Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
As the bridge of the Freedom materialized in front of Nissa, she fought to stay upright. Her skin was on fire and felt too tight. A fine sheen of perspiration covered her from head to toe, and her clothes were choking her.
But she was a captain and she had a job to do.
“Commander Tryker, please take Mr. Solomon to the brig.” She watched her head of security move toward the treasure hunter. “Lieutenant Galen, please secure this and run the necessary tests.” She held out the metal cylinder out to her CSO. Dammit, her hands were shaking.
Luciana took the holder, eyeing it reverently. “You found it. Well done, Captain.”
Nissa felt a wave of fire wash over her and gritted her teeth. “I need to shower and change.” She swiveled and her gaze crashed into Justyn’s.
“Nissa…”
His deep voice was like a stroke of fingers over her skin. She shivered and took a step toward him before she caught herself.
“You need to get to sickbay,” he said quietly.
She shook her head. That was not what she needed. Gossip traveled on a starship with the energy of a star going supernova. She didn’t want her…condition bandied about. She wanted quiet and privacy. “Please, could you get a medscope and bring it to my cabin?”
He eyed her for a long second then nodded.
Nissa wasn’t sure how she made it to her cabin.
She weaved like a drunken starfreighter worker on station leave, her body consumed by flames.
For one humiliating moment, she sagged against the corridor wall and pressed her thighs together to fight the burning, needy sensation between them.
She wanted to touch herself and rub until she found some release.
She staggered into her cabin with a sob. In her bedroom, she ripped off the constricting corset and dragged in some air.
It didn’t help.
Next, she ripped the gauntlets off her forearms and worked at the slick trousers until she kicked them free. With shaking hands, she took her contacts out and then ripped away the derma patches on her skin. It took her a few attempts but finally she got them off.
She stood there in only her panties and the billowy white shirt that hit the top of her thighs. The cool air of the cabin barely dimmed the heat of her skin.
“Nissa?”
Justyn’s deep voice came from her living area. She moaned and steeled herself against the boiling rush of needs and wants swirling inside her. She panted, trying to get air into her constricted lungs.
“Put the medscope on the coffee table and leave.” There. That sounded relatively steady. Considering she wanted to strip the last of her clothes off and rub herself against something like a cat.
“No.” He appeared in the doorway. He hadn’t changed but somewhere along the way, he’d lost the waistcoat. His shirt was snowy white against his darker skin. In one hand he held the slim metal wand of the medscope.
Panic gripped her throat like choking hands. She held one hand up, like that could ward off six feet two inches of hard male. “Get out.”
“Jesus, Nissa. Just lean on someone for once.” He stalked toward her.
She slammed her hand against his chest, her fingers twisting in his shirt. “I don’t want to lean on you. I want to knock you to the ground, tear your clothes off, and rub myself against you.”
He went still as stone. “Shit.”
Her entire body trembled. “Yes. Shit. Now please, don’t test my tenuous control.”
“Let me treat you with the medscope and this’ll all go away.”
Nissa bit down on her bottom lip. The flames licking her skin were getting worse. Far worse.
“Sit down,” he said.
Her legs were barely holding her upright. She dropped down on the bed. The cool fabric of the cover against her bare thighs almost made her moan.
Justyn moved to sit beside her, then paused and obviously thought better of it.
He knelt in front of her. When his gaze lingered on her bare legs, Nissa’s breath hitched.
She tried to fight her body’s response to the flash she saw in his eyes but against her will, her legs shifted, her thighs falling apart.
He hissed in a breath. “Fuck, Nissa—” the knuckles on the hand holding the medscope turned white “—how about you lie down?”
She swiped a trembling hand across her lips, then dropped backward, closing her eyes.
She heard the medscope switch on, followed by its gentle hum.
She knew it would be emitting a gentle, blue light.
His clothes rustled as he moved closer. She imagined him leaning over her, his big body caging her to the bed.
Then her feverish mind took over and she imagined the hard weight of him pushing her down into the sheets, the two of them twisting together, fighting to get at bare flesh.
It wouldn’t be the first time she’d imagined that. Lying here in the dark, she’d had plenty of detailed fantasies about him.
Her chest started rising and falling rapidly and she twisted her hands in the sheets.
“Hold on, sweetheart.”
