"This replicator is a gold mine, Kinley," Joe commented as he yanked out a handful of special metal screws he'd programmed the replicator to produce.

Kinley's heart swelled with warmth at the excitement reverberating from Kayla and Piper as they'd accompanied her and Joe, Taylor and Blackie back to the Statue of Liberty and down to the crash site of the s.p.a.ceship Blackie had taken her to days ago.

During the stormy days that had followed her violent memory recall, she and her five siblings had taken refuge in one of the huts and outlined a plan on repairing the derelict ship near the Statue of Liberty. By a.n.a.lyzing everything Kinley and Blackie remembered, and from what Piper, Kayla and Kinley had reported about their crash, they'd decided the older ship would be an easier repair job, plus it was much closer to them.

They had begun a list of items they would need to program into the replicator in order to start the repairs. The ship was, according to Joe, an older model, but was also twice the size of the newer streamlined ships, like the one she and her sisters had arrived in.

They would also need to build new sleep stasis beds for each individual. It would be a tight fit for all of them, but they would be asleep for most of the journey back home anyway so getting on each other's nerves would be minimal.

From the information Jacey, Ben's mate, had given them about the computer viruses layered through the atmosphere-as well as the disintegration layers surrounding Paradise and the drones that patrolled certain areas over the land-they would have to build some pretty heavy-duty antivirus programs and strong deflector shields to protect the ship.

According to the computer models, thanks to the ship's computers they'd been able to repair, it would be a rocky ride away from the planet. But all indications proved they would be able to make an escape safely. It would be a monumental task to get everything together to repair this ship, but achievable.

As Kinley backed out of the broken hull of the ship, she caught Blackie's gaze. They'd been so busy with the plans she hadn't spoken to him about her memory recall regarding her rape back on Earth. But he knew. She could see in his eyes that he knew what had happened to her.

Anger, pain and other emotions she couldn't put a name to flared briefly in his eyes before he concealed them. He was a guarded man with his emotions, but she was the opposite. At least she had been carefree...until she'd been attacked by those men.

She needed to make sure she didn't fall back into the pattern of withdrawal and mistrust of all men she met. She would have to seek counseling when she returned to Earth. In the meantime, there were other things that needed to be done. Like helping to rebuild this s.p.a.ceship in order for them to get home.

There was something else she needed to know too. Did Blackie still want her?

Over the past few days, Blackie hadn't been able to get Kinley out of his mind. Anger over his helplessness to make her feel better and confusion as to why he cared so much for this female kept him awake at night. Tonight though, he'd come down to the river to reflect on what he should do next. Stay here with Kinley? Or return to the Death Valley Boys and try to change things?

He'd cared for other females, but not as much as this one. It frustrated him that he allowed her so much control over him. It annoyed him that the decision to return to Death Valley was not as easy as it would have been before meeting Kinley Hero.

Awareness melted over him as the unique, sweet, sensual scent that belonged only to Kinley drifted through the air. He recognized the soft pattern of her approaching footsteps in the darkness and it took all his energy to force himself to remain seated. The only thing he wanted was to stand and grab her and kiss her and tell her that he wanted to be her male.

"Blackie, can we talk?" Her soft voice shot out of the darkness like a velvet bullet.

He said nothing as she paused. She sighed in anguish and his heart cracked.

"Sit," he ordered. His heart began to pound insanely against his chest as puzzlement slammed through him. If she wished for them to part, then he would leave. First though, he would allow her to speak, and then he would retaliate with his own words why they should remain together.

"Are you coming with us?" she asked after she sat down beside him.

His fears only increased. She wished for him to follow her to another world. But what if after they arrived, she decided she no longer wished him to be with her? Where would he go then? What would he do? He had never had these insecurities before. He had always known what he wanted to do with his free life.

But now, things were very different.

"What do you wish for me to do?" he asked.

Yes, he was insane. Once he became a free male, he had sworn he would never allow a female to tell him what to do. Now he was doing it all over again. Yet with this female, it seemed right to ask.

"I won't go if you don't want to leave. That is, if you still wanted me to be with you, I would stay here with you."

He swung his head to stare at her as excitement that she would want to stay behind with him flooded his heart. Perhaps his insecurities were untrue?

As he looked at her, she smiled at him, her sweet lips curled upward, and his heart went warm and happy. She looked beautiful in the white splash of the light from the moon above. Her hair was neatly pinned on top of her head and she had a few sweet curls dangling along the sides of her face. She wore a light cloth that clung to her wickedly erotic curves and he grew hard despite knowing he should give her time with her newfound memories. Give her time to sort out the problem of what had happened to her in the past.

If they stayed here, she would be in danger. With the Death Valley Boys' plans to explore the entire Outer Limits, everyone was in danger.

