Fuck, he wanted to rut against her, come across her skin to sear his scent—his
mark
—
over her, claiming Amy as his. Only his.
He wrapped his fingers around her breast, sliding his thumb across her nipple, 113
studying her every reaction. Twisting her body, Amy arched her body and pressed up into his touch.
“Like that? Want more?”
She frantically nodded her head.
Pressing his thumb between her lips, he groaned when she sucked hard on the digit, running her tongue around to wet it. His cock twitched and ached at the feel and he wanted nothing more than to press inside her, fuck her cunt until neither of them could see straight. Instead, he withdrew his thumb and brushed it lightly over her clit.
Amy moaned and spread her legs wider. It gave him better access to her pussy and decreased the pressure on his cock. He pressed two fingers deep inside.
“Fuck, Sean.”
“That’s it. Open up for me.”
She started to fuck herself on his hand, her head thrown back and breasts thrust up high. Sean had never seen a more beautiful sight in his life—one of complete abandon.
He couldn’t wait, needed to taste her. Climbing with ease between her legs, Sean dipped his head down and sucked her clit into his mouth. Hard.
“Oh Gods, yes.” She pulled at his hair, holding his face in place. “There.”
He didn’t need any additional motivation. Sean teased her with his mouth, head buzzing from the high of her arousal, while he caressed her with his fingers. Once again, he pushed two fingers inside her, crooking them enough to find her pleasure spot. The second he connected, Amy’s back bowed off the bed and her cunt clamped down hard around him. Yes, he knew her body now, knew every little secret spot.
Starting a steady rhythm, Sean began to fuck her with his fingers and he assaulted her clit with his tongue. Amy’s body tensed, her fingers pulling his hair so hard it would have hurt under normal circumstances. It didn’t. He wasn’t going to stop. Faster and faster he twisted his fingers inside her welcoming pussy, pushing her harder than he’d ever pushed a partner. Amy could take it—her body wanted it. Wanted more. It took what little self-control Sean had left not to reach down and stroke his leaking cock until he came across her body. No, he wanted to be buried deep in her pussy when he came.
Amy’s moans increased until they overpowered everything else in the room. There was silence for a split second before he heard her pull in one last deep breath and let out a long cry of pleasure, coming hard around him. He licked at her until every last drop of her cream was swallowed and her thighs released his head.
Looking up, he was in time to see her slowly open her eyelids. The flush across her face and her open mouth beckoned him up. Crawling across her body, he made sure to drag his chest across every inch of her skin. Settling over her, he held the tip of his cock just against her entrance of her pussy, shuddering at the intensity of her heat.
“Do it,” she begged. “I need you.”
“What? You want this?” He pushed forward just enough to wet the crown of his cock.
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Amy squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes, Gods. More.”
Still, he fought against every instinct in his body to surge forward, give them both the contact they wanted. No, if they were going to be together, he needed to show them both he wasn’t a complete slave to her pheromones. He could control his reaction, be in control as much or as little as she wanted him to be.
“Amy.” She didn’t respond, her head thrashing. “Amy, look at me.”
She hesitated for a moment before opening her eyes. The lust-filled gaze coming back at him had his blood boiling. Sean tightened his grip on the sheets, ignoring the shaking of his arms and legs. Desperately trying to ignore the voice in the back of his head screaming,
do it, do it, take her, fuck her, she’s yours
.
“I’m in control,” he managed in a harsh whisper. “Nothing else. Me. I want this, you. I want to keep you safe.”
Amy’s strangled cry, a mix of heart-wrenching relief and pleasure, sent a shiver through him. His hips bucked forward and Sean pushed his way into her. He didn’t stop until he was fully seated in her body, the wet and heat of her pussy enveloping his cock perfectly. Then he paused and tried to catch his breath, calm his responses. The need to lose himself to a punishing rhythm, to her warmth and the tangle of her limbs, only rivaled his desire to carve out more of a life with her.
She didn’t say anything else, but the soft rocking of her hips told him the time for demonstration was over. Pulling out nearly all the way, he took great satisfaction in the way her body bowed and the moan of pleasure that slipped from her when he drove back in. He did close his eyes then, memorizing every sensation as he moved. The way her muscles clenched around him, like her body didn’t want to let him go. The way her fingers dug into his shoulder, marking his skin like a brand. How hot her breath was against his ear, the wetness of her kisses.
He shifted so he was able to wrap his arms around her back, so his hands could grip her shoulders from beneath. Sean pressed his face to her neck, needing to connect to every inch of her skin possible. God, he loved this. Loved her.
