by Sara Rustan
Then he heard Jolie’s voice again. “Well, you should probably adjust the exertion level in your onboard warning system –”
“Shut up. You’re just trying to get me to talk.” He growled. “Hey…I don’t need you at all anymore, maybe I’ll just –”
He was out of time. Thorgan jumped through the window feet first, arm up to protect his face. His battle comp pumped more adrenaline through his system, and time seemed to run both lightning fast and like molasses at the same time.
* * * * *
When Thorgan burst through the glass, Jolie ducked and tucked herself into a tight ball. If Stoneface managed to grab her and use her as a hostage, he would be way ahead. As long as she could stay out of his hands, you could think of this as two against one. Or maybe one point two against one. She couldn’t exactly count herself as equal to a cyborg. And in order to count as anything at all, she’d have to figure out some way to be useful in a cyborg-to-cyborg fight.
As she inched backward to crouch under the table, nothing was coming to mind. Thorgan hurled himself at Stoneface in a flying kick, but Stoneface flipped to the side, so that the kick punched a hole in the wall. As Thorgan pulled himself back, Stoneface leaped toward him, hands outstretched. Thorgan tucked and rolled up, as though he was swimming through the air. It was hard to watch. The kicks and punches rarely seemed to connect – with a cyborg anyway. Her walls and pictures were receiving quite a bit of damage.
Dammit, she ought to be able to do something to help. If this was one of her patients who was out of control… That was it! The spray sedative which she kept in her bag at all times.
She snaked her hand to the upper surface of the table, feeling around for her medical bag. She reached the edge of the soft fabric, hooked it, and pulled it down. Turning her attention from the whirling cyborgs, she fished out a small cylinder just as a hand grasped her shoulder and yanked her out from under the table.
A moment later, Stoneface had her back against his chest, one arm around her waist and a hand around her throat.
“Stop!” Stoneface yelled.
Thorgan froze.
“Do what I say, or I'll kill the woman.”
Jolie’s blood pounded in her veins. She forgot to breathe. She felt intensely, frighteningly alive, and couldn’t believe that she might be dead in seconds. She gripped the sedative tightly, holding on to the slender hope that it offered.
All of Thorgan’s cold, computerized attention was focused on Stoneface. “If you kill her, there will be nothing to hold me back. So you had better be careful to not kill her, or you'll be in trouble.”
Jolie twisted her neck to look up at Stoneface. He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. The attempt to get his one neuron to process that bit of logic was apparently rather painful. He chewed on his lower lip. “I'm the one with the hostage. I tell you what to do; you don't tell me what to do.” He looked pleased at having come up with that masterpiece of reasoning.
“But are you capable of telling me what to do?”
Stoneface scowled. “You're insulting me, aren't you?”
“No, no,” Jolie said soothingly. “I’m sure he was talking about me. I'm always doing something wrong.” She wriggled her arms around in his grasp, trying to get her right hand against his body.
“Don’t move,” Stoneface ordered, gripping her even tighter against him.
“Sorry. Just trying to get comfortable.” She twisted her hand and pushed the spray release, hoping it would be effective through layers of clothing.
Stoneface grabbed her hand and pulled it roughly out in front of her at an awkward angle. “What’d you do?” He pried her fingers open with his hand. “What’s this?”
“Ah, perfume? You don’t smell very good?”
Stoneface turned dark with anger. “You’re making fun of me.”
Thorgan nodded. “Yeah, she’s a real ball-buster.”
For a second it looked like Stoneface was about to nod in agreement, then he pulled his arm back to punch Jolie.
Jolie flinched, even though she knew intellectually that it would do no good. One punch would be strong enough to shatter her skull.
Thorgan surged toward him, but Stoneface’s face went even blanker – and before he could release the punch, he slumped to the ground, dropping Jolie on the way down.
Relief flooded her, making her knees feel like rubber, and she sank to the floor next to him.
