He looked at her thoughtfully. “Because you are very pretty, and very interesting. I’m a smuggler captain. I need to be able to assess wares and make hiring decisions. That’s my job, deciding who and what is and is not valuable. And you are clearly very valuable.”
“Even without diamonds covering my tits?” Annie teased, something in her belly warming in a way that had nothing to do with the hot meal.
Leo laughed, clear and loud. “Even then.”
“Captain,” Rick’s voice floated down from an intercom, slicing through the light-hearted moment, “I said I’d contact you if anything happened and, well, something happened. Strathmore’s hailing us. Get to the cockpit as soon as you can.”
Just like that, the air turned to ice. Annie struggled to breathe, cursing her own stupidity as her thoughts faded into a panicked white noise. Why had she thought she could outrun something like Strathmore? Why had she thought he wouldn’t focus on retaliation?
“Hey, hey, hey, Annie, it’s going to be fine,” Leo said as he pushed away from the table and walked around the table to kneel in front of her.
“Of course it’s not fine,” Annie spat back. “He’s going to catch us and he’s going to kill me, and then he’s going to kill all of you for helping me.”
She tried to stand and discovered that her knees had turned to paste. Leo shot up to catch her as she toppled forward, wrapping his arms around her. Clutching at his shirt, she pressed against his chest and tried in vain to take comfort in him.
“I should never have gotten on this ship,” she whispered.
Leo shushed her. “Don’t say that. You’re exactly where you’re meant to be.”
“How would you know?” she demanded.
“Because you being here feels right to me, and I’m hoping it’s the same for you,” Leo answered.
Annie looked up at him. “I’ve known you for less than a day, I can’t… I’m not…” She broke off and shook her head, frustrated.
“There are worse things to do than fall in love at first sight with the girl who jilted a warlord,” Leo teased with a gentle smile.
Annie snorted. “You didn’t fall in love with me at first sight. You’re not that kind of guy.”
“Maybe not,” Leo said. “But I did see you and realize you would be incredibly important to me if I let you. You crashed out of that damn forest in a torn up wedding dress and combat boots and I just thought ‘of course, this makes perfect sense.’”
“Is my incredible importance in your life getting you killed?” Annie asked.
“I’m willing to take that chance. I’ve always been a sucker for redheads,” Leo answered.
Annie looked at the man in front of her. It made sense that she was attracted to him; he was beautiful. But she refused to be the kind of girl to fall head over heels for someone without knowing them. Still, he was offering to risk his life for her and that was hardly nothing. She leaned up and slowly, gently, pressed her mouth to his.
“What was that for?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m not sure, exactly,” Annie answered, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. “I guess we’ll have to find out.”
“Have I mentioned I’m a huge fan of hands-on research?” Leo asked and pressed his mouth to hers. He was every bit as gentle as she had been but not as chaste. Running his thumb softly over her hip bone, he pressed his tongue to the seam of her lip. Annie let go of his shirt and wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her mouth to him.
The kiss was the kind of thing she stopped herself from imagining during quick hook-ups with men she never saw again. It was intimate and slow, the kind of kiss that promised all the time in the world. Annie thought her heart might stop. There were, she supposed, worse ways to go.
“Leo, I—oh, Christ, really?”
Leo and Annie jerked apart to see Rick scowling at them.
“I thought the intercoms were down,” the brunette said, “so I came to find you so we could deal with this situation we’re in. Of course, if you feel that going at it like teenagers is more impending than out impending doom, by all means go ahead.”
“I was just, ah…” Leo coughed. “I was just showing her how to shoot a gun, don’t worry about us.”
Annie cringed internally as Rick looked very pointedly at Leo’s weaponless self.
“Anyways. Please relocate to the cockpit. I have a suspicion that if I ignore Strathmore’s calls any longer he’s going to just blast us out of the sky.”
“Right,” Leo said, smoothing his shirt. “Lead on.”
The terror that had lessened in Leo’s presence returned with a vengeance. Annie grabbed his sleeve.
“Tell me it’s going to be okay,” Annie hissed at him.
“At very least it’ll be interesting,” he answered. At her glare, he added, “I’m not in the habit of letting my people get hurt you know. Have a little faith.”
“For the man who thought ‘I was teaching her to shoot a gun’ would actually work?”
“You’re lucky you’re gorgeous enough to get away with that. Anyone else and I’d be forced to challenge them to defend my honor.”
