Текст книги "Sleeping With the Enemy"

Автор книги: Kaitlyn O'Connor

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    But she didn’t care about the rest of them! Not only was that not likely to please him, however, it also wasn’t likely to move him. Struggling to take an even breath, she gave up the effort to dissuade him and approached him. When he stepped back to allow her into the corridor, she discovered her fellow crewmembers assembled a little further along the corridor and two Sumpturians. When she and Anka reached them she noticed the corridor behind the group abruptly change. She stared at it, trying to figure out what it was. It almost looked like water. It rippled. As it dawned on her that it must be some sort of field, she glanced behind her and discovered a similar phenomena had sealed off the other end of the corridor. To her right, a door appeared in the wall. As she watched, the ramp she’d used to enter the ship extended and lowered.

    Anka lifted her and followed Drs. Kushbu and Rain down the plank. Behind them, the two men she’d seen guided a capsule on wheels where Major Powell lay. A transport, she discovered, awaited them at the foot of the gangplank. A man approached them trailed by two armed squads of men. Sybil recognized the features of the base commander behind the face shield.

    He stopped while he was still several yards from where they stood. Anka hesitated and then approached the man. “Lieutenant Hunter’s ankle is injured. I will take her inside.”

    “That won’t be necessary,” Commander Kendal responded coldly, signaling to one of the men behind him. “Pvt. Yancy! Assist Lieutenant Hunter into the transport.”

    Yancy saluted, shouldered his weapon and approached.

    “I can walk,” Sybil said stiffly.

    “She can’t,” Anka instantly contradicted her, tightening his hold on her.

    “I can carry you, ma’am, if you’ll permit?”

    Resisting the urge to glance at Anka one last time, Sybil nodded. “Thank you, Pvt. Yancy.” Removing her arm from Anka’s shoulders, she reached for the other man. For a moment longer, Anka held her and then he released her.

    She couldn’t resist glancing back, however, when Yancy entered the airlock with her. Commander Kendal seemed to be speaking with Anka, but Anka was staring straight at her.

Chapter Eight

    The debriefing was every bit the nightmare Sybil had anticipated. It became clear after only a few minutes that they were suspected of something. Unfortunately, she’d been right about being separated. None of them were given the chance to compare notes before they were whisked from the landing site and into decontamination. The science department was so eager to get their hands on the gear the Sumpturians had provided for them that they practically ripped them off. By the time she got out of decontamination, the suit Anka had helped her put on had vanished.

    She wasn’t anywhere near her peak performance level when she was summoned for debriefing. She was so depressed it took all she could do even to concentrate part of her mind on the questions. Seeing no alternative, she stuck to the truth and merely omitted mention of the most incriminating parts.

    Spencer, as she’d suspected, sang like a bird. The bastard! The next meeting she was called to was far more unpleasant and excruciatingly embarrassing.

    She was informed that she had been removed from the Mars project until further notice.

    She was going to get canned! She knew it and she didn’t even care… much! It was disgusting, though, that she’d had plans that were never going to come to fruition now.

    She’d thought that she would retire from service and become a colonist. Her tour would’ve been up about the time she reached Mars, and it was the perfect way to get there-free of charge. She would’ve actually been paid as a part of the crew. Now it seemed far more likely that she was going to get shipped back to Earth and discharged-probably dishonorably which was going to make it hellish to find a damned job!

    Not that there were a lot of jobs to be had back on Earth. The economy was shit. It had been slowly crumbling for years and the frequent disasters were no help in recovery. They would’ve at least been a boon to the construction industry if the economy hadn’t been so bad before, but since there were few people who could afford to rebuild

    She wasn’t sure it was any consolation that they couldn’t charge her with anything that was actually criminal and send her to jail. At least she’d have a roof over her head and meals.

    She didn’t particularly envy Spencer, however, who’d already been transferred back to Earth to face a court martial for assault of an officer with intent to kill.

    Her personal worries weren’t the only thing she had to agonize about, however. For weeks after the ‘incident’ on Venus, there were rumors of war. She wasn’t informed of anything since she was out of the loop, but it was impossible to keep everyone silent and the gossip was as endless as the speculation. It never actually died down. It was replaced by newer fodder several weeks after her return, however.

