Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (18 page)

Mak jogged ahead with Molly. By the
time he carried her up the steps, she’d come around. He shushed her
when she tried to talk and took her directly to his room. “Get a
shower and throw your clothing, boots and all, in the
cleaner.”

He bent down and lifted her feet one
at a time to remove her boots. She put her hand on his shoulder to
help balance. “Can you do the rest yourself?”

She nodded, her hands going to the
snaps on her pants.

Mak ran back outside and took Dr.
Shear form Pender. He carried her to the room she shared with Molly
and gave her the same instructions he’d given to Molly. His muscles
burned with uncharacteristic fatigue as he made another trip
outside to help Dr. Loren. The man protested when Mak picked him
up, but his hoarse words held little force.

After depositing Loren in the room he
shared with the other men and giving him instructions, Mak went
back outside with the two soldiers.

Pender looked ill, but his breathing
sounded better and the swelling had left his face. He had been just
inside the door to the poisoned room and probably only received a
small dose.

Box held the antidote package in one
hand, his eyes a bit wide. “What happened, sir? Was it another
trap?”

Mak shook his head. “I think they set
it off years ago and killed everyone in there except the guy we
found outside.”

“
Why would they even have
such a deadly gas here?” Box asked.

Mak thought of the wound on the dead
man and the smashed window. “Failsafe in case they lost control of
their test subjects.”

“
Those were scientists in
that room, sir,” Pender managed. “Did they accidently poison
themselves?”

“
Not sure. We’ll go back
in after everyone recovers.” Mak knew they had oxygen masks for
everyone, required safety equipment on all interstellar
ships.

“
Why weren’t you affected,
sir?” Box asked.

Mak didn’t hear the usual disgust in
Box’s question. “My body has been designed genetically to resist
toxins. I’m not sure what the gas was but the residual was strong
enough that I sensed it.”

“
Good thing you did.”
Pender’s voice sounded a bit better. “We were in there less than a
minute and it almost….”

“
But it didn’t.” Mak
didn’t want to think about what would have happened if someone else
had been leading them. They’d all be dead. “Go see if Loren is
finished. All clothing including boots into the cleaner and scrub
your skin and hair thoroughly.”

“
Yes, sir,” Pender
said.

“
Lieutenant?” Box shifted
his feet. Uncomfortable with his injured ribs or nervous about the
insult he intended for Mak? “Sir, I’m glad you were here. If a…a
regular soldier had been in charge, we’d all be dead. And you saved
my life on Dewell after I disobeyed orders and left my post. I know
I haven’t been a good junior officer to you.”

Mak couldn’t detect any hidden meaning
in the corporal’s words. Could they be sincere? “We’re both trying
to do our jobs, corporal. It’s part of your duties to point out any
problems you foresee with my orders. Chain of command etiquette
prefers such problems are shared in private.”

“
Yes, sir. I apologize for
letting my personal feelings interfere. It won’t happen
again.”

Mak nodded. “Get your shower. I’ll
close up the ship and run a sterilization sweep.”

Once on the bridge, Mak held his hands
beneath the wall-mounted sterilizer before touching the control
panels. The engines hummed with startup as he punched in the
commands for a ship-wide sweep for pathogens and toxins.

More than ten minutes had passed since
he’d carried Molly to his room. His only prior experience with
women didn’t include any knowledge of how long it might take one of
the complicated gender to bathe in the tiny showers of a
starship.

He entered his room and found her
still there. She wore one of his shirts and watched the cleaner as
it finished up her clothing. The shoulders of the shirt sagged down
her shoulders and the short sleeves hung past her elbows. The
synthetic material copied the properties of cotton, soft and
clinging as it did now to her breasts. The sight of them pressing
against his shirt woke his body as much as her kisses
had.

“
I’m just waiting for my
clothing. It’s almost done,” she said, seemingly unaware of his
reaction to her wearing his shirt. Her damp hair hung heavily
across her shoulders. She plucked at the shirt stretched across her
chest. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

A small hoarseness marked her voice,
and her face looked a little pale. Otherwise, she seemed recovered
and steady on her feet. “I thought I felt the ship start up. You’re
not thinking of leaving before we collect data are you?”

He wanted to take her in his arms and
assure himself she was unharmed. But that would only expose her to
the toxins lurking on his clothing and skin. “I’m running the detox
program.”

The cleaner pinged to signal
completion of its laundry cycle. Molly smiled and looked around.
“Shall I change while you’re here?”

Uncomfortable heat rose to Mak’s face.
“No. Wait until I get into the shower.” He dropped his weapon belt
to his desk and then pulled off his boots. He ran his hand along
the seam of his armored clothing. It peeled away and allowed him to
step out of it.

Molly squeaked and put her hands over
her mouth, but she didn’t look away from him as he walked to the
shower. Odd reaction for a doctor who had probably seen many naked
men before. And despite all his physical superiority he knew Recon
Marines looked like other men on the outside.

Her unwavering gaze caused a reaction
in his body stronger than seeing her in his shirt had. Damn. He
hurried the few steps into the shower and closed the door behind
him. When he emerged three minutes later he found his shirt folded
on his cot and Molly gone.

Mak picked up the shirt and held it to
his face. He slipped it on over his head. Probably a mistake to
have her scent so close but he couldn’t resist. Couldn’t resist
anything about her and to hell with the general’s
orders.

****

Molly’s face flushed when Mak walked
into the lounge to join them. All of them attended the meeting. Box
and Pender had put together a meal and set the table for a family
style dinner.

Mak wore the shirt she’d used, causing
Molly’s face to heat even more. Then his intense gaze snagged hers
and her discomfort settled into something deeper and filled with
longing.

“
You saved us,
lieutenant,” Hector said. “Thought of lots of ways I might die in
the outer worlds but being gassed wasn’t one of them.”

