, to lose herself in a vast burn of light and joy. “Almost.” Dareh’s lips brushed her ear and she pulled in a sharp breath. “Together, Len. Wait.” He was evil. Completely evil. His steady strokes fueled the riot of need searing through her and she felt as if she would fly apart. He had to let her— “Orlena.” Her name was a hot, hard whisper as he came and it was enough. A flare of intense heat surged over her body, consuming her, wiping out all thought, all other sense except absolute bliss. Dareh wrapped her in his strong arms and the press of his face

20

Magnetism

into the curve of her neck pricked tears. She dropped a kiss against his damp hair and let out a long, low sigh. She closed her eyes and felt the first tear slip down her cheek. Now the fallout would begin. “Dareh…” His arms tightened around her. “I’m sorry.” He pulled in a heavy breath and a few choice curses left him. He released her, easing from her body and stood back. His fingers trembled as he refastened his trousers. He looked up. “I crossed a line.” The room vibrated with a low clunk and a spike of chilled air cut out from the vent. Locks disengaged. Orlena glared at the offending door. Minutes too late. Wonderful. She shivered and pulled her shirt over her exposed breasts. Her hand wiped over her sweating face, taking away the short run of tears. “We both did.” She willed herself to the narrow archway that led into her bathroom and stopped at the metal sink. Water sprayed into the bowl and she let it run over her fingers, cool and quick, before splashing it onto her skin. She pressed a towel to her face and ignored the constriction of her throat. Orlena glanced back and found Dareh in the doorway. He was still naked from the waist up, his hair mussed and his lips swollen. But his expression tore at her. He had his senior officer face on—grim, determined and unflinching. Her gut twisted. It was the face he wore when she or one of the crew fucked up. His head tilted. “Tell me his name.” She gave a short laugh. “I hate to disappoint you, Dareh, but there’s no Mr. Box.” She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. “And how stupid does that sound?” She dialed up her shower and shucked off her shirt, dropping it to the floor. Opening the cubicle, she stepped inside and pulled it tight behind her. The water ran cool against her skin and she turned her face up to the wide showerhead. She grabbed the soap and attacked her sweating skin, washing him away,

21

Kim Knox

his scent, his touch, everything. Maybe then she could pretend she hadn’t been so monumentally stupid. Minutes ticked by and Orlena fought with the need to hide in the narrow cubicle until Dareh took the hint and left. But she knew he hadn’t left. Through the obscuring film, she could see him still standing in the archway. He wouldn’t leave. Dareh saw everything through to the very bitter end. Lucky her. She dialed down the shower, waiting for the last trickle of warm water to drip away before she opened the cubicle. Dareh narrowed his gaze and held up a towel. She took it and wrapped it around her body. She found another towel for her hair. “Whose clothes am I wearing?” Orlena pressed her lips together and padded into the other room. Already the air was fresh, light, the fearsome heat sucked away. Something seemed determined to get them to fuck. Now it had had its jollies, it was letting them breathe again. She shook her head. The brief burst of heat was affecting her brain. “Andrias Shaw.” She dropped down to her bed and waved her hand around the room. “He was the first mate on a mineral ship. Made a lot of money and left.” His frown deepened. “Left you?” She stared at him. “Me? No.” She rubbed her hands together and pushed at her courage. It was over. They were over. But she couldn’t let the lie fester, have the rest of the crew find out and worse, believe it. They’d never known. Her private life had always been…private. “Andrias left the room and everything in it. He met me in the corridor—just about five meters that way,” she pointed, “and gave me the card to it. For free.” She looked at the tiled floor, watching the pools of moisture quickly evaporating, reabsorbed by the room’s environmental system. “The only bit of luck I’d had in a long time.” “The previous occupant?” There was that hint of anger again. “Then why did you say—”

