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DEEDECK DESIGN
Chapter 21
Jax didn’t like how the blood had drained from Moira’s face, leaving her normally creamy complexion an unhealthy, powdery white. She was a strong woman; he’d seen that over the past few days, but she’d also received more shocks and undergone more terrifying moments than most people saw in a lifetime. And since they were about to go on a covert fact-finding mission, he suspected she’d have to face more in the near future. He worried that she’d reach her limit soon.
If not right now.
“Moira? Do you want me to carry you across?”
She didn’t answer for a moment, her slender throat moving in a hard swallow. Then she flicked him a glance, those misty gray eyes glazed with a layer of fear. “And lose the last shred of dignity I still have left? Back off, Coltier.” The words were strong, but her voice was little more than a wisp of sound.
His fingers flexed around her cool flesh as he fought the nearly overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms. Her fear was doing something ugly to his insides. The primitive need to protect her grew with each incident, unnerving him with its strength and the sensation that pieces of himself were slipping out of his control. He wanted to hold her and keep her safe, wanted to kiss her until her eyes went soft and hot again.
He frowned down at her instead. “Put your hands on my shoulders, then. I’ll walk you across.”
She hesitated for a second, before giving him a jerky nod. He looked at Connie, and the big man moved at the unspoken command, weapon drawn as he slipped through the hatch and crossed over to the other ship with swinging ease.
Moira snorted and muttered, “Show off,” but Jax was concentrating on Connie, watching his body language. Connie turned toward the other ship’s nose, weapon up and body loose and battle ready. Rufio appeared, hands up with a rueful, crooked smile on his swollen lips as he glanced across the airlock at Jax.
“We doin’ this, or do I go back in the net?”
“Move back from the hatch,” Jax ordered.
Looking resigned, Rufio did as he was told and disappeared from sight. Connie remained watchful, but Jax could tell that he didn’t sense a threat from the other man.
Shifting in front of Moira, Jax looked back at her and said in a low voice, “Put your hands on my shoulders. I’ll go slow and easy.”
She nodded again, lips in a thin line as she placed her hands on him. The surge of fierce heat at her voluntary touch was unexpected, and he turned his face away with an indrawn breath and a silent curse. Clenching his jaw in grim irritation, he muttered through his teeth, “Hold on,” and stepped over the hatch threshold.
Her fingers tightened claw-like into his muscles, transmitting her wordless fear, but she didn’t let go, following him into the airlock. Moving with practiced ease, he grasped the handholds and pulled himself along, feet barely touching the footpads on the floor of the airlock. When they were across, she stumbled a bit at the renewed gravity, colliding with him. The feel of her soft body had hunger clawing at his insides.
“You okay, Doc?” he asked without looking at her, hands clenching into fists to keep from touching her.
She steadied herself, hands and forehead resting on his back for a moment, before she moved to stand next to him. “Yes, thank you.” Her voice was still strained and her eyes were lowered, but her lovely features had a bit more color.
His traitor hand snuck out to curl around her arm again. “Piece of cake, right?” he asked with a hint of challenge in his tone, trying to ignore the residual tingle in the skin of his back from her touch.
She shot him a cool look, but her mouth curled at the edges as she answered, “Could’ve been worse. Thank you for the help.”
Most of the responses that came to mind would only get him in trouble, so he lifted his head to glance at Connie. Once again, the man moved without verbal direction, slipping back across the airlock for the baggage and Moira’s travel case. Jax remained behind to keep an eye on Rufio.
The newest member of their group shook his head. “Man, are you guys paranoid.” Jax bared his teeth in a not-quite smile, and Rufio lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Right. Shutting the hell up now.”
“Honestly, if they weren’t so prepared, I’d be dead by now,” Moira said, studying Rufio’s face with a faint crease between her brows. “I owe them my life a few times over. How’s the nose feel?”
Jax tightened his grip on her arm, meaning to keep her from getting close to the man again. For more reasons than just caution. He didn’t like the admiration lurking in the man’s eyes when he watched Moira.
Rufio shrugged with easy humor, giving her a lopsided smile. “Hell, I’ve had worse. Your meds are kickin’ in nice.”
Jax briefly considered giving him worse, but was distracted by Connie’s return with all the baggage. He piled it inside the hatch, before turning back to the airlock with a solemn wink for Moira that Jax didn’t think he was supposed to see. Narrowing his eyes on his friend, he watched Connie cross back over to close the pod’s hatch and check the seal.
“What will happen to them?” Moira asked, staring at the pod’s closed hatch.
“We’ll signal the station to pick ‘em up when we’re gone.”
Connie returned to their new transportation and closed the hatch, checking its seal before he sent the signal to retract the airlock. “All good, alpha-dog,” he said mildly without looking at Jax.