“You have none to defend,” Rick cut in as they approached the cockpit. “Now, be firm, be polite, don’t let him access video, and don’t get us killed.”
“I can do that,” Leo said. He entered the cockpit and sat in the pilot’s chair, leaning over to press a button on the dashboard. Annie and Rick hung back.
“Don’t worry,” Rick murmured. “He’s actually very good at this.”
“I’m just afraid ‘very good’ isn’t going to get very far against Strathmore,” she answered quietly.
“Hello, Appomattox,” Leo said in a firm, agreeable voice that Annie recognized from the beach. “You are speaking to the captain of the ICS Breakwater. How may I help you?”
“Hello, Captain Ingram,” Strathmore said, voice as chilly and distant as ever. “I believe you have something of mine. I’d like it back.”
“Sir, I assure you that all cargo on my ship was gotten through a trusted supplier. I doubt—”
“Feigning ignorance will gain you no mercy. We both know I mean the girl,” Strathmore interrupted. “Anyanka, are you listening in? I imagine you are, since your new friends haven’t seen fit to allow a video call. How are you? It doesn’t matter. No matter what the answer is, it’s so much better than you’ll be once I have you again, you dim-witted bitch.”
Annie shuddered and Leo’s hands clenched so tightly on the edge of the dash she was afraid he might dent the metal.
“And why, exactly, should I give her back to you after that?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I’d have thought it was obvious. I’m giving you the chance to earn the right to continue living. My sorry excuse for a bride in return for the lives of your crew. It’s an excellent deal.”
“With all due respect,” Leo said in a tone that made it very clear exactly how much respect he thought that was, “I think this is something I should discuss with my crew.”
“And give you time to plot? I think not,” Strathmore said, sounding bored. “You decide now, Captain. Is whatever the little whore’s been doing for you really worth risking your life over?”
Leo went rigid. “I think this conversation is over, Captain Strathmore,” he said in a voice ironically similar to the other man’s. “Fare well.”
He cut the connection and thumbed a few switches on the dash. Rick swore.
“Hold onto something,” he told Annie. “He’s about to get us out of here fast.”
As soon as he finished talking, the ship seemed to tilt. The artificial gravity compensated for the sudden burst of speed, but Annie still felt the nausea roil in her gut as the ship suddenly jumped to warp 8.
“What the fuck was that?” someone (Annie thought Hyde) bellowed over the intercom.
Leo slammed his hand down on the talk button. “Family meeting, kitchen, five minutes,” he growled. “We’ve got some shit
to discuss.”
Annie wobbled to the kitchen, leaning heavily on Rick.
“Is it always like that?” she asked him, struggling not to vomit.
“I’m going to go ahead and let you in on a secret,” he said, smiling at her. “The answer to that question will always be ‘yes, but you’ll get used to it,’ unless you’re asking about Custer singing in the shower in which case the answer is ‘no, actually, it only gets worse from here.’”
“Good to know,” Annie said as he helped her into a chair. She leaned forward and shut her eyes, trying to relax enough to let her stomach unknot. The effect was ruined when Custer and Hyde barged in.
“What’s happening? Are we running from pirates again?” Custer asked excitedly.
“Not… exactly,” Rick answered. “I’ll let the captain explain.”
“No, I think you wanna tell me now,” Hyde said, nostrils flaring. He pushed the bandana keeping his dreadlocks out of his face up to glare more effectively. “Look at Custer. How does he look to you?”
“He looks happy,” Rick said in a resigned voice.
“Exactly. And do you know what the leading cause of that psychopathic little shit being happy is?” Hyde said, barreling on before Rick could answer. “You and the captain pulling some stupid shit that the rest of us have to handle. Now, there’s a girl at our table who Strathmore—the Strathmore—is looking for and Custer is smiling like he just got a puppy for Christmas, so maybe tell me why we’re flying like our ass is on fire because I am leaping to some very disturbing conclusions.”
Rick hesitated. “It’s exactly what you think it is.”
Hyde nodded, took a deep breath, and then released a series of expletives of such variety and creativity that Annie felt the urge to take notes. Custer laughed.
“What’s going on?” Dominic asked as he walked in. “I need to get back to engineering. Captain’s gonna pull our girl apart if he keeps overworking her like this.”
“Stupid motherfucker just went to war with Strathmore,” answered Hyde, his head now resting against a wall.
Dominic looked hard at Annie, his already blank gaze somehow managing to become even more expressionless. He pulled out a chair and sat.
