Star Fire (5 page)

She didn’t answer his question. Instead, she squinted at a panel of lights on the wall and attempted to ignore his presence. A nine-button keypad beside the panel invited her to try her old code.

Her hand froze over the buttons. What was that code? She wanted to bang her head against the wall when the information didn’t appear in her brain. It was
right there.
She punched in Tasha’s birth date, which was stupid. The panel flashed red and emitted a shrill beep. When the stasis cube remained intact, she knew she’d entered the wrong code.

Why would the military use her birthday for a code? They wouldn’t, because as that person she’d always created complex codes to keep her secrets safe. And besides, ancient Arosans didn’t celebrate individual birthdates—they celebrated conception dates and the astrological season one was born to. With a weird sense of déjà vu, Sasha realised the astrological seasons were very similar to her Earth horoscope.
Chalk one up to Hobbs’ theory of unilateral human civilisation. Come to think of it,
she mused,
Dirrellen would love picking that apart.

She frowned. Sasha
so
did not want to pick up a two-thousand-year-old love affair. The man was probably married to a sexy siren with a dozen brown, chubby Arosan rug rats.

Kiev dipped his head down to her neck—Sasha settled for reaching backwards and smacking him upside the head. She craned a furious scowl over her shoulder. “Did you just sniff me? What the hell is your problem? Were you not reincarnated with manners?” She twisted her wrist and pointed past him. “Space! Give me space.” She glared at him, frustrated beyond thought.

She needed him to stop being so freaking sexy—she was tempted to throw herself into his arms. Some things were just not meant to be. Dirrellen and Tasha had had their chance and Fate, cold bitch that she was, had nixed that. This constant state of arousal had to be a side-effect of the transwhatsit machine bonding her and Tasha together. God knows, she’d never been so constantly turned on in her life.

“Is a ‘chick’ slang for a woman in your host’s dialect?” The man was even more irritating than she remembered. He was bigger too, so any attempt to shove at him was like pushing a brick wall. Tasha had been an Aros government operative. She’d been good and careful not to intimidate her science-driven lover or say anything that would pique his incessant curiosity. Kiev was the buffest nerd she’d ever met.

She growled as the panel lit up and beeped again.

“Try two-one-four-four-five.” His breath sent a shiver down Sasha’s back.

“Did I ask for your help?” She frowned, hesitating over the panel, and cast another glance at him. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Weird. Isn’t that yesterday’s date?” She was sure it was on her day planner.

Kiev reached a hard-muscled arm around her. With his long fingers, he tapped in the numbers, making her breasts ache for his attention under her silky half-top. She had it bad, lusting after a man’s fingers.

The damn panel flashed a happy blue and green pattern and chirped three times. Sasha turned to find herself caged in his embrace and barely able to see the blue cube pixilate and fade into nothing.

Her heart kicked into gear, the stupid organ going
pitty-pat, pitty-pat
as if she’d been struck by Cupid’s arrow.
Why does he have to smell so amazing?
She wondered as she caught the scent of man, leather and the outdoors. The fragrance made her want to curl her fingers into the casual blue robe slung around his shoulders. Actually, if she were truthful, it made her want to rip the damned robe off and slide her hands over every inch of skin.

The floor beneath her feet rumbled, more strongly than she’d felt since she’d woken. Hanging cables swayed and Sasha grabbed at Kiev’s cloak as old memories of buildings toppling onto helpless crowds seized her brain.

No
, she scolded herself. On Earth, California had quakes all the time. Scientists had been saying for hundreds of years that the whole state would fall into the ocean, taking the expanded man-made coastline with it. Sure, it was shored up with all kinds of manmade technology, but California was still tenaciously hanging in there.

Sasha shoved at Kiev. He didn’t move. In fact, his arms were gripping like a protective vice around her, his dark complexion pale and eyes squeezed shut. A fine sheen of sweat told her that he remembered a hell of lot from the old days too. Steeling herself against wanting to comfort him—and to run her hands over those delicious muscles—she settled for wriggling loose and ducking under his arm. “Thanks. Now get lost.”

Was Tasha the reason she was going gaga for him? Did she still love him? Sasha decided not to explore that line of reasoning and wound up thinking about the Sasha-Tasha make-out session instead. It was more than a little odd having both viewpoints of the romp to mull over.

