Get There: (Originally Published in the Print Anthology a RED HOT VALENTINE'S DAY) (3 page)

“Knock-knock.”

The rap on the doorframe drew her attention and she looked up. “Hey, Billy.”

With a grin, Billy lifted a pizza box. “I brought a pizza.”

Edie gestured for him to come in. “I’m starving. How’d you know?”

“I know how you get when you’re concentrating, sweetie. I figured if someone didn’t bring you sustenance, you would starve.” Billy set the pizza on the edge of the desk and looked around her stripped-to-the-essentials office. “Wow. You’re really going.”

Edie looked at the blank walls, where once she’d hung framed promotional posters for the show and awards she’d won. All packed up and shipped off already. “I’m really going.”

“Seems like just yesterday you were ordering me to bring you coffee,” Billy said in a faux-nostalgic voice, with a flutter of his lashes. Billy had started as her intern and moved up to assistant before nabbing a place on the writing team. He knew her better than anyone else, other than Ty. “Now look. You’re abandoning me.”

Edie stood and gave Billy a squeeze. She drew in the delicious scent of sauce and cheese. “
Mmmm,
what am I going to do without you?”

“Be taken care of by another handsome man,” Billy said matter-of-factly. “Ty will be happy to make sure you’re fed and clothed appropriately, I’m sure. Pennsylvania gets cold you know, sweetie. No running out for the mail in your tank top and shorts in February. Hell, no sitting in your living room in a tank top and shorts in February.”

Edie looked down at her outfit, a tank top and cutoff jeans. The
Runner
office, unless they had some press function to attend, was always casual. “I guess not.”

“Ty will keep you warm.” Billy grinned and wiggled his brows. “But damn, sugar, I’m going to miss you.”

She squeezed his arm. “Me, too. But you’ll visit. And I’ll be back out here for meetings once in a while, I’m sure.”

Billy grabbed a slice and bit into it with a sigh of pleasure. “You couldn’t pay me enough to move all the way across the country.”

“I’m not doing it for the money, Billy.” Leaning on the edge of her desk, Edie took her own slice and sighed with satisfaction at the first bite.

He used his thumb on the corner of her mouth to clear away an errant glob of sauce. “I know, sweetie. You’re doing it for the fabulous mind-blowing sex.”

Edie’s laugh hurt a little bit at the sight of her dear Billy’s face. “That’s part of it. But I’m going to miss you, too. You know that.”

He grabbed her hand and squeezed. “You’d better. And you’d better write me a Pulitzer.”

“Somehow I doubt any of the
Runner
novels are going to hit the
New York Times
’s best-seller list, much less win a Pulitzer, but I’ll see what I can do.” She paused, thinking of how different it would be, working on a new show, in a new city. “Anyway, we’ll see if they even contract any new books.”

“Honey, this is the show that wouldn’t die. You know they’re going to want movies and books and comics.”

“Doesn’t mean I’ll be the one they ask to write them.”

“Worried?”

Edie bent to hook open the dorm-sized fridge where she kept her stash of diet sodas. She handed him one, then cracked the top of hers and drank before answering. “Maybe.”

“About what? The work? The new show?” Billy wiped his fingers with a paper napkin and tossed it into the trash before snagging another slice that wouldn’t dare add a fraction of an inch to his lean frame.

Edie nodded, sipping.

“Ty?”

After a minute, she nodded again.

Billy chewed and swallowed, then put down the pizza to gather her into his arms for a full-on, full-frontal, patented Billy hug. “You can write circles around every other hack out there, honey.”

Edie leaned against him for a minute, then pulled away with a sigh. “Tell me something. Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”

Billy laughed. “Honey. I don’t think you could do anything else. You’re crazy about that man. And he’s absolutely head over heels for you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Warmth flooded her at the thought, countered only with regret he wasn’t going, too. “I’m sorry you can’t come.”

“I’m not. I’m not made for the cold.” Billy shuddered. “Besides, I’ve still got a job and I have dibs on your office here. Sure, it won’t be the same as working on
Runner
, but
Distant Shores
is a good show, too.”