22

Magnetism

Chapter Three “You wanted it. Wanted me to be unattainable. So I lied.” She wiped her hand over her mouth, the knot in her gut twisting, reminding her just how stupid she’d been. “I wanted you.” A wry smile lifted her mouth. “No rekkies involved and I’m straight-up sober.” “That’s really what you thought?” Dareh scrubbed at his forehead. “What you think of me.” Orlena wanted to curl into her bed, pretend that everything was a dream that had ended when he whispered her name and she came. But it wasn’t. She was stuck in her real life. “We can forget this happened, Dareh.” The words tasted bitter on her tongue, soured her stomach. She didn’t want to forget anything about him, but there was no future, no them. And they still had to work together every day. “That would be the practical solution.” She knew the smile she gave him was weak. Not that it mattered. He wasn’t looking at her anyway. “You like practical.” “Practical.” He said the word like a curse. “Yes, that’s me, isn’t it?” “Anyway, we should get this memory-loss thing sorted out.” Orlena kept her voice light, even as pain stabbed into her gut. “You need to shower and change and we’ll meet at the med facility in what? Thirty minutes?” “I wanted to say yes to your offer.” Orlena stared at him, confused, her hands paused on scrubbing her hair dry with her towel. “What offer?” “The offer you made to fuck me. In the bar, last year.” He ran his fingers through his damp hair. “I was waiting for you to sober up.” For a moment, she couldn’t speak. Her memory of that time was hazy, but she remembered the proposition and his shocked expression. She’d found herself leaning in 23

Kim Knox

the lift, followed by the hazy memory of her room with her face mushed into her pillow. There was a lingering scent of him in her recollection. She had pressed herself hard up against his chest and grabbed his ass, which had probably increased his look of shock. “You were?” She shook her head. “I’ve not touched a drop for a year, by the way. Mortifying embarrassment can be great that way.” “I know.” He straightened his shoulders. “You turned up on the Theseus the next morning. You looked horrified.” She blinked. “And you thought my offer didn’t stand?” “I knew it didn’t.” He leaned against the wall. “I’d read your employment history. Second mate on the Theseus was a good move. You couldn’t screw that up. I wasn’t going to let you.” Orlena winced. “You do know how patronizing that sounds, don’t you?” He shrugged. “Was I right?” She pressed her hand to her mouth and knew she didn’t want to admit he was right. Getting the job aboard the Theseus had been as great a break as a stranger handing her the card to her room. It pulled her out of the cesspool that was working on the ship construction arms, gave her a grade, a certain reputation and best of all, let her eat on a regular basis. To fuck up her chances with Captain Jannes by throwing herself at Dareh would have pushed her back to the exhausting commute to Umbriel. And the dried blood on her old kit box proved that she hadn’t exactly fit in well. So, he had wanted her. It was a shame that fact didn’t make her feel any better. “That’s decided, then. No more…” She made a vague wave at the wall. “We carry on as crew.” She rubbed her hands over the towel, drying her thighs, and the nervous action eased out some of the adrenaline firing through her. “And you get to keep your fearsome rep.” She wanted to close her eyes and shrink away. She sounded so fucking needy. And she wasn’t. Yes, she needed Dareh, had since she’d accosted him. But they worked well

24

Magnetism

together, ran the ship with sharp professionalism…when he hadn’t been taking digs at her. She frowned. “And the innuendo?” “Frustration.” “Really, I thought you of all people would be anything but frustrated.” Orlena stood. They’d crossed into the strange and disturbing place of admitting that sex had been on both their minds. But that was where it would stay. It’d ended in her room, with that one completely delicious fuck against the wall. And that was depressing as all hell. She padded to the alcove packed with clothes. The thought of how he’d shown off still twisted in her gut. She couldn’t leave it alone. “You’ve recently had Ms. Overenthusiastic Biter. And before that there was Ms. Multiple Scratches.” She pulled her underwear from a drawer. “Also let us not forget the tantalizing Ms. Strange Pattern of Bruising.” “Were you keeping a tally, Len?” She heard the humor lurking in his voice and her body tensed. Had his admission and the fact that they had now had sex made him “fine” about the situation? She stopped herself from gritting her teeth. “I think the whole ship was.” “And you?” The hard soles of his boots hit the tiles and she was aware of him walking toward her. He stood behind her and her air-dried skin prickled with awareness. His voice was soft. “What about Mr. Bombard You With Messages? He blocked our lines for two days trying to reach you. Or Mr. Hang about the Hangar? He was very keen. Jannes had to have the authorities restrict his access to the bay.” She snorted. “I did wonder where he disappeared to.” She turned to face Dareh, the soft glow of light edging his features. Her smile deepened and she knew there was a hint of sharpness in it. “Maybe you’re right about the reputation of the atmos.miners. I only slept with him once.”

