Depths of Blue Page 25

  “Torrin’s room!” she blurted aloud. “What the hell?” She grabbed a fatigue jacket with one hand and her pistol with the other. While she was kicking the chair out of the way of her door, she heard raised voices. Something else hit the wall with a smaller thud than the first one. She pulled the jacket on and ran out into the hall, taking care to clutch the coat closed in one fist.

  * * *

  Torrin sat at the desk in her room. Someone had rustled her up a computer that could interface with the cable in the wall. Apparently they kept them around so that people who received an injury or experienced a hardware malfunction would still be able to access the local net. She surfed around what passed for the Internet on this planet. It was hard to access on a physical screen. She could tell from what she saw that by not being able to physically hook in she was missing out on a lot. Still, it was better than sitting around doing nothing.

  The past four days had been boredom piled upon boredom as Jak slept off the after-effects of those damned stims. She’d alleviated some of her ennui by sparring with the Devonite soldiers. However, when they’d realized how good she was at hand-to-hand combat, they’d started steering clear of her. A few of them had asked for some lessons and she’d obliged, but most of the men avoided her like the plague. Apparently McCullock had been spreading rumors that she was a trained assassin with a questionable grip on sanity and a hair-trigger temper.

  A diffident knock sounded on the door.

  “It’s open,” she called, breaking her attention from the screen.

  McCullock poked his head around the door, a wide grin plastered on his face. He always looked so pleased to see her.

  “It’s just me,” he said and slid into the room, closing the door behind him. Torrin heaved an inward sigh. His nightly visits were becoming uncomfortable. He did his best to charm her and woo her, but he seemed to have no idea that she wasn’t interested. The only man she’d ever felt any attraction for was next door, and he still slept. Torrin really hoped he would wake up soon. It had been four days already. Not only did she miss him, but none of the planning could start without him. On the third day, she’d cornered a doctor in the camp hospital. He’d assured her that there was nothing to worry about at this point. Jak had taken so many days’ worth of stims that his body would require a lot of sleep to balance out his circadian rhythms and clear out the toxins that had built up in his brain.

  “This isn’t his first stim-crash, Corporal,” the doctor had said. “There’s not much to do but let him sleep it off.”

  “Shouldn’t he be here where you can monitor him?” Torrin hadn’t been satisfied with his unconcerned response and couldn’t help pushing.

  “Many of our soldiers do come here, but he insists on doing for himself. He’s not the only one. Most of the snipers are independent sorts. His room was stocked with hydration supplements before he got back. He’ll be fine.”

  There had been little else she could do. The doctor wasn’t nearly as concerned as he ought to have been. Maybe that was what usually happened, but surely he could see that this was a special situation.

  Torrin hadn’t had any better luck checking on him. Jak’s door had been securely locked every time she’d tried it, which had been twice a day for the past four days. She’d heard occasional sounds of movement from next door, but that was it. If he wasn’t up by the next morning, either she would drag a doctor back or she would batter down his door. She was still split on which one would be the better course of action.

  “How are you?” McCullock cleared his throat, and Torrin realized that he’d repeated himself to get her attention.

  “Sorry, mind wandered. I’m fine,” she replied curtly. He was really being very sweet, but she wasn’t going to give him what he wanted. Since he couldn’t take a hint, maybe it was time for a more direct approach.

  “Excellent!” He settled himself in the room’s second chair and scooted it next to her until his thigh almost touched hers, not close enough for skin but close enough that she could feel the heat from his body. Torrin shifted her weight away from him and opened a small gap between their legs. He slid closer again.

  “Captain, please give me some room.”

  “Miss Ivanov, you wound me.” He flashed her that charming grin, white teeth peeking at her from under the ginger mustache.

  “That can be arranged.” She smiled at him sweetly.

  He laughed, a full belly laugh of delight. “Don’t make promises you can’t carry out, my dear.” He moved in on her again, eyes sparkling. “Speaking of promises, you’ve been watching me with those beautiful eyes for four days. Your mouth tells me to go, but your eyes tell me another story altogether.”

