Free Return to Eden by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page A

uncomfortable and he was chilly without his jacket—to
say nothing of the fact that curling around Anya for warmth made
him far too aware of her sexually to be particularly comfortable.
He did doze off, however. Waking a little later with a jolt of
consternation, he checked his wrist computer. It was a relief to
discover that the nap had been a brief one, but it didn’t
particularly ease his conscience. “We have
to keep moving. Time isn’t on our side,” he murmured as he shook Anya awake.
    She groaned, trying to
snuggle closer as he tried to ease away from her. The effect was
harder to dismiss that time. His body reacted on a purely primal
level. The urge to ignore everything beyond her effect on him was
strong, so strong it made him dizzy. Gritting his teeth resolutely,
he gripped her small shoulder and pushed her gently away.
“ We have to get that thing and get to my
ship. The gods only know what’s happening up there, but I guarantee
it isn’t pretty.”
    Anya had roused enough by that time to
begin to feel the beginnings of embarrassment. It wouldn’t have
been so bad if she could’ve pretended she was clinging to him as a
pretext to seduce him to her will. She’d been too far gone—and she
was certain he knew it—to salvage her pride in that way,
though.
    Straightening, she struggled with her
discomfort and the aftereffects of fatigue and too little sleep
while the alien got up, turning in first one direction and then
another as he studied the device on his wrist with frowning
intensity. “Ned go dat vay,” he said finally, frustration evident
in his voice as he studied the pipe that lay before them, neither
end of which seemed to be pointing in the desired
direction.
    She didn’t like the way he
was studying the situation. It seemed to her that he might be considering
finding a way to the surface. Well! If he was he could damned sure
count her out! No way in hell was she going back out there with the
things roaming around that she’d seen!
    If that wasn’t distressing
enough, it was really unfortunate that his choice of words had
struck a chord. She needed to go! All he’d had to say was ‘ned go’ and right
straight her bladder had begun to complain!
    What the hell was she going to do about
that?
    She was still struggling to figure that
out—or blank her mind to the need—when he stepped away from her,
unfastened his trousers and dragged this huge thing out that looked
a lot like a dick—except bigger! She gaped at it, feeling heat
blast into her cheeks when he began to urinate.
    Almost worse than the fact
that she’d followed him—naturally enough since she didn’t know what
the hell he was doing!—was the effect him emptying his bladder had
on her bladder.
    Realizing that was the end of any
possibility of control, she hurried away and squatted with her back
to him to relieve herself.
    It felt absolutely orgasmic! She hadn’t
realized just how desperate she was.
    Well, great while it lasted. Damp when
it was over. Cap that with the fact that the asshole had come to
stand over her and it just made her day!
    “ Go?”
    She sent him a drop dead
look as she straightened. She thought he looked amused, but she
told herself it must be just her imagination. His mouth did curve upward
slightly at the corners, making him seem to be on the verge of
smiling all the time. It heightened the feline appearance and gave
him a pleasant sort of expression except when he was pissed off.
Then that shadow of a smile made him look all the more unnerving,
kind of demonic, to her mind.
    If he was amused it didn’t last long,
though. He set off at a pace Anya had trouble keeping up with. The
impression was that he was making up for time lost while they
rested. Anya just couldn’t figure out what the sense of urgency
denoted.
    It struck her, though, as soon as that
popped into her mind that she’d felt that from the beginning. He
wasn’t just running in a random flight to find a safe harbor. He
had a goal and