25

Kim Knox

Dareh’s gaze narrowed. “You slept with him?” “Wasn’t I supposed to?” She paused, perversely enjoying his irritation. “Having an outbreak of double standards now?” “He had a record.” His work face had settled over his features, hard and severe. He was determined to be the first mate and security officer about her sleeping with a criminal. “Had numerous convictions on Umbriel, Oberon and here.” “I wasn’t moving him in with me.” She flicked her gaze around her room. “Too small anyway.” “Have you finished, Orlena?” He only dragged out her full name when he was really pissed off. Or he was coming. Heat surged over her skin. Yes, she had that as a memory now. “You said it, Dareh. We’re a crew into casual sex. Admittedly not with each other…but we don’t tie ourselves down.” She looked down at her hands, realizing how tight they were, how they twisted the fabric of her underwear. She eased her fingers free. “We can’t.” “Were you making a point by having sex with him?” “What?” She blinked and a disbelieving smile broke across her lips. “Ah… So who I fuck is really all about you? Patronizing and self-absorbed. I’m learning lots of new things about you today, Dareh.” Angry color burned under his skin. “Don’t be facetious.” He made an obvious effort to calm himself with slow breaths and an untensing of his shoulders. “Neither of us has turned away opportunity.” “Opportunity.” Orlena tried not to grate out the word. She failed. She had to recognize the hard knot in her belly was anger and twisted with a large strand of bitterness and jealousy. She hadn’t slept with men to prove something to him. She was certain of that. Orgasms she could get. Seeking out men had come from craving human contact, of the touch of someone else’s fingers on her skin, of hearing and feeling

26

Magnetism

another heartbeat. In the dark and silence of her room, with a man’s arms around her, she admitted she had wanted that man, those arms to belong to Dareh. It was why she hadn’t slept with a man for over half a Terran year. She turned back to finding clothes. It was a conversation she should’ve had with him months ago. Talk through their attraction, put it behind them, not let it fester…but she hadn’t known he was interested in her. She twisted her mouth. Who was the selfabsorbed one now? “This is going nowhere. We should get to the med facility.” She wiped her hand across her mouth to deny her bitter laugh. “Have our brains scanned for abnormalities.” “And if we didn’t.” His voice was quiet, the hard pressure of his anger gone. Orlena lifted up several shirts. “I think we should, Dareh, considering how we’re behaving.” She pulled a black, long-sleeved shirt free from a pile. “We’re obviously not ourselves.” “We aren’t abnormal.” “We hurtle around in a bucket-sized ship guided by a spaced-out planetworshipper. I think we’re certifiable.” His laughter eased the cramps in her gut. There. They could get back to how they had been, minus the digs about wanting him. That cut too deep, he had to realize that now. “You still want me.” Orlena closed her eyes. Then again, maybe the last hour hadn’t happened at all. She could terrify him with the truth. She’d already embarrassed herself once around him. What was one more mortifying episode? She turned to face him and pressed her lips together. It really wasn’t fair that he was so very attractive, all lean strength and sculptured features. Add in a subtle and dark sense of humor and a relentless determination and she didn’t know why someone hadn’t already chained him down.