    The Sumpturians were seeking a treaty with the United Nations of Earth.

    Sybil actually believed it when she first heard it, but it didn’t take her long to figure out the ‘spin’. The powers that be had decided that making war on a race that was clearly more technologically advanced wasn’t a good idea even if they were furious that the bastards had claimed Venus. They couldn’t afford it either economically or otherwise. They’d decided to offer a treaty to the Sumpturians and they had graciously agreed.

    Sybil was cautiously relieved. She’d hoped against hope that their government wasn’t stupid enough to start a war they couldn’t win and make things that much worse for the people of Earth, who were already suffering. She didn’t believe it would be anything but a tentative, and very uneasy, peace at best, but it was a start… she hoped.

    Four weeks after her return she was summoned to what she expected to be her final meeting. A decision had been made as to whether she would still be welcome as an officer or if she was to be shipped home and discharged. She was sick with apprehension when she presented herself… and surprised and not very pleased when she discovered she would be facing a panel.

    When she’d been invited to take a seat, she settled shakily and waited for the ax to fall.

    Commander Kendal studied her as if collecting his thoughts. “I’m guessing you’ve heard the rumors that a delegation of Sumpturian leaders will be arriving shortly to begin peace talks?”

    Sybil gaped at the man, completely thrown for a loop at the direction of the conversation. “Yes, Sir,” she stammered finally.

    “As it happens, it isn’t purely rumor. Delegates from the United Nations will also be arriving at moon base shortly. The Sumpturians specifically requested the meeting be held here as neutral ground.”

    She could tell he was just tickled pink about that! “I hadn’t heard that.”

    “Naturally, security is tight,” he said dismissively.

    The man beside him spoke up when the commander fell silent. “I’m sure you’re wondering what this meeting is about. I don’t see any point in beating around the bush. We’ll need people to liaison with the alie… uh… the Sumpturians. Given your previous… ah… contact with them we feel that you would be an ideal candidate. That is unless you have objections to dealing with them.”

    Sybil stared at the stranger, struggling to get her pulse under control. She didn’t have a clue of he was. She’d thought when she’d first come in that the panel was strictly military, but then she’d been too unnerved to really look at them. She saw now, though, that he was wearing a suit-the type of suit that had politician written all over it. She moistened her dry lips. “I don’t have any objections, Sir. I’m just not certain how I could be of any help. I didn’t learn their language, not even a little.”

    “You were given a crash course on some of their customs from what I understand, however,” the man responded dryly. “You at least have some slight understanding of the culture we’re dealing with. We’ve already enlisted the aid of Drs. Kushbu and Rains, and also Mr. Powell… formerly Major Powell.”

    Sybil felt the blood leave her face. She hadn’t heard that Powell had been discharged, but she wasn’t really surprised. Spencer had had his revenge, though god only knew why he’d targeted any of them when they were just as much captives as he was.

    She was afraid to ask if she was pending discharge herself. “As I said, I don’t have any objections. Despite the circumstances, the impression I gained from my time with them was that they were far more interested in developing their colony than warring with us.”

    “I’ve read over the debriefing.”

    Sybil felt her face heat up.

    “You’ll report for duty at Congressman Webb’s office at oh six hundred tomorrow then Lieutenant. We have a lot of preparations to make and not much time. You’re dismissed.”

    Sybil surged to her feet, saluted the commander, and marched from the meeting room. Her shoulders slumped slightly when she was clear. In something of a daze, she headed back to her quarters, struggling with the hope/fear that Anka might be a part of the Sumpturian enclave.

    By the time she’d reached her quarters she realized that was doubtful. Very likely the political leaders would be escorted by the military, but Anka was the commander of the Venus facility. She could think of no logical reason, at all, why he would lead the escort and a lot of very good reasons why he should stay as far away as possible.

    Right up until that moment she’d managed to convince herself that she was dealing very well with the unavoidable fact that she was never going to set eyes on him again. The surge of hope was worse than simply accepting, though. When she fell, she fell hard.

* * * *

    The message was clear. Sybil had a chance of redemption if she performed satisfactorily as a liaison. Unfortunately, the job wasn’t exactly what she’d expected it to be. It became clear within a few hours after presenting herself to the Congressman that, regardless of the job title, she would not be doing much actual interacting with the Sumpturians. They would be spied on from the time they arrived until they left and her job was to try to interpret every word, expression, and gesture for her government.

