Sex or Suffer [Dark Colony 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (28 page)

Two seconds after that she heard the distinct sound of a gun hammer cocking back and ready to fire. Lifting her head from the pillow, Penelope figured she was about to glaze over in lust and beg Damon for sex.

The good news? She wouldn’t be coherent until after it was over. The bad news? Once he finished with her, she’d remember everything. Perhaps he’d fall asleep and then she could wrestle the gun out of his hand and kill him, so the one time sex would be just that…one time.

Glancing over her shoulder expecting to see Damon pointing a gun her way, she was completely shocked to see the time lock door “was” wide open and Ensign Cahill stood in the doorway with a revolver held to Damon’s head even though he was sound asleep in the chair.

Cahill glanced her way. “You okay, Dr. Drake?”

“How did you get in here?” Penelope leapt up from the bed, embarrassed to have been caught sleeping during such a stressful horrible event. A pervert locked her in so at worst, he could essentially rape her or at best take advantage of her deplorable virus for his own gratification.

A half smile curved one side of Cahill’s mouth. “The time lock released. I just came in.”

Damon snorted in his sleep but didn’t wake.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep for so long.”

“The facility director pumped something into the room’s vents to knock you both out. Then you wouldn’t have to do anything sexual with Damon.”

“But I still don’t want him.”

“Apparently, like me, you aren’t attracted to
this
shithead either.” Cahill handed her a new filter mask. “Here. Put this on. There is someone who wants to see you.”

“Is Nathan okay?”

Cahill nodded. “He bled quite a bit, but they got the dart out of him. He’ll live. He roused enough to tell us where shithead here took you. Apparently, he wasn’t completely unconscious before you left the room.” Glancing down at Damon, he added, “This prick shouldn’t be allowed to live though. He shot Lieutenant Commander Tyndall in the back. The good news is the other room has a video feed of him doing it.”

Penelope fastened her mask in place. “The bad news is that it also has Nathan and I…together.”

Cahill shrugged. “I imagine that the shithead’s illustrious family will never allow it to be made public. A deal will be made undoubtedly. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“You’re right. I have plenty else to worry about.” Penelope sighed and couldn’t keep the dejection out of her voice. “The cure didn’t work.”

Cahill nodded and winked. “Put the mask on. Trust me, I think your day is looking up, Dr. Drake.”

Once her mask was secured, Cahill made a call and Parsec Colony security came in and hauled a still half asleep Damon out of the time lock room.

Penelope exited the room in time to see Nathan loaded onto a stretcher. She grabbed Cahill’s arm and got his attention. “Are you sure Nathan is going to be okay?”

“Yes. He just needs some rest. He’s headed to the
Dalton
med lab for care.”

“I don’t know why you thought my day was looking up, Ensign Cahill.” He ushered her out into the hallway and directly into the arms of the last person she ever expected to see on Parsec Colony.

Gray.

* * * *

“Maybe because he thought you’d be happy to see me.” Gray hugged her as best as he could given that she had a filter mask strapped to the lower half of her face.

“Gray!” She threw her arms around him despite the mask. “What are you doing here?” Cahill stepped outside as Gray pushed her gently inside the room again. He shut the door and pushed the time lock seal. Gray had set it for an hour and posted Cahill as a guard.

“You just locked us in here.”

“Yep. I missed you. I wanted some uninterrupted time to talk.”

“I missed you too.” The low whisper drew him closer until her gaze shifted to pierce him with a new look he hadn’t catalogued. Regret, perhaps? She averted her eyes. “I’m so sorry about what happened with Nathan.”

Gray took her in his arms and squeezed her. He placed a kiss awkwardly on the top of her head. “Don’t worry, he’ll live. The dart didn’t pierce anything important.”

“No.” She stiffened in his arms and moved a step backwards. “I mean about what happened in the tunnel at Echo Province.”

Since that particular image of her with Nathan was the last memory he’d carried for these past several days, it would be a lie to say he hadn’t pondered all the implications associated with the event. Including the instant discovery that Nathan was the first man she’d been with when she discovered this disease. Did she care for Nathan? Undoubtedly. Had they formed a bond in their short time together? Would she rather be with Nathan?

Gray wondered if she was about to express her newly rediscovered love for Nathan. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her say the words out loud, but shrugged in reference to her comment. She didn’t have to be sorry about what happened.

He did his best to guard his heart and shrugged. “I didn’t want you to suffer. Besides, Nathan is my best friend. I trusted him to take care of you. He did. It wasn’t your fault, Penelope. I don’t blame you for not wanting to suffer in agonizing pain.”

“Nathan is a very good man.”

“He is. The very best.” Gray squeezed the regret out of his soul.

“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I had to tell him that we were involved.” She inhaled deeply and her stunning aqua gaze returned to taunt him with seductive grace. “I didn’t tell him that I loved you though.”

Gray’s heart skipped a beat in impulsive elation, and a grin erupted before he could temper it. “Why not?”

“Because.” She blinked, and she smiled in return. “I wanted to tell you first.”

The desire to kiss her reared so suddenly and desperately that he pulled her mask off knowing what it would do.

She didn’t stop him.

He cupped her face sans the mask. “I love you, Penelope. Don’t ever doubt it.” And then they kissed and kissed and kissed all the while clothing stripped quickly from their bodies.

Before she could demand that he do so, Gray pressed her against the wall out of view of the room’s camera, released his cock and pierced her deeply. Never ceasing the kiss, he pounded into her and because of the seemingly endless separation which really only amounted to five days, it didn’t take him long to cure what ailed her.

The orgasm rushed out of the end of his cock in seconds, but the best part of the experience came a few minutes later when she did.

