One tap, and it was open.

“That was fast,” she said, then she peeked around him. “Or did you bring your new girlfriend?”

He grinned. “Stop, or I’ll think you’re jealous.”

She rolled her eyes and stepped back, letting him in.

“You cleaned up,” he said, looking around. It wasn’t exactly pristine, but he could see more surfaces than before.

“That’s why I need your phone,” she said, holding her hand out. “I lost mine. I need to use yours to call it. And don’t even think about giving me shit for having one. We all signed papers, and I bet half the crew has them.”

“Who’s so important that you’d trust me with your secret?” he asked, pulling out his phone.

“My sister. I have to check on her.” The answer was guileless, and, if his gut was correct, honest.

“What’s wrong with her? Is she sick?”

“She’s alone, that’s all.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty-six.”

He laughed. “And no babysitter?”

She snagged the phone he offered and dropped on the bunk. “I just like to talk to her every day. We’re all we’ve got now.”

“You can call her from that, if you like.”

“That’s okay. I just want to find my own phone.”

Normally he’d have dialed, not wanting her to see how advanced the phone was, but he needed her to look at the keypad. When she did, he surreptitiously slipped her cell phone from his pocket and flicked it under the blanket.

In a second, the bed vibrated with a soft hum.

“Oh, thank God,” she said on a sigh of relief. “How in the heck did it get under there?”

“You should try making your bed.”

“We all have our flaws.” She lifted the sheets and blankets and dove halfway under them as she sought the source of the vibrating. She glanced up from the sheet cave, shaking her head a little as she looked at his exposed chest. “Well, some of us do, anyway.”

He smiled at the compliment. “I have plenty of flaws, believe me.”

“Faults, maybe.” She whipped her hand up, victoriously producing the phone. “But flaws? You have none. You’re great looking, have a charming personality, an excellent diver, and you share the wealth and credit with your crewmembers. You even worried about my burns before yours last night.”

“Yet you were ready to think the worst of me when you saw Alita Holloway in the lab.”

She nodded. “I was, but since you came to my phone rescue so quickly, I believe you can add ‘avoiding her charms’ to your list of attributes.”

“If you’re not careful, you’re going to start to like me.”

“Don’t worry. Won’t happen.”

He laughed softly. “Why not?”

“Because I’m…” She trailed off as if she’d said too much.

“You’re what?” He trailed a finger up her arm to coax her. “Why don’t you finish that sentence?”

“I don’t want to.” She looked at her phone again. “I wish I could trust you, though,” she said softly.

“Because you have secrets, don’t you?”

“Everybody has secrets.”

Bracing his arm behind her, he leaned closer. “Tell me yours.”

For a second, he thought she would. Then she jerked away, pushing herself up from the bed, but he grabbed her arm.

“Never mind,” he said reassuringly. “I’m not interested in your secrets.”

She settled back on the bed, not quite as close, but near enough for Con to feel her warmth. “You’re interested in something,” she said, eyeing him. “I haven’t figured out what it is yet, but you’re after something.”

“Two guesses, Lizzie.” He let his gaze drop to her mouth, brushed a curl out over her cheek, and kept his eyes open so he could watch hers close as he kissed her. “First one doesn’t count.”

THE CONTACT WAS so light, Lizzie was more aware of sweet, warm breath than the feel of his mouth. Her eyes began to close but his didn’t, so she fought the urge to sink in to the kiss. Instead she held his eye contact, as electrifying as his mouth, as sexual and sensual as anything she’d ever felt.

Silver blue. Intense. Locked on her.

He angled his head slightly and added an infinitesimal amount of pressure, just enough to make it a real kiss and send a wave of warmth from her mouth to her… everywhere.

His fingertip grazed her jaw, a whisper of a touch, barely a caress. She breathed in a little, and that seemed to pull him deeper into the kiss, the tip of his tongue softly, slowly circling the opening of her mouth.

Her eyes heavy, her hands achy, she finally closed her lids and lifted her arms to rest on his shoulders, turn her torso toward him, and pull closer. He met her halfway, his chest against hers, their thighs pressed on the bed.

The instant they had body contact, he slid his tongue into her mouth, stealing more breath and sending more heat through her. A soft moan vibrated her mouth, and she wasn’t sure if it was him or her or both, but the sensation just made her want more.

As natural as the next breath, he guided her on her back, the move so sweet and easy, she just let it happen, falling on the unmade bed like it was a cloud.

“You’re seducing me.”

He smiled into the kiss. “Man, I hate to be so obvious.”

She broke the kiss, but he just added some body pressure, gently rolling against her hips, taking his lips from her mouth to her jaw and down her throat.

“Why are you doing this?”

This time, he laughed. “You really don’t get out much, do you?”

Still, the sense that there was an ulterior motive lingered. “I mean why… me and not Alita?”

Lifting a little, he frowned. “Dumb question. Bad timing. But I’ll answer it if I have to.”

“You have to.”

“You’re cute and sexy and funny and…” He kissed her again, with a quick stroke of his tongue. “I like you.”

As if that was all that needed to be said, he returned to kissing her so completely she couldn’t stop the twisting ache low in her belly, the fiery sparks making her want to slide her leg over his hips and pull him into her.

Her heart hammered and he lowered his head, dragging that tongue over her, as if he were going straight to the source of all the noise in her chest and could simply… lick it.

Her fingers tightened on his head, tunneling into thick, soft hair, lifting his head before he reached his destination and she was gone for good.

“You like this, or you like me?”

A soft puff of air escaped with his frustrated chuckle. “Both. I like you. I like this.” He rocked his hips against her. “But honey, if you just want to talk for a while…” His tone left no doubt he didn’t want to, but the offer stood.

Did she? Too much time, and she’d tell him everything. And she still couldn’t be sure he was trustworthy. So why was she horizontal on her bed, when she was supposed to be calling Brianna for an update…

“You’re thinking too hard,” he said, inching his hand up her waist, perilously close to the breast that had just escaped his mouth. “Don’t think, Lizzie.”

“I don’t just… do this with anybody.”

“Good to know.” One more inch. His thumb grazed the underside of her breast, the thin fabric of her shirt somehow making the contact positively incendiary. “ ’Cause I’m not anybody.”

He fooled her, lowering his head before his fingers moved again, closing his lips right over the hardened tip of her nipple, the cotton no match for his tongue.

The room spun, and her body went boneless and helpless and lost.

He pressed his lower half against her, that beautiful manhood she’d admired in the shower fully erect now, pulsing with each move of his hips, finding her center as he shifted so their bodies met.

The concept of stopping faded with every suspended second of sweetness, her lower half completely melted, her brain just as mushy, and all she could do was clench his shoulders and let it happen.

Just as he glided his hand around her breast, circling it with certainty, the fog started to lift. How far was she going to let this little session go? Far.