  If she hadn’t been so tired of his advances, smooth though they were, she might have been flattered. As it was she was just tired. Tired of his misplaced attentions, tired of waiting for Jak to awaken, tired of being stuck on this miserable hellhole.

  “My mouth is telling you everything you need to hear,” she said, her tone flat, offering him no encouragement whatsoever.

  “I can’t resist you any longer,” he intoned. He gripped her hand and drew it to his mouth, placing a soft kiss on the back of it, then turning it over and placing another kiss in the middle of her palm.

  Gently, Torrin removed her hand from his grasp. “Jagger,” she said, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate your attention. I think you’re a wonderful man.” The lie wasn’t going to hurt anything, and she didn’t want to piss him off, not when he was directly involved in getting her back to her ship.

  “What are you saying?” He sat up straight in his chair, eyes wounded.

  “I’m just not interested. I’m sorry, but I can’t be who you want me to be.”

  “Is it Stowell?” His nostrils flared; he looked ready to spit. “Were you carrying on with him? Because I’m way more of a man than he is. He’s a weedy little thing. He can’t take care of you like I can. I’m well-connected. He’s a no-account nothing who’s going to get killed behind enemy lines, just like that pissant brother of his.”

  “It has nothing to do with him,” Torrin said through clenched teeth. “It’s just that…you’re not my type. At all.”

  “I’m sure that I can change that. Just give me a chance.”

  What was it with men thinking they could change her with that…thing between their legs? There was nothing to do for it except go in for the kill. Clearly he wouldn’t understand anything else. Torrin took a deep breath to calm herself before starting.

  “Captain McCullock, let me be perfectly clear. I have no interest in carrying on any kind of relationship with you, physical or otherwise. If you continue to push the issue, I’m going to have to report you to the camp commander for improper advances. I’m sure a man like you doesn’t want the others thinking you might be into them.”

  McCullock’s face twisted into a snarl and color rushed to his cheeks. “Why, you little bitch,” he growled and leaped to his feet, swinging a fist at her face. Acting purely on instinct and taken aback by the ferocity of his attack, Torrin grabbed his forearm and turned, using his momentum to throw him into the wall, hard. He slid down slowly, leaving a dent from the impact.

  He struggled to his hands and knees, wheezing for breath. “You, you whore!” He screamed the last word at her. “Deviant filth. I’m gonna give you what you need. Don’t think I won’t.”

  “You need to catch me first,” Torrin taunted. McCullock’s face darkened and he reached for her. She danced back out of his grasp and into the chair behind her. The seat caught her legs behind the knees. They folded and she careened into the far wall.

  “Gotcha, you cunt!” McCullock advanced toward her on his hands and knees. As he crawled up her body, she tried to send a knee into his groin but it glanced off the outside of his thigh with little effect. “What the hell?”

  The door from the hall burst in with enough force that the handle punctured a hole in the duracrete wall. Jak stood in the doorway, pistol in one hand, the o
ther holding his jacket closed.

  “Get away from her!” he ordered, pointing the pistol unwaveringly at the captain. McCullock froze where he was, his face slack with fear. “I said move,” Jak snapped again.

  McCullock rolled off Torrin and slowly got to his feet, hands raised. From where she lay, Torrin could see him bending his knees, getting ready to spring.

  “Look out!” She kicked out as the captain leaped. Jak swung his pistol in time to catch McCullock under one cheekbone. The man tipped sideways, his trajectory altered by Torrin’s kick, and his hand tangled briefly with Jak’s, pulling his jacket partially open.

  Are those breasts? Jak pulled the jacket closed so quickly Torrin thought maybe she’d been mistaken. The panicked look he—she!—shot her way said in no uncertain terms, however, that Torrin had seen exactly what she thought she had.

  The captain was oblivious to what had just happened; he writhed on the floor clutching the side of his face. Jak carefully kept his—no, her—jacket closed as she crouched down next to him.

  “You need to get out of this room and never come back. We’ll get Torrin out of here, then you’ll put in for a transfer.”

  “No one will believe you,” McCullock said mushily around his hands. “It’s your word against an officer’s.”

  Jak smiled hungrily, and McCullock leaned back from the venom in her eyes. “I didn’t say I would report you. Just know that one way or another, you’ll catch a sniper’s bullet and you won’t see it coming.”