Thorgan kneeled beside her, and felt Stoneface’s pulse. “What did you give him?” he asked.
“A sedative. He should be out for half an hour.”
“Good girl.” He smiled at Jolie. “I was starting to get worried there. I was afraid he might end up killing you from sheer stupidity.”
“No, he wasn't exactly the sharpest laser in the tool cabinet, was he?” She narrowed her eyes at Thorgan. “But you've got to stop calling me a girl. I'm not a girl. I'm a woman.”
Thorgan leaned back. “I've been calling you a girl since I met you because it’s so much fun to see you react. Now you finally tell me to stop?” He pulled her to him. “You have an amazing sense of timing. It’s one of the things that I love about you.”
His mouth descended on hers.
Adrenaline was still running through her system, plus enough relief to make her shaky, but when Thorgan rolled her on top of him and cupped her face with his hands, it was all forgotten in a surge of arousal. Her body was melting on his, conforming to all of that tough, velvet-covered muscle and… Wait a minute. She pulled her mouth away enough to speak. “What did you say?”
“You have an amazing sense of timing?”
“No, the other part.”
“Oh. I guess you mean ‘that’s one of the things I love about you.’”
“Yes, that part.” She sat up on top of him, her softness cradled against his rigid shaft. “So, what other things do you love about me?”
“You want the list now?”
She nodded. “Seems like as good a time as any.”
“Well, except for the fact that the FIA is about three seconds from your front door – including your friend Welther. They’ve come to rescue you.”
“Aargh.” Jolie stood up, and the doorbell rang.
“I let them know everything is under control,” Thorgan said.
She glanced at his erection. “I think you lied.”
He sighed. “Just trying to enjoy every nanosecond before flipping the switch.”
Maybe she should think about getting some mods herself, because it would sure come in handy to be able to turn off the arousal flooding through her system. Shaking her head, she stepped over Stoneface, and went to the door to let them in.
Chapter Nine
Jolie picked up the pile of clothes she had unpacked just a few days ago and dropped it into her bag. The unconscious Stoneface had been carried out of her apartment, his communicator and everything he carried cataloged and handed over to a team of agents assigned to handle further investigation and determine the location of the Union ship. Someone somewhere was going to make political hay out of this incident, Jolie was sure. Meanwhile, it didn't seem smart to stay in an unprotected apartment. FIA housing would be much safer.
Thorgan, leaning against the open doorway watching her, cleared his throat. “We need to talk.”
She glanced at him, taking in his determined expression, then turned back to her packing. “Yes, we do.” Had Thorgan changed his mind? Did he want a commitment? Something was different, it was clear.
“When I realized that a Union goon had you…” His voice trailed off, and then he took a deep breath. “Jolie, I was afraid that he'd kill you before –”
She shook her head. “Hush.” Tapping a finger to her lips, she whispered, “Later,” and looked significantly at the FIA employees in the next room. She wanted privacy for this discussion, no matter which way it turned out. Raising her voice slightly, she asked, “So, you think they’re stupid enough to come here again?”
Thorgan hesitated. “It’s hard to say. Not eve
rybody in the Union Merchant Marine is stupid. It’s just that… Well, their system isn’t designed to promote people who are smart and skilled. The higher-ups think of the people underneath them as competitors, so they make sure that none of the people underneath them are better than they are.” He shrugged. “It’s one of the reasons I was on that isolated space station. It only took my lieutenant about two weeks to get me transferred as far away from him as possible – and nobody else wanted to take the risk of accepting a competent underling. So they put me off by myself, where I had no chance to compete for my boss’s job.”
Jon Harder poked his head around the corner. “Huh. I’d always wondered why the lower ranks of that organization were so incompetent. I wonder if we could…” His eyes glazed over, probably turning over some way to use that piece of information. Then he shook his head, and focused on Jolie. “Done packing? Let's get out of here.”
