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

alongside Dylan, shifting as little as I possibly can so I don’t


disturb him but he looks at me anyway, his eyes dulled and shiny


with lust. “Where are you going?” he murmurs, sitting as I prop


myself up on one elbow and curl my legs onto the bed. “Neal—”


“Lie back down,” I tell him. He obeys,


resting his head on my legs, and then he rolls onto his side so


he’s facing me, his back to the rest of the room and his unzipped


jumpsuit falling open to reveal smooth, pale skin. “You’re so


beautiful,” I breathe, running a hand along his muscled chest. He


brings his knees up as I fold my arm beneath my head, and now we’re


an unending circle, an eternity, just us two. A perfect position,


actually, if we were alone. But we’re not.


He watches me as I rub his exposed flesh, my


hand sure along his body, the contours more familiar to me than my


own. When I brush across the front of his boxers, his eyes slip


Chapter 54