Chapter Seventeen
The electronic dulcet of the door chime brought Jenna into a kind of half-awake, half-asleep haze. A moment later, the noise repeated, and she forced herself to open her eyes. Seb was curled around her, his arm across her middle and broad chest against her back. He tightened his hold on her and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder as he groaned with a tone of frustrated annoyance when the door chimed a third time.
“Maybe you should get that.” Glancing over, she checked her gun was still on the nightstand where she’d left it for convenient access earlier. Unlikely the killer would ring the doorbell, but a person couldn’t ever make any assumptions when it came to Stanton or CI. She stretched beneath Seb’s hold, and his hand slid over her hip, upward along her ribs.
“You keep doing that, and I won’t be getting out of this bed anytime soon.”
“Well, that’s going to be a problem for whoever is outside your door right now.”
He shifted, his lips skimming her neck, making her shiver. “Exactly. It’s their problem, not mine.”
His hand cupped her shoulder, urging her to roll onto her back. Seb leaned over her, catching her mouth with a kiss that left no doubt as to what he had on his mind. She threaded her fingers into his mussed hair and maybe would have gone along with his wicked intentions, but the comm he’d left on the nightstand next to her gun started beeping.
Seb cursed under his breath and he shifted back from her and grabbed the comm.
“What?” he snapped as he connected the call.
“Good morning to you, too,” Sub-Doctor Moore said, tone on the sharp side. “I know you’re home, so open your damn door, Rayne.”
The comm disconnected, and Seb chucked it aside with another low curse. He climbed out of bed and stooped to grab a pair of sweats off the floor.
“You stay right there.” He pointed a finger at her, adding a stern look as he backed toward the bedroom door.
Jenna didn’t reply, but sent him a grin as she stretched and his gaze dropped down her body.
“Oh, I see how you want to play things.” His stare lingered over her body, before returning to her face, heat edging into his expression. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you back for that later.”
Before she could think about teasing him further, he spun and strode out of the room. Once he’d disappeared, she got up, threw on his shirt to cover herself down to mid-thigh, then grabbed her gun and edged over to the doorway, ready in case it either turned out not to be the sub-doctor, or on the small chance Moore was in on the whole killing-Seb thing.
The apartment door opened, and voices got closer.
“I know you’re pissed about being suspended from the squad and stuck on bed rest, but that doesn’t mean you can skip out on your follow-up appointment.” Sub-Doctor Moore didn’t sound too pissed off, more inconvenienced. “You’ve never turned up late for anything in all the years I’ve known you. I was actually worried.”
“Sorry.” Seb sounded sheepish, and Jenna could easily imagine the boyish chagrin that would have been in his expression. She glanced over to look at the clock. It was almost midmorning. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d indulged in a sleep-in.
“Had a rough night, did you?” Moore asked, heavy on the sarcasm.
“I suppose rough might be one way to describe it,” Seb muttered in return.
Jenna allowed herself a grin over that. Yeah, things between them had been a little intense, but in the best way possible.
“Well, your appointment was three hours ago, and I can’t bring the medical scanning equipment to you,” Moore continued, sounding a little less miffed now. “So get your ass up to med level before I decide to tell Bren you need eight weeks off squad.”
“All right, Mom. I’ll get dressed and meet you up there.”
Moore replied with an insult about Seb’s parentage, and the apartment door opened and closed.
Jenna returned her gun to the nightstand and started retrieving her own clothes as Seb returned.
“Damn, that’s going to screw up the rest of my day.” He stripped out of the sweat pants and kicked them aside. But instead of heading to the wardrobe, he crossed the room toward her, catching her around the waist then propelling both of them onto the bed. “Ace will probably keep me on med level and spend half the day running extra tests just to get back at me.”
“Then shouldn’t you be rushing to get dressed? He didn’t sound very impressed about you missing that appointment.”
He shrugged, sending muscles rippling through his chest. With a few simple tugs, he’d stripped the shirt off her, leaving her bared to his roaming gaze.
“I’m already three hours late. At this point, another half an hour isn’t going to make a difference.”
She slid an arm around his shoulders as he leaned over her and tilted her face up to meet his lips, shivering as his mouth brushed lightly against hers.
