Page 9 of Breaking Point
He lifted her chin.“I want more.”
There.Simple.No hidden meanings.
She trembled.“So do I.”She straightened and lowered her arms.“Stay there a second.”She went over to the box and picked up his cane.She gave it to him, then picked up his other hand.“Twenty meters, just around the corner.”She tugged.“Then you can lie down.But not to rest.”
Her heart leapt as he shifted on his feet and moved toward the corner.
•
The house was dark.Luciana left it that way.They moved silently up the stairs to the top level, where her real life was located.There, in the dark, they came together once more, and the kisses became frantic.Explosive.Their bodies strained and worked.There were few words, but many soft sounds.Sighs, sounds of satisfaction, pleasure, and delight.
And afterward, and the night crept toward morning, Luciana could no longer avoid sleep.It claimed her drained body and hazy mind.She felt Brice slide his arm over her waist, then relaxed and let sleep take her.
•
She had forgotten to leave the house imp a direction to shut out the light.She woke to the powerful sun lights blazing through the window, for they were nearly directly over the house.
Luciana squeezed her eyes shut, letting them adjust.She stretched, feeling the pleasant ache of well-used muscles.She felt glorious.
She rolled onto her hip, facing the other side of the bed.It was empty, which she had fully expected.She rested her hand on the sheet.Part of her regretted that the night was over.There would be no repeat of it.She knew that in her bones.It was a chance thing, and would never happen again.
She rose and went downstairs and printed a coffee for herself.While it was printing, she looked at her desk, which took up most of the corner.There were data balls lined up in a neat row, waiting for her to read them.The screen emitter was beside them.
She sat at the table in the other corner, instead, and sipped the coffee.It was so quiet in the house, it drew attention to the noises outside.She could hear the marketplace was already open.Vendors called out to customers, some of whom called back.The knock and clank of food and products being arranged.Music, from somewhere farther away.From much closer, she could hear the hiss of the hydraulics as the slice elevator lifted someone up to their letterbox on the sixth wall, which began right beside her house.
It was a whole new day.Time to go to work.
She remained where she was.
Chapter Four
BRICE ARRIVED AT THE OFFICEmuch later than usual.Only, as a great section of the ship was nursing hangovers, or recovering from the late night, no one found his late arrival out of the ordinary.Even Bronson’s office was still empty.Brice moved into his office without raising brows.
He propped the cane in its holder on the edge of the desk and rested both hands on the flat, cool surface.The three screen emitters were mute calls to get down to business.
He grew aware of his heart thudding in his chest.Racing.He pushed against his breastbone.
What had happened, last night?Had he just made a huge mistake?
His body said an emphatic “no.”Even his leg had been silent this morning, despite taxing it beyond normal tolerance.
Brice reached for the emitters and slowly got to work.His concentration was zapped, and he had to keep refocusing.Thoughts of Luciana intruded.Moments and flashes of sensory memory.The scent of her.The softness of her skin.How she fit against him; she was not at all petite, which was surprisingly agreeable.
Her lips on his chest.The purring sound of her laughter.
He had stood and looked down at her as the sunlights had started their morning cycle up to full strength.She laid on her stomach, her head turned so that the glorious spill of white-blonde hair spread upon the pillow.It was longer than he had realized.Dark brows that, in sleep, lifted in a natural arch.
Then instead of reaching for her again, as he had wanted to, he instead left the house.He walked through the edges of the Capitol, back to the Artery.Few people were up and about, which he was thankful for.He needed to think about the night that had just passed before he could meet people in the eye.
It felt like a much longer walk than usual to reach the elevator up to the Palatine hub.He’d stopped at the house long enough to wash and change, then headed all the way back to the Aventine and the Tankball Association offices, which were in the last building before the Collinas Gate that lead into the Bridge area.This time, he took a pod.
Brice realized that he was sitting and staring through his monitors, his mind miles away in both time and space.Again.
He swore and looked at the center screen.Did he have any appointments this morning?Something that he had to prepare for?“Eden, do I have any appointments today?”
“No, Brice,” the computer told him.“Bronson asked me to reschedule all of them.”
“Because of last night?”
