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  She was starting to feel a little obsessed. Did he realize he’d done this to her? Or was this madness all her own making?

  Just the boredom, she assured herself. If she was able to work, or do…anything else at all, she wouldn’t be thinking about the man all the time. She’d suffered four days of inactivity. Of course the wait and idleness were getting to her.

  She tugged restlessly at the hem of the oversized sweater she’d borrowed to stave off the cold air that seeped into the building despite the climate controls.

  “There’s been no sign of anyone anywhere nearby for days,” she whined out loud just to hear some sound other than her footsteps as she stalked the empty corridor. “Not even this supposed guard watching over me from a distance. I don’t see why I can’t go for a walk.”

  “You have no way of knowing if a spy satellite or a high altitude craft is scouring the area.” Alex’s deep voice startled her so much she pulled a string loose on the sweater.

  “Shit.” She tucked the string back into the weave. “You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here already? I thought you’d be gone longer.”

  “So did I. Didn’t you hear the perimeter alarms going off?” He moved close and grasped the string she’d snapped, idly toying with it.

  Her heart started to hammer and not from surprise. Although surprise didn’t help. She’d spent so much time thinking about him for the last four days, yet she was nowhere near prepared to actually see him in the flesh again. “No. I didn’t hear anything.” Was that her voice?

  She was having trouble concentrating. The heat of his hand seeped past the loose weave of the sweater, tingling low on her abdomen. She could practically feel his touch on her skin even through the top of her jeans. And the sensation brought to mind too many of her recent fantasies. Her stomach clenched.

  Alex frowned, seeming unaware of the mayhem he was causing her, damn him. “I’ll check the system now. You should’ve heard something before I deactivated the alarms from the ship when we flew in.” But he didn’t move away to check the system. He stayed where he was, standing too close, staring down at her, his big body still except for the movement of his strong fingers playing with the hem of her sweater.

  His nearness, his sudden appearance, the object of so many recent lust-filled daydreams, was overwhelming her. She should tell him to step back. She should say something. He’d left her here without any communication for days, knowing she’d be bored. And despite some of her more fanciful moments before he left, he hadn’t actually come out and admitted any interest in her. Letting him this close, when she was so on edge, was too dangerous. She was likely to do something extremely embarrassing if she didn’t put some space between them. Now.

  She lifted one foot, put her toe down on the ground behind her, intending to move away from him. Instead, she stayed where she was with her heel in the air, feeling like a magori-fox staring into the eyes of a cor-snake.

  Put your foot down, Gina. Take the step back. She needed distance. To concentrate. Say something. Tell him to back off, now. Tell him to stop teasing you.

  “Where’s Nathan?” That wasn’t what she wanted to say. Her voice sounded faint and breathless. Did he notice?

  The curve of his fascinating mouth said he did. “He’s checking the external sensors and alarms.”

  She wasn’t sure how he managed it, but he seemed to suddenly be closer without taking a step. Had she moved closer to him? God, she hoped not! How embarrassing. He smelled wonderful—that same warm, musky cologne she couldn’t put a name to but was now permanently tied with thoughts of Alex. What was he doing with her sweater?

  “Any progress?” she asked, knowing her voice sounded weak but not sure how to clear out the webs of desire clouding her mind. Every time he spoke, her gaze dropped to his mouth. And that wasn’t helping at all.

  His faint smile turned into a crooked grin. “I’d say so.”

  “I meant about finding the person responsible for the threats.” She felt her cheeks heat, knowing full well he’d caught her staring at his mouth. Again.

  She was acting like a schoolgirl. This was silly. She barely knew him. He was too close, and she needed to move back.

  But it was so good to see him. She hadn’t even realized she wanted to see him this much. Okay, so she’d been thinking about him constantly since he left. Alex didn’t know that. She had no reason to get embarrassed and shy. He couldn’t realize she’d developed all those detailed fantasies of him over the last few days.

  Could he?