The whole experience was novel, a bit taboo—and well, incredible. She shook her head to clear the thought. There was work to do.

Hunching her shoulders, Sasha prepared to battle Kiev for possession of the ship. He wasn’t going with her—she’d make sure of that. There were people counting on him, like Lala and the men Sasha had watched defer to his directions. That and he was too much of a distraction.

Thankfully, the hatch opened with his personal code. Sasha stopped in the hatchway and turned around. She crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t like that the outfit she’d cobbled together showed so much skin. The extra-long scarf she’d wrapped around her shoulders and tied behind her for ease of movement left her feeling exposed, especially with her small but firm tits standing at attention. Damn if she wanted to see the disappointment in his face when he saw how lacking she was compared to Tasha.

The harem-style pants and cropped top left her open, without a decent place to store a weapon. At the same time, she felt sexy and exotic as the Tasha part of her psych enjoyed her changed appearance. The whole duality made her feel a bit schizoid because there was no true separation anymore. She was both women combined.
Like and upgraded programme—Sasha 2.0
.

“Again, thanks for the code.” Sasha stood her ground. “Thanks for the patch up. But I’m going home now. Bye-bye.” She waved and turned. Her brow puckered into a frown when he caught her arm and bullied his way onto the ship, pushing her ahead of him. He shut and locked the hatch behind them.

Kiev was insane. He’d never man-handled a woman in his life. Lala would be appalled. Dirrel remembered how careful his and NaTashamarilla’s—Tasha’s—relationship had been before he’d died the first time. She’d been so polite, so perfect. At times, he wondered what she’d been hiding. He’d worried that she’d found a man less caught up in his head—he had always been working on some theorem or problem. Except in bed. As lovers, they’d been fierce and explosive. “Do not patronise me, Na—Tasha.”

“Sasha,” she corrected, jerking on her arm until he freed it. “Now get off my ship.”

He raised an eyebrow, noticing with perverse satisfaction that the action made her grit her teeth. His new version of his love had a bit of a temper. “We have unfinished business.”

Her eyes widened with what he suspected was disbelief or anger…or both. Truthfully, he did understand that she was furious. Royally upset beyond reasoning. Sasha flung her arms out dramatically, making a strangled sound. He half expected her to stomp her foot like a wilful child. It was fascinating how much she was and was not his love.

Perhaps Lala had been right, and truly did converse with Fate. Sasha sputtered a moment more before pointing a finger at him. “Unfinished? No, buddy. What you’re talking about happened two thousand years ago. Those people are dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. Find yourself an Arosan chick and have a house full of babies—if you haven’t already.”

Slapping the next control panel to open into the main body of the ship, Kiev pulled the fire-haired woman into his arms. Inside, the scientist in him was silent as he claimed her lips. Attuned to her body’s cues, he deepened the kiss when she relaxed, his tongue dipping into the crease of her lips.

Sasha hung onto his cloak. The small sound she made as she tunnelled her fingers into his hair and hung on had him clasping her hips and pulling her closer. He rocked his cock against her pussy, needing more. Their tongues danced, mated and discovered each other anew.

Kiev felt dazed, drugged.
Alive
. Pausing, he took in Sasha’s unfocused gaze. It went a long way to salving his ego. She licked her lips, her delicious breasts quivering with her struggle to breathe correctly. He felt the same.

”That…that doesn’t change anything,” she tried to say. His cock felt differently. It changed everything. He wanted her now. He imagined splaying her out on the floor while he pumped into her, burying himself in a bush of hair the same colour as her head. The thought made him harder.

“I do not have any ‘chicks’ in my house, and no babies either.” Kiev smirked, sensing her weakening. For a change, he did not have a detailed plan beyond keeping her close. “You cannot run me off a second time, Star Fire.”

“You have a job to do here.” She pointed at the door, refreshingly expressive. Her too-reasonable tone irritated him, but Kiev did not let go of her. He did notice that she hadn’t pushed him away yet. “I’m not sure what you do, but with that armour, it’s probably important. Plus, Lala is pretty attached to you. You will break her heart.”

