Eve Vaughn (7 page)

“What do you think we should do?”

“While I don’t want to lose anyone in this group, I don’t see that we have much of a choice. If we’re going to liberate our world from the Cyrellians, we may have to do it with violence.”

It had never occurred to her that it would eventually come to this, but Sydney understood it was something that had to be done. “I see. Well, I guess I should head downstairs.”

When she moved to go past him, he caught her arm. “Sydney, wait.” She tilted her head to look up at him. “What?”

“I’m sorry if I came off a little heavy-handed, but when I… never mind.”

“No. Tell me what you were going to say.”

“Forget it, okay. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.” He released her arm.

“Please tell me.”

“Fine, but you’re going to think I’m silly.”

“We all say crazy things sometimes, now spill it.”

“When I saw your closed door, it was like you were shutting me out. I don’t want any barriers between us.”

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“Jack, don’t.” She turned her head away.

He caught her chin, forcing Sydney to meet his gaze. “You wanted to hear it so you’d better listen. Do you think I like feeling this way? Whenever you’re not around I search the house for you. I find my thoughts drifting to you even when I’m in the middle of an important discussion. It’s driving me insane and I still haven’t quite gotten a handle on these feelings yet.”

“Jack, I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about this.”

“It will never be the right time for you, Sydney, as long as you continue to dodge me on every occasion. The only time I seem to get through to you is when we’re making love. How are we supposed to figure out what this thing between us is, if you keep running away?”

She twisted her head out of his grasp and backed away. “I don’t know. But I need time. Too much is going on right now for me to deal with this too.”

“I see.”

If she didn’t know better Sydney would have thought she’d seen a brief flash of hurt in his eye, but surely she’d imagined it.

“Let’s go downstairs,” she said, turning her back to him.

“Sydney, there may come a point when I get tired of chasing you.” He spoke the words softly, but she heard him loud and clear.

“I can’t believe you’ve talked me into this,” Chase muttered under his breath.

They would have been at camp by now if it weren’t for Holly’s insistence about finding her digiamara. He should have told her to forget about it, but when she’d looked up at him with those beautiful brown eyes of hers, he found it difficult to resist her.

He was a sucker.

“I heard that,” Holly whispered behind him.

Chase grimaced, thankful she was behind him and couldn’t read the annoyance on his face. He might be crazy for this woman, but she still got on his nerves. “Yeah, I know. But I hope you realize you could have been taking a nice hot shower by now and had a nice hot meal in your belly.”

“That isn’t important. There’ll be plenty of time for that later. We need to recover my digiamara and download it to a public computer before we leave the city. I think the people need to see what the Cyrellians are up to.”

“How do you know they won’t do damage control before too many people see it? You do realize most of the computers in the city are connected to one main server, which is run by them.”

“Even if only a few people see them, they’ll at least know what the aliens are up to and they’ll spread the word. Our people have the right to know what’s going on.

What they do with that information is up to them.” Chase couldn’t help but grin. Her determination was one of the reasons why he loved her. Holly seemed like the kind of person who gave her heart and soul to every project she was involved in and at the moment she seemed hell-bent on exposing the Cyrellians. Unfortunately she couldn’t remember which abandoned building she’d left the digiamara in. Because of that, they had been in the city for two more days and

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Chase was beginning to get worried. He’d tried to ration the food he had, but they were down to a few pieces of bread and they’d run out of water the day before.

He’d had to break into a house when the occupants were sleeping to get water and any food they wouldn’t miss. If they didn’t find it tonight, then they were going to have to leave the city without it.

“I’m pretty sure this is the place I left it,” Holly whispered.

“You said that the last three buildings we were in. And frankly, dear, even if this isn’t the one, we’re going to have to go.”

“You can go, but I’m not. I have to find it.”

He turned to face her. “And then what? Don’t you realize they’re looking for you? Your face is still fresh in their minds and they’d love to take you down considering what you know.”

“I’ll be careful. You’ve showed me some good hiding places.” Chase rolled his eyes heavenward. He knew she was an intelligent woman, but right now she wasn’t acting like it. “What will you do for supplies?” She shrugged. “You broke into someone’s house to get them. I may have to do the same.”

“And get yourself arrested again, you fool.”

She glared at him. “Don’t call me names.”

Chase sighed. “I’m sorry, but you don’t have a clue what you’re doing. You have to know what you’re looking for first of all. Even though I knew to look for an alarm system, I was still taking a big risk. You’d be caught in a matter of hours, if that.”