  What the hell was he doing with her sweater?

  “We’ve made some progress on the threats,” he said. “I’ve left a colleague to follow up a lead. I wanted to get back here to make sure you were all right.” The hand playing with her sweater stilled. “Are you all right?”

  The heat already coiling low in her stomach exploded lower. Breathe, Gina. Breathe. “I’m fine. I’m bored. Can I go back to work soon?” Her gaze darted down to where his hand still gripped her sweater. For a disorienting moment, she thought he might start to lift the sweater up, revealing bare skin beneath. Her gaze jumped back to his. Would he?

  He grinned. “Soon.”

  Gina swallowed hard. Silence stretched between them. She felt like her balance was going, because she seemed to be tilting closer to him, the heat of his body drawing her, the tingles in her own body begging for his touch. She flicked her tongue out to wet dry lips.

  Alex’s voice was husky when he murmured, “Maybe there’s something we can do about your boredom.”

  Her heart kicked over, and her stomach dropped. If he didn’t mean what she thought he meant by that comment, she was going to scream. God, she really was leaning into him. She needed to move back. She still had one foot behind her, toe resting on the ground. If she just dropped her heel, she’d gain some space. That’s all it would take, a little space between the heat of his body and her tingling skin, and she’d be able to think clearly.

  She was a logical, rational woman—most of the time. She didn’t fall for men she barely knew. This was just chemistry. And days of inactivity. He was good looking. She was bored. She could move away from chemistry. Drop her heel. Move away from temptation.

  He bent closer, washing her lips with the warmth of his breath, and she leaned into him instead of away. “I’ve been thinking about you, Gina.”

  “You have?” Surprise and excitement swept into her bloodstream.

  “Probably too much for my own good. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

  Her heart rate tripled. So she hadn’t imagined those looks, the innuendo. That deep, husky note in his voice was a sign of more. She wasn’t sure whether to cheer or turn and run from something so potentially dangerous to her peace of mind. What she actually did was let her lips brush ever so slightly against his.

  Alex breathed deeply. Her heat, her scent . . . they seeped into him, making him forget everything else going on around them. All he could focus on, all he could see were her lips, so close, so so tempting. When she leaned in, when her mouth moved against his, he lost all hope for coherent thought. His hands flexed, and he reached out to pull her close, to take that brief contact into the full kiss he’d been desperate for since first meeting her.

  Before he could make good on his impulse, though, the sharp echo of footsteps caused him to jerk his head up. Gina looked past him, her eyes dazed, and he had to resist the urge to kiss her again. When she rubbed her lips together, he suppressed a very primal groan.

  Fully intent on finishing what was just started as soon as they had some privacy, he gave her a wry grin then glanced over his shoulder, knowing Nathan was the one who’d interrupted them. When he saw the expression on his partner’s face and the blaster in Nate’s hand, he pulled his own weapon, instantly on alert.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Did you check the perimeter alarms yet?” Nathan’s eyes flicked to Gina then focused on Alex.

  Alex shift, just a little,
as guilt poked a hole in his lust. “Not yet.”

  “An area of the external sensors has been blasted out. Not subtle. And they’re fresh. Maybe only ten minutes, twenty before we landed.”

  “Damn.” A hint of fear snuck in with his guilt. He’d been so distracted by getting his hands on Gina, he’d failed to follow his own damned safety procedures. And now she was in real danger. At least their original plan had worked. It just worked too fucking quickly. They weren’t ready. Which changed everything. “Have you signaled BinRal?”

  “He’s on his way in. Now what?”

  “I’ll get her out of here while you search the interior. We’ll meet in the ship. Lifting out in twenty.”

  “BinRal?”

  “I’ll intercept him on the way. He should have enough time to sweep the area and still make it to his ship before we blow the place.”

  For the first time since Nate’s arrival, Gina spoke. “Blow the place! What do you mean ‘blow the place’?”