His hips stuttered for a second before he found the rhythm again. His heartbeat increased as his mind spun. He
loved
her. The how and why of things would wait until later. Moving to capture her mouth in a bruising kiss, Sean squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block everything but the physical sensations out.
Amy pulled back, gasping, her lips still connected to his. “Yes, fuck. Going to—”
Her body seized beneath him as she screamed out with her second orgasm. Her muscles gripped his cock so hard, it was all he needed. Pounding into her, he managed to hold off his own release until he felt her body relax. Then the rush of his orgasm overtook him, chasing everything from his mind.
Time stopped. Everything that had been building up inside him over the years, the guilt, blaming himself for the Ecada attack, sectioning himself away from the others, simply stopped. His disappointment about the man he’d become simply washed away.
He couldn’t think past the feel of Amy’s soft skin on his cheek. Slowly, he began to 115
recognize the feeling permeating through his body—peace.
“Sean?” Amy’s whisper was loud in the silence. “You okay?”
He swallowed down the lump threatening to rise in his throat. Instead, he pulled in a breath, counting to three in his head before shifting to the side so he wouldn’t crush her.
“Yeah. Just, that was intense.”
Amy chuckled, pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “I wish I could have explained all this…before. It’s because there’s no inhibitor. It makes everything more…
there
, if that makes sense.”
It explained so many things, but he wasn’t willing to concede that everything he was feeling was a result of some chemical reaction. “It does, in a way. Did I hurt you?”
She nipped at his jaw, pushing her hips against his. “Gods, no.”
“Good. You’ve been through too much recently. I didn’t want to add to your troubles.”
Lying back against the mattress, Sean ignored the way Amy moved and the feeling of dread and responsibility which threatened to seep back into his mind. He needed this, one moment of nothing, to get a grip on who he was as a man. Gone was the cocky young man who’d come to Eurus, ready to rule the world. The administrator who took everyone’s problems on as his own and struggled to match what was right with what was fair. Now he was stepping away from the angry, guilt-ridden survivor.
I don’t know who I am anymore.
“Look at me.” Amy’s words pierced through the veil of his thoughts. He turned his face and opened his eyes. “Sean, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing that can’t wait until we find your dad.”
She frowned. “Is this going to be too hard on you? Do you want to back out?”
“No.” The thought of leaving her to deal with this on her own was completely unacceptable. “Don’t even put that thought in your head. It’s just…”
“What?”
He sighed. “I’m starting to figure a few things out about my life. About what I…what I need in order for things to make sense. But there’s been no time to think and this isn’t something I’m going to have the luxury to work out when I know that bastard has your dad tied up somewhere.” She shifted so they now lay side by side facing each other, their breath mingling between them. “I promise you, when we get him back we’ll talk.”
She looked at him for a good long time. So much so, he had to make sure to keep his warring emotions in check, not wanting to give her more cause to worry.
“Please, Amy. Let’s deal with one crisis at a time.”
“Okay,” she whispered out. She cleared her throat, and tried again. “Okay. We’ll get Dad back, punish Tyrell, then we’ll talk.” Amy frowned, creasing her cheeks and 116
forehead. “Now we just need to figure out how.”
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
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Amy’s heart pounded loud in her ears as they settled into the cockpit. Today was it—the launch of the race. Any other time, she’d have been giddy with excitement.
Bursting with the knowledge everything they’d worked for, all the battles they’d fought and won to get them here, had been successful and gotten her one step closer to the prize. But she couldn’t revel in the pleasure, couldn’t enjoy even a moment of their triumph so far.
Her dad was out there, alone, beaten.
She couldn’t afford to dwell on it either. She and Sean had talked long into the night, working out the details of his plan. The man had balls, she’d give him that. They were going to try to fly in under the scanners and see if they could land in a deserted part of the moon they were destined for. If they could manage it, then they’d be able to breach the defenses and find her dad. If they were detected, then they would go in as normal, but Sean would try to stay on ship, slipping away when Amy had Tyrell distracted to go in search of her dad. Barring that, they’d drop off the drugs, hope her dad was still alive and try to track Tyrell down once they were safe.
There was, of course, no guarantee either plan would work. Best case, they’d be guilty of running drugs, but would manage to get her dad back. Worst case, her dad would have his throat slit and they’d blow her ship out of the sky.
Ignoring her rising pessimism, Amy concentrated on the readings coming in to her now from the nav system. Their takeoff from Eurus had been shaky. The engines didn’t like the added pressure of the extra shields and it took Gaz and Ryan a solid twenty minutes before they were able to stabilize things. She didn’t know how they were going to react once they got a full cargo onboard, plus the need to keep up with the other ships who were actually participating in the race. Still, they were now moving out in the direction of the asteroid belt, to the coordinates Tyrell had provided and with any luck they’d make it there without blowing anything critical.