They were shuttled back to the FIA residence, and dropped off in the protected docking bay. There was an awkward moment when Jon offered to carry Jolie’s bags up to her new apartment. Thorgan said, “No, I’ll take them up.”
Jon hesitated, and looked at Jolie.
She pretended not to notice and said, “Thanks, Thorgan.”
There was no conversation on the way to Jolie’s assigned living unit, but the tension was palpable. Jolie didn’t know how to feel. Part of her believed that Thorgan was going to tell her that he wanted only her; another part feared that he wouldn’t, that things would somehow end up being the same between them. The minutes crawled as they crossed through the halls and went up in the elevator. Thorgan’s expression was hard to read.
Jolie keyed open the door and stepped aside to let him in. He dumped the bags on the floor, and wrapped his arms around her. She rested her face on his broad chest and just breathed. Tension flowed out, tension from the life-threatening danger, tension from wanting Thorgan and not having him, tension from not knowing what to do. As long as she was pressed tightly against him, breathing him in, everything was okay.
He kissed the top of her head. “Jolie, I’m sorry. I’ve been such a thickheaded idiot.” His voice was low and rough, and he sounded much less sure of himself than usual.
Jolie rubbed her hands up and down his back and over his firm, rounded glutes. “I haven’t been making the brightest decisions myself.”
“Will you forgive me?”
“What do you want from me? What are you offering?”
He gently tilted her head up with his hand, and brushed her lips with his, the back of his fingers stroking her cheek. “You can have whatever you want. All I want is you. I don’t want to sleep with a different woman every night. I only want to be with you, sleep with you, have sex with you. I love you. I would sign a lifetime contract tomorrow, but I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give me.”
Jolie’s heart expanded in her chest, driving joy throughout her body with its deep, powerful strokes. She was dizzy with relief. She pulled his head down so that she could kiss him, giving him his answer. She couldn’t get enough of his velvety lips, his intense flavor, the sharing of their tongues. His response just pushed her passion higher.
He kissed his way to her ear and murmured, “Is that a yes on the marriage contract, or would you rather just live together?”
“What if I said I just wanted to go out for a while?” Jolie twisted to see his reaction.
One expression after another raced across his face. He didn’t look happy at the idea, but he took a deep breath, and said, “If that’s what you want.”
“No, I don’t think I do.” She reached up to kiss him lightly. “Let’s live together.”
“Get married in six months?”
“We’ll see.”
He pulled her even tighter against his body, pressing the hard ridge of his erection against the softness of her body. She was aching to get him inside her, wanting, needing to be as physically close as possible.
Just then the unit’s communication system blared, “Security check. Please acknowledge presence in unit.”
“Aw, hell.” She stomped over and palmed the switch. “Jolie Blakney, acknowledging.”
The light turned green, and the system announced, “Next check, thirty minutes.”
Thorgan crossed his arms, drumming his fingers on his biceps. “We need to go someplace else. This is not going to work.”
* * * * *
By the time the next security check occurred, they were a good part of the continent away. They both had hazard time off, and Thorgan had convinced Jon that they would be safer and able to dispense with intrusive security checks in a different location.
That the particular location he had in mind was a beautiful, isolated vacation spot was obviously incidental to the safety issues.
Jon had just laughed and looked at them curiously. Jolie blushed, but didn’t explain.
They were finally alone, in a small but nicely furnished cabin buried in the steep mountains that formed the backbone of the continent. The delay had made Jolie feel a bit shy, so she vanished into the shower as soon as they arrived. The hot water needling over her flesh only made her thoughts drift even more to sex. It hardly seemed possible that it had only been four days since she and Thorgan had last been together. It seemed more like four months. Her nipples were tight buds, and she was aching and wet between her thighs. The anticipation was wonderful, but it was time. Time to be with her lover. Time to make love. Would it be different than just “having sex”?
She slipped into a robe and left the bathroom. Thorgan was lounging on a chair in the bedroom, dressed in a deep-red velvet robe.