27

Kim Knox

“I don’t want you, Dareh.” Something flickered in his eyes, but it could have been the cast of the light. “I want the whole thing.” She dropped her chosen shirt across the metal chest tucked into the corner. She felt the familiar burn of bitter fire rise up through her blood and pushed the energy into tugging on her underwear. She knew she looked stupid, yanking them on under her towel, but Dareh had seen her stupid before. It was nothing new. He frowned. “The whole thing?” The towel hit the floor and she pulled on the shirt. “I want nights in, fighting over the latest reality prog beamed in from Earth. I want lazy breakfasts in bed or catching the first of the morning’s supplies in the refectory.” She tugged the shirt hard over her hips. “And the nice refectory, mind you, where they serve the tea that tastes like actual tea and not reactor sludge. “I want massages and time spent just staring at the stars. I want date nights and friend nights and the possibility of talking about signing up to head out on one of the expansion ships.” She sucked in a deep breath, the adrenaline flushing her face. “See? I don’t want your body, Dareh. I want a life.” His head tilted and he held her gaze, his eyes revealing nothing. “Okay,” he said. Orlena froze. Her throat dried and she swallowed. “Did you just say…?” “Okay? Yes.” He winced. “Though I refuse here and now to watch reality progs.” She sank back against the metal chest, the edges biting into her thighs. The pain was hardly a distraction, just something interesting to add to the rest of her churned feelings. “Okay.” “Now I’m going to shower.” He narrowed his gaze on her shirt. “Lose the clothes.” She watched him walk away. What exactly had just happened? She’d ranted and at the end of it he seemed to have agreed to living with her. Orlena pinched her arm. Hard. No, still not a dream.

28

Magnetism

The quick splash of water in the shower cubicle jerked her away from the chest. She glanced at her bed, stripped of its sheets. They still huddled in a pile on the floor. She toed them and though the floor had dried, the sheets and blanket still held a cooled dampness from the sudden heat and the water vapor that had poured into her room. Orlena rubbed her hand over her mouth and tried to remember where her spare sheets were stored. It didn’t help that her brain was tar. There was another box under her bed. She dragged it out and flipped open the lid. The light scent of lemon and vanilla wafted into the air. She shook out the top sheet, spread it over her wide bunk and kicked the box back under the bed. “Making an effort? Her heart jumped and she turned. Dareh stood in nothing more than a towel, his hair partly dried and sticking up, his skin still holding the damp, slick sheen of recent drying. There was a slight lift of a smile on his mouth. “And you’re serious?” Her stomach twisted at the thought that his agreement was just another way of playing with her. But Dareh couldn’t be that cruel. He drew a strand of her tangled hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. Had she imagined the slight tremor in his touch? “I mean this, Len.” He stepped closer and the heat from his skin washed over, bringing with it the familiar smells of her shampoo and soap, mixed with his own warm scent. “I’m glad I found myself naked outside your rooms.” “About that…” The light brush of his lips over hers stilled her words. “We’ll have a thorough medical later.” “And now?” “Was I not clear in my directions? You’re still dressed.” “Dareh…”

29

Kim Knox

“I want you. I’ve wanted to be with you for a long time.” His thumb teased over her bottom lip. “And in the shower I realized something.” He let out a slow breath and the corners of his eyes tightened as he winced. “My…opportunities”—the word came out hard and bitter—“and honestly, there weren’t that many—were trying to prove something.” He closed his eyes and pain flickered across his face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do about us. So I pushed it all down. Reacted.” Her heart missed a beat and the suddenness of it in her chest was almost painful. “You were trying to make me jealous?” “So it would seem. I was—am—an idiot.” He wet his lips. “I know I should’ve asked you.” His eyes darkened. “Cornered you in some quiet storeroom, shown you exactly how much I wanted you staying with me…but I knew the decision had to be yours. I couldn’t…” “Dareh.” She practically growled his name, irritation and something like wry amusement fighting within her. His…women and his taunts had pushed under her skin. But with him so close, with the promise of what was ahead for them, she could forgive him. A little. She traced her fingers over the lean muscles of his chest until she followed the edge of his towel. His muscles twitched under her light touch. Of course, there would be serious groveling on his side. She tugged at the towel. “Lose this.” It dropped to the floor and she pressed herself up against his warm nakedness. “You have a year to make up for.” “A whole year? Right at this minute?” “I know you’re methodical, Dareh. I’m certain you’ll work your way through.” She traced a slow finger over his ribs, enjoying how he moved under her caress. “You can begin your groveling now.” He walked her back toward the edge of the bunk and she let out a short, unexpected laugh as she tumbled back onto the mattress. Light played off the ripped perfection of his body and Orlena let out a happy sigh. She’d imagined the fineness of his body under his drab uniform, caught hints of it as he bent and stretched— 30

