more time, but her eyes never opened.
Her mouth was swollen and slightly bruised. Her hair was mussed. She had never looked so beautiful.
He finally managed to get out of bed, and staggered just a little. His legs were wobbly, his thigh sore from pressing against her. She sighed just a little, then shuddered visibly.
That was when he realized the room had a chill.
He grabbed the edge of the blanket and covered her, pausing for just a moment to look at her. Her nipples were hard, probably from the cold. Her breasts leaned toward the bed, confirming they had no enhancements at all. Her legs were long, considering her height (or lack of it), and her muscles weren’t really visible; they just kept her trim.
He knew if he touched her again, he would wake her. He didn’t want to do that, not yet. But it took as much control as it had when he had started to make love to her.
She was addicting.
He finally understood why some men chose to spend their lives with one particular woman. No other woman would ever measure up.
He tucked the blanket around her, then investigated the en suite bathroom. It wasn’t as large as the bathroom in the captain’s suite. He knew that from personal experience, since he’d made love to her there after they had tested that bed. But the shower was still large enough to handle him.
He took a quick, hot shower, then grabbed some clothes from the pile of clothing Skye had convinced him to buy as they were leaving Zaeen. He almost felt overdressed, primarily because he and Skye had had such a good time naked in this part of the ship.
As he passed through the suite, he glanced in. She was still in the same position, and still sleeping. She was probably as deep-down tired as he was. The sleep he had gotten felt good.
He went to the cockpit. Skye had shown him the basics of this navigation board. He knew how to run the autopilot. The ship was keyed to his voice, so he could do voice commands. And it was also keyed to his DNA so that he could shut the ship off from anyone except Skye.
He used the voice commands now, asking the ship to show him if they were being followed.
The ship didn’t answer verbally. Instead it raised a holographic screen, which showed the ships that had followed them off Zaeen. Those ships flew off when it became clear that the
Too many people were wanted elsewhere to leave the sector. And many others preferred easy pickin’s, and figured that anyone who traveled between sectors probably had a lot more defenses than a thief would want to encounter.
He told the ship to keep monitoring, and then he moved to the workstation that he had isolated while Skye was checking the ship. After he had found the trackers, most of his work had been on this station.
It wasn’t because he distrusted Skye, so much as he never trusted anyone. He needed a private place to work and research. Normally, he would have taken one of the cabins, and he probably would (after they had tried all the beds), but he also wanted a station here, since he needed to guard himself.
It felt odd to think about that. He always considered himself low-key, someone who didn’t get noticed, someone not worth noticing. He figured no one would ever come after him for the information he had because no one would ever see him as a threat.
He figured wrong.
He and Skye had programmed the
He wanted privacy to research and time to figure out what was going on. Skye said she had no schedule, so she wouldn’t mind.
Or so he hoped.
He set up his research area with passcodes and double access keys, as well as DNA and retinal scanning blocks. He also set the scanners to identify a handprint as the last access. The handprint had to come from him, and the hand had to not just be warm, but it had to have an obvious blood flow.
The last thing he wanted was for someone to sever his hand to get access. He’d learned from his assassin buddies that at least one personal entry code needed proof that the person accessing it was alive.
He settled in and started to work. Before he did anything on the possible conspiracy in the Guild or the ties between the Guild and Heller, he opened one extremely private file.
He needed to know everything there was on Skye, and he needed to know it now.
Chapter 39
Skye woke up disoriented, uncertain how long she’d slept. She remembered clearly what she had done before she had fallen asleep, and that made her smile.
She rolled into the crumpled pillow that Jack had left, inhaled, and felt longing for him that startled her. She knew he had to be somewhere on the ship, but she already missed him.
And that frightened her.
She shouldn’t miss anyone.
She’d prided herself on remaining solitary, on not needing anyone, on making sure no one needed her.
She thought about that as she took a shower—clearly the second shower in that particular bathroom in a very short period of time. The room still smelled of soap and Jack.
The thought of him brought up so many reactions in her. The memory of all that they’d done together aroused her, the thought of him holding her made her smile, and the way that she missed him even though he was nearby terrified her.
She dressed, then checked the internal computer system to see where he was. She told herself that she checked so that she wouldn’t be surprised when she stumbled on him. Then, because she didn’t believe that, she told herself she checked so that she would know what he was doing.
Finally, she admitted to herself that she just wanted to know where he was because it made her feel better.
She frowned. She knew where that emotion had come from. She used to check on whoever was watching her when she was a child because she didn’t believe she could survive alone. Her parents had instilled that in her—that whoever was with her would leave, and she would have to fend for herself.
Now she knew she could fend for herself. In fact, she could survive better alone than with someone.
Only for the first time, she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to be with Jack.
She almost went to the cockpit to join him, but she stopped herself. She could use this time. She needed to use it, not just to research Liora, but to look up Jack.
Skye had trusted him so far. She had gone with her sense of him. She had looked for the small things, the easily accessible things, but she hadn’t dug deep into the record.
She didn’t know everything there was to know about Jack Hunter, and she needed to.
She couldn’t just go on her gut. She had to know who he was, what he was, and what he might become.
But she also knew that her research would never tell her what she really needed to know. Was he trustworthy? Deep down trustworthy? Personal files on people, files scattered all over various sectors, never told you if a man abandoned his friends in time of need or if he stood by them through thick and thin.
Of course, any file on her wouldn’t say that either. She had carefully avoided close friends.
She had made certain that no one got near her, no one needed her trust, no one relied on her.
If anyone looked her up, they would find the ultimate loner.
Jack had admitted to being a loner as well.
She ran a hand through her hair, knowing that her search would be futile.
She also knew that she had to do it. If something went wrong, she would forever regret not checking up on
