'Yes,' Sybil muttered reluctantly. 'Could you uh leave the tray at the door? Uh I'm not dressed.'

There was silence indicating surprise. 'Yes, ma'am. I'll leave it by the door.'

d.a.m.n it to h.e.l.l!

Anka studied her, but there was just no getting around the fact that the interruption had totally blown the mood. 'I should get that. Someone will wonder why it's outside.'

With obvious reluctance, Anka withdrew and allowed her to settle to the floor. 'Stay there,' she whispered, wrapping her robe around herself with shaky hands and tying the belt.

She saw the man's back as she opened her door and reached for the tray. He turned and threw a glance back at her. Forcing a smile, she waved, s.n.a.t.c.hed the tray from the floor and went back inside.

She could feel Anka's watchful gaze as she crossed the room and settled the tray on the small table she usually used as a desk. Uncomfortable, she glanced around and discovered he'd straightened his clothing. Disappointment flickered through her, but she didn't suppose there was any possibility of recapturing the moment. d.a.m.n it! d.a.m.n it! s.h.i.t! 'Have you eaten?'

He shrugged, but approached her. 'Earlier.'

How much earlier? 'Would you like to share?'

He shook his head, but she didn't miss the interest in his eyes as he scanned the covered dishes. 'I don't really like eating alone and I'm not comfortable eating in front of anybody,' she said tentatively.

He joined her at the table. 'I only have one chair, but we could move the table to the bunk.'

The moment she made the suggestion visions danced through her head of the two of them cozying up on the bed and feeding one another. Truthfully, she was far more interested in the cuddling and other things than she was the food. When he'd moved the table, though, she took a seat on the bunk and allowed him the chair. 'I hadn't realized that you were part of the Sumpturian enclave,' she said when he sat down. 'I looked for you.'

He sent her a sharp look and finally grimaced. 'In all honesty I expected you to slam the door in my face.'

She might have if he hadn't caught her completely off guard. 'But you came anyway.'

A slow grin curled his lips. 'I figured I was due a door in the face and, of course, hopeful you'd invite me in.'

She decided not to tell him she'd been far more worried about him being seen outside her door than anything else at that moment. 'You haven't worn out your welcome yet.'

He sent a quizzical look. 'No?'

She met his gaze. 'I guess I'm a sucker for a pretty face.'

He chuckled at that. She liked his laugh, but she was more charmed by the warm color that tinted his cheeks.

'You do do blush!' she exclaimed, laughing. blush!' she exclaimed, laughing.

He sent her a mock stern look as she removed the covers and began to divide the food, giving him the largest portion. 'Certainly not. Don't give me all of your food.'

'I'm actually not that hungry.' Not for food anyway.

Almost as if he could read her mind, Anka sent her a smoldering look.

'I see your ankle is better.'

'Thankfully. I'll have to remember not to use it the next time I need to knock somebody out, though. They're always weak after a sprain. I was thinking about putting in for a discharge anyway when my tour's up.'

He sent her a speculative look. 'Any particular reason aside from the injury?'

'The injury had nothing to do with it. I was thinking about colonizing before that. It's the reason I volunteered for the Mars project to start with. I've been ready for a change for a while. Not that I haven't enjoyed the career, mind you, but I think, maybe, I've outgrown it.'

'So you're planning to move to Mars?'

She shrugged. 'We'll see.' She hesitated. 'Command didn't consider that I comported myself with the dignity they expect of an officer in what they refer to as the Venus *fiasco'. If I hadn't already been considering moving on, that would've changed things, anyway. Now it's just one more reason for a career change. It isn't likely that I could look forward to any more promotions-certainly not any time soon.'

He frowned. 'Because of what happened on Venus? I'm sorry.'

'I'm sorry that you're sorry. I'm not.'

Something flickered in his eyes. 'In that case,' he murmured, smiling faintly, 'I don't regret it either.'

'No? I got the impression you did.'

He studied her a long moment and got up, moving around the table. When he settled beside her, he drew her down on the bunk with him. 'It's far more complicated than you seem to think,' he murmured. Reaching for her belt, he untied it and pushed the robe open, stroking his fingers lazily over her. He left a path of pebbling skin in the wake of his touch. A shiver of delight traveled through her. She watched his expression, studying the details that had faded in her mind in the weeks since she'd seen him.

He looked thinner, she thought abruptly, wondering if he'd been ill. His color seemed healthy, though. Stress? Very likely, she decided, although it would've been nice to think he'd been pinning for her. He had a heavy load on his broad shoulders.

