Page 25 of In a Dangerous Orbit
“I’ve been in a lot of fights. Thankfully, not so many now.”
“Why did you come to Souk?”
“It was time to retire. War was making me numb.” He’d been dying on the inside, and hadn’t been sure why he was fighting anymore. “I wanted peace.”
“Peace sounds like such a nice concept.” The light faded from her eyes. “But trouble seems to follow wherever I go.”
“Hey.” He tipped her chin up. “I’m going find whoever is after the Trojan Moon. I’ll stop him.”
“Hunt, they know what I am now…or at least suspect. I can’t let them catch me or have the Moon. It isn’t just a pretty, valuable jewel. It amplifies psionic power.”
He frowned. “How?”
“I don’t know exactly. Remember I said there was a myth that it came from the forehead of the statue of a Terran goddess?”
“Yeah.”
“The forehead was also called the third eye. It represented powers beyond the ordinary. Psionic powers. Whatever the origins of the stone, it takes a user’s power and amplifies it.”
“So in the hands of a low-level psionic?—”
“It could turn them as powerful as a Vega-Lyran.” She opened the shower door. “Skin’s turning wrinkly, I’d better dry off.”
As Hunt rubbed a towel over himself, he thought about the Trojan Moon and what it could do. He had to find this bastard and end this…before Relda ran again.
He watched her drying off. Gods, he could watch her and that naked, golden skin, all day long. She poked around in his bathroom cupboard before closing it with a huff.
“Not a decent lotion anywhere.” She shot him an arch look over one smooth shoulder.
“I’ll buy you any lotions you want.” He grinned. “I’ll even rub it on you.”
She tucked the towel around her body and smiled back. “So considerate.”
He strode to his wardrobe and pulled on his trousers. “I need to get into the office. See if my team’s flagged any ships at the spaceport that might belong to whoever is behind this.” As he shrugged into his shirt, she came over to him and started doing up his buttons.
He froze. It was such a…domestic thing to do. In a flash, he imagined having her do this for him every day. Waking up to her smoke and spice scent surrounding him, making love to her, showering and dressing together.
This. He wanted this.
“Thank you for helping me, Hunt.” Her voice was very quiet.
He grabbed her hands. “It’s my job, but I’d do this for you no matter what.”
She went up on tiptoe and kissed him.
The kiss started out gentle but morphed into something wilder. Hunt groaned and swept her closer. Her hands clutched at his shoulders.
They both pulled apart, panting.
“I have to go.” But dammit, he wanted to throw her back on the bed and tear off the clothes they’d just put on.
She straightened his collar. “I know.”
“I want you to stay here. It’s safe. Only I know you’re here. The apartment’s owned by the Marshal’s Office, so the general public doesn’t know how to locate it.”
She stiffened. “I’m not going to hide and be some useless damsel waiting for a rescue.”
“Relda—”
