Samael's Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

completely south of the equator.”
    So her guess had been right. IHS was going to quarantine the Pacific Zone.
    “Char, I’ll contact you after I take care of this. We’ll go see the hydroponics annex.” He left through a side door followed by a security detail that must have been watching them the whole time.
    The station had gone into nightside over an unlighted, uninhabited stretch, but now the dark blank below gave way to a jewel-like phantasm of light. Char had no idea which city they were over or if they were north or south of the equator. This was an entirely new way of being alive in the universe. Night and day changed every ninety minutes.
    The light reached up into the Blue Marble’s nooks and crannies. With Mike and the Blood City boys gone, the open groping in the bar was harder to ignore. Jake didn’t seem to care for it; he was playing with the origami from his empty drink.
    “You said you   like   this place?”
    “No. I said it was interesting.” He displayed the paper figure on his flat palm. “I do like the dragons.”
    Until today, she hadn’t been with anyone since Brandon. The sex with Jake Ardri had been a one-time thing. That’s what she’d told herself. She never expected to see him again. Now she found herself thinking about how good he had made her feel.
    Jake handed her the origami dragon and stood up. “Let’s get out of here.”
    In truth, she was very glad to see him again.

Objects in Space
     
    Below the window to infinite space, Jake was spread like a feast on Char’s bed. Maybe the erotic activity in the Blue Marble had stirred her up. Maybe all the talk about fertility. But evidently her long self-imposed celibacy had come to its end.
    Or maybe Jake alone had brought her out of it. Sitting between his legs, she ran her hands over his thighs and leaned forward to kiss the skin below his navel. He fondled her breasts, and she reached up to his shoulders, stretching alongside him like a cat. She inched up to nuzzle his neck and pressed her naked skin against his.
    She slipped under him and pulled him over. His warm strength poured into her, filling her with a sense of well-being. He was melancholy and grateful—or she read her own bittersweet pleasure in his sad groans. She pulled him in, arched her pelvis, and urged him to the deepest place he could find.
    When they were exhausted and satisfied, Char lay quiet on Jake’s chest. She listened to the strong bu-bump of his heartbeat and the air moving through his lungs. He needed a shave. One of her favorite things about a man, that stubble at the end of his day.
    He was easy to be with. He didn’t want anything from her. Not like Mike—not that she had feelings for Mike. Cripes.
    She liked Jake’s independence. Sex usually complicated things with men. Either they couldn’t wait to get away from you afterwards, or they wanted to keep you in a pumpkin shell. Jake promised neither.
    “I have a confession to make.” He kissed her forehead. “In the   Junque   on the way up, I   did   want to go for your precious parts.”
    “I knew it.”
    They took a shower together. “Twice in one day,” she said. “My life is suddenly the picture of luxury.”
    “Oh, you mean the shower? I thought that smug look was on my account.”
    “Well, it   has   been a while since I’ve been with a man.”
    “Um, not that long.”
    “Oh, that didn’t count.” She blushed at the reference. “That was chaos sex.”
    “And this was on purpose?” He looked hopeful. How sweet.
    “Definitely.” She kissed him and stepped out of the shower.
    She headed for the closet but changed her mind and put on the same outfit. Silly, but she wouldn’t want Mike to notice that she had changed clothes.
    Then she noticed her other flight pants out the corner of her eye, the ones she wore on the ride up. She uttered a little cry and snatched them off the floor. Trembling, she unzipped the pockets until she found it.
    “Char?” Jake was at the