“It will be even better once you’re on staff.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” Billy grabbed up his pizza again, folding the slice in half to fit it into his grin.

They finished the pizza and drinks, but then it was back to the grindstone. Edie had only two more episodes to finish before the move, but they were for the finale, and had been giving her fits. The show’s fifth and final season had to end in a way that would satisfy the fans while tying up the final threads of the story arc the writers had built over the past two seasons and setting the show up for the anticipated movies.

Piece of cake.

Two hours later, it was stale cake with sour icing.

Edie sighed and pushed back in her chair, rubbing at the small of her back to ease the ache from sitting hunched over for too long. Her eyes burned from staring at the computer screen. Hell, even her fingertips hurt from pounding away at the keys.

Twilight was still toying with the sky when she forced herself to shut down the computer and head home, though she knew she had another few hours of work waiting there. That was the life of a writer, and one she loved, but, oh, how nice it would be when she could come home to Ty instead of an empty apartment and an e-mail message!

It would be late for him, and she didn’t blame him for not waiting up for her, but Edie couldn’t hold back the sigh of disappointment when she logged in and found an e-mail from him instead of a bouncing instant message icon signifying he was online and ready to talk to her.

Only another week. One more week. She could last a week, couldn’t she?

Babe. Lots to do tomorrow morning (potential buyers coming to look at the house in the a.m.). Going to bed now. Love you. T

She sighed again. She’d been able to get out of her lease without much complication, but Ty was having a harder time selling his house. “Good night, Ty,” she said.

P.S
., she read.
We could get there by rocket ship
.

“A
ll systems in lockdown, Captain.” Commander Murphy waved toward the control console, where all the lights had gone green.

“The crew, too?” Captain Darowish turned from the console to stare at her first mate, hard. “I don’t want any accidents, Murphy. Not like what happened to the
Delta
crew.”

The
Delta
crew hadn’t been in full
sleep when the ship went through the Surge. They all lived. It would have been better if they’d died.

Murphy faced her, his deep green eyes glinting in the light from the console. Clad in his regulation black sleep
suit, his honed body looked slight, even weak. But Darowish knew from experience there wasn’t a damn weak thing about Tynan Murphy, and there was no other man she’d rather have at her back. Or her front, she mused, watching as Murphy gave a last-minute inspection of the controls.

Once upon a time she’d had him there, and as often as she’d wanted. She’d thrown it all away then, and there was no use wishing for it now. No matter if this was the last half hour she’d ever remember.

“We’re clear,” Murphy said.

It wasn’t his job to do this. Under normal circumstances, the ship’s engineer would have overseen putting the ship in lockdown, while the medical officer would have taken care of the crew. But the
Gamma
had lost her engineer and four other fine crewmen to a midspace virus brought in by one of the survey teams. A virus couldn’t jettison half their cargo or sabotage the ship’s water and food supplies, but infected crewmen could, and had. The infected, driven to madness by the virus acting on the hypothalamus, had also damaged
the android medical officer beyond repair.

Murphy and Darowish had managed to get the infected under quarantine and forced into the comatose state required for the Surge. The rest of the crew had also been settled into full
sleep, but with the medical officer out of commission, the only one left able to pilot the ship through the Surge was Captain Darowish herself.

“Time to power down, Commander,” she told Murphy. “Get into your bunk.”

“No, Captain.”

It was the first time he’d ever refused a direct command. Murphy had argued with her in the past. He’d discussed and offered opinions. But he’d never outright refused.

Darowish, her mind already on the next steps of the journey, faced him. “This isn’t a matter for discussion, Commander. Power down.”

Murphy shook his head. The military cut did nothing to flatter the dark hair she knew would be like silk against her fingers if he allowed it to grow. He didn’t move out of her way, either. “No.”

“Commander. Are you refusing a direct order?” Darowish stood as tall as she could, though Murphy still topped her by a good six units. “I don’t have time to fool around. We’re nearing the Surge. We’ve got infected on board and—”

Murphy kissed her. No slow slanting of mouth on mouth, his kiss was hard. Harsh. Utterly without mercy.

