Page 19 of Atlas: Colony: Nyx #5(Intergalactic Dating Agency)

NINETEEN

Atlas woke up on a mattress on the bunkroom floor, his legs so twined with Peri's that there was no way of untangling himself without waking her. Not to mention his cock was still hard and buried to the hilt inside her, and if he moved he feared he'd explode. And while solstice fever might have turned him into a rutting animal, he hadn't lost his wits to the point of forgetting to ensure she reached her peak before him, every time.

"Mmm," Peri said, blinking, before rolling them both so she was on top. Somehow during the night, she'd lost her clothes, so now her breasts bounced every time she bucked her hips, and Atlas couldn't take his eyes off them. Off her.

Oh, stars, she was clenching around him, tighter and tighter as she arched her back and cried out his name, and he couldn't resist any longer. Ecstasy claimed them both.

Several hours later, after they'd shifted to the showers and he'd had her up against the wall no less than three times, he managed to drag himself back to the computer. Not because he wanted to – he'd carried Peri to bed afterward, and he'd wanted nothing more than to bury himself deep inside her for the next week – but because some nagging thought in the back of his mind told him he needed to.

A comet sat in the middle of the screen, its stubby tail wavering a little as it passed close by Delta.

Elation sank into the black hole depths of despair.

He'd missed the comet. Stars-crossed solstice fever had made him lose his mind to meaningless sex so he'd missed documenting the comet. He had to hold onto the desk to stay upright, or he feared he'd melt into a puddle of utter uselessness on the observatory floor.

"Atlas? Are you coming back to bed? Because I promised I'd help you cool that solstice ardour of yours and it looks like I still have work to do." Her besotted smile smote his heart. He wanted nothing more than to go back to bed with her, to forget his failure, but he didn't dare. If she knew...she'd toss him out on his ear, and rightly so. What kind of astronomer missed the career-making comet of his life, not once, but twice?

"The comet. We were so busy, we forgot to watch for the comet, and it's headed for the sun now, where it might burn up and vanish forever." Along with any credibility he'd have in the astronomy community. He didn't dare look at her, not wanting to see her smile fade.

Instead, he hurried out to the orchard, and locked the door behind him so she couldn't follow.