  McCullock gaped at her. “You won’t get away with that. You’ll be caught.”

  “Does it really matter?” Jak shrugged. “You won’t care, you’ll be dead. Besides, it’s not like I have anything to lose.” She stared down at the man and an open grave yawned in her eyes. Torrin’s heart ached at the bleakness she saw there. McCullock blanched and scrabbled away from the sniper. He pulled himself up with as much dignity as he could muster and left without so much as a glance behind him.

  Torrin stood and held Jak’s gaze with her own. Jak turned hastily to leave, but Torrin beat her to the door and closed it quickly, locking it. Jak backed away from her, pistol sliding from nerveless fingers to land on the floor with a clatter. She flinched at the noise, face awash in wariness and confusion. Torrin stalked slowly toward her, and Jak backed away until her back hit the wall.

  “I can explain,” she said, her voice muted. She flinched when Torrin reached out toward her. Torrin just shook her head and gently parted the front of her jacket. Before her was a magnificent pair of breasts, round, firm and topped by dusky rose nipples. A bolt of arousal shot through her abdomen, and Torrin’s knees almost buckled. It made so much sense now. All those days of soul searching over her attraction to a man and Jak had been a woman all along. On some level she must have known that Jak was female, gloriously so judging by the most perfect pair of breasts she’d ever seen.

  “Torrin? Would you say something?” Jak’s voice was light and clear in a way she’d only heard hinted at. No wonder she growled everything between clenched teeth. Her natural voice was nowhere near a man’s register and was almost musical.

  Torrin reached out a hand and gently cupped one breast, running her thumb over Jak’s duskiness. It fit into her hand like it had been made for her. The nipple pebbled instantly at her touch and pulled a moan of pleasure that was almost a sob out of Jak’s throat. Emboldened by her response, Torrin reached out and slid her other hand around the small of Jak’s back. She pulled the shorter woman toward her and bent her head, greedily covering Jak’s mouth with her own. Her lips were warm and willing, and they parted easily beneath Torrin’s questing tongue. Jak arched into her when Torrin pressed her tongue past soft lips.

  She didn’t know how long they stood there, tongues intertwining, her hands roaming over Jak’s front before Torrin reached down to cup her rear and pull Jak hard against her body. She walked Jak back toward the bed until the back of her legs hit the side. Not breaking her lock on Jak’s lips, she reached behind Jak and pulled the covers back, then guided her down to sit on the mattress.

  Breathing hard, she came up for air. Jak leaned her head against Torrin’s chest. She gasped for air as hard as Torrin did.

  “I can’t,” Jak mumbled into her chest. “I can’t do this.”

  “You could have fooled me,” Torrin laughed shakily. “Just a second ago you were giving as good as you were getting.” She lowered her head and nibbled on the exposed side of Jak’s neck. The sniper gasped and shivered.

  “It’s n-n-not right,” Jak stuttered.

  “Really?” Torrin murmured, kissing her way up the side of Jak’s neck. “Have you ever felt anything this right?” She nibbled around Jak’s earlobe and gently tugged on it. Once again Jak gasped. She turned her head toward Torrin and recaptured her mouth. Now it was Jak’s turn to slide an insistent tongue between Torrin’s lips.

  Torrin took the jacket and slowly slid it off Jak’s shoulders. Jak shivered as the air hit her chest and slid her own hands inside Torrin’s shirt, fingers pulling it out of her waistband.

  Torrin pulled her mouth away and laughed. “I take it that means keep going?” Jak grabbed the front of her shirt with both hands and jerked, sending buttons flying as she exposed Torrin’s torso. Torrin shivered at the display of strength and the sudden chill of cool air down her front. Arousal built in her belly; she felt wetness between her thighs. She laughed again and pushed Jak back onto the bed.

  “So hasty?” She lowered her head to Jak’s nipple and enclosed the hard tip with her mouth, tongue swirling around it, teasing it to an even harder point. Jak threw back her head and moaned, lifting her hips toward Torrin. Her hand captured Jak’s other breast and squeezed gently, the hardness of her nipple pressing into her palm. Jak’s head thrashed on the pillow.