“Gee, thanks for your faith in me.”

“It’s not about that. I think with training you would do fine on your own with field expeditions, but right now you’re not ready. Would you put yourself at risk knowing Sydney is waiting for you? I’m sure she’d be upset if I came back empty-handed.”

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Holly nibbled on her bottom lip and a look of uncertainty crossed her pretty face for the first time. “I do want to see her again, but I’m doing this for her and all of mankind.”

“You can’t do it all by yourself.”

She grasped his hand, and looked at him in earnest. “Then see this thing through with me, Chase. I know our supplies are low, but I can deal with a little hunger knowing I’ve done the right thing.”

Chase knew Jack would probably rip into him once he got back to base, but he couldn’t deny Holly anything when she looked at him so imploringly. “One more day.”

“Thank you, Chase!” She hurled herself into his arms, planting kisses along his face and jaw line.

His cock stiffened, and pressed painfully against his pants. With a groan, he wrapped his arms around her and lowered his lips to hers. He pressed his tongue forward to taste her sweetness. God, he was horny.

Holly pushed against him as if she couldn’t get close enough. Her hands roamed his back before they slid up his neck. She twined her fingers through his hair, opening her mouth wider to deepen the kiss.

Chase knew they should be looking for her digiamara, but his cock was in total control, dictating his every movement. He finally lifted his head to look for places to fuck her properly.

There was nothing but the cold hard floor and large machinery surrounding them. Deciding he’d have to take her standing up, he pushed her against a large piece of equipment.

Holly began to fumble with the buttons of his pants as he worked on hers. Their hands got in each other’s way and they laughed, but finally they were able to undo the snaps. She shoved her panties, along with her pants down past her ample hips, revealing the tempting nest of dark red hair resting between her thighs. Later he’d explore her more thoroughly, but for now Chase needed to be one with her.

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He quickly discarded his pants and pulled her against him again. Chase rubbed his erection at the juncture of her thighs, eager to be inside of her. Cupping her curvy bottom, he lifted Holly.

“Chase, what are you doing? I’m too heavy!” she protested.

“You’re perfect. Now shut up and wrap your legs around my waist.”

“Lucky for you I’m horny, or I’d take exception to your bossiness.” She slid her legs around him, and Chase grasped his cock with one hand to slide into her.

Holly was already so wet, he easily slid into her. “Mmm, I love how you get so hot for me. This pussy was meant for me wasn’t it, baby?” Her only response was a soft moan, which was fine with him. He didn’t need her words when her passion-glazed eyes said it all. Chase could tell by the way her cunt gripped his cock how badly she wanted this -- just as much as he did.

Pressing her against the metal machinery, he pumped into her slick channel.

Chase realized he could fuck her a million times and it would never be enough. Burying his face against her neck he nibbled her tender white flesh, leaving his mark on her.

Holly’s nails grazed the back of his neck. “Chase, that feels so good.”

“And I intend to make you feel better, sweetheart.” He thrust harder, and deeper. A fire raged within him, threatening to consume them both. Everything about her fueled his arousal, from the sweet scent of her, the softness of her skin, her abundant curves, to how tight her pussy was.

She worked her hips against him in rhythm with his thrusts as she groaned his name. Chase was so close to coming, but he refused to let go until Holly did.

“Harder, Chase,” she pleaded.

Complying with her wishes, he slammed into her over and over again.

“Yes! Yes! Just like that. More!” she cried out.

Chase plowed into her like a man possessed. Each time he pushed into her Holly dug her nails deeper into his flesh, breaking skin, but he didn’t mind. He was too caught up in the moment to care. He’d wear his battle scars proudly.

Holly tightened her hold on him. “Chase, I’m coming.”

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“Then let go, baby. Don’t hold back.”

Burying her face against his chest she cried out when her release came. A warm gush of her juices flowed from her cunt, soaking his cock. It was enough to send Chase off the edge, because seconds later his climax came in one powerful whoosh.

“Holly!” he yelled as he shot his load into her. His muscles screamed for relief, but he didn’t want to let her go. He knew he’d have to put her down, sooner rather than later.

“Holly, we’re going to need to get dressed and get out of here as soon as possible.” It wasn’t the most romantic thing to say after a bout of wild, spontaneous lovemaking, but it was either that or risk being caught with their pants down.

She untwined her legs from his waist and he gently placed her back on the floor.