Besides, if he did let go, somehow she’d figure out how to kick him off the ship. He ran his fingers over the outside of her arm the way Tasha used to like, but found that this version of her shivered when his touch brushed her shoulder instead. Fire and brimstone, this incarnation—his Star Fire—made him perpetually hard. He wanted her underneath him, wanted to wrestle and dominate until she willingly gave in.

His smile curved at her silly assumption. Next, she would probably bring out the bigger armament and twist his intentions, the way she used to do when he pressed her about her mysterious absences. Sasha’s blue-green eyes narrowed, very much like Tasha’s as she ordered him, “Kiev. Let it go. You have a responsibility here, and I’m not
her
. I don’t want to be.”

He kissed her again, aroused beyond reason as she clung to him, pressing her small, perfect tits against his breastplate. What he needed was to get her naked. Then she’d see things his way. She shivered as he trailed his lips down her cheek to nibble and suck at her neck. Then, she stiffened and pushed at him. Reluctantly, he allowed her to pull away.

“Damn it! Just go!” Sasha tried to reach around him for the door controls. “I don’t want you! And
she
does.” Her words might have made an impact if she hadn’t just had her tongue in his mouth as she ground her belly against his groin.

He nodded, understanding completely. “There is always some confusion as both parts of you meld together.”

“No, you dolt!” Sasha made her cute, strangled sound again, thrusting her hands into her hair like Tasha used to do. This time she did stomp one small foot. The combination engaged his mind. He wanted to figure her out while he tasted every inch of her pale, freckled body. She thrust an impudent finger at his breastplate. “Lala deserves more than you running off to have a fling with your ex.”

She thought Lala was his wife?
Revulsion cooled his ardour. “Lala is my mother, Star Fire. There is no need for jealousy.” That silly mistake cleared up, Kiev dusted his hands together and headed to the cockpit. “Where is your home? That is where you were going, yes?”

He felt like cheering as she followed on his heels. Literally scuffing the back of his boot on purpose. He could see revenge in the defiant set of her chin as she slipped past. She would have to find out on her own that marked up footwear had not bothered him in a long, long while.

Sasha claimed the pilot’s chair by placing a hand on the headrest and glowered at him.
His
Tasha had been a lot more agreeable. She’d hidden a lot of her fire behind a cool, distant facade, allowing him brief glimpses of her inner self. They were very different women, but very much the same.

“Your mother?” she asked.

He nodded.

With a sigh, Sasha slumped into the seat. “No, Earth is too far for this ship and the GI guard would pick me up in heartbeat for interfering with your planet. I’m going to Atmos.”

The rumbling of the floor punctuated her revelation, and he sat in the chair opposite with a thump. Surreptitiously, he glanced around for the seat restraints. “Tasha—”

She shook her head, and her face hardened with determination. “I think that the tectonic deharmoniser has been found.”

Kiev’s stomach turned to stone.
Atmos.
He opened his mouth to ask, but she shook her head, continuing in the calm, familiar tone he knew too well, “I didn’t turn down your proposal two thousand years ago because of your career.” Her self-mocking twisting of her lips was another stab in his back—she’d lied and left. “I left because we had intelligence that the Atmosan government had a doomsday machine. Our mission was to find and destroy it.”

She laughed, but the harsh sound fell flat with quiet misery. “We found the tectonic deharmoniser, but I died in the battle. Just as I knew I would.” Her eyes were dry, but she scrubbed at her face. Her laugh was cut short by a little strangled sound. She dropped in the seat to stare at the display. Her bright red hair stood out in every direction. “God, this is too weird. I could be home, watching fucking welders and reality shows.”

“I am going with you.” Kiev wanted her very clear as to his intentions. “You are not leaving me again.”

She laid her head against the headrest. “Why? This is the craziest day ever. My second turns out to be a pirate and tosses me overboard onto an alien planet, where I just happen to be impaled on those stupid trees.
Only
to be offered a second chance, possessed by a two-thousand-year-old ghost—also an alien, who happened to be a spy.

“And now I’m going to search for the fucking earthquake-doomsday device before it blows this fucking planet apart a second time.” Her voice rose in agitation. Sasha scrubbed at her face again before massaging her scalp in Tasha’s manner. Sasha closed her eyes and sighed, facing away from him. “I’m obviously having a psychotic breakdown. Go home, Kiev. You don’t have to get mixed up in this.”