    Dismay didn’t adequately describe her feelings on the subject. Depression was closer and still didn’t cover it. She completely agreed with the Congressman that it was critical not to misinterpret anything-for good or ill-but it wasn’t as if she knew and understood the culture and thinking of the Sumpturians. She hadn’t even been able to figure Anka out and she’d had far more ‘interaction’ with him than any of the others. The Sumpturians arriving for the talks would be complete strangers.

    How the hell was she supposed to understand what ‘made them tick’ from the minute lesson about their courting process that she’d gotten from Anka? Maybe she would’ve had something to contribute if she hadn’t already supplied what she knew during her debriefing, but since she had

    The others didn’t seem to mind guessing wildly. A good bit of what they did was to listen to Anka’s transmissions over and over and argue among themselves about ‘undertones’ and ‘between the lines’. When they weren’t doing that, she spent hours going over ‘background’ noises they’d picked up and amplified and trying to figure out what they were based upon her one and only, brief, experience in their communications center.

    She was pretty sure her job was enough to have made her completely miserable even if she hadn’t already been. She was so on edge by the day the Sumpturians arrived she was nearly witless. Despite every effort to convince herself that Anka wouldn’t be among them, she plowed through the spectators until she found a reasonably good observation point and struggled for a look at the military escort of the dignitaries. Unfortunately, due to the conditions, it was nearly impossible to get a very good look at any of the Sumpturians-or even to tell which of them were the dignitaries and which the soldiers. All of them were wearing suits similar to the one the science department had confiscated from her.

    Giving up in disappointment as they began to disappear into the hastily erected conference center constructed nearly a hundred yards from their base of operations, she returned to her quarters to mope and wait for the call to review the Intel collected. The call wasn’t long in coming. She was summoned a little over an hour later with the rest of the liaison team to study the images captured of the dignitaries and determine if any of them looked familiar.

    As doubtful as she was that she had ever seen any of them, she studied them.

    “They all look alike,” Kushbu muttered after about an hour of ‘flipping’ through the images on his viewer.

    Anger flickered through Sybil, but she refrained from voicing her opinion of his opinion.

    “They don’t!” Holly snapped. “They’re as different as we are.”

    Kushbu sent her a sour look. “Well, they all look the same to me… and I’m convinced they could’ve been at the base.”

    “I didn’t see any of them,” Sybil said coolly.

    “You’re certain?” the congressman’s aid, Phil Meachum, demanded.

    “I’m sure.”

    “I don’t see how you could be sure,” Powell said doubtfully. “Maybe it is bigotry, but they all look alike to me, too.”

    “The one you spent the night with looked like them?” Phil asked curiously.

    Powell glared at him. “The one I spent the night with was a female,” he growled.

    “But you wouldn’t be able to pick her out if she was among them?”

    Powell reddened. “The males all look alike… and so do the females. The main difference is the plumbing.”

    Sybil empathized with Powell’s discomfort, but his determination that they all looked alike only meant to her that he hadn’t really looked at them. “These are older men,” she said pointedly. “All of the Sumpturians at the Venus base were younger-as you’d expect given that they were militia.”

    “Rils.”

    Sybil glanced at the man blankly. “What?”

    “Not men-rils. That’s their word for adult males.”

    Discomfort wafted through Sybil. “Rils, then.”

    The aid studied the images himself. “I see what you mean. They do appear to be older. You’re sure none of them were at the Venus base?”

    “No. I said I didn’t see them. We don’t know how many Sumpturians were there that we didn’t see. We were confined most of the time to quarters. We were invited to dine with them at their festival, but Ank… Commander l’Kartay explained that it was a courting festival. The elder rils might not have had an interest in attending. Or, they might not have gone because they knew we would be there. Does it matter?”

    He stared at her pointedly. “Everything matters. Anything could be important.”

    There was some reason they were particularly interested in where the dignitaries were located, however, and it made Sybil damned uneasy. “My guess is that most of the civilians and political figures either reside on their base on Pluto or in their ships.”