"I will go with you. If there is room. And if you wish it."

"I wish it, Blackie. I really wish it," she whispered.

He caught the excitement lacing her voice and the heat sparking in her eyes.

To his surprise, she leaned against him. He inhaled sharply at the soft touch of her breast against his shoulder and the tender breeze of her mouth as she kissed his cheek.

Before he could react and grab her and kiss her on the mouth, she stood.

"I'm glad, Blackie. I will make the arrangements."

And then she disappeared into the darkness, leaving Blackie aching so badly for her he wondered if he would ever be his normal self again.

From their perch on the other side of the riverbank, Taylor and Kayla snuggled closer together as Kinley leaned against Blackie and tenderly kissed him on the cheek. A moment later, she left.

"What do you think she said to him?" Taylor breathed before he sucked her earlobe into his mouth. Her entire body tingled at the sweet and tender way his teeth nibbled her flesh. Gosh, this man sure did know how to treat a woman.

"She was asking him if he was going to come along with us to Earth," she replied softly.

"What do you think his answer was?" he asked as he let go of her lobe and sensuously rubbed his bearded cheek against hers, sparking erotic friction against her sensitive skin.

Kayla giggled at his innocence. Was he for real? Had he not noticed the sparks flying between Kinley and Blackie?

"Have you seen the way they look at each other when the other thinks he or she isn't watching?"

He moaned as she rubbed her face against his. "The same way we look at each other?" he asked.

He got it. She grinned. "Yeah."

"Good. Then Blackie will be a very happy male. Just as I am. I am sure everyone here will accept him and forgive his past as they have done with Jarod and myself."

"Things will work out for them, you'll see. Just like things have worked out for everybody."

"And for us too."

She turned her face in his and eagerly accepted his mouth as he slid his lips against hers.

Yeah, everything was going to work out just fine.

Four weeks later...

There was an odd buzzing in Kinley's ears. The noise unsettled her. For a split second she wanted to slam her hand down on the snooze b.u.t.ton, but when her palm hit something smooth, solid and cool, it dawned on her she didn't have an alarm clock on Paradise.

The odd realization snapped through her sleep, prodding her awake.

Opening her eyes, she blinked at the dryness that made her eyelids stick. She blinked several more times, trying to orient her thoughts. Suddenly her eyes opened and a room rolled into focus.

A warm fuzzy sensation she really liked melted through her and she remembered how happy everyone had been when they'd boarded the newly constructed s.p.a.cecraft. They'd checked and rechecked everything with the computers. The life support systems, thrusters, computers, replicators and stasis pods. Everything had worked to perfection. They had agreed to pick straws as to who would be allowed to awaken first once they entered their solar system and, to her excitement, she'd picked the shortest straw.

And so here she was. Waking first.

But boy, her limbs were a bit rusty as she slowly moved her arms and legs. Being asleep for a year does that.

She wished she could move faster because she really wanted to see Blackie again, but the first few minutes after awakening were the toughest. It was crucial she move slowly in order to allow her body to adjust, so she exercised her arms and legs while staring up at the ceiling through the plastic encasing of the sleep pod.

She reached for the b.u.t.ton that would allow her to get out, but something seemed terribly wrong.

She was not in the s.p.a.ceship they'd re-created. She was back in the s.p.a.ceship she and Kayla and Piper had arrived on Paradise in. Correct that. She was in the s.p.a.ceship they had crashed into the Fever Swamps. And the s.p.a.ceship looked totally intact. As if nothing had ever happened. As if they had never crashed.

What the frig?

Unease rumbled through her like a rolling earthquake and she hesitated, pressing the open b.u.t.ton for the pod. What was going on here?

Cripes!

In her groggy state of reawakening, she hadn't realized the buzzing alarm had stopped or what it had meant. Her heart started pounding way too fast and waves of lightheadedness made her surroundings swirl.

Okay don't panic, girl. Something isn't right here.

Suddenly she got the sense she'd been through this scenario before. Not just once, but many times. Awakening to an alarm. Smoke. And right on cue she saw a thin spiral of gray smoke that would signify the ship's systems were failing. The computer started wailing warnings. Her gut reaction was to get them all out of their sleep pods. But she hesitated. This time she wouldn't panic. How could she? She knew exactly what was supposed to happen next.

Taking a deep breath, she moved her finger off the escape b.u.t.ton. Instead, she pressed another b.u.t.ton. A tiny screen slid along the top of the pod right over her head, about two feet from her face. It flickered on. She tensed at the sight.

Floating in s.p.a.ce were several other s.p.a.ceships. There were no stars normally a.s.sociated with s.p.a.ce travel. Only total blackness, except for eight other s.p.a.ceships that seemed to glow golden-white from some unseen light source. Her tummy hollowed out. She knew what was happening.

