The Space Colonel's Woman (Dragonus Chronicles Book 1) (23 page)

“Could be better.  Done four.” He made a back and forth motion with his hand. “Fell twice.”

She glanced at Hayden for conformation and he smirked, holding up three long fingers.  Mark rolled his eyes and Hayden answered him by raising an eyebrow that clearly said
what?

“Okay, three, but the time between is longer.”

“That’s good.”

There was little point in getting into a row about how he should be taking baby steps.  Mark would do it his way anyway and she was tired.  The pincer grip pressing at her temples was the first volley in what would prove to be a monster headache only food, water, and sleep could conquer.  Her one consolation was that Hayden was strong enough to keep Mark from doing anything truly idiotic. 

Why was it men regressed to little boys when they were sick or hurt?  They wanted you to feel sorry for them because they wanted the attention, but at the same time they didn’t want you to be of any practical help.  They had to do it themselves.  And look out if you noticed their weakness, instead of their strength in the face of some insurmountable obstacle.  Men.  They were strong, and brave, and beautiful, and so wonderfully infuriatingly male.  You couldn’t help but love them.

“So, how’d it go?”

“Oh great, your score’s still undefeated.”

He grinned, offering the smirk that made her blush and squirm. “What was your time, Wings?”

“Fifty-seven-point-eight.  Strike rate one hundred.”

“Not bad, not bad.” He laughed outright and she felt the heat rising over her chest and up into her face. “A long way to go, but not bad.”

She punched him playfully on the bicep, helpless to conceal her own laughter in the face of such skillful teasing. “Speaking of a long way to go, are you done?  I’m hungry.”

“Ah…”

Julia knew he wanted to do another few lengths, but for once he bowed to peer-pressure and stooped to pick up his hoodie and water bottle.

“I could eat.”

They sat at a balcony table, the air expectant and trembling around them as they ate.  Hayden lifted his nose every other bite, like an animal scenting danger.  A sure sign a storm was on the way.  She could feel it in the way the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood on end.

“I knew you could do it.” Mark said, breaking the silence that settled when three hungry people had full trays before them.

“Do what?” She sliced into her Zefeiran organically-reared steak.  It was so tender it melted like hot peppered butter on her tongue.

“Teach.”

“Really? I always considered that profession closed to me.” She said around her next mouthful. “My temper and patience don’t always play well together.”

Julia looked into Mark’s face and saw the sincerity in his eyes.  She could feel a flush blooming hot and bright over her skin as his faith in her made her heart thud unevenly.

“Really.” He whispered, stroking her fingers where they rested on his thigh.

~*~

Exhausted from taking the pilots through their second week of training, Julia stretched her back as she walked through the double doors of her and Mark’s quarters.  She headed for the bed and noticed a large white box placed squarely in the center of the metallic coverlet. 

The note tied to the blue organza ribbon read:

A new set of wings for the angel in my life

M xx

Her heart jumped in her chest, belly both light and tight as she opened the parcel with shaky fingers.  She gasped.  It was the same style as her last one.  She lifted it free of its wrappings and discovered the cobalt satin lining.  As she turned it over, iridescent-blue angel wings shimmered in the artificial light of the overhead crystals.  Julia breathed in the smell of new black leather and slipped the jacket on.  It was a perfect fit.

“Like it?”

Mark leaned against the door frame, quietly watching her.  She strode over to him, wrapped her arms around his waist and slid them up his back; feeling the roll and flex of warm muscle as she tip-toed to kiss him.  The squeak of leather on leather and breathy moans, the only sound in the room.

“I
love
it, thank you.”

He tightened his embrace, head tilting to better his angle as he deepened their kiss, and tasted more of her eager moans.  When they came up for air, he reached into his hip pocket and pulled out three patches.  The Phoenix insignia – Air Force blue with a white bird taking flight from silver flames; an American, and a New Zealand flag.