She didn’t turn around when the door to the cabin opened. There were only three possibilities of who the new arrival was. Right now, she didn’t think Gaz and Ryan were brave enough to come near her given how Sean had reacted the last time.
Sean shuffled his feet and she heard him take a deep breath. “I think we may need to keep this door open.”
She turned to look at him from over her shoulder. The pained look on his face told her so much. “Too strong?”
“You’re potent, baby.”
“That your way of telling me I smell?”
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She jumped when she felt his arms wrap around her shoulders and his nose press against her neck. “Smell only the very best.” He kissed her neck. “But if we have any shot at running this race and getting your dad back in one piece, I’m going to need a clear head. So we’ll leave the door open and pray I can keep it in my pants.”
Yeah, she got that. It didn’t matter he’d been only mildly affectionate since they’d gotten up this morning. The rational side of her knew he was simply trying to concentrate on what they had to do. He was putting himself through all of this as a way of helping her and her father. The small, insecure part of her psyche was screaming he’d put the distance there so when this was all said and done he could walk away. Or worse, that he’d turn out to be another Malik.
“It looks like we’re the only ones heading to this side of the starting field,” Sean said after the silence stretched on for several minutes. “Maybe Tyrell didn’t manage to convince as many people as we’d feared.”
“Or he’d given them a different rendezvous point so as to not draw attention to what was going on,” she countered. “He hasn’t lasted this long without playing smart.”
“I’d thought of that too. We’ll have to be extra cautious when we get out there.”
Amy snorted, feeling her face flush immediately. “You have no idea. Dad was telling me about this race years ago. He said people got pretty vicious once the start signal went. They rammed their ships together, hacked into other systems to send false readings. Hell, he told me about this one time…” The words died in her mouth. Oh Gods, she’d forgotten. For a split second, she didn’t remember her dad wasn’t safe and sound back in his rooms, watching the coverage on the vid. He was tied up, beaten, at the mercy of a criminal. What kind of daughter was she to have forgotten that for even a moment?
“Amy?”
Bile rose in her throat and she had to swallow several times to keep it down. She focused her attention on the computer, doing her best to ignore her own stupidity.
“Amy, what did your dad say?” When she didn’t respond, he sat down in the copilot’s seat and faced her. “It’s okay to talk about him, especially if it’s a story that can help us get through this race. It might even be something we can use to get him out of this mess.”
She turned to look at him, her stomach turning over. “But I forgot. Just for a moment…I forgot he wasn’t okay.”
“Amy, you didn’t forget. You were getting yourself focused on what we have to do.” He shifted closer, placing both his hands on her knees. “Take a breath, then I want you to tell me what your dad said.”
Gods, this was so fucked up. She tried to calm her nerves and trepidation about what would happen. Sean was right. Her dad wasn’t dead, not yet, not if she could do anything to stop it. There was no reason to act like he was and she’d be damned if she’d give in to the terror Tyrell was forcing down on her. Looking up, she couldn’t help but smile at the look of concern on his face.
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“He told me about this one time when a ship tried to hijack his nav computer. The guy must have been terrible because Dad said they’d detected his attempts within seconds. Instead of blocking him, Mom sent back an information loop. Ended up confusing the other guy’s computer into thinking they had a fuel leak. It slowed him down enough that they were able to pull away. I think they came in tenth that year.”
“It sounds like your parents made a pretty good team.”
Memories of laugher filling the ship, the games of hide and seek they’d play in the cargo holds when they were between shipments. Even the rare sound of them fighting all came rushing back to her then, bringing with it a torrent of feelings. “They were the best together. It just about killed my dad when she died.”
Sean adjusted their approach angle and pitch. “What happened?”
“It was stupid. They’d stopped over at an outpost to refuel and get supplies. She’d happened to walk into the wrong section of the station at the wrong time. There was a gas leak. The area was sealed off before it could spread and kill everyone in the main section of the station. There were twelve people caught, including Mom.” Even though it had been ten years, the loss of her mom still hurt. “The only good news was that her death was fast. She wouldn’t have felt anything.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Dad never really got over her. He used to tease that it was because her pheromones had saturated his blood, he couldn’t look for another woman because she’d tainted him. But he really just missed her. They were best friends.”
A loud beep from the computer sensors snapped her out of her memories. Sean quickly brought up the readings and they both leaned in to get a better view.
“Looks like another ship,” he said, pressing the button. “A frigate.”
“How the hell did something that big get out here? Is it part of the race?”
Amy typed a series of commands into the computer, sending out a ping to receive an information packet. The response came quickly, sending a small shiver of panic through her.
