“I’ll get over it.”
She gave a rueful laugh at his dogged persistence. “Derek, can’t you just—”
“No.” His full lips thinned with determination. “Damn it. Do you want to be with me or not?”
“Yes, but—”
He shook his head. “No waiting. It’s been too fucking long as it is. Two years, Sable. What’s holding you back? A husband you have stashed somewhere? A lover? Do you owe someone money?”
“No. Nothing like that.”
He shrugged. “Whatever it is, we’ll take care of it. Together.”
Sable reached behind him and shut off the water. “All right,” she conceded with a sigh. “I’m—”
An insistent beeping sound came from the cockpit. Derek growled in frustration at the interruption. “Ignore it.”
“The hyperdrive is recharged,” she said with a smile she knew didn’t hide her relief. She wasn’t ready to tell him yet. She didn’t want to take the chance of ruining what they had, whatever it was. There was no doubt in her mind that she’d be better off having a husband to hide, than admitting she worked for IAB. It was the unspoken code. Agents didn’t rat on agents. They protected their own. They didn’t hunt them down.
“It can wait,” he said obstinately. “Tell me.”
Sable tilted her head back and pressed her lips to his. It was the first time she’d ever made an advance toward him and when he shuddered, she realized just how much she really got to him. Her stomach fluttered. “That Federation ship might come back with reinforcements,” she reminded him against his lips.
He tugged her closer when she tried to step away. “Kiss me again, baby. And give it your all.”
Draping her arms atop his shoulders, Sable drew his mouth down to hers. She kissed him the way she’d always wanted to, with deep licks of her tongue along his until she felt the full, heavy prod of his erection against her belly. She laughed. “If we keep this up we’ll never get out of this Sector and I won’t be able to walk. I may be a vamp, but even I need a break.”
“Okay, okay,” he said with obvious reluctance. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter Four
Derek rose from the copilot’s chair and winced as his muscles creaked in protest. They’d been held in flight for over three hours, waiting for a docking port to open on Rashier 6. Sable had the ship well in hand, but he preferred sitting with her rather than occupying himself elsewhere. That thought had him smothering a wry laugh. Everything she did fascinated him, even sitting in a chair cursing at the control tower.
“Who are we hunting now?” he asked.
Sable stood and stretched as well, her full breasts straining the front of her bio-suit as she arched her back. “Don’t you have to go back to work? And what about your ship? Your belongings? You don’t have any clothes beside your uniform.”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
“I didn’t say that, Derek.”
Reaching for her hand, he laced his fingers with hers. “I took a leave of absence and my ship is docked at the field office. It’ll be fine. I’ll buy what I need as soon we disembark and then I’ll get out of this.” He tugged on the front of his uniform with his free hand.
“I think you look sexy as hell in that uniform,” she said in a provocative purr that heated his blood.
He smiled. She’d softened toward him considerably since they’d gotten out of the shower.
She pressed a swift kiss to his mouth. “Thank you for taking the trouble to come after me, even if you did stow away to do it.”
He liked that. She was starting to reach out to him physically. Things were progressing between them and he felt a deep masculine satisfaction that their relationship had developed so much quicker than he’d anticipated. She’d been worth the wait.
Sable tugged her hand from his. “We can’t hold hands.”
Derek stared at her, agape. Maybe he hadn’t gotten that far after all. “Why the hell not?”
Her smile was almost…sympathetic. “We can’t make it obvious that we’re…that you and I are…” She winced.
“Dating? Fucking?” he suggested rudely. Damn it, it hurt that she wanted to hide him.