“Bianca, you’re killing me,” he groaned.
“Walk away right now and I won’t bother you again,” I said. “I will respect your decision. We will be professional colleagues and nothing more. Or stay and see where it goes. With me.”
Ian stood frozen and for an endless moment I thought he was going to turn and leave. I held my breath, waiting.
“I’m still here,” he said a few seconds later. I’d expected him to leave, so it hadn’t even registered that he’d stayed.
I edged closer. He stood his ground. I reached for him but stopped before I touched his chest. I met his eyes again, silently asking permission.
He wrapped his hand around mine and pressed it to his chest. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly,” he growled. “You can touch me.” A devilish grin tilted the corners of his lips. “And I can return the favor.”
I ran my hand over his firm chest before curling it around the back of his neck. I stepped close enough that his fake belly pressed against me. “If we’re doing this properly, how about a kiss?” I asked. “For luck.”
His arms slid around me gently as he gauged my reaction. When I tucked myself closer to him, his grip tightened. “How about a kiss because I’ve wanted to kiss you for the last hour?”
I leaned into him and pulled his lips down to mine. He buried a hand in my hair and plundered my mouth with lips and tongue. I moaned as goose bumps shivered over my skin, bringing my whole body to instant awareness.
I pressed closer still and slid my tongue into his mouth. He groaned low and the hand on my ass clenched tight. He lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his hips for balance. He took two steps, his muscles doing delicious things under my arms and legs, before I felt the cool metal of the wall at my back.
He pressed against me then growled in frustration at the lump of fake belly between us. I giggled, tried to stop, and only giggled harder. “Excuse me, sir, is that a blaster in your belly or are you just happy to see me?” I managed to gasp out between giggles.
He leaned back, his expression wicked. “You tell me, love,” he said, his voice deep. He wrapped his hands around my hips and pulled my lower body closer, so the thick length of him pressed teasingly between my thighs, only separated by a few flimsy layers of cloth.
He pulled away then rocked back into me. My giggles died in a gasp. I squirmed and arched away from the wall, trying to get the right friction, but his hands held me immobile. I clenched my legs around him, digging my heels into his ass to pull him closer. He relented and captured my moan with his mouth.
He kissed me like we had all the time in the world, but all too soon, the one-minute atmospheric entry warning sounded. I reluctantly let him go. He stepped back and I leaned against the wall, needy and on edge.
His gaze was scorching, his eyes hot with desire. “We are not done,” he said, his voice a low command. “We’re going to go rescue your brother. We’re going to win. And after we do, you and I are going to have a long talk. Without any interruptions.”
I nodded mutely. I’d reached for something I wanted, and so far, it hadn’t gone to shit. I just hoped that held true for the next twenty-four hours.
Opportunity settled into XAD Seven’s main hangar without any fanfare. From what we could tell on the way in, there was only the one main base. The planet had not been terraformed, so the hangar was one of the few surface buildings.
An atmospheric field shimmered across the hangar’s open door, illuminated by the overhead light panels. We’d been advised the air in the building was breathable. However, hangar space was at a premium. Ships with extra crew were required to drop off passengers and move out into the unbreathable open, which ratcheted up my anxiety. Our quick getaway just became a lot more hazardous.
Ian and I had mikes and earpieces once again, and Aoife promised to monitor the transmissions. We had to assume Rockhurst would be listening in, even to our encrypted stream, so we set some predetermined codes to use in case of emergency.
I had my freshly recharged shielding cuff and a pair of hidden knives that would pass through a scanner, one at my waist and one near my ankle. Ian carried a range of weapons, some openly, some hidden. It would be weirder for a merc guard to be unarmed. We also wore air filtration masks we’d found in the emergency supplies. I had to sell this virus from the first minutes or we’d be toast.
I deactivated my main identity chip, activated the secondary chip, and touched my right thumb and ring finger together for five seconds. I stashed my main com in my crate of stuff. “Who am I?” I asked. The mask muffled my voice, an added benefit.
“Anna White, MineCorp middle manager who drew the short stick,” Ian said.
“And you are Noah Peterson, flat-broke mercenary for hire. Glenda took you on because she owes her sister a favor.”
“Ready?” Ian asked.
“Not even close,” I muttered. “But I’m going anyway.”
We both turned on our mikes and Ian lowered the ship’s cargo ramp. We took a cautious breath. We didn’t asphyxiate. Our first win.
A stern-looking older woman stood on the far side of the hangar. When she saw us, she waved an impatient arm. We moved to greet her, but she just turned her back with a sharp “This way.”
She led us through a thick air-lock door and to an elevator next to a stairwell. She jabbed the elevator button then turned to look at me. “You are not our normal inspector.”
They had already requested our identity information and the MineCorp authorization before we had been allowed to land. Still, I held up my secondary com and showed her the MineCorp badge I’d lifted while I was in their systems.
“No, I’m not,” I said. “I’m Anna White. I’m here on a special, high-priority mission.”
“What mission? What’s so high priority that you couldn’t wait until a decent hour to arrive?” She shot an irritated look at my mask. “The air here is perfectly breathable.”
“I know it’s breathable,” I said, ignoring her questions, “but I’m not sure it’s safe.” I pulled a penlight out of my pocket. “Would you mind letting me do a brief examination before we go any farther?”
“Examination for what?” she asked warily.
I smiled, even though she couldn’t see it through my mask. “Are you the base commander?” I asked.
“I’m the interim commander. General Morius is away. I’m Lieutenant General Kora Imbor.”
“May I call you Ms. Imbor?” I asked. “Lieutenant General is a mouthful.” When she nodded, I continued, “Ms. Imbor, we have received a credible threat that one of our last two shipments was compromised. I was dispatched to verify the authenticity of such a threat.”
I watched her connect the dots. “I have House Rockhurst nanos, as do all base personnel.”
“It is merely a precaution,” I soothed. “Have any of your workers experienced any recent illness or strange behavior? Aggression, fear, anxiety?”
She frowned. “A few of the miners attacked their guards yesterday morning,” she said slowly. “The guard was bruised, but he recovered. The perpetrators have been dealt with.”
Dread wrapped sharp claws around my heart. “Killed?” I asked.