“Didn’t he say something about getting you suspended for longer?” Really, she didn’t know why she was arguing against this—the sensation of his muscled body pushing her down, his large warm hands stroking across her sensitized skin, the heady pleasure of his mouth and lips making her reservations evaporate like a puddle in a heat wave.
“You were worth one suspension, and I can now say without any doubt, that you’re definitely worth a second.” His kisses moved down along her neck, and she sighed in warm delight and contentment.
All the plans she’d had for getting off the ship and back to Earth had gotten lost at some point between him kissing her once he realized she intended to leave, and the last time he’d made slow, sleepy love to her in the early hours of the morning. Being with Seb was like a balm to a wounded, wearied heart and soul she hadn’t known was so desperately in need of tending.
She’d kept herself closed off and shut down for so long, been nothing but a cold non-feeling CI agent, that she’d forgotten how to live. She’d existed, nothing more. Had done her duty and found cold comfort in it until she’d forgotten there was anything else to life.
But Seb had awoken her, sure as if she’d been in a deep slumber. It had been happening slowly but surely since she’d met him, but last night had been like ripping down the final, drab curtains to reveal pouring, golden daylight.
The emotions and feelings flooding through her were daunting, leaving her compromised and adrift. Truthfully, she didn’t want to leave the Knox, or leave Seb, especially when there was a chance she’d be walking to her own death. But there was no way she could stay, not with Stanton likely to work out her real identity any second now.
For the first time in forever, she had absolutely no idea what to do. What she wanted warred against what she needed to do.
Seb raised his head from where he’d been kissing a path across her upper chest. “Now, I might be wrong, but I’m getting the sense you might be distracted. I’ve kissed a mannequin who was more responsive.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Do I want to know why you were kissing a mannequin?”
“It was back in military college.” He waved a hand in a dismissive motion. “Just know there was a lot of beer involved.”
“Right.” She tried for a smile, since he was clearly trying to lighten the mood as always—his go-to coping strategy.
He shifted up her body, bringing his mouth closer to her. “Come on. You can do better than that. Whatever is spinning through that head of yours, it can wait.”
If only it could. She smoothed her hands over his broad shoulders, wishing she could go back to last night, when at least she could have pretended she had a little time. So why the heck wasn’t she getting her butt out of this bed and hightailing it for the next departing shuttle?
There was no use pretending that she didn’t know the answer fell to the six-foot-plus, dark-haired, gorgeous specimen of a man who was currently naked and trying his best to distract her from the rest of the galaxy.
He teased his lips over hers. “I know there are some rather important details we need to work out. But promise me that we’ll do it together. We’ve come this far. I’m not letting you run away until this whole thing is solved into a neatly tied bow. Preferably around Stanton’s neck, cutting off his airways.”
“And what if solving this means leaving the Knox?”
Gaze intent and serious, he stared down at her. “Then, I’ll come with you.”
“Seb—”
He closed his mouth over hers, cutting off the words before she could get them out.
Liquid heat flowed through her body and she let herself sink into it. This definitely wasn’t the smartest move, and anything that came from her choices, she would accept responsibility. But she couldn’t get up and walk away. Not yet.
She tightened her hold on him, pushing up a little. He took the hint and rolled them, ending with her on top. Taking control of the kiss, she lightly raked her nails over his pecs, leaving him groaning.
Her fingers continued their downward travels, but just as she reached the base of his erection, he grabbed her wrists.
“No teasing,” he shifted, pressing the tip right where she needed him to be.
She twisted one of her hands free, wrapping her fingers around the base, adjusting so she could sink down just a little—but clearly not enough, judging by the frustration in Seb’s expression.
“No teasing? Where’s the fun in that?” She squeezed, only the slightest bit, but it caused his hips to jerk upward, putting him deeper inside her.
He found her wrist again and tugged her fingers away, then surged up to pin her hands at her lower back. The action left her at the mercy of completely sinking into him, and she couldn’t help but moan at the rich sensation of him filling her.