The thought brought her gaze to them and she lifted her hands to rub them along his shoulders. 'You're overdressed,' she murmured a little hoa.r.s.ely.

'You're impatient.'

'I am.'

He lifted his brows at her, but sat up and removed his boots. 'You aren't expecting any other callers?' he asked wryly as he reached for the closure of his suit.

Sybil chuckled. Sitting up, she pulled her robe off and tossed it aside. 'I'd forgotten that one,' she said. 'I had other things on my mind.'

When he settled beside her once more, they lay on their sides, face to face, simply staring at one another. 'What's going through your mind, I wonder?' he murmured.

'Not much. I was just enjoying the view.'

He studied her curiously. 'You're serious?'

She smiled. 'Why would you think otherwise?'

He shook his head at her. 'You should have your eyesight checked. You do realize you have an alien in your bed?'

'A ril-yes. You may have noticed I hadn't met a man that appealed to me enough to take him to my bed.'

He shifted closer, stroking a hand slowly down her arm, almost thoughtfully. 'So you're saying rils appeal to you more?'

'You know that isn't what I'm suggesting.'

He grinned knowingly as he lowered his head to brush his cheek along hers. 'Just checking,' he murmured against her ear.

Sybil sighed with a mixture of pleasure and disappointment. She'd hoped he would give her something, but she wasn't really surprised that he hadn't. She might very well not see him again. Tonight was an unexpected gift of fate, though, and she didn't want to spoil a moment of it.

She didn't truly know why he seemed drawn to her anymore than he understood why and how she could find him attractive, she supposed, when he was so different from her and anything she'd ever known. For her, it was a matter of her senses-pure and simple. He excited them. As much as she appreciated his intelligence and his sense of humor and the other qualities she saw in him, he made her hot and that was why she wanted him.

She couldn't tell him why. She didn't know why. She just knew he did, couldn't deny it.

He seemed to think she had other motives. It was so typical of the male of her own species she wondered just how different he actually was.

Of course it had occurred to her to wonder why he found her attractive and if he actually did or he had some other reason for seducing her. She would've liked for him to dispel her fears, but could he truly do that with words even if he'd tried? Wouldn't doubts linger in her mind because she knew she couldn't possibly be his concept of beauty?

She dismissed her doubts after a moment, determined to focus on the sheer delight of his attentiveness as he explored her slowly with his hands and his gaze until she'd become impatient for more and finally settled to exploring her with his mouth.

She felt no discomfort or wariness when he shifted lower to caress her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she had the first time, only eagerness to feel what she had before. He kneaded them gently with his hands until they were flushed with her pulse, lowering his head to pluck at the tips with his lips only after they'd become so distended his touch was almost as painful as it was delightful. The muscles low her belly clenched spasmodically when he took the first into his mouth and curled his tongue around it.

Heat poured through her. She settled her hands on his head, stroking his hair and then his shoulders and back. Through slitted eyes, she watched his face, studied his mouth as he suckled, feeling the heat climb until she felt like she would go up in flames. By the time he'd decided he'd teased it enough, she felt fevered. She tilted her head back and gasped when he caught her other nipple in his mouth and sucked it, feeling the world go briefly black.

She didn't want to rush him. She wanted to enjoy every moment, but impatience began to ride her, a need to feel him inside of her. 'Come inside of me, Anka,' she gasped finally.

His head jerked upward. He stared at her face for a long moment and moved over her, adjusting her thighs to accommodate his narrow hips. She'd panted until she'd begun to feel dehydrated, vaguely ill with the dust dryness of her throat.

He remedied that with the heated moisture of his own mouth on hers.

She realized the moment the head of his c.o.c.k connected with the mouth of her s.e.x where her moisture had gone. She was slippery with need, almost embarra.s.singly so.

He didn't seem to think so. 'You're so wet,' he said, his voice a husky growl as he pushed deeper.

It sounded like praise. She was too mindless to be certain of anything anymore and unnerved. She began to feel as if she would climax even before he got inside of her. With the best will in the world, though, she couldn't seem to hold it back. He'd barely sank deeply inside of her when it ripped through her. She caught her breath, trying to conceal it from him.

He uttered a throaty chuckle, sawing slowly in and out while the convulsions rattled her. Anger and embarra.s.sment flickered through her, but he dispelled both. 'My nodia nodia. The next will be better.'