“I’ll just wait until Leo gets down here, then,” he said calmly.
From what Leo had told her, she didn’t want to see him when that calmness faded away.
Leo walked in after a moment of tense silence.
“I take it Rick’s filled you in on the situation?” he said when he was greeted by two glares and one manic smile.
“A bit,” Custer said. “Care to fill us in.”
Leo sighed explosively and ran his hands through his hair. “At the moment, we are currently at odds with the good Captain Strathmore. He demanded Annie’s return, I refused.”
Hyde threw his hands up and tossed out a few more choice swears.
“So what do we do now?” Dominic asked.
“You can’t take it back,” Annie said, her voice thin. “He doesn’t give second chances. There was probably a bounty on this ship the minute you cut the line.”
Hyde snorted. “Who do you think we are? We’re not in the flesh trade.” He looked at Leo. “I’d say space her, but that wouldn’t solve our problems, would it?”
“Not as such, no,” Rick said. “We need to run.”
“I wasn’t aware we could outrun Strathmore,” Dominic said. “The Appomattox isn’t the fastest ship, but if there’s a bounty on us we’re not just going to be dealing with one ship.”
“Custer? What say you?” Rick asked.
“I say we just kill Strathmore,” Custer replied.
“Great idea, idiot, we just waltz up to the best guarded man in the galaxy and shoot him. No way that gets us killed,” Hyde said.
The crew continued to argue amongst themselves, but Annie was finding it hard to pay attention. She was scared, she was tired, and she was horribly aware that she was on the verge of tears.
She started as a warm, tan hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed.
“I’m going to go check the controls, make sure we’re good,” Leo said. “You guys keep brainstorming.”
With that he tugged Annie out of her chair and down the hallway.
They stopped at the entrance to the cockpit. Leo turned to face Annie and tilted her head up with a gentle hand.
“Hey, we’re going to get out of this, okay?” Leo said. “We’ve got people all over the galaxy. Don’t worry.”
Annie was about to point out that she’d have to be an idiot not to worry when a blinking light on the dash caught her attention.
“I can’t promise it’s going to be fun,” Leo went on, “but hey, we’ll make it out okay. Strathmore’s powerful, but he’s not omnipotent.”
“Leo—” Annie started.
“Just one more thing. I said I’d protect you, and I don’t go back on my word. I want you to know that,” Leo said softly.
“That’s great, but Leo, look,” she said, pointing.
Leo straightened when he saw the light flashing.
“We’re being hailed? By who?” he said, stalking over to the dash. “No one who we don’t know should be able to hail us. Strathmore clearly had the resources to get through anyways, but there’s no way anyone else is getting through.”
He hit a button and a holoscreen flickered to life. Leo blinked in surprise as he looked over the information. “What the… that’s the Honorable’s signature. I wouldn’t have thought Captain Lurk was the type to work for Strathmore.”
“Captain Lurk? You mean Josephine Lurk?” Annie asked incredulously.
“That’s the one. You know her?” Leo said, turning back to her.
Annie nodded. “She traded banned whisky to bars around where I lived for years when I was a kid. My mom was a ship mechanic, helped patch up the Honorable a few dozen times.”
Leo raised an eyebrow and accepted the call.
Seconds later, Josie Lurk was peering at them through the holoscreen. Annie felt an unexpected rush of relief course through her at the sight of the familiar captain, taking in the dark skin and curly black hair of the woman who brought her a model SK-class Destroyer for her ninth birthday and told her that one day she’d be piloting one as her mother squawked in outrage. She smiled.
“Hey, Jo,” she said.
“Hey there baby doll, Captain Ingram,” she said, nodded at them. “So I just got a bounty for a truly ridiculous amount of credits in exchange for your heads on pikes. A sum which Captain Strathmore has generously offered to double for you to be given to him alive.”
The story poured out of Annie, from coming home from a twelve hour shift to find her father waiting for her to Strathmore calmly detailing exactly what he’d do to her if she resisted him to her escape. At some point, Leo grabbed her hand and held on tightly. She threw a grateful smile at him and continued. Josie looked calm throughout the entire explanation, but Annie recognized the tightening of her jaw.
“I think,” she said after Annie had finished, “that I’m going to kill your daddy.”
“That doesn’t really help anyone,” Annie said, shrugging. “Otherwise, I might have tried myself. As it is, I yelled at him until he ran off to get him out of the way when I ran. I just hope Strathmore hasn’t been able to find him.”
Adam (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 1) Page 7