by Mina Carter
Three weeks should just about do it.
“Not helping. Really not helping.” She wasn’t sure whether her words were for him or for her, but they had the desired effect. He grinned again and disappeared below to clamp the new engines into place.
Half an hour later, she fired the new dual-engine up to seventy percent and watched it match the existing older engine on the other side.
“Perfect,” she said softly, impressed despite herself. That could have gone a lot worse.
She flicked a glance up to find Kel watching her. The dark promise in his eyes took her breath away. The heat in her body roared into a full-blown inferno. Under her top, her nipples tightened to rub in sensual torment against the leather, and the ache between her thighs made her want to clamp them together. Hard.
She swallowed, and did her best to hide her anticipation and slight nervousness behind a blank expression. Anticipation because she’d dreamed of him for years, nerves because she’d dreamed of him for years…and he’d blackmailed her into his bed.
Hardening her heart, she swung the Lady out past the eddies to the relatively calm bank of the road and dropped the anchor. She pushed off the console and walked below without a backward glance.
“Come on, you’ll be wanting your payment.”
Someone had hurt her. Badly. Kelwin lounged on the bed in the captain’s quarters and watched the shapely and very feminine outline through the glass of the shower screen.
She’d trusted someone enough to open up and they’d betrayed that trust. Thrown it back in her face and hurt her in the process. Hurt her so much that she struggled to trust again.
Anger welled up abruptly, taking him by surprise as it roared through his veins with blinding speed. His fists clenched into tight balls at his sides. He would happily track down and kill whoever it was. His body ached with awareness, all his senses enhanced as he readied himself to fight a non-existent threat.
Recognizing the symptoms, he clamped his teeth together and forced the emotion back down. It was the beginning of battle-rage, the curse of all Soldiers. In service, it would have activated the glands implanted deep in his neck and poured Euphoria into his body, turning him into an untiring, merciless killer. Nowadays it gave him a bad case of the munchies and a blinding headache.
He knocked back the contents of his tumbler and hissed as the contents burned their way down to his stomach. Not a bad whiskey. Which was a pity, because at the moment he couldn’t focus on anything other than the woman showering on the other side of the glass.
Tumbler cradled in his hand, he dropped his head back to the pillows and groaned to himself. He was so hard his cock could double as a support strut for the main sail. He couldn’t remember wanting a woman so much in his life. Ever.
What had possessed him to promise romance? He cursed under his breath. All he wanted at the moment was a quick, dirty fuck. He’d take her at least three times, then perhaps he could concentrate on being romantic.
“Suck it up, Sayeed.” His voice was low as he admonished himself. “You promised, so you deliver.”
“Deliver what?”
Rhys stepped from the shower, wrapping a worn towel around her slender frame. Trails of water drew patterns over the golden skin of her legs, an illusion of lace that was more erotic than the platinum-laced stockings worn by high-class hookers. For such a petite woman, she had legs that went on forever.
“Uh, nothing. You look fantastic.” He all but bounced off the bed to approach her. She watched him every step of the way, tilting her head back as he neared. The difference in their sizes hit him again. Compared to her delicateness, he felt like a brute…unworthy of touching her but desperate to all in the same breath.
Male triumph and feral need caught him in their net as he reached forward to hook a finger under the front of the towel. Slowly, inch by inch, he drew her toward him. Desire and vulnerability darkened her eyes, her expression open and honest. He doubted she was aware of it. Rhys Devin was as hard as nails and twice as stubborn. He suspected that if she’d realized her eyes betrayed her, she’d have gouged them out. With a blunt spoon.
“Like…really fantastic.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers softly, back and forth, learning their luscious shape until it was seared into his mind.
He’d bartered for one night, and he knew without asking that one night was all he was going to get so he needed to make it good—make sure she remembered him. Jealousy sliced through him at the thought of other men, fuelling his determination to ensure that he was the man she judged all others by. He pulled a fraction away and released his death-grip on the front of the towel.
