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for lost time.
    She finished bathing and stepped out, drying off and following the
    instructions on the plaque on the wall, much like in the cubicles where
    they’d changed their clothes. Nothing would be brought in so they had to be
    careful so they would have clean linens and clothing the entire duration of
    their captivity. The same thing with food and drink. There was plenty as
    long as they didn’t waste any or overindulge.
    She slipped into the regulation issue generic pants and shirt, brushed out
    her damp hair, and left the cubicle for the main area of their sparse quarters.
    There she found York in the galley, and Armada at one of the screens, a
    slight frown on his face as he stared at what looked like a computer model
    of the inside of a building. He glanced up as she came into the room. “Good
    morning, Lieutenant.”
    By the stars, she blushed like an idiot. “Good morning,” she said
    briskly, trying to ignore the warmth in her face.
    “Hungry?” Trey rummaged in the cooling unit and took out a package.
    He set it on a shining metal ledge flanked by chairs supposed to serve as the
    eating area and gave her one his devastating smiles, a hint of cocky male in
    the lift of one brow.
    She was hungry, actually. Aspen inclined her head, hoping she looked
    cool and calm. “Thank you, yes.” The dignified effect was spoiled when she
    went to sit down and winced.
    “Sore?” he asked bluntly, unwrapping the food and setting it on a
    serving disk.
    An embarrassing question but he was right, she was a little tender. No
    wonder, since they’d both been, well, extremely enthusiastic over the 051
    regulation. “A little,” she admitted as she accepted the food. When he
    handed her the disk, their fingers brushed and she couldn’t believe the
    answering shiver that went through her body.
    Trey York had very talented hands and it wasn’t confined to the controls
    of a transport craft.
    He looked thoughtful. “I’m going to bet there are lubrication capsules in
    the med kit. I’ll look.”
    “I’ll be fine,” she said hastily, wanting to change the subject.

    The Covenant: The Starlight Chronicles 2
    31
    “Oh, Lieutenant, you are more than fine, let me tell you.” He winked,
    the look in his crystal blue eyes telling her he found her morning after
    embarrassment amusing. “Your enthusiasm for doing your duty has made
    the next weeks trapped here sound like a vacation in paradise instead of a
    prison sentence.”
    “Is sex all you think about, Pilot?”
    “That and flying,” he admitted, unrepentant and teasing. “Two of my
    favorite things.”
    Not a surprising answer. He was as good as lover as he was a pilot. Still,
    Aspen wanted some measure of control over the situation. The night before,
    she hadn’t had any. They’d taken over everything, her body, her senses, her
    will…
    “Aspen, when you’re done eating come look at this. Tell me I’m not
    wrong here.”
    The familiar use of her first name without her permission made her
    stiffen, but then again, she supposed considering she’d been intimate with
    him in the most basic of ways a female could be with a male, maybe
    Armada felt entitled. She didn’t wait but got up and carried her plate over
    and stood behind him where he sat by the screen, staring at the model.
    “What am I supposed to be looking at?”
    “I accessed the colony database. Here’s our energy station. This isn’t the
    same—”
    She interrupted, “You did what ?”
    Larik looked up at her, his sapphire eyes glimmering. “Broke in.
    Hacked. Bypassed their defensive walls, whatever you want to call it.”
    She swallowed because her mouth had been half-full and she stared at
    him. “That’s impossible.”
    “I was bored. It took me about two seconds. Anyway—”
    “Armada, have lost your mind? It’s a capital offense.”
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I used the governor’s link. Right now
    the system thinks I’m him.”
    She wasn’t sure whether to be