“Shit, it’s the race officials. They just sent us a warning that we are heading off course.”
If they couldn’t get to the asteroid belt and get the dust, her dad was as good as dead. She had to stop typing in command codes to wipe her damp palms on her pants.
“Wait a second,” Sean said and began to sort through the information on the data chip. “Got it!”
She hadn’t a clue what he was going on about until he started punching in a string of numbers and sending an encrypted message off to the frigate. The silence made Amy twitchy, nervous like she’d never been before. Shit, she really didn’t need to deal with this now. The computer finally beeped, indicating they’d received a response—clear to proceed.
“What the hell?” she said, looking at Sean. “What did you tell them?”
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“Tyrell must have bribed someone on board. He’d supplied the security code for the race officials on the data chip. We are free to proceed to the belt to get our…shipment.”
Amy didn’t want to think about the extent of the corruption with the race. Gods, the whole thing was tainted now and no one would be able to look back on the race without questioning every aspect. It was something she’d be sure to address when this was all said and done and her dad was safe back home. Maybe she’d get Kamran to step in after all. The race committee thought they were doing everyone a favor, instead they’d caused a nightmare for so many.
“Well, let’s not keep this bastard waiting.” She throttled up the engines and blasted past the checkpoint toward her destination.
They fell into a steady work pace, each hitting their computer controls, taking readings as necessary. They didn’t speak much at first, as Amy tried to ignore the pull of her attraction for the man working at her side. But as time crept on, she found it increasingly difficult. More than finding Sean attractive, she genuinely liked spending time with him, laughing with him. The more they talked, the more he relaxed, which made everything sweeter.
“So what was the best thing about working in the mines?” she asked, nudging him with her shoulder. “I mean you did it for a few years now, right? Something must have kept you there.”
He chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me. I’ve seen a lot of strange shit out here on the trade routes. I can’t imagine there is anything odd under the ground.”
He lifted an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. “Well, the best thing about working in the mines was the bartering system. You could pick up the most amazing things down there. I’m not even sure you could pick up half this stuff at the bazaar.”
“Like?”
“One time, there was someone down there who was trying to trade for a mimic tree. I don’t know how they managed it, but someone got one for him.”
“Gods! What did he have to trade for it?”
“A kazoo.”
“A
what
?”
“A fucking annoying, old Earth musical instrument. Damn thing nearly drove us all mad.”
Amy laughed. “I haven’t seen a mimic tree since I was a kid. Gaz had one and used to play practical jokes on vendors at the stations we’d stop at, which usually ended up with us in trouble with the authorities. Drove my dad nuts.”
“I imagine it didn’t take much. Gaz is something else.”
They were both smiling and laughing. When they settled, Sean had an odd expression on his face. She reached out and squeezed his leg. “What?”
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“Nothing.”
“Sean, come on. What?”
He sighed. “I was just thinking this is nice. The quiet of space, just us on the ship, well, and the boys. Even with all this shit with your dad and the race, this is the most relaxed I’ve been in ages.”
She didn’t know what it said about his life over the past few years. Oh, she recognized the concerned looks from his friends in her time on the station. With the little she’d learned from Sara and Haylie, she knew he was scarred far deeper than he’d ever admit. The problem was she didn’t know how to fix this for him. Instead of trying, she moved her hand up his leg until her fingers brushed over his.
“You know, when this is over—”
“When we get your dad back, safe.”
“Yes, home safe…you don’t have to go back to all that.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Not quite able to meet his gaze, she kept it fixed on how her fingers curled around his. “You could always come with me,” she murmured.
She hadn’t intended to make the offer just then, but she immediately knew it was the right thing to say. She didn’t want him to leave her life. Despite how happy she thought she’d been, she’d only been going through the motions. After Malik had become obsessed with her, killed himself after leaving his family, she hadn’t thought she’d be able to be in a relationship with another person, let alone actively seeking one out. But with Sean, things just seemed…right. He needed her just as much as she needed him. They fixed each other, even though she hadn’t realized she’d been broken.
Sean still hadn’t responded. When she finally got the courage to look at him, she could see the muscle in his jaw clenched, the line of his back now rigid.
Fuck.
She wanted to take things back, reassure him he had nothing to worry about. But when she opened her mouth, she couldn’t say it. She did mean it, did want him to stay around and be a part of her life for however long he was willing. And really, maybe some gentle nudging in this direction was what he needed.
Sitting up to adjust their approach, she moved her hand away from his, immediately missing the warmth. “Look, you don’t need to make a decision today, or shit, even next week. I’ll be around Eurus for a short time once we get Dad back.
There’ll be time for you to think about it.”