Free MissionMenage by Cynthia Sax Page B

the planet’s atmosphere.
    Vegas leaned back into her touch, savoring the connection
before he continued with the preparations. He placed the canister in his
holster and tightened the clasps, lowering the risk of it falling, cracking
open and blowing him into the next galaxy.
    “If I haven’t returned in three hours, if neither of us have
returned, you are to leave the solar system.” His voice was gruff, laden with
emotion.
    She didn’t answer, dropping her gaze from his, plucking at a
loose thread on his shirt.
    “Raylee,” he growled. My damn woman.
    Dark eyelashes framed brown eyes sparkling with protest.
“What would you do in my place, Vegas?” Her chin jutted out and her bottom lip
protruded, begging for a kiss. “Would you leave me behind?”
    “No,” he admitted, preferring death to that course of
action. “Not unless I had no other choice.” Vegas paused in the midst of
layering on his combat clothing. “And you won’t have any other choice, Raylee.
Ship, you’re to leave the Lokan system in three hours. That’s an order.”
    “I won’t leave without my captain,” Ship replied.
    “What the fuck!” Vegas exploded. “Does no one listen to me?”
He glanced at the expressionless Sexy. “Except for you.”
    “Programming…forces…” the android slurred.
    “Yes, of course. Your programming forces you to follow my
orders. That’s the only reason you obey me.” Vegas pressed his lips together,
swallowing his frustration. “Ship, as your captain will be onboard, there will
be nothing preventing you from leaving.” He strapped his weapon belt around his
waist, his arsenal consisting of daggers, throwing stars and other primitive
technology, the uncivilized side of him exhilarated by the challenge. “Raylee,
give me your vow that you’ll remain onboard Ship.”
    Raylee drifted away from him and he missed her warmth and
scent and touch immediately. When had she become such a vital part of him?
    “Hmmm…” She traced her finger along the map of Lokan
displayed on the viewscreen. “This is your route, right?” she asked him for the
third time that day. “Starting with the hunting trail along the river?”
    Vegas nodded curtly, intent on ensuring her safety. “Raylee,
your vow?”
    “And this is Sexy’s.” She followed the android’s path.
“Parallel for one mile, and then he turns south while you turn north, right?
Vegas goes north. Sexy goes south. Sexy south,” she repeated, her beautiful
face compressed with concentration.
    “Raylee.” He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at
him. “Promise you won’t follow me. I won’t leave until you do and every second
puts me in greater danger.”
    “We are all in danger,” Ship broke into the conversation. “A
Balazoid fighter plane has entered the quadrant, single manned vessel, one life
form onboard.”
    Shit. “Ship, lower the rope ladder.” Vegas placed his
hand on the canister, ensuring it remained strapped tightly to him. “And don’t
let it touch the ground. One brush against a tree leaf or a blade of grass, and
all technology onboard, excluding your beloved Sexy, will cease to function.”
    “The useless companion android is not my beloved and I am
aware of the challenges with docking on Lokan,” Ship snapped. “Opening
emergency escape hatch.”
    A blast of warm, moisture-laden air hit him. Vegas peered
out of the body-sized circular opening, but all he saw was mist, the climate of
Lokan similar to Earth’s ancient rain forests. “Sexy, you go first.”
    “Wait!” Raylee stepped in front of the android. “Sexy,
you…you…” As her bottom lip quivered, her fondness for his robotic twin openly
displayed, the sharp claws of jealousy ripped into Vegas. He fisted his hands
and clenched his teeth, forcing himself to give her this moment.
    “You take care of him.” She cupped Sexy’s cheeks, the
android staring back at her, his passionate woman facing the emotionless robot.
“Bring him back