Force of Attraction Read online

  “Of all the nerve,” she spat as she glared at him. The urge to hit him was great. She gave in to it. The second that her palm connected with his rugged cheek, Marisa hissed, wanting desperately to take the action back. “Oh gods, I’m ... Lt. Commander....”

  A fire burned in Bradi’s blue eyes as he locked gazes with her. Marisa felt as though she were pinned by his predatory look. Every instinct in her screamed how very deadly the man before her could be but she didn’t care. She didn’t fear Bradi. She wanted him in ways she knew she shouldn’t.

  His cheek reddened and before Marisa could stop herself, she kissed her fingertips and pressed them to hot skin, seeming to douse a bit of the fire that burned in his eyes. Tapping her ear with her free hand, Marisa pressed one of the activation points for her built-in medical chips. “Scan for damage.”

  Bradi stiffened a second before a pain like Marisa had never experienced sliced through her head, instantly rendering her scan of Bradi’s cheek ineffective. Grabbing her head, Marisa cried out.

  “Shit, sorry,” Bradi whispered, as though he had anything to do with her embedded chip acting up. The feel of his large arms wrapping around her instantly helped to chase the pain away, leaving only a tiny, dull ache in its place. “You okay?”

  She nodded and stared down at her hand. “That’s so strange. It’s never hurt me before. Ever.”

  “I didn’t mean to use so much ... umm,” he glanced away, “of my good pick up lines on you.”

  What?

  Growling, Marisa shoved him hard in the chest. Bradi didn’t budge. The man was an oaf. A certifiable space gigolo that ran through women like they were on special. Anger welled in her. The fact that he’d heard her confession, that he now knew she wanted him, drove her to the edge of reason. Afraid of becoming violent with Bradi, Marisa pointed at the door as she glared at him. “Get out now, or so help me gods....”

  Instantly, his mouth covered hers. Stunned, she gasped, giving him the opportunity he needed to ease his tongue in. She lost all rational thought. Licking the inner edges of her mouth, he made her knees shake. Marisa’s brain screamed at her to bite his tongue off, but her body reacted by reaching up to touch him, to pull him closer.

  He tasted so good. So sweet. So divine. She couldn’t get enough.

  With his height advantage, Marisa had to stand on her tiptoes while he bent down to her, but it was worth it. The feel of his hot mouth pressed to hers and of his gifted tongue tracing circles around her own made her nipples harden to pebbled points. Liquid pooled at the apex of her thighs and it wasn’t until she felt Bradi’s hands moving up and under her shirt that she realized what she was doing--making out with a man that could own her heart if he decided he wanted it.

  Yanking back from him, Marisa lost her balance and staggered. The sounds of her exam room doors sliding open sounded. She ignored them. Bradi grabbed for her and pulled her into his warm body. The need to kiss him again, to welcome his tongue in her mouth was great. As he leaned down, she thought for sure that he’d kiss her again. He smiled. “Careful now, Doc, wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  “That’s why I keep you around, Bradi. You know how to take care of what’s important to me,” Peter said, appearing in the doorway suddenly.

  She stilled. Had Peter seen them kissing? She knew Peter well enough to know that he wasn’t one to mix words or beat around the bush. He’d have said something.

  Marisa’s eyes met Bradi’s and she saw a shadow pass over them. What they’d done was wrong. It was clear that both parties understood that. Bradi nodded and eased his grip on her. “Yeah, if nothing else, I make a good watchdog, Pete.”

  She wasn’t sure if that was hurt she saw on Bradi’s face, or if he was just toying with her so she glanced at Peter hoping he’d shed some light on it. He offered none. No surprise there. Peter rarely had much to offer in the way of insight into Bradi. He was such a sharp contrast to Bradi that she wondered how they’d even become friends.

  “Hey, Commander, I thought I told you that I’d meet you in a little bit.” Marisa winked at Peter, signifying she was only joking.

  Walking toward her, Peter took hold of her arms a bit harder than needed and gave her a good jerk. “And I’ve told you before that I do not like to be kept waiting--ever.”

