The Stowaway (10 page)

When the tempest had passed and they’d run the course of their orgasms, Arek gently eased out of Devlynn’s body. As Devlynn moved to the right of Rachel, Arek moved to the left so they wouldn’t crush her but could still huddle together after the storm.

He helped Rachel turn around so they could all lay together and cool down in the moment of calm as everything settled again. There was plenty of time to face reality and all its nasty little surprises later. Right now he just wanted to let the sensation of what they had done and how amazing it had been filter into his soul.

He stroked his hand down Rachel’s flank, then reached over and did the same to Devlynn—letting his languid, slightly overcooked brain enjoy the peace and rest for a moment.

Rachel closed her eyes and let her mind drift with the amazing warm afterglow as she snuggled between Devlynn and Arek.

“Mmm…glad you’re not getting rid of us. I could get kind of used to this,” she mumbled sleepily into Arek’s chest several minutes later.

“Yeah, me too,” Devlynn murmured behind her, nuzzling into her neck and leaving a sweet, soft kiss at her nape. “Saves me having to kick his ass. Of course I might decide to do it anyway.”

Rachel chuckled, but feeling Arek’s chest moved under her cheek in a heavy sigh had her glancing up at him in concern.

“Hey, he wasn’t serious. Right, Devlynn?”

Arek shook his head. “It’s not that.”

All lassitude disappeared as she studied Arek’s troubled face.

“What?” Devlynn demanded, now sounding tense and alert as well.

“While I was thinking about what Rachel had said, I did some quick diagnostic runs. One of the main power cells fried in the storm. Turbine two is completely out of commission and our speed’s dropped by over twenty-five per cent. There’s no way we’re going to make Nareen in time. Which means—”

“Shit!” Devlynn’s whole body was stiff now. “No credits for food or fuel. We’re stuffed anyway!”

“There has to be something we can do?” Rachel’s mind shook off the last of the post-coital sluggishness reluctantly as she started to think through what she knew of
The Wyvern’s
engines and capabilities.

“You can’t sell
The Wyvern,
Arek,” Devlynn demanded, as he pulled away and sat up beside them. “We’ll end up being dead-end labourers on some backwater planet, ‘cause I’m not going back to privateering. Especially not under someone else’s command.”

“Can’t exactly get out and push,” Arek replied, sounding tired and worn out. It had been a long couple of days. “I’m all ears if you can think of another way out of this mess.”

Rachel struggled to sit up so she could start working through the problem logically.

“You don’t have a spare power cell on board?”

“We blew one about a month ago and couldn’t afford to replace it. It was spare power cell or fuel and ration packs,” Arek explained, sounding defensive.

Rachel refrained from rolling her eyes. Men and their egos. She came from farm stock. She understood bad seasons and being whittled down to the bare basics until things came good again. She also knew a thing or two about improvisation.

“Why don’t we disconnect the damaged power cell and reconfigure the solar radiation collectors to power turbine two. We’ll have to reduce lighting and other secondary power draws, but if we’re careful—”

Slowly, Rachel realised Arek and Devlynn were staring at her as if she’d grown a second head. She stopped speaking and stared back. Maybe there was something different about
The Wyvern’s
system that made her suggestion impossible. What might have worked on the farm turbines might not work here. She certainly didn’t know the ship well enough to be sure either way. But she refused to look away or be embarrassed. It was still a good suggestion. It wasn’t as if they were coming up with anything more constru—

“Rachel, that’s brilliant!” Arek finally blurted. “I mean it’s so simple, but…I can’t believe we never thought of it.”

Rachel felt her face heat up at the sudden praise. “I guess sometimes it just takes a fresh pair of eyes.”

“Beautiful eyes,” Devlynn replied with a broad grin.

A little knot of happiness warmed her belly even as her cheeks felt like they burst into flames.

“So what are we waiting for?” Devlynn asked with a wicked chuckle.

Rachel smiled until her face hurt as they struggled into their clothes and hurried to get to work in the engine room. A content, radiant satisfaction was swirling around inside her to think of working side-by-side with the men to get the ship up and running again. She liked the feeling. She wanted more of it. And then she wanted more of them.

Two hours, several minor setbacks and a strained wrist when she’d been over enthusiastic with a torc-wrench later, Rachel was nearly ready to see if her plan would work. She was anxious and excited all at the same time.

In theory, she knew it should work. She’d quickly studied the ship’s power delivery system and found it remarkably similar to the one back home. The one she’d tinkered with alongside her brothers for years. But theory and practical application in space were two very different things. She really didn’t want to disappoint Arek and Devlynn, especially when it could be the difference between seeing the stars together or ending up planet bound on Nareen. She wasn’t all that fond of Nareen cattle.

Taking a deep breath and tightening the last clamp into place, Rachel stood up and stretched her back. The muscles had bunched and seized up while she’d been concentrating on her work. In fact, she’d been focused so completely on her task she’d lost track of exactly what Arek and Devlynn were up to—something she’d thought impossible, since every fibre of her being seemed tuned into them ever since she’d met them.

Glancing around, she caught sight of them by the solar radiation unit. Devlynn was kneeling down in front of the main console with the panelling off so he could work on the power relays. He looked like he was just finishing up, ready to fix the cover back into place. Arek stepped up behind him and placed a hand on Devlynn’s shoulder, murmuring something Rachel couldn’t hear above the low hum of the turbines.

But it wasn’t really necessary to hear the words—the look of pleasure on Devlynn’s face as he turned his head to gaze up at Arek said it all. The two smiled at each other with so much pure, radiant happiness it was impossible to look away. How they could have denied their mutual love for so long was incomprehensible. It was so obvious. So beautiful.

