By the time we landed in Sedition, the largest city on APD Zero, Infineon had been renamed and reregistered twice. Now named Polaris, it was registered to one of the many dummy corporations I owned. It wouldn’t pass a deep dive, but no one was likely to look that closely. And because it was supposedly a merc ship, the name wasn’t written on the outside. Bonus.
The name changes would make tracking us a little more difficult, but I doubted they would slow Richard that much. Much more interestingly, each FTL jump actually had required just one hour of downtime, even with two jumps back-to-back. That would require looking into, but not tonight. I just didn’t have the mental capacity to dive into an unknown engine system tonight.
I locked the ship down tight. In Universal Time it was morning and I’d been up all night. On APD Zero it was just after eleven at night, so no one would expect us to leave the ship tonight. I’d already paid the docking fee for a week. Now I needed at least a few hours of sleep or I was going to fall on my face at the first opportunity.
I stumbled toward the captain’s quarters with a jaw-cracking yawn. I closed and locked the door. I didn’t really think anyone on the ship would attempt to take me out, but you never know how a scared mother will react to a situation where her kid could be at risk.
I continued through the sitting room into the bedroom, only to stop in the doorway. Marcus Loch lay sprawled across my bed, wearing only black boxer briefs and barely covered by the sheet. He hadn’t been here earlier when I checked for bugs.
My eyes were gritty with lack of sleep. I was entirely too tired to deal with this shit. The urge to kick him out was nearly overwhelming, but he was injured. I sighed softly. The sofa would have to do for tonight because I didn’t think I could make it downstairs to a crew bed.
“Come on,” Loch said. “The bed is big enough to share. Sleeping only.” His teeth flashed white in the dark. “Unless you have other ideas.”
I entered the room. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to talk to you, but you were so deep in whatever you were doing you didn’t even notice me enter the flight deck. So I waited here. Then when you still didn’t show, I decided if I was here anyway, I should sleep. Doctor’s orders.”
“We already said all that needed to be said.”
“No, we didn’t,” Loch said quietly. “But that is a discussion for later. Get in bed before you fall down. If you want, I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
Spite and hurt almost had me blurting the demand. Only the memory of the livid bruises stilled my tongue. “No funny business,” I said.
I stripped down to my T-shirt and underwear, put my smart glasses on the nightstand, then crawled into bed. Loch hauled me close when I would’ve hugged my edge. I protested and tried to wiggle away. “Just sleep, Ada,” he murmured against the back of my neck. “I’ve got you.”
I focused on relaxing each muscle, one at a time. I had only made it halfway before the warmth and security of Loch’s body at my back lulled me into sleep.
Chapter 14
I awoke with the pleasant stiffness that meant I had slept deep and long. I had forgotten to set an alarm, so no telling what time it was. An arm tightened around my middle when I would’ve rolled over, and Loch nuzzled the back of my neck.
“Morning,” he murmured.
I stiffened. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d woken up with a man. As the daughter of a High House, I had to be careful, both because I was completely defenseless during sex and because many men thought they could use my body to win my heart—and therefore my name. My hookups had been with men I’d trusted, but even then it wasn’t usually a stay-the-night kind of event.
Loch’s thumb drew a distracting little circle on my waist and all thoughts of being careful scattered. He slid his hand under my shirt, and his palm blazed a trail of heat up my body. When he stopped at my ribs, I arched in invitation. His hand remained where it was.
I huffed in annoyance and he chuckled. “Did you want something?”
I wanted his hands on my breasts, his mouth on my nipples. I wanted him inside of me. The sheer force of my desire shocked me. I took a deep breath and reined in my wayward body. “I want many things,” I said honestly, “but I should get up.”
Loch pulled me over onto my back and pressed up against my right side. His hand slid out from under my shirt and I shivered from the loss. His grin told me that I wasn’t playing it as cool as I thought. It also made him unbearably sexy. Down, girl.
“What is your plan for the day?” he asked.
I shoved aside my desire and mentally sorted through all of the things that needed to happen today. “The bank first, I think. Then I can decide if it’s worth renting a room or if I should just keep running. Plus it’ll be done if I get caught.”
“I will go with you,” Loch said. “What else?”
“Talk to Veronica, scan the ship for trackers, figure out what supplies I’ll need and purchase them, update my sister . . . really, the list goes on forever. What time is it?”
“Almost ten, local time,” Loch said.
Shit, no wonder I felt like I’d slept hard—I’d been asleep for nearly eleven hours. That was plenty of time for Richard to catch up with us if he’d managed to track me straight here. I pushed myself up and out of the bed.
Shower first, but for that, I needed my bag of clothes. While I stood thinking, Loch rolled out of bed. All of that gloriously exposed skin drew my eye, but the bandages refocused my attention. His abs were barely bruised this morning; just a faint yellow hinted at what had been.
Even with nanobots, healing that fast was incredible. Maybe he’d spent some extra time in the medbay before he came up to talk last night?
My eyes dropped lower. His boxer briefs did very little to conceal the impressive erection tenting the fabric.
“Sweetheart, you keep looking at me like that and we’re going to be back in the bed in two seconds flat.”
I lingered for a long second, torn between keeping my distance and gobbling him up. It was already going to hurt when he left. What was a little more pain?
He must’ve sensed my hesitation, though, because he turned away with a growl. “I put your clothes bag in the bathroom. After you get dressed, I’ll meet you in the mess.”
I showered—with hot water, soap, and shampoo—then put on the pale blue tunic and dull gold pants I’d tried to wear on TSD Nine. I draped the blue and gold scarf over my shoulders. Before I went out, I’d wrap it around my head and neck until just my eyes were visible as extra insurance against recognition.
The mess hall was half dining room, half galley. Two long tables that each sat eight took up most of the room. They were upgraded models with plastech tops modeled to look like wood.
A gleaming industrial kitchen lined the back wall. A state-of-the-art commercial food synthesizer was placed next to an old-fashioned fridge and stove. The extra weight alone proved that this was Richard’s personal ship—no merc captain would bother with real food prep when a synthesizer could do it for a fraction of the cost and weight.
Loch sat at the end of the first table and gestured me to a seat with a covered plate. I sat and removed the thermal cover. I was greeted with steaming eggs, bacon, and toast. I looked up in awe. “Thank you,” I said.
The corner of Loch’s mouth tipped up. “While I appreciate the fact that you think I can cook, you should thank Veronica. I just saved you a plate before Tiny ate it all.”
I took my time and savored the first real food I’d had since the Mayport. Though simple, the eggs and bacon were delicious.
“Where is Veronica?” I asked when I was finished.
“Last I heard, she was planning to let the kid burn off some energy in the fitness room.”
“Okay. I need to stop by and see how much I owe her and how she’d like the money, then I’m ready. You?”
“I’m ready.”
I could hear the shrieking laughter even before I made it all the way downstairs. Veronica’s voice came from the fitness room, artificially low. “I’m gonna get you!” By the time I made it to the door, Veronica had Lin pinned on the sparring mats and was tickling him breathless.