His voice was close. His body was so close. She could reach out and… She tried to focus on the fact the medscope would be eliminating the aphrodisiac from her blood stream. The small device could treat small to minor wounds in just a few minutes.
Time ticked by with agonizing slowness and she wasn’t feeling any better.
She heard the scope click off. “Justyn?”
His sigh was loud. “I’m sorry, Nissa. It’s too late. The chemical’s spread too far and the medscope can’t remove it.”
She made a strangled sound.
“The readout says there should be no side effects though and the chemical will wear off naturally.”
Her eyes opened and she stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. The room felt tiny and suffocating, like all the air had been sucked out of the nearest airlock.
Heat flared across her skin. She writhed amongst the sheets, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She hated the lack of control, that her body was no longer under her command. “It’s getting worse.” She tore at the buttons on her shirt, desperate for something to cool the raging fire.
“Maybe a cold shower?” He gave a tortured laugh. “A tried-and-true antidote that’s been around since old Earth times.”
His voice…it stroked over her like a caress. Her nipples hardened to tight points and she was drenched between her legs. Another sob tore from her throat.
Justyn made a choking noise. “God, sweetheart, I’d do anything to help you.”
Yes, he would. Working alongside him the last few days had shown Nissa there was much more to Justyn Phoenix than just the charming smuggler. She pushed up on her elbows.
He was still on his knees, his hands digging into his hard thighs, his head hanging down. The lights in her cabin caught the golden strands in his hair, making them shine like gold. Such a delicious-looking man.
And one who hid so much under his devil-may-care fa?ade.
Another flare of heat flushed over her from her toes to her cheeks. The heat was growing so much that it burned away the last of her rational thoughts.
She sat up and scooted back to the edge of the bed. As she moved, she trapped Justyn with her legs.
His head shot up. His silver-gray eyes darkened. “Nissa…”
That one word held a wealth of meaning—warning, anger, desire.
“Touch me,” she murmured.
He shook his head, his strong throat working as he swallowed.
“Touch me. Please.” She tightened her legs on him, her knees digging into his sides. With one hand, she flicked at the last few buttons of her shirt. Air brushed over her breasts and belly, but the raging inferno was too strong to be cooled.
His gaze raked over her, and she saw the answering flames in his eyes. A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“No. You’ll hate me after.” His gaze collided with hers. “I don’t want you to hate me.”
He wasn’t going to help her. Despair rocketed through Nissa. Her hand dropped to her own breast, rubbing, her nail flicking over her nipple. But it didn’t give her any relief.
His eyes went straight to her hand, and the muscles in his arms flexed.
She trailed her hand lower, over her flat belly. Lower, and dipped inside her panties.
He groaned. “Nissa.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “Jesus. Fuck. Shit.”
The touch of her fingers wasn’t enough. Another sob broke free. “Justyn…please. Help me.”
Justyn was in hell.
Of all the many and varied fantasies he’d ever had about having a naked Nissa Sander laid out on a bed in front of him, this situation had never, ever starred in them.
Whatever he did here, she’d hate him for it. Hell, she’d hate the fact that he’d seen her like this.
But as he watched her body shaking, burning up with need, his resolve weakened. A tear rolled down her cheek, destroying the last of his control. There was no way he could leave her like this, hurting and in need.
He’d never deny this woman help when she needed it.
He sucked in a breath and banished all the clamoring voices in his head. He pushed up, circling her thighs with his hands.
She arched up into his touch. Her tongue flitting out to lick her lips.
Damning himself to hell, he stood and scooped her into his arms.
Confusion flashed over her face. “What are you?—?”
“Not on the bed.” The temptation was far too great.
No way could he control himself from going too far if they were both on the bed.
He wasn’t a man used to denying himself anything, but this was too important for him to screw it up with a lack of self-control.
Already his cock was like a steel rod against the fastening of his trousers.
He strode into her living area. Setting her on her feet, he pushed her toward the back of the sofa. Maybe if he couldn’t see all the expressions flitting across her face or her gorgeous breasts, he had a chance to control himself.
He bent her over the back of the sofa. And stared at the smooth golden skin of her back, the delicate knobs of her spine and her damn fine ass lifted up to him. That sexy diamond-scale pattern traced over her shoulder blades and her lower back.