“It’s only fun if I’m the one doing the teasing,” he murmured, using his grip on her to thrust upward and pull her down at the same time, cresting a second, harder surge of pleasure within her. Despite the fact she wanted to be on top of him to set the pace, clearly he was the one in control, retreating a fraction and then shoving back, creating a delicious friction with minimal movement.
The next wave of pleasure made every limb melt like too-warm ice cream, and he took advantage, rolling them over and putting her down on the bed. But he didn’t give her any quarter, didn’t give her time to even draw breath. His mouth came down hard on hers, hands on her hips as he thrust deep and fiercely into her. Twice more, and her body tightened up all over before a rupture of pure ecstasy inundated her, completely engulfing her senses until there was nothing but Seb and the untainted exultation of being one with him as he reached the same pinnacle.
After a long moment, she released the breath she’d been holding in a long, ragged exhale, letting herself fall limp in his hold. He sank down on the bed next to her, keeping one arm across her middle.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” she murmured, snuggling into his embrace and undermining her own words.
“Sure,” he muttered, sounding half asleep again. “I’ll get right on that.”
She gave into a small smile. “Sub-Doctor Moore will be here banging on your door again.”
“Probably. I’ll just make sure not to let him in this time.” He kissed her shoulder, the action sweet and tender, making her heart skip a beat. And though he’d probably not intended it to, it reminded her that she had somewhere else to be as well. No matter how tempting, she couldn’t spend the rest of her life hiding in Seb’s bed.
“I have to go.” The words fell like a frost, chilling everything that had been warm.
“I know,” he murmured, shifting behind her to prop himself up on an elbow. “But you’re not leaving without me. So at least wait until I’ve had this checkup and have organized leave—”
She half rolled so she could see his face. “You can’t come with me. A few days leave isn’t going to cut it. This could take weeks or even months. And if you get caught, there will be no explaining, no due process or fair trial. CI will simply make sure you disappear.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, the Knox hasn’t exactly proven to be safe for me in the last couple of days. I wasn’t talking crap before, I meant it. We’ve come this far together, we need to see it through. Besides, who is going to be watching your very sexy ass? You need backup.”
“I’m trained to operate—”
“Alone,” Seb interrupted, his tone exasperated. “I know. You keep telling me. But see, I’m starting to think maybe you don’t want to be alone. And that’s not a bad thing.”
Her throat tightened, making it hard to swallow. It wasn’t about whether she liked being alone, it was what the job required. They all made sacrifices in this war, and that had been hers. But he was right—being alone was hard, and the time she’d spent with Seb only made that fact stand out starkly.
It was like the initial decision she’d made all over again—whether or not to let him help her. Did she now take the next step, give in to this crazy idea to let Seb go with her to Earth, knowing that taking on CI would be like writing his death sentence?
“I can tell you’re trying to think up ways of talking me out of it. But it doesn’t matter what you say, I’m going with you whether you like it or not. And since I know where you’re headed, if you try to give me the slip, I’ll make my own way there and very inconspicuously wait outside CI HQ until you turn up.”
She wanted to believe he was joking, but she got the feeling he really would do it if he thought it would save her.
“Don’t decide right now. Give it an hour. We’ll go to my checkup with Ace and then talk about it when we get back.”
If Seb really wanted to help her, would it be so wrong to let him? Having someone else to rely on, having backup—heck, just having someone who knew the truth and intricacies of the situation—made it that much easier to bear.
“Okay, let’s get you to this checkup before Sub-Doctor Moore sends Doctor Dalton down here. Then you’ll really be in trouble.”
He made a face, part horror, part grimace. “Hell, yes, I would be.”
Jenna smiled as he got out of bed and harassed her into making herself presentable as well. She was almost tempted to try for a quick shower, but now that he’d gotten out of bed, he seemed ready to move. She could understand the sentiment. Though she’d decided not to leave the Knox until they’d talked about her next step, a sense of disquiet agitated her limbs. While the downtime with Seb had been blissful, it also meant she felt reenergized and ready to face whatever came after this. And having Seb set on coming with her, she could admit she was glad for it.
No, she didn’t want to be alone, especially since taking on CI was akin to signing her own death certificate. The only thing worse than that? The fact that Seb was willing to sign right alongside her.