Kinley swore violently and closed her eyes as understanding sliced through her. Somehow during their sleep stasis, their s.p.a.ceship had been tugged or somehow wandered into one of the many wormholes that littered this quadrant of the galaxy.

When they had all entered the rebuilt s.p.a.ceship, they'd gone to sleep wearing sleep clothing. She was naked. Just as she had been before the crash. This wasn't the re-created s.p.a.ceship. This was the original one she'd arrived in.

If she didn't push the "open" b.u.t.ton and get out of this pod, then the s.p.a.ceship may not crash. Her sisters wouldn't meet their hunky guys. She wouldn't find her brothers.

s.h.i.t!

If she was right, then she could break this cycle of whatever the h.e.l.l was causing them to repeat time over and over again. Who knew how long they'd been stuck in this vortex-if that's what it was. They could have been stranded here for years for all she knew. Her gut clenched with anguish.

What was she supposed to do?

Chapter Fifteen.

Something was wrong. Blackie knew it the instant he opened his eyes. He'd been trying to awaken for quite some time, but he kept wanting to drift back to sleep. Back to dreamland. Back to her.

Oh man, such hot, f.u.c.king, s.e.x dreams he'd had. Dreams of f.u.c.king Kinley over and over again. Of having his c.o.c.k plunging in and out of her succulent mouth. Her silky, plump lips melting over his hard length, her mouth wrapped tightly around his c.o.c.k. The things she did to his c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s with that lethally beautiful tongue of hers. She made him so hard he could come over and over again. Could f.u.c.k her like this forever.

Yeah, forever...

An odd buzzing snapped through his fantasy.

s.h.i.t! He'd somehow drifted off again. This time he forced himself to open his eyes and keep them open. His stomach rolled into a sickening knot. Something was wrong. He wasn't in the sleep pod they'd put him in. The metal on the beams holding the plastic wasn't the same color. The lighting in here was different. From what he could see, the rest of the s.p.a.ceship looked altered.

And he wasn't some s.e.x slave who'd been pleasuring women for years. His name was Josh Black. Captain Josh Black of the United States s.p.a.ceship Raider. His crew called him Blackie for short.

His heart began hammering at the conflicting thoughts. Why did he think he was a s.e.x slave? He was a captain of a s.p.a.ceship, for crying out loud. They'd been sent to an unexplored part of the Section Four Quadrant when something had happened. He searched his memory, struggling for something he should know, but came up empty. His mind whirled and he bit back the swirl of panic.

Okay. Stay cool, Blackie. Stay cool.

He forced himself to take several deep, steadying breaths and his thoughts began to gather.

Kinley. Had she been a figment of his imagination? He swallowed back another round of panic. Was he in love with a woman who didn't exist? Holy h.e.l.l, if she wasn't real then he'd rather sink back into Paradise and let himself believe she was real.

Closing his eyes, he fought back an overwhelming loss. It lodged thick in his chest. Could he survive this devastation? The odd buzzing that had awakened him from sleep stasis was the intruder alert alarm. He peered at the mini-com support screen that gave him a quick view of all life support and defense systems on the s.p.a.ceship. He sharply inhaled. Someone had breached security and boarded his ship. Yet everyone on board was helpless as they lay sleeping in their pods.

He tensed as a shadow appeared just outside his pod. Held his breath. The silhouette looked familiar.

"Kinley?" he whispered.

He blinked as a hand reached out of the shadows of the darkness and a feminine palm pressed against the plastic enclosure just above his face. He recognized the bracelet with her name on it. His heart soared.

A moment later when she came into view, her sweet face looked down at him with the most awesome smile. He couldn't help but laugh in relief. He didn't know what the h.e.l.l was going on, but as long as Kinley was here, alive and healthy, he really didn't care.

Behind her, shadows moved. Lights flickered on and suddenly the enclosure of his pod slid open. Her sweet, s.e.xy scent attacked him and he sat up. Her arms swept around him and she hugged him so tight his ribs ached.

"Ben thinks everything we experienced was a dream. Just a dream," she whispered against his ear.

A dream? What the h.e.l.l?

"It appears as if we all got pulled into some sort of a wormhole," Ben Hero said from somewhere behind Kinley. "See the s.p.a.ceships out there? Sensors show all the occupants of the ships are in sleep stasis. From what we can deduce, the wormhole screws with the dream centers of our brains."

Okay, so maybe he was dreaming now? How could he tell what was real and what was fantasy?

"After your crew gives us the information on their fantasies, I'm sure it will confirm what Ben suspects. Then we can talk privately," Kinley said as she pulled away from him and stood. She was grinning at him like a Cheshire cat who'd just caught the canary.

"Maybe you'd better get dressed. I know how much you love to sleep in the nude."