Darowish leaned into it, her arms going around his neck as his hands, those big hands, slid beneath her ass and lifted her. Murphy pinned her to the smooth plazmetal wall of the control room, and Darowish hooked her ankles around his waist. The sleek material of his sleep
suit might have disguised his very firm muscles, but it did nothing to hide his erection.

“I won’t leave you to face it alone,” Murphy said into her mouth.

Darowish pulled away and caught her breath before she spoke. It was important her voice didn’t shake. That she didn’t lose her nerve. “You don’t have a choice, Murphy.”

His hands held her up and she had no fear he’d drop her. Murphy had never dropped her. When his fingers flexed, Darowish felt the imprint through her own sleep
suit. The suit she wouldn’t need.

Murphy pressed against her, his cock thick and hard. He put his face into the curve of her shoulder, where his breath stole along the curved neckline of her suit and warmed her chilled skin. Again, he shook his head. Again, that single word.

“No.”

“Murph—” Her warning tone sounded choked, and Darowish swallowed hard before trying again. “Put me down.”

He kissed her again. Softer this time. The gentle pressure of his lips on hers urged them to open. When his tongue swept inside, tasting her, Darowish wanted to weep. This would be the last time of last times. Why had she fought this for so long, only to accept now what he’d have offered her a thousand times over?

Because of the Surge. Without the medical officer, human in appearance but nonetheless only a replica, someone else had to man the ship through the Surge so it didn’t shake itself apart, or worse, reassemble in occupied space. And without the medical officer, the captain was the only person able to do it.

“Thirty minutes until Surge.”
Gamma
’s soothing female voice echoed from the speakers.

Darowish pushed away from Murphy until he set her on her feet. “I’m giving you a direct order, Commander. Get to your bunk and power down, or I’ll—”

“What? Put me in the brig? Keelhaul me? Bring me up on charges?” For a fourth time, Murphy shook his head. His hands encircled her wrists as he pulled her closer. “No, Edie. You won’t. And I won’t let you go through the Surge awake. Not alone.”

She could have taken him down with a few well-executed moves, no matter how much bigger he was. Or stronger. They’d worked out together often enough she knew his strengths and weaknesses.

But he knew hers, too.

When he kissed her again, his hand moved over her body to undo the stick-seam closing the front of her sleep
suit. It parted under his fingers. When his bare skin touched hers, Darowish shuddered at the wanting she’d been pushing aside for so long. When his hand moved over her belly and down to the heat between her thighs, she put her hand over his wrist to stop him.

But again, Murphy disobeyed her. His fingers slid along her curls and inside her before she could more than murmur his name. Wet with her arousal, his finger stroked her clitoris in small, tight circles. Her hand clamped on his wrist hard enough to grind the bones, but Murphy didn’t flinch. He didn’t stop, either.

“I will not let you go through the Surge alone,” Murphy told her. “And I won’t spend the last thirty minutes of our lives wasting any more time.”

Her bunk wasn’t as fancy as she could’ve had as the
Gamma
’s captain, but Darowish had never yearned for creature comforts. All she’d wanted was to command her ship, to earn the respect of her peers, to work hard. And to love Tynan Murphy. She’d only failed the last.

She’d wanted this for so long the wanting had become as much a part of her as the mote in her eye, the length of her limbs, the number of her teeth. She’d wanted Murphy from the first moment she’d seen him, had slept with him as cadets in the academy and left him behind when her first chance at an off-world assignment meant she had to choose love or career.

She hadn’t told him then why she’d been afraid to choose him, or why she’d been so cowardly she hadn’t told him she was going. And for years she hadn’t had to face that leaving him had been the worst mistake she’d ever made. Not until she was assigned the
Gamma
and the mission to the outer reaches of the sixth inhabited galaxy and Murphy had shown up on her crew list. Even then, she hadn’t told him. They’d worked together. Eaten side by side. Guided this ship through space and kept it safe from harm as best they could. And she’d never told him she was sorry she’d left him.