Magnetism

“That’s an evil smile, Len.” She blinked and met his gaze. “I never thought to see you so completely naked.” A smile touched his mouth, his amusement gleaming in his eyes. “But you did think it?” “I’m sure even Jannes has speculated.” His laughter warmed her and he leaned over her, the mattress dipping as his body covered hers. “He doesn’t need to speculate.” Orlena couldn’t help it. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a quick, unexpected breath as her mind filled with hot and very naked images. Their captain wasn’t her type—too blond and dour—but as many interested looks followed him as they did Dareh. And she had to admit the thought of him, of them… “You and Jannes?” Dareh lifted an eyebrow. “Is that getting you hot, Len?” “Yes. No.” She bit out a curse and slapped the hard muscle of his upper arm. Her palm stung. “And I thought I only had to worry about you and my own sex.” He teased a kiss from her mouth. “I’m joking, Orlena.” “You’re evil.” “Yes, I am.” But he wrapped her in his arms and held her, his legs tangling with hers and the heat and the closeness of him warmed her in a way that was far beyond lust. She closed her eyes as he pressed a kiss into her damp hair. The intense pleasure of being so close to him was unexpected. He was right for her. Had always been right for her. Orlena could feel her face growing red. She was being overly sentimental and that wasn’t her. She was a mine-ship navigator. She had to be tough. Was it really that long a time since she’d loved someone? “Len?” She’d tensed and he’d felt it. Her realization had come as a shock. It wasn’t just the comfort of having someone in her life and it had become a whole lot more than simply a 31

Kim Knox

lust for Dareh’s very fine body. Everything had formed into something greater. Something that had her stomach twisting more than the lower levels of the Uranian atmosphere. “I love you.” The words were lined with disbelief. Dareh’s heart thudded hard under her ear and she bit at the inside of her cheek. She’d said that out loud. Fuck. He didn’t say anything and the seconds pushed by, the firm hold of his arms, his slow, measured breathing staying the same. He hadn’t heard her. “Why say it that way?” He had heard. Of course he had. “What?” Dareh pulled back and held her gaze. “Is it inconvenient?”

32

Magnetism

Chapter Four Orlena wanted to admit that it was. Loving him had not been part of her plan. Not that she’d really had any sort of plan. Her lust and her need for someone permanent in her life had always seemed to exist at two extremes, hardly connected. He’d agreed to the start of a relationship, was he expecting love? Did he even want it? “Will it be?” He pressed his lips together to deny a smile, but still it and a soft laugh escaped him. “And we wonder why we’ve been at this for a year.” He tilted his head in that oh so familiar way and her heart beat just that little bit faster. “It’s unexpected.” His mouth skimmed hers and she arched her body to his in reflex, her fingers caressing the firm, sleek muscles of his arm. “It’s wanted.” His hand traced her spine, pressing her to his body. Orlena clung to him. For long seconds, she let the unexpected joy of knowing that he wanted her to love him fill her, to find it reflected in their slow, consuming kiss. Dareh smiled against her mouth. “And if it’s confession time…then I love you too.” She felt the tear run free and then another. Embarrassment followed. Her hasty fingers wiped away the moisture. “Am I supposed to cry at this point?” “Orlena…” He pressed a distracting kiss to her throat and traced a hot, wet line to her breast. “If it helps, think about me and Jannes again.” A burst of laughter broke from her and she found Dareh smirking. “You want me to think about other men?” His eyes gleamed, sharp and dangerous, and it forced her pulse to quicken. “No. Never again.”