“I think it’s different to what you’re used to.” He said, uncertain if she would wear the stylized silver fern on a background of jet black, and held up the other one. “Then I wondered if…”

Julia held a patch in each palm and ran the pads of her thumbs over both the raised silver thread, and the smooth stripes; lost in thought for a moment. “Can I wear both?”

Mark pushed away from the door frame to stand at attention before her.  Relief and pride swirled deep in his amber eyes as he reclaimed the patches.  He pressed the patches to the velcro on each of her shoulders – Phoenix on her right, flags on her left with the fern taking first rank.  Their foreheads pressed together and he whispered against her lips. “You can’t fly without wings, Julia.”

A sob caught in her throat and tears welled, blurring her vision without spilling over.  How had he known her jacket was a lucky charm?  Every time she’d gone up in a glider since his rescue, she had felt like something important was missing.  Mark smiled, leaned in, and kissed her breath away.

Chapter 18

Mark walked into their quarters to find Julia sitting cross-legged on their bed, the iPod speakers blaring eighties classic rock.  She had the glider spec folder open beside her and the laptop balanced on her knees, keys clacking softly as she typed.

“Studying?”

“Yep,
AC/DC
has a way of getting the thoughts flowing.” She smiled and turned the volume down to a background hum. “Colonel Archer wants a progress report on my trainees, so she can assign them to teams.”

Julia allowed herself to take in all the details of the man standing before her.  It was wonderful to see him looking so like his old self; straight and tall, with a healthy glow to his skin and less of the exhausted smudges beneath his eyes.  He was back in regulation Phoenix BDUs, patches riding high and proud at the top of his shirt sleeves.

“I see you’re back in black, Handsome.”  She closed the laptop, laid it to one side as Mark leaned in to plunder her mouth.

“Hello, Beautiful.”

“Hello, Colonel.” Her arousal gave her voice a husky edge, and burned hot pink across the pale skin of her cheeks and chest. “Have a good day?”

He yawned; laughing through it. “Desk duty is more exhausting than I remember.”

It was as close as he’d come to admitting he wasn’t a hundred percent.

“Really?”

“Wrote up my report on that last mission, signed off on Dawson’s team assignments, debriefed incoming teams, listened to Garrett drone on about the recent X
2
research…had a visit with Doc Peyton.”

Julia looked up from the spec folder at the last, breath caught in the back of her throat.

“I’ll be cleared for active duty by the end of the week.”

She untangled her long legs and flung herself into his waiting arms, a squeal of excitement on her lips. “I’m so glad for you! You’ve been like a panther pacing his cage.”

He laughed and pressed a kiss into the top of her head. “Noticed that, did you?”

“Ah, it’s hard not to, when I’m in the cage with you.”

Mark lowered his head and Julia felt a spark arc between them as they kissed; her arms around his neck, fingers tangling in his messy hair.  His hips pressed hard against her own, walking her back until she was caught between cool alien metal and hot hard colonel.  It was a long while before she could regain enough of her senses to pull back.

They weren’t permitted to do that yet.  And if one of them didn’t end it before it began, they’d be in big trouble with Doctor Peyton. 
How’s she going to know?
  An evil little voice coaxed in the back of her mind as Mark molded his hands to the shape of her hips, strong and hot and undeniably masculine.  But Lenti
would
know.  One look at either of them and anyone with eyes to see would know. 

Julia broke the kiss and spread her hands on his chest.  It wasn’t the best deterrent invented, but it was all she was capable of – lost as she was in a heated haze of need and want it had become harder and harder to ignore.

“Mark, stop.”

The blaze of lust and amber fire in his eyes was enough to make her surrender, but she held strong.  His gaze was mesmerizing, surging with too many emotions to name, weakening her resolve as he leaned in again.  Her elbows bent as he pushed against her hands, flimsy in the onslaught of their desire.  His breath was hot on her neck, and she arched back, his lips soft on sensitive skin. 

It would be so easy to give in.  She whimpered a regretful moan.  The sound of his name on her tongue tasted of surrender.  He cupped her breasts, his thumbs rubbing their sensitive nubs to life, sending shivers of excitement through her.  She arched into his touch and all he offered, only to pull his hands from her body.