The robe emphasized the muscular strength of his shoulders and the broad expanse of his chest. He stood up and shrugged off the robe to reveal a massive erection. The golden light caressed his form as though he were a piece of sculpture.
Thorgan's body made things tighten deep inside her. He was so beautiful. Her pussy throbbed in hungry anticipation. She licked her lip.
Thorgan raised an eyebrow. "Like what you see?"
Jolie whistled. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He grinned and walked toward her.
Her heart thudded in her chest. He kneeled in front of her, gently parted her robe, and slid his hands down her body. He smelled of clean skin and potent arousal, and his eyes were a blue so deep they were almost black.
His hands nudged her legs apart with light pressure, and he edged closer until he was nestled against her. He tilted his head up to look at her, and whispered, “Kiss me.”
His lips were flushed with blood, moist and plump.
She bent her head down and brought her lips to his, feather soft. A stroke of her tongue along the seam, and his mouth opened. His tongue stroked hers, tasting of heat, rich and complex, all Thorgan.
He angled his head and deepened the kiss. His mouth enveloped hers, and pleasure surged through her body. Her sex became swollen and moist. He moaned and stroked up her sensitized skin from her ass to her waist. Then his hands curved around the weight of her breasts, and his thumbs circled her nipples. She gasped at the electric effect on her throbbing core.
He pulled his mouth from her, and she whimpered at the loss. His heavy-lidded eyes gazed at her, and then he lifted her breast with one hand, leaned forward and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
Her body leaped in reaction, and her hands gripped his head, her fingers threading through his silky hair.
His hand slid down her belly, through her moist curls, and lightly stroked her creamy sex. One finger circled her clit and while another worked its way inside, and she shuddered hungrily as her muscles clenched. He worked her for several more cycles, stroking clit and sheath and sucking her nipples, and ribbons of hot, electric arousal curled around her core and up her spine.
He pulled away from her nipple. “Oh, yeah, baby. That’s it,” he said hoarsely. “You’re hot now.”
Jolie couldn’t answer. She could barely breathe.
His hand moved away from
her core, and he leaned back from her and stood up.
“Hmm. There was something I promised you, oh, a long time ago.”
“Huh?” She shook her head to clear the fog of arousal.
He sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled her toward him, draping her over his lap against his cock, which was hot enough to brand her and hard as a duplinium rod.
She squirmed, trying to look over her shoulder at him, but the pressure of his hand on her back kept her from moving. “What are you doing?”
His other hand, the one that had been cupping her ass, gave her butt a swift slap.
She shrieked in shock and anger.
“Giving you that spanking I promised you the first day we met.” His voice was filled with dark humor, and even more serious intent; his hand caressed the tingling flesh of her ass, a finger working down the crack to toy with her entrance.
She thrashed, trying in vain to escape his iron control of her body. “Why the hell are you doing that, you son of a bitch? I’ll…I’ll get you…” she sputtered.
His hand lifted, and she tensed. Another slap stung her tender skin, and she snarled.
He growled back. “That’s for forcing me to sleep with Chane.” He explored her creamy flesh, and slowly ran his finger up past the puckered opening of her anus. Pleasure surged through her, unwilling, decadent. He leaned close to her ear, and whispered, “And because you like it.”
“You bastard! I…do…not…like…it!” she cried.
Two slaps in quick succession left her bottom sore and her sex throbbing. She squirmed again, but this time trying to press her clit against the rock-hard, velvety cock underneath her belly.
“And that’s for having sex with somebody besides me. And for lying about not liking the spanking.”
Jolie tried to snarl in anger, but she was pretty sure that it came out as a moan instead. She needed him inside her now. “You’re dead meat when we finish here, but if you don’t fuck me now, you’ll be twice as dead.”
Thorgan snorted. “You never give up, do you?” He spanked her twice more in quick succession, and it felt like blood and heat was flooding her ass and spilling over into her already engorged sex.