    “You know for a fact that they’ve terra-formed Pluto and colonized it?” he asked sharply.

    “No. I’m guessing.”

    She had a blinding headache by the time they were dismissed. It took all she could do to drag herself back to her quarters and order a dine-in meal. Popping a couple of painkillers for her head, she went in to her private bath to take a hot shower. She was lucky to have a private bath, but it was a long way from ‘luxurious’. The toilet and lavatory were actually inside the shower. She supposed it would’ve been more accurate to say it was a small shower squeezed beside the toilet and lavatory, but the entire room was about the size of a small shower and when she turned on the shower head, the spray covered the room as if she was standing in a dishwasher. She thought it would’ve been more comfortable to wear goggles, but the hot water on her face was welcome for a change, even if she did have to sift air through her teeth to breathe without inhaling water.

    Stepping out again when the cycle shut off, she shivered while she turned in the air dryer and then pulled a robe on. She’d just managed to rake the tangles from her hair when the buzzer sounded, alerting her to the delivery she’d been expecting. Tossing her comb down, she trudged to the door and opened it. When she had, she simply stared blankly in shock at the man-ril standing outside. It took longer for recognition to sink in than it should have. The instant it did, she poked her head into the corridor, looked both ways, and then grabbed Anka’s wrist and gave his arm a yank to get him inside before he was seen.

    He curled around her, backing her against the wall next to her door the instant he entered. Sybil’s heart was thundering in her ears so loudly she was deaf to all else. “What…?”

    She barely got even the one word out before his mouth settled over hers. Her mind was a morass of shocked confusion, but her body reacted instantly with a roiling cloud of pleasure the moment she felt his mouth on hers and sucked in a deep, satisfying, electrifying draft of his scent. The questions swarming through her mind abandoned her as her entire being focused at once on him, the pressure of his mouth, and his body against hers. She clutched at him blindly, trying to absorb him.

    He left her mouth after a few minutes, sucking in a harsh breath and diving for her throat. She was inclined to complain as much as she enjoyed the feel of his mouth on the tender skin since his focus on her throat left her no way to explore him except with her hands, but dismissed the impulse readily when she felt him tugging her robe off. She left off her own exploration eagerly then, searching his suit for the closure. Her mind had turned to mush. Even when she finally discovered the way inside, it took her trembling fingers far longer to unravel the mystery of the mechanics than she’d wanted to devote to it. Finally, she managed it, however. She pushed her hands inside immediately to feel his skin. He was hot to the touch, not merely warm, and a shiver of fresh excitement rushed through her. The muscles along her channel began to clench and unclench a little frantically in anticipation, directing her to her needs.

    Abandoning her exploration, she began tugging at the suit he was wearing. He released her long enough to shrug it from his shoulders and dove for her again, fitting his mouth to hers while he ran shaking hands over her. When she caught his buttocks in her hands and pulled his hips closer, arching against him, he switched his focus from her breasts to her buttocks, rhythmically pumping against her for several moments before he tired of the dubious pleasure of mock coupling and caught her buttocks, lifting her from the floor.

    Sybil instantly discarded her mental search for a horizontal surface to achieve penetration and focused on the delightful opportunity offered. Curling her arms and legs around him, she began rubbing her exposed clit up and down along his cock. He tightened his grip on her buttocks, guiding her along his shaft for a few moments and shifted his hold impatiently, holding her with one arm while he grasped his cock and guided it home.

    Sybil uttered a sound of want into his mouth as she felt the tug on her flesh, felt it slowly engulfing his-too slowly. Impatience fluttered through her. Despite the moisture her body had produced to welcome him, however, her body resisted yielding to him. Apparently, it was equally frustrating to him. He shifted his hold on her, braced her against the wall, and thrust again, slipping inside. Breaking from her lips, he gasped harshly, driving slowly but steadily until he’d conquered her channel.

    Sybil sucked a patch of flesh on his shoulder, squeezing her eyes tightly to focus on the exquisite sensation of his possession. It was the most wonderful feeling she’d ever felt and the pleasure increased by leaps and bounds as he began to move within her and she could feel the glide of his flesh in the most intimate of caresses.

    The abrupt, pounding knock on her door nearly gave her a heart attack. She jerked her head up, widening her eyes. It jolted Anka from the moment just as harshly. It took her a moment to recognize the suspicion in his eyes.