“Dinner.” Julia whispered, words cracked and pitchy, chest heaving ragged breaths in an effort to find calm. “Let’s get some dinner.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners.  Amusement, and fading ardor, lingered in his gaze and tugged at his kiss-swollen lips. “Do you have
any
idea what you do to me, woman?”

She clutched at his arms, bearing down on the swirl of heat within her.

“When Peyton clears me…you’re my first mission.”

“I’m shall look forward to it, Colonel.” She stroked her finger along the flat of his palm and Mark’s eyes widened in pleasure. “In the meantime, we should go eat.”

~*~

Three days later, Julia lay naked and snuggled into Mark’s good side with the relaxed beat of his heart beneath her ear.  It had felt wrong to be separated, even for a mere six weeks.

“My sentiments exactly.” He whispered against her temple when she sighed; a smile in his voice.

“Well?”

“As of zero-eight-hundred hours, I’m cleared for active duty.”

“Active
duty…”

“Can you be gentle?”

Julia blushed and pressed her face into the crook of his neck to hide.  “Ah…maybe?”

He crooked his finger and she leaned further into his embrace.  The press of his lips on hers made her fingers curl tight in silky black whorls as she crushed her body along the length of him.  She groaned with a longing so powerful she doubted her ability to restrain it, and forced herself to pull back. 

“Nope.” Julia barely recognized her own voice, rough and sweet, like warm honey poured over gravel. “Can’t do gentle.”

“I noticed.” He murmured; humor stirred through spicy heat. “C’mere.”

Mark crushed her to him, his arms strong and tight across her back.  She answered with an enticing grind and roll of her hips; the hard line of his cock pressing against her.  She circled her hand around him, squeezed and tugged his length.  Her pleasure heightened by the groans he mouthed under her jaw.  His hips thrusting into her grasp and her name a hot brush of air on her cheek.

“Oh God, Julia.”

“Hmmm…”

“Stop,
please
stop.”

She took pity on her panting lover, slid her hand free to lie flat over one pec as she rose up.  Her thighs squeezing tight around his slim hips as she eased down; engulfed him in wet grasping heat.

“I’ll be gentle.”

“Been a while, Beautiful.” He let out a shuddery breath, broad masculine hands gripping her hips tight as if he were the one doing the riding. “No time for gentle.”

She swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her throat and rolled her hips; felt him shift inside her.  The pleasure of having him after so long apart assuaged the hunger burning beneath her skin, stoked it higher.  He chuckled, husky and dark with pleased satisfaction as he rolled into her rhythm, nestled deeper in the only place he ever wanted to be.

They had no patience for tender lovemaking, both eager to give by taking.  Julia growled, pinned his wrists above his head and seized control of their pleasure with a demanding rut of her hips.  Forcing him to submit to her need and offering the sway of her breasts to the warmth of his mouth and the rasp of his tongue as she climbed.  He inhaled, sharp and desperate, surfing the pleasure she ignited in him.  The weight of his hands around her waist anchored her as she flexed tight around him.  Milking her lover of everything he had, his gorgeous body drawn taut in ecstasy, before slumping back onto sweaty rumpled sheets.

Her hair fell in a riot of tangled bourbon around both their heads and his hands rose to cradle her jaw.  They kissed with soft languid presses of lips, interspersed with quiet gasps and gentle nips of sharp teeth in plump flesh.

“I needed that.”

“I noticed.” He rolled over, taking her with him. “Not that I’m complainin’.”

“Six weeks is a long time.” She wrinkled her nose against the tickle of his hair when he nuzzled closer. “Especially when I’m used to having you whenever I want.”

“I’m all yours, Beautiful.” He murmured; blinking slowly as sleep tugged him close. “Whenever, however, you want.”

“I think I can live with that.”

He buried a warm chuckle in the space behind her ear, draped an arm under her breasts and pressed in close against her back.  His
me too
was the last thing she heard as she fell asleep; a soft contented smile on her lips.