Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Nissa used the airdryer to briskly dry her damp skin.
Striding out of her bathroom, she pulled on the clean navy uniform she’d laid on her bed before her shower.
At the scrape of the fabric on her skin, a shiver went through her.
She paused doing up the fastening on her jacket.
Her skin was still sensitive, although nothing like it had been before.
And between her legs, the achy throb was a reminder of what had occurred right here in her cabin only hours before.
Thrusting her shoulders back, she glanced at her timepiece.
She’d slept for five hours, and now it was time to get back to work. She needed to get back to work.
Drayna had left numerous messages asking Nissa to contact her, but somebody—and she suspected she knew who—had turned off her alarm. She shook her head, and began mentally listing all the things she needed to organize in order to deliver the Constitution to Admiral DeRuyter.
On entering her living area, she came to an abrupt halt and all rational thought flew out of her mind.
She glanced first at the back of her sofa and swallowed hard. Images rushed through her head like a holo-vid. An X-rated one. She clenched her thighs together.
Next, she looked at the male lounging in the armchair across from the sofa.
“How did you get in here?” She’d locked the door herself before her shower.
Justyn shot her a grin, setting down the tiny metal airship he was holding. “I’m a man of many skills.”
She stared first at that gift he’d given her. How he had known she wanted it, she wasn’t sure. She suspected Justyn Phoenix saw much, much more than she wanted him to. Then her gaze shifted to those long, tanned fingers. Now she had a little idea of what he could do with them.
She didn’t want to remember her loss of control. She’d been left like a slavering harem girl in heat. Justyn had seen her at her very worst.
Heat rushed into her cheeks. She firmed her lips. “Get out.”
He leaned forward, his face turning serious. “Nissa, we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk about what happened…here.”
“Nissa—”
She held up a hand. “It’s not that I’m not grateful. Most importantly for not alerting my crew.” That was one embarrassment she’d avoided. “You have my deepest thanks for…helping me.”
He growled and the sound shocked her. It wasn’t something she equated with easygoing Justyn Phoenix.
He got to his feet and moved far too close. “Nissa, I don’t want your thanks. You were hurting. I did…I did…” He broke off, his jaw working.
“Can we leave it at that?” she asked. “Please?”
He nodded.
“Anyway, we’ll drop you back at Galaxy’s Edge.” She moved forward now, not looking at him. “I’ll arrange for the finder’s fee to be placed in your account.”
A hand circled her arm and she stilled.
“Nissa.”
He was so close, the heat of him wrapping around her traitorous body. Her nipples hardened and she swallowed. It had to be the last effects of the drug.
“We worked well together down on Alchemia.”
She wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “Yes. We did.” She couldn’t deny he’d been a far better partner than she’d anticipated. Better than anyone else she’d worked with in the field.
He reached out and fiddled with the Patrol insignia on her pocket. “And we have a whole nebula full of chemistry.”
“The drug?—”
“Hey.” He pulled her chin up to face him. “At least look at me while you lie to me.”
She raised her eyes to meet his. “I was under the influence of an aphrodisiac…”
Disappointment flared in his beaten-metal eyes. “You’re honestly going to stand there and tell me you don’t want me?”
Dammit, she couldn’t push a single word past her lips.
He smiled. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her temple. Hot lips against her skin. “Knew you weren’t a coward.”
“Justyn—”
His arms circled her, pulling her flush against him. “I want you, Nissa. I enjoyed the hell out of our mission, working with you.” He brushed his mouth over hers. “Let me have you?”
She closed her eyes. She was so tempted. His lips moved, brushing against her cheekbone, over her eyelids, along her jaw. His scent worked into her senses. So familiar now. Desire ignited and she felt a rush of damp between her thighs.
“I’ve wanted you for what feels like forever,” he whispered. “Be with me.”
She opened her eyes and her gaze fell on the framed picture of her parents. Her father’s stern face stared back.
Nissa yanked herself out of Justyn’s arms. Everything rushed in on her in an overwhelming wave—her re-igniting desire, what had happened here between them just hours ago, the mission.
“No.”
He blinked. “Just no? That’s all you have to say?”
She shoved her hands into her pockets. “Life’s just a big game to you, Justyn. You loved the fun, daring mission, but that’s not really what my life is like. I’m a Patrol captain. I have duties and responsibilities. I can’t run off on a whim with you.”
“That’s not what?—”
“I could never be with a man like you.” No matter how much she wanted him.
He flinched like she’d pulled out her stunner and zapped him. “A man like me?”
“Careless.” Fun, exciting, and thrilling.
His mouth firmed into a hard line she’d never seen. “Right. The righteous Captain Sander wants more substance. Maybe a nice, law-abiding GSS officer would be perfect, right?”
She saw storms building in his eyes. Yes, that was the kind of man she’d pictured. It was the kind of man her father was always setting her up with whenever she made it home for a visit.
Justyn gave a vicious shake of his head. “I get the message loud and clear, Captain. I won’t sully your presence with mine any longer.”
