Free Desire Disguised by Lynn Rae

burned plastic filled her nose, and her stomach roiled with nausea.
    Ever since she’d seen the full horror of the crash she and Mat had survived, her fear had grown. Somehow the destroyed ship forcibly brought home how precarious her situation was. On her own and responsible for her brother without any protection from anyone else. They’d barely survived. She’d flinched when she’d seen Soren’s twisted and bloodied crash pod. One glance at the gore-spattered cockpit was enough to bring tears to her eyes. The damaged walls seemed to press in on her, and Cara couldn’t pretend strength anymore; she had to escape.
    Turning and stumbling, she rushed past Ben and pushed her way through slippery piles of debris and fire suppression foam to reach the opening and leave the ship. She managed not to trip and fall on her way out and staggered as she tried to run on the soft ground. All she knew was she needed to be far away from the stinking mess of Falk’s ship. Mere seconds had kept Mat from dying. Soren was still close to death. Only luck had saved them. Those horrible thoughts echoed in her brain as she made her way to lean on a large cocker trunk and gasped.
    Glancing over at the security ship, Cara was reassured by the sound of Mat’s voice, and she closed her eyes, hoping her head would stop spinning soon and she could resume her guardian duties. She heard movement and jumped to attention as Ben approached her, his brows furrowed.
    “Cara, slow down. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.” His low pitched voice reached some frozen part of her brain, and she wondered if she might collapse. He must have thought the same, because he reached out for her, and she fell against him. Maybe her feet had gotten stuck in the muck or she’d flash-fainted, but suddenly there were strong arms around her shoulders and a solid chest against her cheek, and Cara fell apart.
    Hot tears leaked from her tightly shut eyes as she sobbed all her hurt and fear, jerking out of her body with each cry. She barely heard Ben advise Mat she was going to be fine and he should go back to the flyer before he’d started to rub her back in slow circles. He murmured something in her ear, and she attempted to contain her crying so she could hear him, but the grief hit her again, and she gave up trying to control herself. She’d always been told not to show any vulnerability to strangers, trained to believe outsiders weren’t to be trusted, but she was too weak to maintain that distance now.
    Ben shifted her body against his, and she melted. Sniffling and trying to breathe as he’d instructed, Cara’s heart rate slowed, and she noticed more than her chaotic thoughts. She’d made a mess of his tunic for one, the fabric under her cheek wet from her tears. She’d somehow wrapped one arm tightly around his waist while the other had circled around his shoulder in a very intimate position. Soren would be horrified if he saw her behaving this way with a man. Of course, Soren was a thousand kilometers away and unconscious, so Cara didn’t need to fear his disapproval quite yet.
    It simply felt good to be held, and so she allowed herself the luxury a little while longer. She felt him take a deep breath, his chest expanding as his heavy arms tightened against her. One of his hands brushed against her hair, and she let out a deep sigh, some calm seeping in to replace the panic that had thrown her from the burned ship as if she’d crashed again.
    “You could have stayed aboard the flyer.”
    Taking a sniff, Cara knew she’d have to stand on her own in seconds so she needed to start thinking again, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to control her lower limbs, and she’d fall right into the mud. “I didn’t know I’d react like that. I’m sorry.”
    “Why are you apologizing? I shouldn’t have brought you back here.” Ben’s voice was low, but she heard a note of something that confused her. She drew back to look at him, and her