Neal James is a space station navigator whose lover, Dylan Teague, left him for a starmapping mission. But when Dylan radios in a distant signal one night, Neal discovers that he hasn't managed to put the relationship behind him in the two months they've been apart. When he's one of the crew members sent to investigate the signal, he finds that his ex-lover feels the same.<br><br>The source of the signal is a lost colony ship. Only a handful of the original colonists remain, survivors of a deadly disease that killed most of their fellow shipmates twenty years ago. To keep the threat of disease to a minimum, the colony adheres to strict laws, including the prohibition of same-sex relationships.<br><br>When the same fatal virus seems to appear again, Neal and Dylan find themselves in the midst of an irrational panic and hate that threatens to destroy everything the colonists have worked so hard to attain.

Operation Starseed

His hands bunch into fists at my sides. “I


was an ass,” he murmurs against my throat. “Take me back, Neal,


please. I’m not asking you to wait two years if you don’t want to


remind him. He looks at me and whatever else I was going to say is


He doesn’t ask to stay with me, just takes


my hand when he rises from my lap and pulls me to my feet, eases


his arms around my waist, kisses me with such tenderness that my


knees go weak and the only thing holding me up is him. And I


thought I could live without this man? He thought he could make it


He follows me from the nav deck, down the


corridor, to the room where I sleep. Inside the bunk is already


pulled out, the sheets twisted together in a heap in the middle of


the mattress where I left them this morning. I don’t even bother to


turn on the light, just hit the switch to close the door behind us


Chapter 17