    “Who is it?” she asked in a quavering voice.

    “You wanted dine-in, Lieutenant?”

    Anka scanned her face searchingly.

    “Yes,” Sybil muttered reluctantly. “Could you… uh… leave the tray at the door? Uh… I’m not dressed.”

    There was silence indicating surprise. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll leave it by the door.”

    Damn it to hell!

    Anka studied her, but there was just no getting around the fact that the interruption had totally blown the mood. “I should get that. Someone will wonder why it’s outside.”

    With obvious reluctance, Anka withdrew and allowed her to settle to the floor. “Stay there,” she whispered, wrapping her robe around herself with shaky hands and tying the belt.

    She saw the man’s back as she opened her door and reached for the tray. He turned and threw a glance back at her. Forcing a smile, she waved, snatched the tray from the floor and went back inside.

    She could feel Anka’s watchful gaze as she crossed the room and settled the tray on the small table she usually used as a desk. Uncomfortable, she glanced around and discovered he’d straightened his clothing. Disappointment flickered through her, but she didn’t suppose there was any possibility of recapturing the moment. Damn it! Damn it! Shit! “Have you eaten?”

    He shrugged, but approached her. “Earlier.”

    How much earlier? “Would you like to share?”

    He shook his head, but she didn’t miss the interest in his eyes as he scanned the covered dishes. “I don’t really like eating alone and I’m not comfortable eating in front of anybody,” she said tentatively.

    He joined her at the table. “I only have one chair, but we could move the table to the bunk.”

    The moment she made the suggestion visions danced through her head of the two of them cozying up on the bed and feeding one another. Truthfully, she was far more interested in the cuddling and other things than she was the food. When he’d moved the table, though, she took a seat on the bunk and allowed him the chair. “I hadn’t realized that you were part of the Sumpturian enclave,” she said when he sat down. “I looked for you.”

    He sent her a sharp look and finally grimaced. “In all honesty I expected you to slam the door in my face.”

    She might have if he hadn’t caught her completely off guard. “But you came anyway.”

    A slow grin curled his lips. “I figured I was due a door in the face… and, of course, hopeful you’d invite me in.”

    She decided not to tell him she’d been far more worried about him being seen outside her door than anything else at that moment. “You haven’t worn out your welcome… yet.”

    He sent a quizzical look. “No?”

    She met his gaze. “I guess I’m a sucker for a pretty face.”

    He chuckled at that. She liked his laugh, but she was more charmed by the warm color that tinted his cheeks.

    “You do blush!” she exclaimed, laughing.

    He sent her a mock stern look as she removed the covers and began to divide the food, giving him the largest portion. “Certainly not. Don’t give me all of your food.”

    “I’m actually not that hungry.” Not for food anyway.

    Almost as if he could read her mind, Anka sent her a smoldering look.

    “I see your ankle is better.”

    “Thankfully. I’ll have to remember not to use it the next time I need to knock somebody out, though. They’re always weak after a sprain. I was thinking about putting in for a discharge anyway when my tour’s up.”

    He sent her a speculative look. “Any particular reason… aside from the injury?”

    “The injury had nothing to do with it. I was thinking about colonizing before that. It’s the reason I volunteered for the Mars project to start with. I’ve been ready for a change for a while. Not that I haven’t enjoyed the career, mind you, but I think, maybe, I’ve outgrown it.”

    “So… you’re planning to move to Mars?”

    She shrugged. “We’ll see.” She hesitated. “Command didn’t consider that I comported myself with the dignity they expect of an officer in what they refer to as the Venus ‘fiasco’. If I hadn’t already been considering moving on, that would’ve changed things, anyway. Now it’s just one more reason for a career change. It isn’t likely that I could look forward to any more promotions-certainly not any time soon.”

    He frowned. “Because of what happened on Venus? I’m sorry.”

    “I’m sorry that you’re sorry. I’m not.”

    Something flickered in his eyes. “In that case,” he murmured, smiling faintly, “I don’t regret it either.”

    “No? I got the impression you did.”