Holly’s breathing was still heavy, but she didn’t look happy; in fact, her cheeks had taken on a furious red color. Either she was embarrassed or pissed. He guessed the latter.

“Holly, don’t be upset with me. We probably should have waited until we were in a more secure location before doing that again, but I couldn’t help myself. We made a lot of noise and I’m concerned someone may have heard us. Anyone could have been walking by. This building isn’t that large.” He hoped he made sense to her, but she pursed her lips, not saying anything.

She stepped into her panties and then her pants.

“Holly, say something.” Chase raked his fingers through his hair in frustration.

When she remained silent, he grabbed his pants and put them on. “Look, my comment was probably ill-timed, but don’t hold that against me.” She glared at him then. “Ill-timed? Is that what you call it?

“A little inconsiderate.”

“Try a lot and you’ll be much closer.”

“Fine. I shouldn’t have put it quite so abruptly, but I only had our safety in mind.”

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“That and a quick fuck. No one likes to feel like they’re being used, Chase. Look, let’s just drop it. I want to find my digiamara and get the hell out of here.” He sighed, realizing there was no point in reasoning with her in her emotional state. Hopefully there would be plenty of time for that later.

Once they were both dressed, they inspected the machinery.

“What do you think of this place?” he asked.

“I know I’ve said this before, but I think this is the place. As a matter of fact…” She moved to the far corner of the room and touched a huge cylindrical piece of equipment. Then she placed her hand alongside of it. “This is it! I feel it!” Chase let out a sigh of relief. Finally, they had the damned thing. Now they had to see about getting the information out to people. Once she retrieved her missing digiamara, Holly slid it into her pocket, and then returned to him.

“What now?”

“We gather our things and find another secure location.”

“And will we be able to find a public computer? How risky will it be?”

“Very. We’ll probably need to stay in the city one more night, and from there we can come up with a plan. I don’t feel comfortable being in this place for very long so I think we should go.”

It was nightfall, but they still needed to be careful. Chase walked to the door with the intent of only poking his head out to see if the coast was clear. To his astonishment, the door was thrust open and three Cyrellians bounded inside, all armed with lasers.

A tall alien with an extra long head came forward. He said something in Cyrellian to his companions before focusing his attention on Chase and Holly. “You’re going to have to come with us.”

Holly’s heart fell to her feet. This was all her fault. Chase had tried to warn her that this place wasn’t safe and she hadn’t listened. To top it off, she’d actually been angry with him for what she felt to be an offhand comment. Now she realized he did

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have their safety in mind. She should have listened to him. She silently cursed herself for being so damned stubborn, but now they were probably both done for.

She had to think of something. Anything. After all, if she hadn’t been so insistent on them finding her digiamara they probably would have been back at Chase’s base and she’d be reunited with Sydney. She’d gotten them into this so she’d get them out.

With a loud dramatic gasp she placed her hand on her forehead and fell in a mock faint.

“Holly!” she heard Chase yell out in alarm.

“Stay where you are or we’ll shoot the woman!” the Cyrellian warned. Holly didn’t have to see the alien to know it had taken pleasure in saying that. It made her more resolved to carry out her plan. Chase had given her a mini-laser for her protection which she’d kept in her pocket. She was pretty sure no one noticed her retrieving it when the door burst open or the Cyrellians probably would have said something by now.

Her fingers were still curled around the instrument. Cautiously, she peeked through her eyelashes to see what was going on. Two of the Cyrellians were walking toward her, while one had a laser trained on Chase. One of the aliens that drew close had his weapon at his side while the other’s was trained on her. She knew she’d only get one shot, but if she was able to take one out, it just might give Chase a chance to distract the guard closest to him.

When one of the creatures bent over her, she quickly aimed her tiny weapon at his eye and fired.

He screamed in agony, dropping his laser, and holding his face. The Cyrellian next to Chase lost his concentration. Taking advantage of his enemy’s distraction, Chase threw his fist into the alien’s face.

The third Cyrellian fired his laser in her direction, but she rolled away, and then took a shot at him. They both missed. Fortunately, Chase had disarmed his attacker and now had his weapon along with the other one that had fallen to the floor. He shot Holly’s assailant in the back.

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She scrambled to her feet and quickly grabbed their things.

Chase grimaced. “Let’s get the hell out of here, and when I say that I mean out of this city.”

Holly figured this time he wasn’t going to get any argument out of her.