  He spared her a glance, his mind already on the things they needed to do to get her out safely, even as he tried to push down the guilt rising up to taunt him. “This house has been compromised. We have to abandon it. But we can’t leave it intact. There’re ways a smart person could use the computers here to track down some of our other retreats. We can’t allow that.”

  “But…but there’s someone here already. And you’re only giving us twenty minutes to get away.”

  “Don’t worry,” Nathan said, moving back down the corridor. “We’ve handled situations like this before.”

  Alex took her arm with his free hand and led her toward her bedroom. He kept his blaster raised, scanning the area as they moved. He couldn’t believe he’d endangered her because he couldn’t think beyond his own needs. He cursed silently as they reached her room and she moved inside to collect her pack. That idiotic lapse had put them all in jeopardy. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to her because he’d gotten distracted from the real reason they were back so soon.

  “I’m ready,” she said, when she’d finished.

  He took her arm again and led her back down the corridor, this time toward the external airlocks. The slight tremor he felt running through her body had him cursing himself for an idiot again. Nothing will happen to you, he promised her silently as he scanned the corridors. I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The frigid air stole Gina’s breath the instant they stepped out of the airlock. While she'd shrugged into a parka and snow boots, the sudden sharp cold of the wind bit through the heavy material. It was even colder out than the day she’d arrived.

  “So a walk probably would have been a bad idea,” she muttered. Alex’s soft snort made her cringe.

  She threw her pack over her shoulder then stuffed her mitten-covered hands into the pockets of the parka. Her breath came in a visible cloud. The wind blowing through the mountains announced the coming of a storm according to the morning’s weather readings. She had to admit, the idea of leaving before the storm arrived appealed to her.

  She glanced at Alex and the very thin pair of gloves he wore. “Are those going to be warm enough? They don’t look like they’ll protect your hands from this weather.”

  “They’ll do,” he said, his gaze scouring the landing pad from where they sheltered against the airlock’s outer frame.

  “But your fingers—”

  “Will be fine. I can’t use the blaster with thick gloves.”

  “Do you need to right now? We’re almost at the ship.”

  He faced her, his gaze intense. “Your life is more important to me than a little cold. I promised I’d protect you. Stop arguing with how I do it. Trust me.”

  She stared into Alex’s eyes for a moment, and realized he was deadly serious. Trust him? She could do that. She nodded and asked, “Now what?”

  Alex returned her nod with a sharp one of his own, then looked back toward the landing pad. “Now, we go to the ship, contact our associate, and prepare for liftoff.” He kept his gaze trained on their surroundings as he spoke. His alert stance had Gina examining the area too. She studied the shifting snow covering the landing pad between them and the silver and black ship, the flat expanse of snow beyond the ship before the hill sheared off into a deep valley, the rugged sweep of mountains beyond that.

  Nothing. She couldn’t see anything unusual. Until a huge, black shape rose up beside her.

  Gina stifled a screech as Alex swung around, blaster raised. The figure stepped away from the wall, dropping the hood of his parka. Alex cursed and pointed his blaster toward the sky.

  Gina blinked.

  The large Binnean smiled.

  At least, that’s what she assumed that particular expression was when a Binnean did it. It wasn’t really a comfortable expression for a human to witness. With silky black hair covering their entire bodies, long, thin noses in brown skinned faces, and startling green eyes, the Binnean, despite their bulk, didn’t look nearly as dangerous as they were—until they smiled.

  The Binnean murmured something in a voice too quiet for her to hear but loud enough to make Alex chuckle. “BinRal, this is Gina Xanacovich. Gina, En-BinRal Ol Binda t’Clav. He’s been your guard for the last few days.”

  “Pleasure,” she said, instinctively stretching out her hand before remembering that the Binneans had a different custom for greeting someone new. She shifted her hand to point upward, palm facing BinRal. He smiled again and gently placed a huge, brown, six-fingered fist against her palm.

  “See anything?” Alex’s voice cut into the greeting, turning the atmosphere serious again.

