Free Below by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page A

an answer.”
    “I wasn’t aware that you’d asked a question. You said ‘I won’t’. You didn’t ask me how I felt about it,” Victoria said shortly and pulled the door open, heading for the office where she’d left the documents she sought.
    “Because I know you have no desire to go to him.”
    “No, I don’t, but that’s beside the point. I make my own decisions, for my own reasons.”
    “So—decide.”
    Despite her irritation, Victoria felt amusement surface. Having reached the office, she stopped in the doorway. “You are bossy. You know that? Why do I get the feeling that as long as my decision coincides with yours, you’ll allow it?”
    His brows rose, but she could see his anger had vanished and amusement once more took its place. “Because it’s true?”
    She shook her head and set about retrieving the papers. By the time she’d finished, her brief sense of amusement had completely vanished. “It may still be a moot point,” she said grimly as she started back. “Unless we can figure out what happened here, and how to prevent it from happening to us, we may not be alive in two weeks to make any sort of decisions.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    By the time they reached their level once more, the rec room had emptied. Apparently, the crew had primarily been waiting for the schedule to be posted before retiring for the night. The total silence of a complete absence of habitation greeted them the moment they opened the door on the third level.
    It hadn’t occurred to Victoria until that very moment that she and Raphael were the only personnel in a position to occupy this level. Immediately tense, Victoria did her best to ignore it and strode purposefully toward their quarters.
    Raphael forestalled her intentions, removing the reports from her hands and dropping them on the desk. Victoria looked at him in surprise, but before she could object, he’d pulled her into his arms and lowered his head, brushing his lips lightly against hers.
    A flush of warmth went through her. “I really should look at the reports.”
    “They’re not going anywhere and neither are we.”
    He was right, of course, but it seemed wrong to put off anything so potentially vital to their survival.
    “Is there anything you could do, at this very moment, besides study them?”
    “I don’t suppose so.”
    “Then it’ll wait till morning.”
    Victoria looked down at her hands where they rested against his chest. “I’m nervous,” she confessed.
    “So am I.”
    Startled, Victoria looked up at him.
    He smiled wryly. “It’s my first time.”
    The comment threw Victoria into complete disorder. “Oh—Oh my God, Raphael! I’m so sorry. It was thoughtless of me.”
    Smiling faintly, he reached for her tunic, unfastening it. “Don’t worry. I believe it’ll come to me.” Removing the top, he dropped it to the floor and pulled her against him again, waltzing her backward.
    “Where are we going?” Victoria asked, uncertain whether to laugh with him, or cry for him. He was so incredibly sweet it made her heart ache. The thought of all that he’d missed out on, been deprived of, because of what the company had done to him hurt in a way she didn’t entirely understand.
    “To the bed. Unless you want to try it standing. I can’t vouch for my prowess, but I’m wide open to suggestion.”
    The mattress caught the back of her knees and Victoria fell backward with a little yelp of surprise. Shedding his own tunic, Raphael followed her down, lying half atop her. They gazed at each other for a long moment and then Victoria lifted her arms and draped them around his neck, tilting her face up for his kiss. After a moment, he leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. Victoria gasped at the desire that enveloped her in a hot wave at his first touch, opening her mouth to him. When he did not immediately seize the opportunity she offered him, she thrust her tongue into his mouth, caressing his tongue with