With an inner wince at Connie’s not-so-subtle reminder, Jax did a quick evaluation of his reactions and sighed irritably. Damn it, the woman was turning him into a nut job. Pretty soon he was going to be growling at every male that came within shouting distance of her. Forcing himself to release her, he looked at Rufio and said, “Get us under way.”
With a nod, the man turned toward the pilot’s chamber, then hesitated when Moira said, “We need to go to Bante.”
Rufio glanced from her to Jax and back again, his expression dubious. “Ma’am, that whole planet is under lockdown.”
“I know. I told them to do it. I assume the governor’s flotilla is still at the main Bante orbiting station?” When he nodded, she grimaced. “Damn. I would rather have gone there, since they’ve got the best medical research facility in the system, but I’m guessing it’s not safe. Now that I’m a fugitive and all.”
She said it with a wry curl of her lips that didn’t fool Jax for a second. He knew from her record that she’d never been in trouble with the law, and the misery in her eyes told him how deeply it was affecting her.
“Moira Bannen, the outlaw,” he drawled, then flashed a grin when she made a face at him. “Station’s out. They’ll be crawling with security.”
“Then it’ll have to be Bante. Pretty much any medical facility will do. They should still be allowing supplies through the quarantine.”
Rufio nodded. “Got it. I tell ‘em I’m loaded, give ‘em the right codes, and we can set down wherever you want.”
Jax studied the younger man with raised eyebrows. “You willing to set us down in the middle of a sickzone?”
“Hell, nobody lives forever,” Rufio said with a cocky grin as he turned again toward the pilot’s chamber.
“Heroes usually die first,” Jax warned dryly.
“Mister Sunshine,” the younger man muttered as he slipped inside, and Connie coughed into his fist, not quite hiding a smirk. But his voice was relatively somber as he asked, “Want I should give him the talk?”
“Better you than me,” Jax muttered in response.
Connie snorted in amusement and disappeared after Rufio.
Moira glanced up at Jax with lifted eyebrows. “Now what?”
Jax shook his head and waved her to a passenger seat. The flyer was a much smaller vessel than the pod, with no separate sleeping chambers. It didn’t need them, since it was used primarily for inter-system transportation and the longest trip was only a few hours.
Moira checked her case first, and then settled in a seat, fingers drumming on the arm rests as she stared at the doorway to the pilot’s chamber. “We need to find the three of you protective suits.”
Jax sat beside her, studying her tight features. “What about you?”
“Hmm?” She flicked him a frown. “Oh, I’ve got this.” She pulled the edge of her shirt up, showing him a small box clipped to her waistband. He tried to stare only at that and not the small line of creamy skin she exposed.
“What is it?”
“Sanitizer. It generates a field around me that eliminates all contaminants. Cleans my air, cleans whatever I touch. But I don’t have more for you three.”
“We’ll manage.”
She closed her eyes, rubbing at her temples. “Heroes die first, remember?”
He made a rumble of amusement in his throat, watching the gentle movement of her fingertips with envy and concern. He didn’t like the lines of strain at the corners of her closed eyes. And he very much wished she’d touch him like that. “You need rest.”
“You’re a terrible nag, Coltier,” she murmured, but the humor curving her lips softened the words. She dropped her hands to her lap and studied him with those misty eyes. “I’m not the only one who needs sleep.”
He smirked and tried not to think about how easy it would be to lean over and kiss her senseless. Sitting right next to her had not been his most brilliant idea. “Lookin’ rough, am I?”
“You haven’t slept much since you transferred, and I didn’t exactly pamper your clone when I was…” She made a vague gesture towards him with a pained expression that made him want to laugh.
“Was it so bad, Moira? Being in this body?” he asked in a low rumble, shifting closer and inhaling her cinnamon scent with a silent growl of soul-deep hunger.
She looked away and folded her arms over her chest, her creamy skin tinted with the faintest kiss of rose. “No insult intended,” she said in an odd tone, “but you’re a very large person. I’m used to being a lot smaller. I swear I almost broke Jaime’s hand.”
“Kinda wish you had,” he said wryly, but couldn’t get his mind off her reaction to being inside him. “So it was just being bigger?”
She frowned at him, but her color was deeper. “I didn’t like invading your privacy.”
Her blush intrigued him to no end. “Not even a little?” he purred, studying the lush curve of her lips with predatory intent.
“Stop it, Coltier,” she said, though her honey voice sounded more distracted than stern. “It’s extremely unsettling to be inside a different body, especially a different sex. Would you like being inside me?”
He dragged in a sharp breath, hands closing into fists as the growl of hunger in his body flamed into a roar. He met her gaze, not bothering to hide his hot, raging desire. “Oh, Moira,” he rasped, muscles tightening as his control slipped. “You don’t know how much.”
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