33

Kim Knox

Orlena thought about teasing him, playing their old games of bickering and dragging out his irritation…but they could both be doing something much more pleasurable. “Need I remind you that you should be groveling?” Dareh blinked and a slow smile lifted his mouth. “Groveling it is.” His lips teased over the curve of her belly, his fingers exploring her skin in slow, sure patterns. Orlena arched her spine, turning into the hotness of his mouth and tongue. His precision, the care he placed in every light kiss, in the stroke of his fingertips over her hips to the sensitive skin of her thighs, sparked fire in her flesh. “I like your fawning.” “Really?” His breath brushed her kiss-damp skin and he held her gaze, the light catching in the vivid blue-green of his eyes. “So you’re happy for me to play here”—he licked a line below her navel and she bit back a yelp—“or would you like me to go lower in my groveling?” “What would Jannes want?” Dareh’s laughter tickled her skin. “Can we leave the captain out of our bed?” “You started it.” A wicked gleam in his eyes forced her pulse to jump. “Well, to tell the truth, he started it. Shoved me against the bulkhead, stripped…” “Dareh.” She twisted her pelvis, inching her body up the mattress and bringing his impudent mouth closer to where she ached for him. He was not putting images like that in her head. She was already too close to flying apart. “No distractions.” The tip of his tongue drew a line down over her mons and dipped to find her clit. The fierce sensation rode through her flesh and her body bucked. His soft hum danced light across her vision and the pressure of his hands, his thumbs on her inner thighs drove hard need in an undeniable swell.

34

Magnetism

“Dictator.” He murmured the word, the light brush of his breath, his lips against her folds forcing her to close her eyes. She fisted the sheet, her nails digging into the bunched material. His every touch sparked fire in her veins. “Tyrant.” “So?” She gasped as his skilled tongue licked her, teasing, building the tension in her flesh. His soft groans, the wet sounds of his tongue, the brush of his hair, his bristled jaw against the sensitive skin of her thighs, gripped her. He was unhurried and his control was pure torture. “Fuck me, Dareh.” “There are some things that should be done properly.” His hands flexed around her thighs, tightening his grip. “Eating you is one of them.” A quick flare of her release broke a cry from her. It wasn’t enough, and it only heightened the need in her flesh for him to carry on, to drive her completely insane with his mouth. “More?” “I hate you.” He answered with this tongue, his lips, the sharp tease of his teeth over her clit. Orlena shook, her body hardly her own, the rapidly building tension taking her, the promise of her release so strong she could feel it hot and fiery on the edge of her flesh. And still he licked her. He was going to kill her. He was. Dareh pinned her to the bed, fingers hard on her thighs, his torso trapping her legs as her body fought him. “I’m not done.” His low growl, the power of him ran fierce need into her mind, her body and the hard push of her release surged up from her belly, sweeping over her flesh until it hit her mind in a blaze of white light and blistering heat. Her body shook, her hands and arms beyond her control, a cry tearing from her. Slowly the wild rush faded back, Dareh’s slow laps teasing the last traces of her orgasm. Orlena let out a long breath, a disbelieving smile breaking out across her mouth. “I approve of your groveling.”