“
At least it was going to
be quick,” Helen said with a grin. “Took us less than two minutes
to lose consciousness.”

“
Do you have any idea what
it was, Mak?” Molly asked.

Mak set down his fork as if reluctant
to stop eating. “I have an analysis running now. For it to linger
for so long it must have been a level ten weapon. In its original
strength, one breath would have killed you.”

“
And you?” Helen asked.
“Would it have killed you?”

Mak picked up his fork again. “Not if
I got out in time.”

“
We have to retrieve all
the data left behind.” Molly didn’t feel hungry as she recalled the
bodies crumbled around the room. “Maybe we can figure out what
happened. Do you think this was a chemical lab rather than a human
experiment lab?”

“
No. It was doing the same
work as the others. The corporal and Pender will be using the small
toxin detectors you have in the lab to put together a portable
device. It should detect anything airborne. While they’re doing
that, I’m going to use a portable air conditioner to flush out the
facility. It will take a few hours.”

“
Then we can go back in?”
Molly asked.

“
With oxygen masks for
backup. We’ll test and retest.”

“
I can’t wait to read
their notes,” Hector said.

They all ate in silence for a while,
the sun shining brightly through the small viewing port. The
soldiers, including Mak, cleared the table and stacked the dishes
in the cleaner.

“
Does the sun ever set on
this world?” Helen grumbled.

“
We’ve been here for
fourteen hours,” Mak answered. “It is time for sleeping. This
portion of the planet has only two hours of dusk between sunset and
sunrise.”

“
No wonder I’m exhausted,”
Hector said.

Molly thought the gas might have more
to do with that than the actual hour. “We’ll reassemble in the lab
in the morning. The gas analysis should be complete by then. When
Mak gives us the word, we’ll go back in and figure out what
happened.”

The others filed out, leaving Mak and
Molly alone.

“
What word?” Mak
asked.

Molly laughed though it hurt her
throat. “I think I left something in your room.”

“
You didn’t.”

“
Let’s go
check.”

Mak led her to his room. As soon as
they were both inside she closed the door. As he turned toward her,
she walked into his arms. To her surprise, he enclosed her in a
tight hug. She lifted her face and his lips found hers. He lifted
her without breaking the kiss and carried her to his
cot.

His clever hands found their way under
her shirt, slipping beneath her practical support bra. He braced
himself on one elbow as he stretched out beside her cupped her
breast with his other hand. The cot insured their bodies fit
tightly together along their lengths.

Mak threw his leg over her thigh, his
knee pressing in to separate her legs. His cock pressed against
her, as big and hard as a few hours before when he’d escaped into
the shower. She tugged his shirt out of his pants and then pushed
it up. He sat up and drew his shirt over his head, dropping it
heedlessly to the floor. She followed suit, unsnapping only the top
fastener before lifting her shirt over her head. But when her hands
went to her bra, Mak stilled them. He undid the hooks himself,
exposing her breasts slowly to his intent gaze.

She pulled his lips back to hers. He
pressed her back into the firm mattress, his bare chest teasing at
her nipples. The sensation filled her with heat so the rest of
their clothing seemed too much and too tight. She pushed him away,
earning his groan. But his disappointment turned to eagerness when
her hands went to the buckle on his belt. They helped each other,
their hasty fumbling amusing but Molly couldn’t laugh. Any clinical
analysis of Mak’s perfect body became meaningless as her desire to
be in his arms drove her to tug him down on top of her.

He landed in perfect position, bracing
himself with an elbow beside her head. His other hand touched her
opening, and she was ready for him. His fingers thrilled her but
her body longed for more with an intensity she’d never experienced.
He didn’t protest her urgings to replace his teasing with what she
really wanted.

His first thrust sent her nearly to
the edge she’d struggled to reach with any other man. He groaned
and held still for a moment, as if savoring the fit of their bodies
as much as she did. She moved her hands to his hips and guided him
into motion. His long, strong rhythmic strokes stole her rational
thoughts until she only thought of their bodies joined together.
Nothing in her life had prepared her for such a loss of self as
they melded into one. She whispered his name as if she couldn’t
hold so much of him inside.

“
Molly.” He groaned her
name through lips pressed together.

She lost track of time, didn’t care
about it, as muscles she couldn’t identify tightened into joyfully
tense anticipation. They all seemed to expand at once and then
contract again. She might have said Mak’s name again, but her voice
was lost in sensations and Mak’s answering groans.

After a few moments awareness returned
of their heavy breathing, a light sheen of sweat shared between
their bodies, and Mak’s weight on top of her. Her mind sought a
word to describe her feelings as she ran her hand over his sculpted
back. Repletion. Total.

Mak moved, lifting her lethargic body
as he did so they switched positions. He lay on his back with her
sprawled half on top of him. Her heart still pounded and every
muscle seemed made of putty. His arm pulled her tight against him
and his heat held her there.

Molly slept for a while but something
woke her. Her head rested on Mak’s shoulder. Though he didn’t move
except to breath she sensed he wasn’t asleep. “What’s
wrong?”

“
You need more
sleep.”

She propped herself up, glad for the
soft light from the floor lamp near the door. Mak’s hand played
with her hair hanging loose down her back. His other hand rested
behind his head while he stared at the ceiling. “Tell me what
you’re thinking about.”

He looked at her, his dark gaze
sweeping over her face. An unusual twinge of uncertainty ran like a
shiver through Molly. Physically he was the most beautiful man
she’d ever met. Handsome men never gave her plain face and husky
figure a second look. Even from what she knew of the Recon Marines
and their social awkwardness, Mak could indulge lustful urges with
any number of beautiful women. Unless he was in deep space with
little choice. Should she mind if simple lust led him to her
body?