The grip of her pussy signaling her release moments later after he slid his hand between them to ensure her climax, made him come even harder a second time. She wrapped her legs around his waist during the subsequent interlude, connecting them at a level he never wanted to sever.

Gray didn’t know what their future held, but didn’t ever want to be away from her again.

“I’m sorry the cure you came here for didn’t work,” he whispered against her head. “Tell me what I can do to help you beyond the physical and I’ll do it.”

“I just want to go back home, Gray.” She pulled away to look deeply into his eyes. Her mournful expression made his soul ache. She repeated, “Please just take me home.”

Ten days later, still aboard the
Dalton
and mere hours away from making good on his vow to take Penelope back home, Gray experienced an epiphany.

He woke with a start in the middle of the night snuggled up to Penelope after a lengthy lovemaking session earlier in the evening. After she’d fallen asleep, Gray had watched her for a long while unable to sleep and trying to figure out what troubled him.

Something elusive and on the edge of his conscious had nagged at him for the duration of this trip. He glanced at the time piece on the wall, noting he had another three hours before his shift started. The undetected aspect dawned on him as suddenly as the illumination of an exploding star. Time.

It had been well over five hours since they’d had sex in the shower and fallen into his bunk. His calculations told him that she should have woken him at least a couple of hours ago for another round, but she hadn’t.

They’d spent almost every waking and sleeping hour together on the return trip to Bravura due to the new filter masks Penelope wore. Smaller and less bulky, they allowed for more intimacy rather than the big bulky face masks from the first trip. Angelica had secured the smaller mask from a place near the dock and rounded up enough of a supply from the Parsec Colony to allow coverage for Penelope’s entire trip home.

Each night, after his shift on the command deck, Gray came to either her room or called her to his. The intimacy afforded them with this change had strengthened their relationship, at least in his way of thinking. Penelope was distant at times, but Gray dismissed it as worry over her future.

They spent inordinate amounts of time talking about what might happen with Nathan, Damon and her job once they returned to Bravura. She worried about the status of her job most of all, but Gray told her he’d find a place for her on his ship if need be.

Visibly dubious of his repeated offers, Penelope generally found a way to change the subject of conversation soon after, and he let her in an effort to keep the peace. He knew she had enough on her mind with her uncured virus to consider, which was the catalyst for his epiphany.

The subtle changes in their lovemaking, across the ten days ticking by quickly, had been so slight that he knew she hadn’t noticed. At least not yet. Afraid to wake her, point out the obvious and be mistaken, Gray simply kissed her mouth gently while she slept and kept his own counsel.

Given the restrictions of their relationship, he hadn’t spent nearly as much time with his mouth between her legs as he’d wanted. Perhaps now was a good time. Watching her sleep and wishing to have her wake with his tongue jammed in her pussy became equal parts of agony and ecstasy.

The urge to taste her was too irresistible so he gave into temptation. Ever so carefully, and so as not to wake her, Gray slid his body down the bed until his face rested next to her hip. He turned on his side and kissed her leg. She didn’t move. He twisted to hover over her and lowered his face until his tongue licked the perfect bud of her clit. She inhaled deeply, but didn’t move. Gray smiled and dove in for more. He pushed his mouth over her and sucked her clit between his lips. Wet, even in her sleep, Gray noted that she was as delicious as he remembered.

A trickle of moisture gathered on his chin, so he released her clitoris and licked the juice covering her pussy lips all along her seam. She cried out and moved, but pushed herself closer to his mouth. He grabbed her legs with eager hands and resumed licking her clit. Once he’d established a solid rhythm, he pushed two fingers inside her body and massaged as he licked her clit until the miraculous sound of her screaming orgasm nearly made him come. The glorious pulses against his fingers gave him hope that a normal life might be possible.

Perhaps the cure had worked after all, but had a delayed reaction. He knew for a fact that the time between incidents had increased.

He kissed his way to her mouth as a particularly delightful feeling encompassed him.

“What did you do to me?”

“Something magnificent.”

“I’ll say.” She drifted off to sleep again and that made Gray even happier. He’d never been a clock watcher, but watching the time tick further and longer between her brazen episodes had been subconsciously sending a red flag.

Glancing at the time piece on the wall again, Gray decided to relieve Ensign Cahill early. He’d been working long shifts on this journey back to Bravura.

Angelica volunteered to take the
Mirage
to Rycan along with the delegates. It gave her an opportunity to captain her own vessel and the glow she exuded was worth seeing. Cahill pretended not to miss her, but Gray was glad to see he didn’t begrudge her the opportunity to captain a vessel. Although, Gray suspected they’d both be happier once she returned to Bravura as scheduled a week after the
Dalton
.

Once they’d been within range, messages had been back and forth between his ship and Bravura Space Command with regard to Damon being detained on criminal charges.

Nathan remained in the med lab. Director Blevins had insisted they take Damon back to Bravura to face charges, but wanted it handled quietly in deference to Damon’s illustrious father, Oscar Kaslan. Damon was currently locked up in the brig, where he complained daily about his poor treatment and threatened dire consequences once his father found out about his confinement.

Damon never once took any responsibility for what he did to Penelope or Nathan. Penelope refused to press charges because she feared her word against Damon’s wouldn’t survive. Nathan pressed charges immediately, and Gray backed him up.

Once the
Dalton
was docked, they all had a private meeting scheduled in the tribunal room at the Bravura Science Lab conference table to take place immediately after disembarking the ship.

Gray knew Penelope was still worried about her job and being gone for so long, but she’d given him a tight-lipped frown and refused to discuss any charges the few times he’d brought it up.