Anything to show they were headed in theright direction, sacking-wise. Because she was truly driving himcrazy. She was so unbelievably irresistible, and he knew her bodywas responding to him too. They were perfect for each other in tonsof other ways, too. She even liked planning mech strategy!
Just don’t mention the thing with Dad,he pleaded with himself. Don’t even think about it. For once inyour frigging life, just let it go.
“Rem?”
He turned toward the bedroom doorway andchuckled in relief. She was wearing the shirt, which was a greatfirst step, especially compared to the humongous tentnightgown.
Her hair was all loose and flowing. That wasa good sign too. And her legs were so long, and her feet so bare .. .
Best of all, her eyes were laughing at him,like she knew how much he wanted to sack her, and she was going toenjoy making him wait.
“You look pretty,” he told her. Then hemotioned toward the glasses on the counter. “I made theshakes.”
“Yum.” She walked over and picked one up,took a sip, then licked her lips.
Then she put the glass down and stepped up tohim. “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
“Yeah.” He pulled her close and kissed hercarefully. When she draped her arms around his neck, encouraginghim to really enjoy himself, he didn’t hesitate. Running one handup under the shirt, he contacted warm, bare skin and groaned inrelief. “Zee.”
“We need to take it slow, Rem,” she remindedhim in a breathless voice. “I’m not the wild girl you see in thetabloid vids. Or at least, not exactly.”
“Yeah, well . . .” He rested his hands on herhips. “We’re just going to kiss and talk, remember?”
She nodded, then bit her lip in the way thatmade him crazy. “On the sofa?”
He nodded and followed her over to it, thensat and patted the seat next to him. She knelt on the cushion andput her arms around his neck again, and he kissed her, then pushedher back until she was laying against the arm of the sofa. Then hestarted kissing her and petting her, stroking and daring to fondleher breasts, growing more worked up—more madly, insatiably inlove—by the second. And she was responding just as eagerly, rightup till the moment when she pulled back enough to tell himbreathlessly, “Rem? When I said slow . . . This is actuallyfast.”
“Yeah, sorry.” He stroked her hair and cheek,giving himself a chance to power down a little. “You’re amazing,Zee.”
“I love kissing you,” she whispered. “I justdon’t know where we go from here. Do we even have a future?” Sheadjusted her shirt so that it covered more of her thighs, thensmiled apologetically. “I don’t mean an important future, or even aromantic one. But—will we even be friends after the war is over?Will we even be alive?”
“You’ll be alive. That’s my number-onepriority for as long as we’re on Malara.”
“And then, after that, your number-onepriority is the other thing?”
“Yeah.” He gave a frustrated chuckle. “Theother thing. Which I’m really starting to hate, by the way.”
“Me too.” She rustled her fingers through hishair. “I keep trying to understand why you can’t let it go. And Ido understand. But meanwhile, what about us?”
Before he could answer, she admitted, “Theworst part is, I keep asking myself how I’d feel—what I’d do—ifanything happened to you. What if Carrak lets you pilot askirmisher and the Alluvans kill you? Nothing else will matterthen, and we’ll wish we hadn’t let your problem with yourfather—and my mother—come between us.”
His brow wrinkled. “If I get killed during achallenge, you need to go back to Earth right away. Don’t trustanyone but Humber and Carrak. Understand?”
“You’re such a bodyguard,” she said with asad smile.
“Yeah, well”—he moved his hand under hershirt again—“I love this body of yours.”
She jumped free, then walked over to thecounter, where she grabbed the shakes and brought them back to thesofa.
“These are delicious.” She drank hers down,then set the glass on the table. “Are you half as tired as Iam?”
“Yeah, we didn’t get much rest lastnight.”
She hesitated, then suggested carefully,“Maybe you should move the cot to this side of the door. Just fortonight.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“More like I don’t trust me,” sheadmitted.
“Do I get a good-night kiss at least?”
She didn’t hesitate, pulling his head downand kissing him like it was the middle of their date, not the endof it.
Then she was gone, and he didn’t dare followher, except to move the cot and to use the bathroom briefly. Shewas under the covers with the lights out by then, which he figuredwas for the best.
But he couldn’t sleep. So hepositioned the cot against her closed door, then paced the floor ofthe living room, trying to calm down while thinking about what theyhad just said. They could have had a future—as friends at least,and maybe a lot more. But instead, because of what her mother haddone to his father, none of that was possible.
Unless he decided to let it go.
That’s not even an option, he remindedhimself. They didn’t just frame Dad. They murdered him in hiscell and called it suicide. That’s not the kind of thing a guy letsgo, no matter what else is at stake.
But it didn’t have to be a vendetta againstthe Quitos. Not anymore. Zia was a Quito, after all. And DanielQuito—Rem’s hero—had been one too. It made no sense to hate thatfamily, did it?
If Commander Logan supports you in theelection, and Zee doesn’t support Jared, you’ll win. But you won’tgo nuts. You’ll launch a low-keyed investigation. No fiery rhetoricor name-calling. Just get some new experts—some unbiased ones usingthe latest technology—to prove that Elena—or rather, some unnamedconspirators—falsified that security vid. Simple as that. It’ll betough on Zee if it turns out her mom was involved, but you can helpher through it by making sure it doesn’t feel personal.
There was only one problem. It wouldfeel personal. No one knew that better than Jeremiah Stone.
* * * *
Once she heard Rem move the cot into placeoutside her bedroom door for the night, Zia switched on the bedsidelamp and quietly activated the vid equipment, keeping the sound