He stormed out of her quarters, the doors closing behind him.
Her lips quivered before she smashed them together and breathed through her nose. This was for the best. He was gone and out of her life. Except if she had to arrest him again. Although something told her she’d be seeing less of the Mercury on the Resolute Freedom’s sensors.
She rubbed at the ache in her chest before she pulled herself together. All those duties and responsibilities were waiting for her.
Her timepiece pinged, as if reinforcing her thoughts. She stabbed the screen. “Sander.”
“Captain?” Luciana’s voice came through loud and clear. “We have a problem. Can you please come down to the Science Lab?”
“On my way.” As Nissa walked out of her quarters, she couldn’t help a glance down the corridor to see if she spotted familiar broad shoulders and lean hips.
The corridor was empty.
Justyn slammed through the doors to the Science Lab. “I got the urgent message. What the hell’s the problem?”
He saw Lieutenant Galen standing over a light bench, a scanner in her hand. The Constitution was laid out on the table before her.
He dragged in a breath, taking in the black ink scrawled on the delicate paper turned yellow with age. He suspected that without the super-slim plas overlay that coated the document, it would have crumbled to dust thousands of years ago.
But the priceless artifact didn’t hold his attention for long. Nissa stood, on the other side of the table, back rigid, her palms pressed to the edge of the bench. For the first time since he’d known her, her face was white.
Despite what happened in her quarters, he felt the urge to go to her. He steeled himself and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s wrong?”
Nissa lifted her head, her gaze slamming into his. “It’s a fake.”
He frowned. “What’s a fake?”
She swept an arm above the table. “This document is a fake.”
Every drop of fluid in his body went ice cold. “It can’t be.”
“It is.” Luciana bustled forward. “A brilliant one. It’s old, too, just not old enough.” She touched a holo-screen mounted over the workbench. “The paper tests to nine hundred years old. The ink to around the same age.”
Justyn dropped onto a nearby stool. Nowhere near old enough to have come from Earth before it was turned into a nuclear wasteland by the Great Terran War.
He looked at Nissa. “We need to talk to Solomon. He must have the original.” But when the hell had he found time to put this very good fake together?
“Security’s already bringing him up,” Nissa said.
When Tryker brought the young treasure hunter in, Solomon studied the lab with interest, and shot Luciana a flirtatious smile.
“Knock it off, Solomon.” Justyn stepped in front of the other man. “Where is the US Constitution?”
Solomon’s brows winged upward. “You get knocked on the head, Phoenix? It’s right there before you on the table, in all its ancient glory.”
“That—” Justyn stabbed a finger at the offending document “—is a fake.”
The treasure hunter blinked. “No way. I verified it myself.”
“Then someone relieved you of it between you conking Kenth over the head and us catching you on Alchemia.”
Solomon shook his head fiercely, the electro-cuffs on his wrists blinking as he moved. “Not possible. It was with me every second.”
“How did you verify it?” Nissa asked in a cool voice. “Did you run dating tests?”
“No, I didn’t have time. I just searched for the Institute mark.”
Justyn pondered that. Every item stored in the Institute of Historical Preservation was coded and marked. “Where?”
Solomon shuffled over to the workbench and lifted his cuffed hands. “Bottom right corner. You’ll need a magnifier to see it.”
Luciana moved to a shelf of tools on the far wall and came back with a flat metal magnifier. She held it over the spot Solomon had indicated.
The image popped up on the screen. Crossed scrolls enclosed by a circle—the Institute logo—along with a long sequence of numbers and letters.
Luciana tapped at the Sync she was holding. “The code matches the Institute’s records.”
“Can the mark be faked?” Justyn asked.
“Possibly.” Luciana shrugged. “But this mark is authentic. There’s an image of it in the Institute files.”
Nissa strode forward now. “So this is the document that’s been stored in the Institute for almost a thousand years?”
Holy space dust, it had been a fake all along. The document that had helped found law in the galaxy hadn’t been the real thing. Justyn almost felt like laughing.
But one look at Nissa’s face made that urge die a small death.
Solomon laughed though, and everyone turned to glare at him. “This is unreal.” The treasure hunter laughed harder. “Did not see this coming at all.”
Nissa stared at him for a moment. “Commander, please escort Mr. Solomon to a guest cabin and remove his restraints.”
“What?” Justyn demanded.
“I can’t charge him with stealing a priceless artifact because that piece of paper there is worthless.”
With a nod, Tryker shuffled Solomon out the door.
Nissa scraped a hand over her face. “I should go and break the news to the admiral.” Her shoulders slumped. “There goes my transfer.”
Justyn ground his teeth together. She really couldn’t make it any clearer that the edge and what it had to offer wasn’t enough for her.
“Captain Sander, there’s a message from the bridge.” Luciana tapped on her Sync. “We’re about to dock at Galaxy’s Edge.”
Justyn felt a confusing rush of emotion. Time to go home. He met Nissa’s gaze. “Looks like our adventure is over, Captain Sander.”