“I want you,” he whispered against her lips. “I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you.” Why did that seem a lot longer than half a day?
Her ragged breath shattered his control. With a groan, he dragged her into his arms to kiss her. His tongue swept past her lips, opening them for his conquest, and thrust deep into the silken depths of her mouth. He moaned as her taste exploded on his tongue.
He’d tasted Detorian champagne and indulged his palate with strawberries from Julias Five but not even the most expensive gastronomic delights in the universe could compete with her. The tartness of life-giving oxygen and the almost-there flavor of crisp, cold H2O. Natural and clean, they suited her and were far more to his taste than the cloying scents and lotions most women used.
Wrapping his arms around her, he trapped the towel between them as he made love to her with his mouth alone. Every stroke of his tongue along hers, every nibble and nip along her full lower lip…all with as much gentleness as he could muster. He wanted nothing more than to rip the towel from her lush figure and pull her down to the soft surface of the bed behind them, but he kept himself under tight control despite the complaints of his body. This wasn’t about him…this was about her.
He kissed her until she was whimpering against his lips, until her hands went from resting against his shoulders to wrapping around them, searching and exploring as she pressed into him. Just the feel of her soft curves against the harder planes of his body was enough to send him halfway to heaven in sweet, sensual torment.
Breaking away, he trailed kisses over the exposed line of her shoulder and tried to get his breathing under control. Her head dropped back, the damp mass of silky curls inviting the touch of his hands. Unable to resist, he drove one into her hair, sliding his fingers through the thick locks as he kissed up her neck. He nipped her earlobe lightly and smiled as she shivered.
Leaning back, he smoothed the hair from her temples to look into her face. Up close, the slight lightness at her hair roots revealed red wasn’t her natural color. He smiled to himself. So his little Rhys wasn’t quite as unconcerned about her appearance as she’d have him believe.
“You’re beautiful. You’ve bewitched me.” He stepped back and trailed a finger down her temple to follow the curve of her cheekbone. Flirting with the full curve of her lips, he moved lower, his fingertips brushing the delicate skin of her throat before sliding across her satiny skin to the knot in front of the towel.
“Last chance,” he whispered, unwilling to break the spell between them with anything louder. “Say you don’t want this, and we stop. You can have the engines without this.”
Chapter Five
You can have the engines without this.
His words froze Nerys in her tracks. A frown creased her brow as she looked up at him. His face was drawn, expression tight, as though he fought for control.
“Why? Why would you just give them to me?” The question escaped her lips before her mind could intervene and stop it. The sensible part of her brain urged her to accept his offer, throw him out of her room and set sail again. She might even make the full bonus if they left now.
He shrugged and looked away. Suspicion joined the arousal swirling through her veins and she narrowed her eyes. What was he playing at? Was this all a game to mess with her head…agree to one thing then give her an easy out? It had al
l the hallmarks of a mind fuck and that she didn’t like. Fuck it. She wasn’t letting him get away with that.
“Oh no you don’t. I won’t default. We agreed on this so don’t you dare back out on me now.”
With that, she kissed him, pouring all the pent up passion of a woman who sailed the solar roads alone, and with all the frustration of years of fantasy wrought around the man she’d fallen in love with as an impressionable teenager.
Grabbing him by the back of the neck, she explored. Slid her lips over his and back, savoring the shape and texture. The firmness and the slight brush of his stubble against her softer skin tantalized her before she swept her tongue against the seam to demand access. He parted them immediately and she pushed inside, groaning at the heat and deep, musky flavor of his kiss—like sandalwood and aged whisky. A familiar taste. One she couldn’t get enough of.
She was addicted to him. The man she’d idolized and who’d betrayed her the night before their wedding with a succession of Talorian lap-dancers. He owed her far more than a pair of engines, and she sure as hell planned on collecting.
He grunted in surprise as she pushed him back on the bed and clambered onto it next to him. The towel disappeared, but she didn’t care. Settling herself into his side, she claimed his lips with feather-soft kisses and light nips. Her hands worked at the buttons of his shirt, desperate to touch him.
