Chapter Four
Harmony woke up and carefully slipped out of Tanner’s bed. He was still asleep with the velvet blanket wrapped around his naked hips, snoring lightly. A faint scent of sex clung to him and she fought the urge to make love to him again. The sex was great, but once was enough. You don’t want to get too involved with him. Besides, the man is a complete asshole.
His dark chestnut hair was wild and a little long but it suited him. Some men were classically handsome, and some were on the cute side, but Tanner was in a class all his own. From his proud straight nose to his square manly jaw, he was the definition of brutally handsome. There was a roguish quality to him, something savage and less than human residing in that cunning heart. From the rumors she caught wind of, he was also a ruthless whore chaser.
Harmony tilted her head and look down at him, wondering if she too found him attractive. Yes, she decided. He’s very sexy, but not the man for me.
But he had been one hell of a lover.
When she first met him two years ago at Galaxy Recovery, he was the new hunter on the scene, and from the first moment they saw each other it was all-out war. Tanner seemed intent on insulting her and pushing every button she had. It didn’t matter though; Harmony was thick-skinned and usually gave back as much grief as he dished out. She sure hoped this mistake of sleeping with him wouldn’t come back to bite her in the butt.
Harmony grabbed her clothes and placed them on a chrome shelf next to the bathroom. She squeezed into the tiny bathing stall and let the warm water run over her skin. In an AEssyrian jail, showers were few and far between. Luckily she’d been able to get one just before she left that hell hole, and the simple pleasure of having another one so soon was mind-numbing paradise.
She picked up the soap tube, popped open the top and took a short sniff. It smelled like fresh-cut hardwood and carried a sweeter undertone she couldn’t place. Not pretty or flowery but bold and masculine. It didn’t smell bad, so not wanting the timer to run out, she soaped herself up quickly and rinsed. Water was a valuable commodity on a ship this size and every usage was carefully monitored by the ship’s mainframe. If you messed around in the shower too long, you could find yourself with a head full of shampoo.
She dried herself and dressed, eager to start work on Tanner’s skip tracker. It was time to resume her search for the lost bounty. Please, oh please don’t let Prime have been caught yet. That bastard cost me a year in prison and he’s mine. I don’t care if takes me the rest of my career.
As Tanner slept, she settled into the pilot’s seat and began expanding her command search icons. Now that they had put enough distance between his ship and AEssyria, she could tap into a lot more options. Prime was a hydrocore, one of the hardest bounties to catch. They tended to run to planets with lots of plant life where they could blend into the habitat for years. Standing an impressive eight feet tall on their hind legs, hydrocores were very strong but somewhat disgusting, resembling large Earth cockroaches. At least that’s what Tanner had once told her, and she figured he should know. They blended well into thick vegetation and could live off most plant and animal matter, living or dead. Hence how she came to track Prime to AEssyria.
The planet was a hydrocore’s wet dream, with thick jungles and rugged terrain. Lucky for her, the AEssyrians hated the hydrocore as much as everyone else did and allowed any bounty hunter free access to the planet. She’d only made one colossal mistake on AEssyria; she’d brought two ion blasters down with her.
The AEssyrians were a somewhat primitive society that only embraced a few essential technologies. Oh sure, they’d lowered themselves to owning a few fleet vessels and a space station, but projectile or ion weapons of any kind were prohibited because the AEssyrians felt they gave a combatant an unfair advantage. They were such an aggressive race it wouldn’t have taken them long to annihilate each other, so it made sense to have the ban to preserve their species. That minor inconvenience had left her with a dilemma. Try and arrest the hydrocore with little more than a hunting knife or smuggle a useful weapon or two onto the planet.
Harmony gambled with two ion blasters, a primary and a spare. The blasters were easy enough to smuggle. All she’d done was disassemble them into their smallest components and stash them all over her person. The ion energy cartridges fit nicely into her light trackers. The entry guards were none the wiser. Before the ink on her permit was even dry she’d tracked Prime to a wilderness area about twenty-five miles outside the Imperial City. She could still picture that creepy son of a bitch, crouched in some spiky low-lying brush eating what was left of an AEssyrian peasant. The hydrocore hadn’t even bothered to remove the poor alien’s foot snare. Prime was completely exposed. She lined him up in her sights and was just squeezing off a stun pulse when an Imperial hunting party rode into the clearing.
