Page 34 of Her Cyborg Commander
“Good.” He stroked her hair gently as he brushed tiny kisses over her face. “I put them all down, and when I looked up, you were gone. Where did you go?”
His gentle touch and deep concern surprised her, but not as much as the tears that flowed down her cheeks as she rose on her toes to kiss him.
“I ended it.”
Another wail of terror and pain tore through the air, and Edge frowned in confusion.
“You left him alive?”
River shook her head, her fingers smoothing away the creases in his brow. “He won’t be for long. I left him for the sand sharks.”
Edge shot her a feral grin before kissing her hard.
“You are a dangerous female, River. I had no idea.”
She laughed as something loosened in her chest, letting her breathe deeply for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. “Neither did he.”
They stood like that for as long as they dared, aware that the danger wasn’t over yet.
Edge eventually broke the silence. “Ready to go home, minx?”
As much as she wanted that, it wasn’t the right time. “We can’t go home, Edge. Not yet. But we can’t stay here, either.” She took his hand in hers. “I think it’s time we got off this dust bowl. Are you ready to leave?”
“More than ready. C’mon, my dangerous beauty, we’re off to steal a shuttle and get the hell off this rock.”
Dangerous beauty? Oh yeah. She liked the sound of that.
18
Sneakingup on the shuttle turned out to be the easiest part of this mission. The pilot wasn’t even on board when they arrived. He was twenty meters from the open hatchway, sitting on a small cluster of rocks and taking pictures of the sunset with an imager. Edge had dropped him with a single shot from his pulse rifle.
They’d cleared the vessel quickly, the two of them working together as if they’d always been a team. It was one more reason to kick himself in the ass for fighting his attraction to River for as long as he had. Everything was easier when they were together.
Once they had the ship, Edge went to work closing the hatch and ensuring it was properly sealed.
“Confession time,” he said. “I never got even a basic flight instruction package. My corporate overlords assumed I’d just order someone else to fly me and my team wherever they needed us to go. That’s why I needed a ship with a high-level AI.” He winked at River. “So this is me, ordering you to fly us the hell out of here.”
She grinned. “Yes, Commander.”
Damn, he loved it when she said that.
It was also good to see her smile. His worry for her hadn’t ended when she’d come back from taking care of Jens. He hadn’t liked the distant look in her eye, almost as if she’d left part of herself out in the sand.
That look wasn’t there now. This was the River he’d finally gotten to know, and he loved everything about her.
“I’ll get us in the air, but the second we take off, that corvette is going to expect an update. Unless you can do a decent impression of Dr. Jens, that is not a good idea.”
Edge raised his voice to an unmanly squeak and quavered. “Do you think they’ll believe this is him?”
“Not a chance.” River snorted with laughter. “So we’re going with the tried and true ‘fly like we stole it’ approach and hope Eddi can pick us up?”
“Wedidsteal it,” Edge pointed out. “And I’ll contact Eddi right now.”
“You should strap in first. Remember, this is my first time flying solo.”
He couldn’t tell if she was kidding, but he dropped into the nearest seat and buckled himself in. Just in case.
Despite her warning, the shuttle lifted off smoothly. Once he was certain she had things handled, he contacted Eddi and then asked River to route the link through the shuttle’s comms so she could be involved in the conversation.