They frustrated her, refusing to come loose. She growled. He broke from the kiss with a small chuckle and swept a hand down the opening. Buttons flew and scattered over the floor. One pinged off the closed doorway behind them.
“Happy now?” He grinned as she spread her hand, fingers wide, over his broad, muscled chest.
“Uh-huh.”
Gods, he was solid. Silken skin over steel muscles. She smirked at her own thought, worthy of a slushy romance holo-novel. Dismissing the idea, she stroked her fingers over the solid planes of his chest. No going to fat here…none whatsoever. Her fingers traced the series of silver scars running down his ribcage. A shudder hit her at the thought of the war, and the fact he could so easily have been killed.
“You like what you see?”
She flicked a glance up at his question. Head propped on her pillows, he watched her with an unreadable gaze. The expression in his eyes stole her breath. Midnight-dark and as hot as hades, it made promises about the night ahead. Promises she looked forward to.
She managed an indifference she didn’t feel. “You’ll do.” Leaning down, she ran the tip of her tongue over his flat, male nipple.
He barked a laugh. The next second, she was flat on her back, looking up into his handsome face. The light was behind him, casting his cropped black hair into a blue halo around his head, his features in shadow. All laughter had gone, leaving an almost feral expression. A shiver of anticipation jolted through her. Kelwin was—always had been—dangerous. The sort of dangerous she’d always had a thing for. Her body clenched hard.
“I’ll do? Let’s see if we can up that rating, shall we?” He didn’t kiss her. Instead, he nuzzled at her neck, nipping her earlobe lightly before moving down her throat. He paid homage to the hollow just above her collarbone and trailed kisses over the top of her shoulder.
His leather-clad legs moved, one parting hers wide so he could settle between them. She caught her breath as the rough material rasped against the soft skin of her inner thighs. She was naked, spread under him and open wide to anything he wanted to do. Her survival instincts should have made her fight him off, then escape as fast as her legs would carry her.
Instead, she twined her hands around the sheets to stop herself reaching for him. This was just sex—nothing more, nothing less. He wouldn’t appreciate her clinging to him like some lovesick teenager.
He took his own sweet time moving down her body. Each kiss was placed with deliberation and precision as he worked his way down the soft slope of her breast. Her nipples tightened in anticipation.
His breath washed over the beaded flesh a second before his mouth closed over her. Warm, wet pleasure enfolded her as he suckled gently as his free hand stroked and molded to her breast. He didn’t paw or grope. His gentle touch made her heart ache.
“Perfect.” His whispered breath branded the word into her skin. She murmured a noncommittal reply in the back of her throat. Who was she to argue? She was short, skinny and plain. But the way he touched her, the way he looked at her, made her feel as if she was the most beautiful woman in the universe.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to expect an answer. Bending over her, he dropped burning kisses in a line down her ribcage to her abdomen. Her stomach quivered as he reached it. Her body tensed, muscles aching as she tried to decide between laughing and moaning in desire. Her hips bucked as he kissed the sensitive flesh on her belly, lips already curved to laugh.
When he slid big hands under her ass and hooked them around her thighs to hold her still, she moaned. Having him between her legs, so close to her core, made her clench around the increased ache in her pussy. Liquid heat slipped from her, made the delicate lower lips slick with arousal.
“Gods, you smell fantastic.” His voice was hoarse and rough, as though he rode the edge of his control. She froze as he dropped a kiss on the short curls over her mons, anticipation holding her body taut like a sail under a full wind as she waited for him to move.
She didn’t have to wait long. The sheets rustled, and his hot breath washed over the lips of her pussy. Her clit throbbed at the slight sensation, aching for his touch.
His tongue flicked out, chased the seam between her lips before he delved within. She gasped as the hot, wet brush of his tongue rasped over the delicate flesh. He didn’t tease, locating her clit and circling it with a confidence that shattered her composure.