  Marisa gave Peter a questioning stare as she tried to wiggle free of his grasp. “Peter, you’re hurting me,” she whispered, hoping Bradi wouldn’t overhear her.

  He eased up a bit but gave her a hard stare in the process. Peter’s normally warm personality seemed ice cold almost daily as of late. She’d noticed it more and more and wasn’t sure what had prompted it. Sure, Peter was under a great deal of stress with his new position but he’d had that for two months now. The hard as nails persona had come on in the last three weeks.

  Glancing down at her, Peter smiled. It was forced and void of emotion. “Excuse us Bradi, but I need to kiss my woman.”

  “Your woman?” Marisa shot back, not caring much for the reference and still upset about the rough handling. She tugged her arm free of his grasp. “I am no man’s property.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” Peter gave her a sheepish grin and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I love you.”

  “On that note, I am leaving,” Bradi said, sounding oddly even tempered considering how heated he’d been only moments earlier. “I have to check in on the command deck. We are heading into non-Commission territory and it looks like we’ll have that damn meteoroid shower to contend with after all. Our scouts tell us that it’s not bad, but I would advise going around it if at all possible. I think it might be safest.”

  Peter gave Bradi a sickeningly sweet smile and when he spoke, Marisa could almost hear the sarcasm dripping from his every word. “That is precisely why you aren’t required to think--buddy. We aren’t adding any additional time to our trip. We’ll continue on course as planned. I’ll catch up with you in a bit. Drinks and a round of cards sound good to you, too?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Bradi headed for the sliding doors, not once bothering to look back. It was as though he’d already forgotten what had passed between them.

  How could she have allowed him to kiss her? What was she thinking? He was Peter’s friend and a jerk.

  Yeah, a jerk who could really kiss!

  Chapter Two

  Marisa laughed and put her hand between her soon-to-be husband’s knees. Shifting on his lap, she wasn’t about to let Peter slip through her fingers yet again. They’d been on the ship for close to two months now and in that time they’d had only a few scattered and all too brief moments together. His ever growing coldness had only served to hamper them as well.

  “Mmm,” Peter murmured as he snuggled his chin into her neck, covering her with kisses along the way. He pressed his body against hers and she shivered. “I want you so bad.”

  “We’ll be landing in a few days. Once we’re on solid ground, you are mine.” Her body was starved for sex. Peter had earned another promotion within the Commission and although it was an opportunity of a lifetime, it meant galaxy relocation. Moving one galaxy over shouldn’t have been that big a deal for Marisa, but she’d only been off Earth a few times in her life and was terrified of what else existed beyond it.

  She’d heard horror stories and prayed they weren’t true.

  “Are you sorry that you came?” Peter asked, obviously sensing her change in attitude.

  “Don’t be silly. I agreed to marry you, didn’t I?” It was the best answer she could come up with and it was the truth. She’d agreed to marry Peter with little to no engagement period. He received notice of his promotion and had asked her to be his wife instantly. It was the only way they could remain together, and they weren’t quite ready to break up, but certainly weren’t ready to commit to marriage. At least she wasn’t. Only married officers were permitted to bring anyone along. They’d allowed her to come not only because they set a date to be married before they took off but because of
her skills. The engagement contract she’d signed was proof enough for the Commission, so obtaining a boarding pass was easy. The only stipulation was that upon landing she and Peter would be required to wed one another immediately.

  Her father had been less than pleased with her short warning and afraid that if she wasn’t happy with Peter, she’d be stuck so many light years away that it’d take him months to retrieve his only daughter.

  Marisa had no fears that she wouldn’t be happy with Peter. No. She’d been with him for close to two years. The minute she’d laid eyes on him she’d fallen for him. He’d been hurt during a droid attack and had been brought directly into her care. The Commission had found its medical resources spread thin after a multi-universe epidemic close to fifteen years ago, so healers of any kind were asked to come forth and be trained.