As she watched, Arek hesitated for a moment—his head jerking as if second guessing himself. But in the next second, he bent down and kissed Devlynn full on the mouth.

Devlynn stretched up to meet him, arching his back and opening enthusiastically. The brief lip lock turned into a much longer, lustier affair than Arek probably originally intended, but it was glorious to behold and neither of them moved to bring it to an end.

Rachel couldn’t help but remember the two of them together in Devlynn’s quarters earlier. It had been the most amazing, powerful experience of her life. The two of them together were stunning. Right and magnificent—she felt truly blessed to have been welcomed into their first sharing of passion for each other.

At the thought, she felt a stab of apprehension. Watching them together now and remembering how they had looked locked together earlier, she wondered if she was really necessary. In the long term, was there really going to be room for her in their relationship? And even if there was, did they really need her? The men looked beautiful together. Did they really want her in the middle of it, or had she only been the necessary catalyst to bring them together? Would there come a time when they regretted allowing her to join them? To stay?

She knew her concerns might be completely unfounded, but she couldn’t help wondering. And she couldn’t simply dismiss them either. She wasn’t a bury-her-head-in-the-solgram kind of girl. It was hard to face the possibility, but between now and Nareen she’d have to try to figure it out one way or the other. She really wasn’t interested in getting her heart broken.

The trouble was, she was pretty sure there wasn’t much left of the silly organ that didn’t already belong to Arek and Devlynn anyway. She knew she’d only be fooling herself if she tried to pretend what she felt for the pair was purely lust and desire. She still craved adventure and freedom, but independence was looking pretty lonely and her heart ached something fierce thinking about having to walk away from them.

Devlynn stood in the doorway to the common room watching Arek. At the moment his lover was pouring over a series of data pads spread out across the low table in front of the couch. Expression serious, nimble fingers flying over one of the illuminated screen—damn, Arek was fine!

Really, he could watch Arek all day. And it had only got worse since he’d been given permission to do a whole lot more than watch. He couldn’t quite bring himself to interrupt and ruin the picture his lover presented. There was just something about the way Arek looked as he concentrated on a task—the intensity and dedication when he truly applied himself to something was…delicious.

Without warning, Arek sat back, rubbing his hands over his face and tilting his head back on the soft cushions behind his head with a tired sigh.

“You okay?”

Arek’s head jerked back up with a little start of surprise. “Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just trying to work something out.”

“Anything I can help with?” Devlynn wandered over and plonked himself down beside Arek on the couch. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d spent hours together working over data pads trying to squeak by for another couple of runs until things picked up.

“I’m just trying to figure out a way to improve our cargo contracts,” Arek said, reaching for one of the data pads. “This random lucking into supply runs when and where we can isn’t working. We need better, more consistent jobs.”

“Well, yeah. But about the only way you’re going to do that is by joining one of the cargo consortiums.” Devlynn grimaced in distaste. “We’d end up working for some prick ‘entrepreneur’ like Barek.”

“Over my dead body,” Arek growled. “I was just wondering if maybe we were thinking a bit too local.”

“They’re all the same no matter where you go, Arek. The pay’s regular, but it sucks. That’s how they make their money, by paying the haulers less and screwing them over with tight turnaround times.”

“No, I wasn’t thinking about a consortium from a different sector. I still want us to freelance, but maybe going for more specialised cargo.”

Devlynn tensed—not liking the direction the conversation was heading in. “I’m not really interested in the high-risk cargoes anymore, Arek. I mean, I like the rush as much as—”

“I wasn’t talking about anything risky or illegal. I’m not into that anymore either. Not now.” Arek let their gazes meet and linger for a moment—the expression tender and a little vulnerable—before he looked away with a faint blush staining his cheeks.

Devlynn grinned—both in relief and with the little thrill of happiness Arek’s telling glance gave him. “So what were you thinking?”

Arek cleared his throat. “I was listening to some guys in one of the taverns on Thebia . They were talking about the demand for outer rim arts and crafts in the inner systems.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t think much of it at first, but I did some research and it turns out the cultures out here are all the rage on Centre at the moment. They’re snapping up artefacts quicker than they can be imported.”

“Nice to know we’re popular.”

“We’d still take the odd chance pick-ups, but I’ve managed to get in contact with a trader from Centre. It looks like he might be willing to give us a trial run. And if that works out we might be able to arrange something regular after that.”

“Wow! That’s great.” Devlynn stared at Arek, truly impressed with his lover’s hard work and ingenuity. “You’ve been a busy boy.”

Arek’s face got a little redder. Fortunately, he turned his head away as well and didn’t notice Devlynn’s broad grin at the sight of his discomfort. Arek was too cute when he was all shy and embarrassed.

“Yeah…well, now that it looks like we might actually make it to Nareen on time and get paid I was thinking we could put together a sample run. I was just trying to work out what we could take that might get him interested.” Arek studied the data pad in his hand as he scrolled through several screens of pictures and information.

“We should talk to Rachel. She might have some ideas.”

“No!”

Devlynn blinked at Arek’s vehement denial. “Why not?”

“I just…not yet, okay? I want to make sure we can pull it off first. I don’t want to get her hopes up only for it to all fall through and have to go back to running supply runs in the outer systems.”

Devlynn frowned. “I don’t know. I—”

“Please.” Arek reached over and squeezed Devlynn’s hand.

The small, intimate gesture made Devlynn’s heart start to double-time as he stared down at their joined hands. Arek was more dangerous to his equilibrium now than he’d ever been. It was exciting…and a little disconcerting. Then Arek’s thumb caressed over his knuckles—a gentle touch that seemed to race over his whole body like an electrical current.

“Are you trying to distract me?”