Page 15 of Tempting Jupiter
She studied him, again weighing her choices. This time he realized he wanted her to trust him with her secret… for reasons that had nothing to do with needing truth.
Chapter Eight
TheSalleyHo
EarthAllianceBeta Sector
2210.147
It was a risk, but Feeona’s instincts had her calling for Bug. The small mechanical device flew a careful path from the vent where it had been hidden. She eased back from Jupiter and held her hand open between them. Bug landed on her upturned palm.
Jupiter scrunched his wide, flat nose and his nostrils flared. She didn’t tell him how adorable it made him look.
His head tilted. “It’s a machine.” His voice was a soft rumble, pitched low.
“That’s right. It’s a remote terminal access unit. It has a metal alloy body and synthetic wings.” She brushed a finger over one of the four semi-transparent structures. “They’re incredibly strong.”
Bug trembled in her hand, then launched into the air. Its flight was silent, but Feeona saw Jupiter’s ears twitch, listening to some sound that only he could hear as the small device circled overhead, then landed again on her hand.
“I call it Bug.” She let a smile curve her lips. “It’s very good at search and surveillance. Not so good at retrieval, but it managed to carry back the blood-doubler and the sealer from the med-bay.” She tilted her hand slowly sideways and Bug crawled upward with the movement, seeking the topmost position on her hand, imitating the behavior of its namesake. “It took two trips, but Bug did it.”
“You used this to get medical supplies?”
She nodded and then sent Bug back to the duct. “I control it using the neural implant.” She tapped the spot on her head. “When I’m linked, I can see what it sees.”
“And that’s how you know of Seneca. You saw him in the medical center through this bug machine.”
“That’s right,” Feeona agreed. “And he’s fine.” She slipped her hands to his waist and urged him to step back. He felt too good, too solid, in her arms. It had been a mistake to let him get so close again. She wanted more of him, but it was more than lust. Giving into desire would only make the situation worse.
Slipping free, she returned to the hard metal bunk.
“You distracted me earlier.” He followed and sat beside her, crowding into her space. He pulled her legs across one of his as if he wanted her as close as possible. She didn’t resist, but she lifted her eyebrows to question his actions. Would he admit that he liked having her near?
He met her gaze directly. “It will be expected.”
His answer disappointed her. It might be true—after the little gift she’d given him, anyone watching would expect them to behave like lovers—but she doubted it was the real reason he was still touching her.
“When I felt the implant, you changed the subject.” His grip tightened on her thigh. “You didn’t intend to tell me about the machine.”
“No.” She hadn’t planned to tell him anything. Or had she? Damn. She’d given him her name right from the beginning, when she hadn’t known anything about him. What had she been thinking?
“Why tell me now?” He reached up and stroked a finger along her forehead as if he wanted to soothe away the frown lines where her eyebrows drew together.
“You needed to know I was telling the truth about your friend—”
“Brother. Pack brother.” His hand settled along her neck, his thumb tracing along her jaw.
Feeona willed her body not to react, but her pulse sped at his touch. There was something in the way he looked at her that made this touch different from the other times he’d touched her. She was practically in his lap, but it was the gentle brush of his thumb that did it to her. Lowered her defenses. Something she rarely allowed. And with him, something she’d done long before she’d realized.
She nodded. “Your pack brother.” She reached up and banded his wrist, her fingertip settling over old scars. “And slavery is so wrong. Even the word gets me steamed. Injustice infuriates me.”
“And yet you’re a thief.” He made the statement with no insult in his tone.
She grinned, eager for the turn in conversation he offered. “Remembered that, huh?”
“It just came back to me.” A playfulness she hadn’t seen before glinted in his dark eyes.
She snorted her opinion of his memory. “Convenient.”
