"Sorry. I fell asleep on you," he said.
Sheena nodded. "Yes, and sadly, I have to go back to my own room now."
"Or you could just stay with me," he whispered, his lips sweetly brushing her forehead.
Sheena tilted her face up to look at him. Nate was handsome as ever and as appealing as the first time she laid eyes on him in college. She brushed a hand through his close-cropped hair and ran her fingertips over his smooth jaw.
"You are my only real weakness, Nate. You always have been. I could give two shits about most people, including the other men I've been with, but I've always, always cared about you. If you'd ever learned to put me first, I'd probably still be with you."
"I never stopped loving you," Nate sleepily confessed.
"I knew that the moment I saw you again," Sheena replied. She patted his cheek, then rolled away until her feet could hit the floor. "I've always loved you too. But love can't thrive in a relationship where we disagree so much over politics. You think you know everything, but you don't, Nate. There are fathoms of things you don't know. Your mother, and the rest of your family, have gone to great lengths to make sure you stayed isolated. Angus and Erin are the best thing to happen to you in years. Knowing them might actually save you from yourself."
"Are you leaving me again?" he asked, his half-lidded gaze watching her walk to the door.
"Tomorrow you won't even remember I came to see you, so you won't understand that I left. This is for the best, Nate. I'd feel guilty for doing this to you, except it was certainly a lot better than all the pointless arguing we've been doing."
"You used to like me, Sheena. I want us to like each other again. I don't want to fight with you anymore."
Sheena nodded. "I don't want to fight either. Sleep now."
Obeying her orders for once, Nate nodded and rolled to his side again.
Sighing at the appealing picture he made lying there, Sheena left before she gave in and climbed back into the bed. She was just as frustrated as Nate was, but he had no one to blame but himself for his problem. Another two minutes earlier today and Captain Cock-Blocker would have walked in on them both naked.
Sure, she'd figured out the emergency had been Carleton and Elsa's arrival, but the captain could have handled meeting the shuttle. What a wimp. Nate needed to get someone with a real pair of testicles to be his second. No … what he needed was a woman. A woman would have reported in and gone on to get it done.
He'd married a strong woman like that-at least the first time. He'd been raised by a strong woman too. In fact, thoughts of Nate's mother and what she would do to her if she ever found out Sheena had drugged her precious son kept her feet moving forward until she was out the door.
Chapter Nine
Toorg was on duty when she returned. He gave her droids a strange look, lifted a blond eyebrow, but opened the door to Bri's suite without commenting.
Sheena nodded to him before turning to her droids. She gave the order for them to return to the shuttle bay, proud as hell when they both looked at Toorg and nodded before leaving. The grin on her face lasted until she walked inside the room.
"Hey sweetheart. Where have you been?"
"Scott? What are you doing here?" Sheena asked.
"I think that's the question I should be asking you. You've been gone for days now and never checked in. I got worried."
Sheena's mind went blank as he walked to her. Bri exited the kitchen with a couple bottles of water, saw her with Scott's arms around her, and narrowed her gaze on the man.
It didn't take much to figure out he'd been sent to see what was going on. Bri knew it and she knew it.
They'd both been in the game too long to think he'd come to the AAS airship voluntarily. No one did that.
Scott's passionate kiss caught her off-guard, and left her totally un-aroused. Damn Nate anyway. One taste of him again and she was back to not feeling anything for other men.
The next kiss was a little more pressing, and more surprising than the first, given her sister was in the room too. It wasn't like Scott to be so demonstrative. If she hadn't already suspected he'd been ordered there, she would have after his tongue had danced in her mouth. When he pulled away this time, she looked up into his clear green gaze. He was hiding something. What was he hiding?
Putting her hand on his neck, she raked her fingernails gently down his skin, hoping it hid the scrape of her ring as it released what was left of the serum she'd used on Nate.
"Miss me much?" she asked wryly, working to bring up a smile as she waited to see if the serum was going to work.