  “No one. But there’s evidence of a ship landing beyond the ridge where the perimeter sensors were shot out. There were tracks in the snow leading to the sensor line from the landing site. The tracks belong to a single human male. But at the perimeter, the tracks disappeared. No sign he moved back to the craft either. He could be using a glider on silent.”

  “Or there’s at least two of them and the second one flew their ship in after the sensors were shot out. No sign of a second landing at the perimeter, so that means the ship must be small enough to hover and still pick up a passenger. AX47 D series is capable of that.”

  “So’s the new JUP-3.”

  “Either way, they’re both too small to hold more than three people. At least we’re not outnumbered.”

  “Unless they had another ship waiting to be signaled in after the perimeter sensors were disabled.”

  “Damn,” Alex breathed, letting his gaze travel over the landing pad again. “We need to leave. Now.” He unzipped his parka enough to reach inside and pull out a small, flat comm-link. He pressed an area on the card, waited a beat, and Gina heard the static-laced sound of Nathan’s voice acknowledging the call. “Get down here now, Nate. We can’t tell what kind of company to expect.”

  Gina frowned, turning her attention to the valley just the other side of the landing pad. What was that? It wasn’t a noise exactly. More like a vibration. She strained to hear against the peel of the wind. “Alex?” She tapped at him, without taking her eyes off the valley. He waved away her hand, still talking to Nathan. “Alex,” she said more firmly, taking hold of his arm and squeezing through the thick material of his coat. “What is—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, a small white-blue ship rose up from the valley. Except for the cloud of hot air escaping from the thrusters, the ship blended perfectly with the background. In fact, if she hadn’t been watching, she might have missed it. It hung silent for an instant. Then a bolt of white light lashed out from the laser cannons beneath the ship’s hull.

  The sleek, silver and black ship on the landing pad rocked with the force of the impact.

  “Goddamn it.” Alex raised his blaster but at this distance, he couldn’t come close to hitting the attacking ship. BinRal raised a huge blaster cannon from somewhere—inside his parka?—and aimed at the ship. His first shot skipped across the top o
f the hull, deflected by a shield. The laser cannon fired again, this time melting a black hole across the top of Alex’s ship.

  Still cursing, Alex shouted into the comm-link, “Secondary shields up!” And BinRal fired another shot. This one sizzled the shield on the attacking ship, but didn’t come near the hull. “Get inside, now!” Alex shoved her back into the airlock just as another shot slammed into his ship. The secondary shields crackled as they absorbed the shock, turning an unhealthy shade of green. “Shit, they’re not gonna hold. What the hell is that ship firing?”

  “I don’t know,” BinRal answered, calmly aiming his shoulder cannon for another shot. “But I’d like one.”

  The last thing Gina saw before Alex and BinRal dragged her into the airlock was the orange flame that erupted when the shields on Alex’s ship buckled under the onslaught. The airlock sealed, a steel door banged down, and Alex was shouting into his card again. “Terminate complex destruct sequence, Nate. We’ve got serious problems here.”

  Nathan’s voice came back out of the card, clearer now that they were inside the house. “Destruct sequence terminated. Auxiliary defenses coming online.” There was a slight pause then, “Fuck! They’ve destroyed the ship. Looks like we move to plan C.”

  “What happened to plan B?” Gina asked as they strode down the corridor, back toward the interior of the house.

  “Plan B just got blasted all to hell by that blue ship.”

  “Oh,” was all she could say.

  Nathan stepped out of the control room to meet them. All of the equipment used to monitor the area, the house, the landing pad, and the weather was located in the single room.

  “Tunnels?” Nathan asked Alex, his face a blank mask. He’d sounded as angry as she’d ever heard him over the comm-link, but now he was emotionless and all business. He was scarier this way. She flicked a glance at Alex and had to suppress a shudder at the iciness of his gaze.

  “How far away is your ship?” Alex focused on BinRal, but she could see his mind ticking through their options.