  Her father, fearing that if she revealed her additional inborn gifts to anyone she would be killed, had forbidden her from joining in the call. It wasn’t her fault that she possessed certain gifts from birth. Gifts that could aid in healing many. She’d had to wait until her eighteenth birthday before being allowed to join the Commission. Once in, she found out quickly that being alone in a predominately male barracks wasn’t the best idea for her ‘condition.’ It tended to become unmanageable when her passions ran deep. Marisa knew that she needed to wait until she and Peter were alone and not in the middle of space before she allowed him to enter her body and make love to her--for the safety of all on board, it had to be that way.

  She could only hope that Peter would understand that she was different, more than human and that he’d forgive her for keeping it from him.

  Peter slid his hand under her gray T-shirt and gave her a sultry smile. “I can’t wait until we can be alone.”

  Knowing that Peter’s body was as hot with need as her own with no end to the torture in sight, Marisa decided to change the subject. “Tell me again of Margaidia.”

  Peter’s eyes lit up. “Margaidia is beautiful--depending on what part of it you’re in. It’s as big as Earth. As I told you before, I spent the first three years of my training there. That’s were I met Bradi. He’s originally from there you know. You’ll love it. I promise. I can’t wait to see you in our new home, with little ones at your feet.

  “Oh, and there are lots of shops filled with dresses and the most beautiful red flowers that will look stunning tucked into your silky brown hair.” Peter took a piece of her long hair, twirled it around his fingers, and pulled her closer to him. “I love you, Marisa.”

  “You know how to woo a girl. That’s for sure.” She didn’t comment on the fact that he’d brought up Bradi again. She’d mentioned her dislike of the man right after meeting him, but Peter swore that Bradi was a friend. She could concede that he could be Peter’s friend, but it didn’t take away from the fact that the man was an arrogant jerk.

  An arrogant jerk who made her knees weak and her pulse race.

  Without warning, the ship lurched forward and Marisa tumbled off Peter’s lap. His hand was still wrapped around her hair and she screamed out as he was thrown in the other direction. Flying toward him, she put her arms out in an attempt to catch herself.

  The ship leveled and Peter pulled her quickly to him. She tried to free her hair from his grip, but it only wrapped tighter around his arm. He yanked a knife from his belt and cut the long strand of hair free from his arm, only a moment before the ship jolted again.

  Marisa screamed as the knife Peter held dug down into her arm accidentally. Peter yanked it out quickly. “Marisa!”

  Glancing down, she saw the large gash and knew that it would require a good twenty minutes with the lancer to fix. Peter tried to pull her to him again, but she held her hand up. “Go, you’re needed on the bridge. I’m fine.”

  “I love you,” he yelled as he ran toward the bridge.

  The radio on her hip vibrated and Marisa knew right away that she was being paged to help the injured. She tapped her ear to activate her built-in chip and closed her eyes.

  “Show me the damage.” The chip in her head immediately began to access the ship’s main computers. Her mind was flooded with images of large holes in the sides of the ship. Her gut twisted in a knot as she realized that the ship was beyond repair.

  Having no desire to continue to look upon her demise, she barked new orders out at the chip, “Not that damage! The damage to life forms.” She had to be vague because several of the beings on board the ship were anything but humanoid.

  The initial scans revealed that seventy-five percent of the crew had been killed. The picture that the ship showed her of the mess hall was enough to make her have to swallow down the bile in her throat. No one in the mess hall had survived. Startled by the horrific images that were now displayed before her, Marisa stumbled backwards and screamed out when something seized hold of her waist.

  “Calm down woman, it’s me,” a deep, heavily accented voice said from behind her. “Your arm? What the hell happened to it?”

  “Bradi?” she asked, shocked by his sudden British inflection. It sounded so natural, so right for him that she wondered if that too was part of what he hid from the Commission. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, come on. We need to get you to a release POD and treat that wound. Dr. Graves has ordered you off the ship. He wants you at the rendezvous point to care for the wounded.” He paused. “There are only a few survivors left.”