35

Kim Knox

“We aim to please.” “We…?” “Don’t get your hopes up, Len.” He dropped a kiss low on her belly and it rioted a shiver under her skin, her body still too sensitive in the aftermath of her release. He grinned and eased his way over her, kissing and licking her sweat-damp stomach, ribs, the underside of her breast. There was a smug grin as he licked her nipple. “We have an agreement.” “We do?” His gaze narrowed on her and the quick twist of his anger mixed with amusement deepened her smile. He loomed over her, his knee nudging her legs apart. “I love you.” Dareh’s quiet statement tingled across her skin and she shivered, her mouth parting. No words came out. She couldn’t joke with him, not about something that had her heart twisting in pained pleasure. It was still too foreign, too unexpected to play with. Orlena stroked his jaw, tracing the glistening wetness of his skin. She ran her finger along his bottom lip and he nipped at her, grinning as he caught her fingertip in his teeth. “We’re exclusive,” she said, making it a statement, not a question. He released her finger. “Yes, we are.” His mouth dipped to hers and she tasted herself. “And that’s an order.” “I thought I was dictator here.” “It’s a mutual tyranny.” Orlena glared at him. “Yet you still have crawling to do.” “Yes, I have.” His hand traced a slow, deliberate path back down her body, his skimming touch finding every overly sensitive point. His knuckles brushed her sex and she pulled in a deeper breath as the blunt head of his cock pressed through her folds. His body tensed and he held her gaze, his face shadowed. “You have no idea how much I wanted you. How much I want you now.”

36

Magnetism

Orlena turned her hips into him, eager for him to bury himself in her body. “Again, mutual.” Dareh’s soft groan sank into her senses and with it he pushed forward, a slow inch by inch ease into her flesh. Heat flushed her. The first rise of her orgasm quickly followed, forcing her to bite at her lip to deny another cry. “Groveling for you…” His words were low, fast, and he thrust deep, filling her, his mouth hovering over hers, the promise of a melting kiss so close she ached for it. “Is rewarding.” Orlena grinned at him and teased his bottom lip with her teeth. “Can I change your mind about my reality progs?” He repeated her earlier charge. “Unfair.” She pushed her hips up, forcing him to thrust. “Who said I had to be fair?” Dareh paused. His slow grin was all she caught before his mouth covered hers, his tongue hot and demanding. He wasn’t going to play fair either. Orlena ran her hand down over the hard, smooth muscles of his back, skimming the hollow of his spine, her other hand sliding into his hair, her fingers fisting, driving his mouth against hers, her tongue fighting, tangling with his. A soft mewl escaped her and she clung to him, meeting his increasing thrusts, swallowing his low groans. His hot, hair-roughened skin, his scent mixed with her soap, the tight hold of his arms wrapping around her, it somehow didn’t feel quite real, felt practically impossible. This was Dareh, kissing her, fucking her, loving her. Her thoughts twisted, fierce and hot, melting into the rising heat of her flesh. She arched into him, wanting him harder, deeper, wanting him completely. He dragged his mouth from hers, burying his face in her neck, his teeth sharp against her skin. “I want you to scream my name, Orlena.” He burned the words into her with a raw whisper, stoking the fire in her veins, the tightness of her body keeping her breath short and her release biting at the edge of her flesh. “Will you?”

37

Kim Knox

“Yes.” The word came out fast and hot. How he could ask questions was beyond her. To her, there was only the hard pulse of her promised pleasure as he took her, fucked her. Nothing else. She didn’t need anything else. Only him. She groaned. Dareh was hers. Finally hers— The raw shock of her release smashed through her and his name burst out of her mouth, rough, quick, fierce. Dareh clung to her, whispering endearments, his fast, hard strokes chasing the echoes of her orgasm. With a cry, he came and she held him so hard she feared she might break him, but she couldn’t ease back. Hers. He was hers. She let out a slow sigh. “I’ve never been so glad to be trapped in a room.” His warm laughter rumbled through her and he pressed a damp kiss on the sensitive skin below her ear. She wriggled and felt the change of his smile to a grin. No, he was smirking. “So sensitive in lots of little ways…” Orlena threw a curse at him. “And it wasn’t just the room, Len.” She frowned, confused, and pulled back. “What wasn’t?” “We’re both naked and conveniently in or near your room? No, too much of a coincidence.” She stared at him. “You think someone planned this?” She couldn’t stop her disbelieving laughter. “Why would someone care if you and I got naked and horizontal?” The tips of his fingers traced the hollow of her spine to the curve of her backside and the fading flush of her release flared into life again. She tightened her muscles around his cock and grinned as his hips rolled against hers. “It’s very nice, but not at the top of anyone else’s priorities.” “There are the legends—” “Now who sounds like a freakish planet-worshipper?”

