Lana's Comet (Outer Settlement Agency) by Lyn Brittan Page A

have to let her go.
    Awesome thing about wishes – ever so rarely, they come true.
    When he collapsed next to her, she kissed his chest, nuzzled his jaw and closed her eyes. “We’ll feel bad about this tomorrow. Not tonight. Okay?”
    He grunted his agreement. An agreement completely full of shit. He had every intent of beating regret away. He wouldn’t have it. It hadn’t come when he fell asleep and it sure as crap wasn’t there when he woke up the next morning, exhausted and smiling. Lana lay curled up against him, with an upturned nose pressed into his ribcage.
    “Silly Earthling.”
    “Huh?”
    He opened his mouth to clarify, but she’d gone off into delicate snores and he let her rest. She’d earned it.
    A kiss on the top of her head was all that he’d chance. Then he leaned over and grabbed his omnitablet from the nightstand to address the runaway roommate. Before he could start, the indicator blinked. He blew up the message, projecting it against the wall.
    “Well, hell...”
    A promotion. In the middle of this shit storm, his dream drifted from the skies and right into his lap. Now what? The gold ring he’d wanted dangled millimeters away. His name, his face and his new position as a Venus based trainer stared right back at him.
    Lana’s arm tightened around his waist and her snores took on a lower resonance as she drifted deeper into sleep.
    She’d patched him up. Twice.
    He’d saved her. Twice.
    She’d saved him. Twice.
    He meant to make love to her, twice.
    But what about afterwards? Last night he’d started to believe this could work out. This promotion would change that, but he didn’t regret his involvement. They’d have to be careful, but the line of no return was crossed weeks ago. Then last night they’d crossed it again.
    If she were awake, she’d tell him he was thinking too hard. So he reduced everything to basics. Keep the woman. Get the promotion. Save all of humanity...in that order.
    Done.
    He slid out of bed, careful not to disturb her. If she’d just been a trainee, he’d have given her exercises to make her a lighter sleeper. OSA agents needed to make explosive movements from any starting point. He’d have had sirens and lights waking her up at random intervals.
    That was then. Now? Lana could sleep as soundly as she wanted with him at her side. How exactly, would take some work to figure out. She would finish camp highly ranked, close enough that a relationship wouldn’t be questioned. More than that, they had two supremely different specialties with no overlap. Hell, if he got up to an even higher-level training position, they might let him choose the medic for the course.
    Or not.
    One damned break was all he needed.
    People owed him favors, starting with his brother. While getting dressed, he dropped his omnitablet on the electro charger and grinned as it landed next to hers.
    And he grinned even harder because hers rested next to someone else’s.
    He ran his fingers over the third device and found it bio-locked to one Michi Yoshisumi. Brilliant . He pocketed the thing and snuck out the room moments before the morning alarms sounded.
    With little time to spare, he dipped into his quarters for a gel cleansing, removing the filth of the streets from his shoes and the fragrant aroma of their lovemaking from his body. He stepped out to find that he wasn’t alone.
    Only one other person was coded for entry. His brother lounged on the white sofa, feet dangling over the edge. “Morning, Cyprus.”
    “Vin. Isn’t it a little early for you to rise from your tumble of bodies?”
    “I know you don’t believe it, but I take my job seriously.”
    “Is someone questioning your ability as a security chief?”
    “Just me. I doubt myself sometimes.” Few things shocked him, but an unconfident Vin was one of them. His brother’s hands shielded his face, muffling his words. “When I heard that two of my brother’s trainees disappeared, I told my boys to send notice to you