    He studied her a long moment and got up, moving around the table. When he settled beside her, he drew her down on the bunk with him. “It’s far more complicated than you seem to think,” he murmured. Reaching for her belt, he untied it and pushed the robe open, stroking his fingers lazily over her. He left a path of pebbling skin in the wake of his touch. A shiver of delight traveled through her. She watched his expression, studying the details that had faded in her mind in the weeks since she’d seen him.

    He looked thinner, she thought abruptly, wondering if he’d been ill. His color seemed healthy, though. Stress? Very likely, she decided, although it would’ve been nice to think he’d been pinning for her. He had a heavy load on his broad shoulders.

    The thought brought her gaze to them and she lifted her hands to rub them along his shoulders. “You’re overdressed,” she murmured a little hoarsely.

    “You’re impatient.”

    “I am.”

    He lifted his brows at her, but sat up and removed his boots. “You aren’t expecting any other callers?” he asked wryly as he reached for the closure of his suit.

    Sybil chuckled. Sitting up, she pulled her robe off and tossed it aside. “I’d forgotten that one,” she said. “I had other things on my mind.”

    When he settled beside her once more, they lay on their sides, face to face, simply staring at one another. “What’s going through your mind, I wonder?” he murmured.

    “Not much. I was just enjoying the view.”

    He studied her curiously. “You’re serious?”

    She smiled. “Why would you think otherwise?”

    He shook his head at her. “You should have your eyesight checked. You do realize you have an alien in your bed?”

    “A ril-yes. You may have noticed I hadn’t met a man that appealed to me enough to take him to my bed.”

    He shifted closer, stroking a hand slowly down her arm, almost thoughtfully. “So you’re saying rils appeal to you more?”

    “You know that isn’t what I’m suggesting.”

    He grinned knowingly as he lowered his head to brush his cheek along hers. “Just checking,” he murmured against her ear.

    Sybil sighed with a mixture of pleasure and disappointment. She’d hoped he would give her something, but she wasn’t really surprised that he hadn’t. She might very well not see him again. Tonight was an unexpected gift of fate, though, and she didn’t want to spoil a moment of it.

    She didn’t truly know why he seemed drawn to her anymore than he understood why and how she could find him attractive, she supposed, when he was so different from her and anything she’d ever known. For her, it was a matter of her senses-pure and simple. He excited them. As much as she appreciated his intelligence and his sense of humor and the other qualities she saw in him, he made her hot and that was why she wanted him.

    She couldn’t tell him why. She didn’t know why. She just knew he did, couldn’t deny it.

    He seemed to think she had other motives. It was so typical of the male of her own species she wondered just how different he actually was.

    Of course it had occurred to her to wonder why he found her attractive and if he actually did or he had some other reason for seducing her. She would’ve liked for him to dispel her fears, but could he truly do that with words even if he’d tried? Wouldn’t doubts linger in her mind because she knew she couldn’t possibly be his concept of beauty?

    She dismissed her doubts after a moment, determined to focus on the sheer delight of his attentiveness as he explored her slowly with his hands and his gaze until she’d become impatient for more and finally settled to exploring her with his mouth.

    She felt no discomfort or wariness when he shifted lower to caress her breasts as she had the first time, only eagerness to feel what she had before. He kneaded them gently with his hands until they were flushed with her pulse, lowering his head to pluck at the tips with his lips only after they’d become so distended his touch was almost as painful as it was delightful. The muscles low her belly clenched spasmodically when he took the first into his mouth and curled his tongue around it.

    Heat poured through her. She settled her hands on his head, stroking his hair and then his shoulders and back. Through slitted eyes, she watched his face, studied his mouth as he suckled, feeling the heat climb until she felt like she would go up in flames. By the time he’d decided he’d teased it enough, she felt fevered. She tilted her head back and gasped when he caught her other nipple in his mouth and sucked it, feeling the world go briefly black.

    She didn’t want to rush him. She wanted to enjoy every moment, but impatience began to ride her, a need to feel him inside of her. “Come inside of me, Anka,” she gasped finally.

    His head jerked upward. He stared at her face for a long moment and moved over her, adjusting her thighs to accommodate his narrow hips. She’d panted until she’d begun to feel dehydrated, vaguely ill with the dust dryness of her throat.

    He remedied that with the heated moisture of his own mouth on hers.