Children of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy Page A

forehead.
    “Are you cold?” he asked.
    “No.”
    “You’re trembling.”
    Because I want you. Edie clenched her fists and reminded herself of all the reasons this was a bad idea. She’d resisted all feelings of desire for Finn, telling herself he couldn’t do his job in protecting her if he was distracted by a sexual relationship. Years ago, her trainer Bethany had died in that very situation when she and Lukas had fallen for each other.
    But they weren’t on a rover ship now. Her life was no longer in danger, and no one was forcing him, or even paying him, to watch over her.
    “You’re in my bed,” he said.
    “You’re taking liberties…” She kept her tone playful.
    He slid his fingers out of her hair and made a show of lifting his other hand off her stomach. Now no part of him touched her. She turned her head to face him. He wore an easy half-smile, like he already knew what she would do. She waited a breathless moment, feeling the anticipation build as her skin cooled where his hands had been and the rest of her body heated up, starving for contact.
    “I want you to touch me,” she said.
    His hand returned to her stomach, this time underneath her top, making her flinch and then relax. She released a shaky sigh as his fingers and thumb stroked parallel paths down the sensitive skin on either side of her navel.
    He was taking his time about it. She rolled onto her side and into his embrace. Lips crushed together before limbs had time to adjust. Then she was on him, hungrily, whilehis hands slid around to cup her bottom. She pressed against him, overeager in her desperation, and sensed him holding back. He rolled her onto her back, not breaking the kiss, and straddled her but held his body away from hers.
    That gave her other opportunities. She dragged her fingers down his chest, feeling his stomach muscles tense under her fingernails, and tugged at his waistband. He groaned and broke the kiss. Reaching down, he grabbed both her wrists and pulled her hands away. He lowered his forehead until it almost touched her chest, breathing hard, his body tense.
    Only then did she understand.
    The leash. Her arousal was firing up the leash and causing him pain.
    Frustration drew an anguished moan from her throat. Anger followed quickly, forcing hot tears to her eyes. She blinked them away before they spilled, untangled her legs from his and slid off the couch. He caught her hand briefly but she pulled away and stumbled across the deck toward her room.
    “Edie—”
    She didn’t want to face him, didn’t want to talk about it. Of all the reasons she hated the people who’d jacked Finn’s chip to enslave him, this one suddenly felt like the cruelest of all.
    Somehow he caught up with her before she made it through the door, pulled her against him and held her while she tried to calm down. She had to calm down. Her anger was as tumultuous as her sexual arousal had been. The leash didn’t distinguish. Either way, it blasted his head with static.
    Warm in his embrace, the raw emotion subsided but the outpouring hadn’t doused her desire. She pulled back a little, leaning away as his embrace loosened.
    “I will fix that,” she said. In truth she had no idea how to, and was terrified to try. Interfering with the leash might cause it to detonate.
    He gave an understanding smile while his eyes gleamed with a hint of mischief. “That would be…terrific.”
    “I still need to give it some thought first.”
    He nodded and let his arms slip away, and she went to her room alone.
     
    It was early evening when Edie awoke. She hadn’t meant to sleep that long and realized with annoyance that her diurnal rhythm was completely reversed from that of the ship.
    Her clothes, everything she’d collected from the quartermaster, were piled up on a console near the door. Finn must have brought them in while she slept. She could hear him moving about in the next room. Her mind replayed their last encounter and she wondered how he