  “I know.” Not wanting to think about the massive amount of fatalities that had flashed before her, she nodded and took Bradi’s hand in hers.

  His brow furrowed as he looked down at their joined hands. “It will be okay, baby. I promise.”

  Normally, Marisa would have snapped at Bradi, any man for that matter, angry that he’d called her a pet name. Now, it was music to her ears. Something deep within her wanted that to be true, wanted her to be his significant other. It was absurd but there nonetheless. Squeezing his hand tighter, she offered him a slight smile. “I trust you even if it turns out you really are part toad.”

  He winked. “Come on.” Bradi pulled her down the hallway and past the medic chambers.

  “Wait!” she cried out, digging her heels into the floor.

  At six foot six, Bradi towered above her. When he looked down at her and shook his head, she had to take a tiny step back to fully appreciate how intimidating he could be. “We don’t have time for this, Doctor. The ship isn’t stable and life support is dropping as we speak. Give it another few minutes and we’ll all be frozen to death or sucked into space. That’s not really my idea of fun, so let’s go.”

  “But my supplies. I need my bag! The injured will need my attention.”

  Bradi growled and ran a hand through his long black hair. “Fine. But I’ll grab it.”

  Marisa wanted to protest, but knew better. Bradi was the ship’s lieutenant commander and wasn’t used to taking orders from anyone but Peter or the Captain himself. She still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to get to his position. He stood in direct opposition of everything the Commission required an officer to look and act like. His hair hung just past his shoulders. He had a goatee, and he gave no regard to the number of times he was reprimanded for drunken brawls while on leave or layovers.

  “Marisa!”

  “Peter?” She spun around to find Peter racing down the corridor toward her. He put his hand out and seized hold of hers. “Where’s Bradi? I sent him to get you.”

  Sparks flew over their heads as the ship’s life support systems began to systematically blow out. Peter slammed into her and took her to the ground. Rolling with her, he pinned her body beneath him, protecting her from debris. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. Another rumble started and Peter’s eyes widened. “We’ve got to get to the release PODs now. Where the hell is Bradi?”

  The door to the med unit opened just as another explosion went off. Bradi glanced at them as an overhead beam swung down behind him. Time seemed to slow for Marisa as Peter rolled off her and ta
ckled Bradi to the ground. The beam crashed down onto the men and Marisa pushed up hard and fast to get to them.

  Fire shot up around them. “No!”

  She kicked the beam with all her might. It moved slightly before wedging itself in the doorway. She covered her mouth as she saw the two men lying lifeless. Holding her hand out above Peter’s back, she closed her eyes and accessed her internal chip.

  “Diagnostics.” Instantly, Peter’s vitals appeared to her. He was still alive, but something was wrong. Moving her hand to the left, she found the source of distress. His ribs were broken and his lung was punctured. Scanning further, she realized that part of the beam must have struck his head, rendering him unconscious.

  A deep moan caught her attention right before another explosion went off, this one shaking the entire corridor. “Pete?”

  “Bradi?” Marisa called out as she tried to roll Peter gently to the side.

  Dark lines covered Bradi’s face and at first, Marisa feared that he’d suffered burns from the fire. He brought his hand up and wiped his face, moving the soot with them. As Bradi opened his eyes, Marisa let out a small breath when she found them uninjured.

  She put her hand out and went to access her built in chip again. Bradi shook his head no. “I’m fine, baby. Worry about Pete.”

  Marisa’s jaw tightened. “You will shut-up and allow me to worry about you, too.” She accessed her chip. “Diagnostics.” Running a quick diagnostics test on Bradi, she discovered that aside from a nasty bump on his head and a few minor cuts and bruises, he was fine. The second she felt another headache coming on, Marisa stopped her scan of Bradi.

  “Can you help me get Peter up?” The ship jerked and the beam creaked. Marisa yanked hard on Bradi’s shirt and he rolled out of the way, taking Peter with him.

  Gathering Peter up, Bradi tossed him over his shoulder. He glanced back at Marisa. “I dropped your medical bag.”

  “I’ll get it.”