Adrift by Erica Conroy Read Free Book Online

done?"
    "Yes," he sighed.
    "Good. Anymore of that and I'd have lost all respect in you as a man," she teased. Jasmine felt Norik start to shiver and frowned. He was also burning up. When he didn't respond to her verbal dig she pushed away from him, worried. He looked worse than he felt. "Let's get you back to bed."
    Jasmine wasn't sure if she preferred getting him back to the bunkroom while he was conscious or unconscious. On the one hand he was able to use his feet but it soon became apparent that he was delirious, which made it harder to convince him to return to the bunks. One such entreaty was met with his informing her that no one ordered a Corps Commanding Officer around. She'd promptly 'Yes sir'd' him and tried another tactic, which she gave up as well, after he slapped her. He also received a bruise because of it.

    Norik was not the best patient. Even his Medical Chief rued having him in her medbay, although he had never been so bad before that his medic had to resort to sitting on him to keep him confined to bed.
    Jasmine passed the time reading the tablet that Norik's crew had left for him. She found the stick figure illustrations that accompanied the lesson on temporal mechanics to be quite charming. The romance novels were very racy and had her shifting her precarious position on top of Norik whenever she came across the good bits. Norik for his part grunted in complaint while his fever-riddled body tried to fight off the infection.
    Norik's fever broke just as Jasmine started on the second biography. His breathing became more regular.
    Jasmine, who now lay beside him, lifted herself up onto an elbow and studied his face. The creases around his eyes and mouth had smoothed out. It comforted her to know his sleep would be more peaceful. She reached out and brushed his hair back, it was damp with sweat like the rest of him, but it didn't bother her. Instead of recoiling in disgust at a sweaty man, she wanted to get closer to him. Something about him drew her in. A sheen of sweat on a half naked, half Lyrissian made her want to do very naughty things, like trail her fingers down to his navel. Jasmine lowered her gaze to find she had done just that.
    Jasmine shivered and glared at him for having very bad timing. If he weren't unconscious right now she'd have... She stopped and asked herself what would she have done? The man denied himself sex because of a tragic accident that had happened the last time he had been close to a woman. The very last thing he needed right now was a woman throwing herself at him, especially after she had been the one to rip that scab off.
    Jasmine rolled out of the bunk and put her hormone fueled thoughts down to the seven romances she'd just read. She stretched and pondered what she could do to help take her mind off the devastatingly attractive, yet emotionally vulnerable man that lay half naked behind her. As much as she wanted to take advantage of him, it would be the absolute worst thing she could do to repay him for saving her life. Twice.
    Feed the prisoner , she decided and picked up the plasma blaster. Its larger size was much more reassuring than her own weapon had been. Jasmine smiled at the thought of pointing it at the prisoner. Although he hadn't threatened her like the other two, she looked forward to asserting her authority over him with it. Maybe she would offer to save his foot if he would undo whatever it was he had done to the ship. They were still in the dark and life support needed to be turned back on. She had no idea how much breathable air they had left. The thought that she had survived what the General had thrown at her only to be killed by CO2 poisoning pissed her off. No, she would take matters into her own hands and prove Norik wrong. She would get them out of this mess and not run to him for help. The sulky prisoner was going to do as she ordered, or else.

    Sulky proved to be more of a challenge than she had thought. The threat of losing body parts did not