Pleasure cascaded like a solar waterfall. Her back arched, her body on fire as he nibbled and sucked relentlessly. Romance be damned, she wanted more of this. Wordlessly she urged him on, arching her back as she fought her moans back.
“That’s it, let it all out, babe. I want to hear you…want to hear what I’m doing to you,” he whispered against her and dipped his tongue lower. She bit her lip as he circled her slit, then thrust his tongue deep to lap up the essence of her arousal.
“Oh gods…”
The feel of his mouth on her, the liquid sound of pleasure, and the soft pants she couldn’t hold in filled the room. An erotic background of low noise that drove her higher until she took flight. Need roared through her veins, filled every cell until she could do nothing but respond to the ecstasy he created in her. Her hips rocked as she sought the release that hovered tantalizingly just out of reach.
“Come for me, babe. I want to taste it.”
His gentle words and the soft lick over her clit eased her over the edge. With a gasp, she fell and shattered. Light poured through her, the shards she’d become catching every drop and breaking into a thousand rays of color as her body clenched hard. She rode the waves, soft moans slipping from her lips as he moved. A zipper was maneuvered, the soft sound of leather over skin following it. Automatically, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and welcomed him into her embrace.
He nudged her thighs apart with a hair-roughened knee, and then he was there. She caught her breath, felt her eyes widen as he pressed the thick head of his cock against her. He was big, far bigger than any of the other one-night lovers she’d had before. Would she be able to take it all?
“Shhhh, it’ll be fine. I promise.” He pressed kisses to her temple, peppered them across her cheeks, and finally claimed her lips. His kiss was so sweet she ached. He parted her lips and delved between them with a tongue like velvet, stroking and tangling with hers in a gently erotic dance she couldn’t resist.
Her body stretched around him as he pressed into her. She was slippery with her arousal, but his penetration was a long, slow ride of friction and pleasure, every line of his body taut with control. With each thick inch, he sank deeper, stroking against hidden nerve endings in her pussy
. Her gasp matched his groan as he bottomed out, his hips against hers. Trapped between them, her clit ached and throbbed for more. He stopped, held himself rigid over her. So still that she started to worry.
“Kel?”
He lifted his head from her shoulder, and the look on his face made her catch her breath. Need, pleasure and feral lust combined into an expression that sent a bolt of heat straight to her pussy.
“Sorry, baby. I just need a second…I promised slow and sexy. Romance…I can do it, I can. I just need a moment,” he begged. “Just hold still for a moment. Then it’ll be fine.”
She bit her lip, the urge to move overwhelming. “Fuck romance. We can do slow and steady next time. Just do it—hard and fast.”
With a grunt, he planted a hand by her head for balance and started to move. His large body was braced over her, his hips driving in a hard and fast rhythm, his cock filling her over and over until she wanted to cry with the sheer pleasure of it.
She moaned and clung to him, accepting everything he was offering her. His body shook, fine tremors that told her how much control he was exerting not to become the ravening animal they said soldiers—even ex-soldiers—could be.
He rolled his hips, ground his pelvis against hers, and her ability to frame a coherent thought disappeared. Hard pleasure exploded through her body like a star going supernova. She gasped and her back arched again. Her pussy clamped hard around his cock as she came in long, brutal waves that swept everything else away.
“Oh gods. Babe, that’s…fuck!” He roared an incoherent cry as he drove into her once more. His body stiff, the chords stood out in his neck as he came, his cock pulsing as he spilled his seed deep within her.
Nerys rarely slept. With ships subject to the whims and winds of the often-temperamental solar roads, no sailor risked succumbing to the blessed oblivion deep sleep offered. So she napped, always keeping an ear out for any sound that shouldn’t have been there. Any sound that warned the squid or another of its kind was targeting the engines. She didn’t think that was likely. As a precaution she’d turned the engines off, but there was always the possibility that one would get close enough to sense the residual energy.