  Sitting up, Torrin quickly doffed what was left of her shirt, which disappeared into an unknown corner of the room. Jak’s hands reached up to capture Torrin’s breasts. A tingling ache grew in the sensitive tips and sent points of heat through her body. Torrin groaned and arched her pelvis into Jak’s. She almost came at the pressure of her sensitive center against Jak’s hips. The friction of her pants against her engorged clitoris was almost more than she could bear. Her head swam. She needed to see more of what Jak had to offer.

  “Pants,” she gasped, tugging at Jak’s waistband. Jak relinquished her hold, leaving an aching void behind and hastily undid the fasteners. She lifted her hips and Torrin hooked the pants and her underwear and skimmed them both off. “I’m so glad you’re not wearing boots.”

  “No kidding,” Jak rasped. “Your turn, smuggler.”

  Torrin laughed at her demanding tone but quickly obliged. She ached to feel Jak’s skin pressed against hers, sweat-slicked and warm. Jak’s fingers felt so good against her flesh as she pulled Torrin’s pants down her legs. Torrin swore and kicked out as the pants got fouled in her boots. Disposing of them, she quickly rolled over and covered Jak’s body with her own, sliding a thigh between Jak’s legs. Jak painted Torrin’s thigh with her essence where she writhed against her, groaning and arching into her tightly muscled leg. Torrin leaned down and kissed her way up between Jak’s breasts. She squirmed against Torrin, eyes open and unseeing.

  “Oh Johvah,” Jak gasped. “I feel…”

  Torrin grinned and thrust her thigh against Jak’s center again. For a second she thought she’d gone too far, but Jak clamped her legs around her and rode her to ever increasing heights of passion. When she pulled back, Jak groaned in disappointment. She lifted her head to stare into Torrin’s eyes in a mute plea to continue. Torrin was thrilled at Jak’s responsiveness.

  A wicked smile crept across her face, and Torrin slid a hand down between their bodies. The curls she encountered were wet and warm; she grinned at the evidence of Jak’s readiness for her. Slowly and with deliberate care, she spread swollen labia, sliding a finger down Jak’s slick wetness. Her questing fingers found Jak’s clitoris and encircled it. Jak practically l
evitated off the bed.

  “What do you feel, baby?” Torrin breathed, swirling her finger around Jak’s sensitive clit.

  “I feel like…” Jak’s answer was cut off when Torrin chose that moment to slide a finger into her. Torrin plunged the digit deep and almost came right then when Jak’s inner muscles contracted around her. Jak was so tight and quick to respond. Slowly Torrin started thrusting her finger in and out of Jak’s opening. Jak’s eyes were open, but stared at something beyond the ceiling. Her body twitched in response to the pleasure Torrin was bringing her. Torrin picked up speed and slid in another finger. Jak’s hips were now lifting to meet her. Torrin leaned forward and captured one of Jak’s nipples between her teeth. It was so hard she thought she could have cut glass with it. Torrin smiled and bit down gently on the trapped nipple while continuing to plunge her fingers deep into Jak’s wetness. Jak’s eyes rolled back into her head and she let out a breathy groan.

  “Oh, Johvah. Torrin!”

  Hearing Jak’s voice calling her name in such rapture sent a bolt of arousal like lightning through her. Torrin’s skin prickled and she gasped. She was close to coming, but Jak came first.

  Her hips thrust hard against Torrin’s hand. Inside, her muscles clamped down on Torrin’s fingers, holding them in place as contractions rippled through her. She came hard and a flood of wetness drenched Torrin’s hand. As she shook, Torrin held her.

  Slowly, Jak descended from the intense euphoria Torrin had drawn from her. Torrin decided she was more than a little pleased with herself. For a first lay, this one ranked off the charts. She smiled to herself as she contemplated how much better their coupling would get with practice.

  “What was that?” Jak asked, her voice exhausted.

  “That would be an orgasm,” Torrin replied smugly.

  “So that’s what one of those feels like. I guess I understand why my brother chased after anything he could find in a skirt.”

  “Wait, this was your first time?” Torrin was astounded.