38

Magnetism

Dareh’s mouth thinned. “I’ve worked the mine-ships for almost ten years. Witnessed strange things.” He jabbed his elbow into one of the plump pillows beside her and rested his head against his palm. Light drew shadows over his face. “This has happened before.” Orlena’s gut twisted. “To you?” He watched his fingers push back wild tendrils of hair from her temple. “No. Jannes has had the luck to avoid it before now.” A smile touched his mouth. “The cult call it sheen. Some mystical energy called up from a planet to bind two people together.” There was a touch of sarcasm to his voice, but it didn’t have the usual level of cynicism. They were, after all, essentially now bound to each other. “So that burst of energy that hit the ship…” Dareh’s eyes sparked with humor. “A sex ray.” She snorted. “I knew you were going to say that.” “What would you prefer?” “I don’t know. A well-deserved smack upside the head?” She took joy in pressing herself up against Dareh, in following the line of his collarbone, teasing a slow path back and forth. She paused. “Wait? Does that mean that the rest of the crew is getting a well-deserved smack too?” She frowned. “Even the secretive and untouchable Shan? And Jannes? Who’d want him? Besides yourself, obviously.” “Jannes is a catch.” Dareh dropped a light kiss on her lips. “But…at this minute, I don’t care.” “You’re first mate, you’re supposed to care.” He caught her hand and kissed her knuckles, light and tender. It sparked a little frisson under her skin and she wriggled. Dareh grinned. “I’m certain that whoever looked after us—brought the ship back safely to Miranda, removed us and our clothes— is looking after them.”

39

Kim Knox

“Certain?” This wasn’t like Dareh Andersen to take such a…leap of faith. “Dareh…” “Take the gift.” He touched her fingers to his lips again. “I am.” “So we hide out here until we’re called back?” And that wasn’t him either. “Dereliction of duty?” “Jannes will call it downtime. Guaranteed.” She paused for a whole three seconds. She didn’t need much convincing. “All right. That works for me.” He rolled her, forcing her to squeal, and pinned her arms above her head. The glint in his eyes promised that her life had suddenly become very interesting. His slow, sure stroke into her body flickered a new and tantalizing heat in her sex and her heart thudded hard. Maybe the cultists were onto something. Maybe the planet was—as insane as it sounded—playing matchmaker. Whatever it was or wasn’t doing, right then, she wasn’t going to question it. She gave him a sharp little smile. “So what now?” “Now…” His tongue touched his lip and the deliberate action caught her breath, the promise of wickedness lurking in him. “My year of groveling continues.” He paused. “Agreed?” “Absolutely.” She smirked at him. “Grovel away.”

40

About the Author Kim lives on an ancient boundary line, once marked by a Neolithic burial tomb. The tomb’s now a standing stone circle—thank the Georgians for that one—and stirs her mind with thoughts of history and ancient myths. She mixes the essence of the past into fantasy, along with the essential mix of magic and sex. She also writes science fiction romance, pushing out into the far future with effortlessly sexy men and the women who can’t resist them. Kim is multi-published. You can contact her on her website or come and chat at her blog: www.darknessandromance.wordpress.com

Kim welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

Tell Us What You Think We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can email us at [email protected].

Also by Kim Knox Chosen One Consort Demonic Attraction Flesh and Shadows Her Dark Soul Hunting Evander Painted Promise Perfecting Naia Ruthless Beauty Skin Magic Warflesh

Print books by Kim Knox Creamy anthology Succulent anthology

Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

www.ellorascave.com