Next? She was nearly comatose!

She discovered she wasn't as close to it as she'd thought. He shifted the moment her body had stopped convulsing, rolling to one side and driving into her in long, deep strokes. Her g-spot quivered, reawakening. Uncertainty wafted through her, but there was no denying the steady rhythm was deeply satisfying and within a few moments she felt her body gathering itself again, felt the building tension she recognized.

His muscles began to quiver. His breaths were ragged, harsh against her ear. It unnerved her. At the same time it seemed to reach something deep inside of her, to thrill her in a way that sent her racing upward to her peak again. She gasped, stiffening as the first convulsion hit her.

He groaned, a long, low sound filled with pa.s.sionate anguish. She shuddered, bucking against him as the next wave hit her harder, crying out. Rolling with her so that she was beneath him once more, he began to drive into her harder and faster, driving her climax until she'd begun to think it would shake her apart.

A profound sense of bliss rolled over her when he finally ceased to pump into her, shuddering and then going limp on top of her. 'I'm sorry, nodia nodia,' he said gustily, shifting his arms to lift some of his weight off of her.

'Mmmm?' she murmured drunkenly.

He uttered a half-hearted chuckle. 'I should learn not to make promises. It has been a long time for me, nodia nodia.'

'Mmm? I came twice.'

He rolled onto the bed beside her. 'I was intent upon three.'

Sybil dragged in a sustaining breath and let it out slowly. 'I'm not sure I could handle three.'

He curled his arms around her, dragging her close. 'We'll see.'

'My headache's gone,' she murmured in surprise after a few moments.

Anka stiffened then began to shake with silent laughter. 'I've always thought s.e.x had amazing curative powers myself.'

She smiled against his shoulder. 'I took painkiller.'

'But all you needed was me, nodia nodia.'

Her throat closed at his quip. She was beginning to think that was too painfully true.

Chapter Nine.

Sybil had never been more thoroughly exhausted in her life or happier about it. Despite his threat/promise, Anka hadn't made any attempt to coax her into another round of s.e.x. He'd slept with her in his arms, though, awakened her several times with the light stroke of his hand or his lips in her hair. Regret had filled her when he finally slipped from the bed and dressed in spite of the fact that she'd found it impossible to sleep deeply or stay asleep with him in her bed.

She hadn't wanted him to leave even though she'd acknowledged that she couldn't afford for him to be spotted leaving her quarters. 'You don't have to leave yet.'

He leaned over her, bending down to nuzzle his face against hers. 'I do. Everyone will be stirring soon.'

She sighed her acceptance and her disappointment, but she didn't try to hold him longer. For a little while after he'd gone, she lay awake, and then dropped asleep again just before her alarm went off.

She was a little sore, but even that made her happy, each tiny twinge reminding her of the night they'd spent together.

'You seem to be in good spirits this morning,' Powell muttered. 'You take a happy pill?'

Sybil felt her face redden, wondering if she'd actually been smiling at her thoughts. 'Just trying to brace myself for another tedious day,' she lied, grabbing a cup of coffee and leaving Powell standing beside the urn.

The congressman's aid sent her a piercing look as she came in that unnerved her. Surrept.i.tiously, she checked her uniform to make certain she'd put herself together correctly and then nonchalantly checked her hair. She couldn't tell that anything was askew. She set her cup of coffee down at her desk. 'Excuse me. I believe I'll hit the lady's room before I get started.'

The view in the mirror was something of a jolt. She'd been sure she had concealed the dark circles under her eyes, but she looked like a racc.o.o.n! No wonder the guy had stared at her! Dragging a concealer stick out of her purse, she applied it carefully and then checked the fit of her uniform and her hair. She still looked like she'd had a long night, but it was the best she could do.

The aid met her in the doorway on her way back in. 'Anything you need to tell me?'

Sybil stared at him blankly, trying to get her heart rate down to something close to normal. 'Not that I can think of.'

He studied her for a moment and finally moved to allow her to pa.s.s, but Sybil was a nervous wreck when she sat down at her desk and booted her system. The tedium she'd expected helped to settle her nerves after a few hours, so much so that by the time she'd had her lunch she was fighting sleep. Shortly after lunch, however, an image flashed on her vid display that brought her wide awake.

'What do you know about him?'

Sybil lifted her head and gaped at Phil Meachum, trying to ignore the stares of the others. Anger flickered to life after a moment, chasing her shock and anxiety. 'He's good in bed,' she said baldly.