His cock throbbed. Okay, not better at all. But deep down he knew nothing much was going to help him. He liked every part of Nissa Sander, from what was on the outside to what was on the inside.
When she reached an arm back, trying to grab him, he caught her wrist. He moved behind her, pressing her arms out along the back of the sofa. She arched her back, her bare breasts bobbing in front of her and her ass pushing back against him. A groan tangled in his throat.
“No.” His voice sounded like rusty nails on steel. “I’ll touch you. But you won’t touch me and I will not fuck you.”
She writhed. “Justyn?—”
“No. You really would hate me, but I’ll help you, Nissa. I promise.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to the elegant sweep of her shoulder blade. “I’ll always help you, whatever you need.”
“Yes.” The word hissed out of her.
The skin on her back was smooth and that delicious honey-golden color. He traced a path down her spine, luxuriating in the taste of her, taking his time to lick over her patterned skin. If only things were different…
Justyn stopped thinking and focused on her. He let one hand drift over her right hand. He tugged it back, his fingers on hers. He dragged her own fingers down the outside of her thigh.
She was making incoherent cries, her entire body trembling. Her other hand gripped the sofa, clenching it tightly.
“It burns,” she whispered, looking back over her shoulder.
He looked up the sleek length of her. Her yellow eyes were glittering with her burning need. “I know, sweetheart. I’ll make it better.”
She bucked against him. “It’s getting worse.” Another choked cry. “I feel so empty inside, as though the flames are eating everything.”
He moved her fingers up the firm length of her thigh. He brushed them over one firm buttock, then through the crease between them. She jerked and then he was slipping her hand around the front of her body, down, down, until they found the plump, wet lips of her sex.
She went wild. Her hips jerking against the sofa.
He used her fingers on her clit, stroked it, circled it. “Is that where you need it?”
“Yes. Yes.”
She was so damned beautiful, her skin flushed with desire, but a lump formed in his gut and he mentally cursed Lady Curiosity to hell. This wasn’t how he wanted Nissa. He could be anyone to her right now, nothing more than just a convenient male to help slake the chemically-induced lust.
“More.” Nissa moved insistently against both their hands.
He pushed one of her fingers inside her. Jesus, he knew she’d be tight and hot and wet.
An inarticulate sound tore from her throat. She was riding their joined hands now, her hips moving in a frantic rhythm.
“That’s it,” he murmured.
“More.” She reared up, reaching back, her free hand clutching his hair. She yanked his head forward and her mouth slammed against his.
He tried to pull back. Well, he thought about it, at least. For about a millisecond. Then he was kissing her back, pulling the honey taste of her into his mouth. His tongue slid into her mouth, mimicking the movement of their hands.
Then she pulled back. “More, Justyn. Please.”
She said his name. Her eyes were a little unfocused, lost to the lust, but she knew who was touching her.
With a groan, he pushed another of her fingers into her. She fell forward on the sofa, arching up as he helped her thrust her fingers in and out. He knew their hands were also brushing against her clit.
He felt the tension in her body multiplying.
Her movements became wilder, more uncoordinated.
He moved his hand faster and let the other one caress her back.
He wanted to reach forward and cup her breasts, but he didn’t dare.
He was already balancing on a knife’s edge, his cock harder than it had ever been, weeping into his trousers.
Nissa stiffened. He imagined her inner muscles clamping down on her fingers, and then she was coming. She cried out, her upper body lifting up. He leaned forward, giving her support with his body as the orgasm ripped through her.
That’s it, sweetheart. Nissa coming was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.
As she slumped forward, he caught her and swung her up into his arms. Her skin was still hot, but that terrible tension he’d felt in her was gone.
He laid her on the bed. She barely moved, her eyes closed, her breathing steady.
Justyn made a quick trip to the tiny bathroom attached to her bedroom. He wet a washcloth that he found under the small vanity beside the compact shower and moved back to Nissa’s side.
Gently, he cleaned her hand and between her legs. She gave a tiny moan, her legs falling apart, and he knew the drug wasn’t yet entirely out of her system. But at least her release might let her relax enough to sleep the rest of it off.
After he was done, he pulled the sheet over her and brushed a hand over her head. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and breathed in the scent of her, this time mixed with the sweet musk of her release.
A shudder ran through him. Time to go, Phoenix.
And time to take a very long, very cold shower.