Knowing she was caught, she rushed to finish the job. One shot was all she’d be able to get off before she was arrested. Prime, startled by the interruption, ducked his shiny brown head down just as an ion burst exploded against a tree trunk above him. Harmony tried to take another shot but by that time the AEssyrians were on her, tackling her to the ground and wrestling the weapons away. She tried to explain but they wouldn’t listen. It didn’t matter anyway, Prime was gone and she was in big trouble. Scratch that—huge trouble.
Luckily for her, the hunting party got a good look at Prime’s handiwork and boy, were they pissed. Regrettably there wasn’t much left of the victim other than a torn lower leg and a stripped torso. Prime had done his usual thorough job, finishing off most of the peasant by the time the Imperials got there. A pile of tattered clothes lying beneath the gory mess was just about all they had to identify the poor unfortunate.
She could still picture the shocked faces of the Imperials. Although the AEssyrians weren’t squeamish about blood and guts, seeing one of their own feasted on by another sentient being completely enraged them. But one good thing came out of it. Thanks to Prime, the gruesome attack made the Imperials a tad more sympathetic about her weapons offense. In the end she got a lighter sentence than she otherwise might have expected.
After reviewing the bounty posts from Galaxy Recovery, she was happy to see that Prime was still on the loose and his bounty was even higher. Oh yeah. I’m coming to get you. Planet by planet she searched the news bulletins, looking for any sign of her skip. Before she knew it, she’d spent over two hours scanning police reports and accumulating leads.
Tanner emerged from the sleeping compartment yawning. He’d slipped on some dark blue briefs but other than that, he was bare. Harmony watched him out of the corner of her eye and marveled at how muscular he was. Everywhere you looked, minus his face, hands and feet, was covered in colorful tattoos. He moved like a natural predator—big, powerful muscles shifting and gliding under a thick layer of tan skin.
He leaned over, kissed her and slid his arm around her waist. Before she realized what he was doing, she was lifted out of the chair and dropped in the copilot seat.
Tanner pointed down. “My chair. Keep your ass out.”
Harmony shook her head and switched the tracker to the copilot stage. “How much longer till we get there?”
“About fifteen minutes.” He stalked up to the food replicator and got himself a cup of coffee, then sat in the pilot’s chair to check their progress.
She twisted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. “You should bathe. You smell like sex.”
“No, I smell like you,” he said with a wicked grin. “And I love it.”
Chapter Five
Rick’s Storage was a former Russian space station orbiting a small uninhabited moon. Tanner?now clean and freshly shaven?opened a communication link to the facility.
Harmony took her cue and leaned in close to the ship’s transmitter. She didn’t need to have her mouth so close because the transmitter could pick up her voice from the other side of the compartment. She just wanted to be sure they heard her. No matter what was going on, she was going to g
et her ship back, damn it. “Storage facility, this is the Aries, registration ZM9X33. We are requesting permission to dock.”
A few minutes passed in silence. Stretching his long body up and out of the chair, Tanner flipped a bright yellow switch in the overhead to turn off the autopilot. The engines growled and slowed down. A low-pitched whine came from the instrument panel, and an illuminated blue line shortened, indicating their speed had dropped by half.
Harmony fidgeted and subdued a knot of anger tightening in her stomach. She rubbed her hand along the armrest impatiently and let out a theatrical sigh. After several more seconds, she repeated her hail.
“Maybe they went out of business.” He settled back into his seat and pulled the steering column toward him.
She shot him a nasty look. This was definitely not the time for his bull. “Storage facility,” she repeated slowly, “this is the Aries requesting permission to dock.”
Nothing.
“Maybe they’re busy. Why don’t you wait five or ten minutes more instead of repeating your hail every three seconds?”
“They are not busy. They have two staff members whose sole purpose in life is to monitor docking requests. If one goes on break then the other takes his place.” She depressed the transmission button again. “Storage facility, are you receiving our hail?”
The Aries was drawing closer and Tanner kept staring at her. Fuel was expensive and no hunter liked wasting it puttering around in space.
“What do you want me to do here?” He was trying to be civil but he barely kept the edge out of his voice. They passed close to one of the illuminated docking bays. “You want me to go around again?”
“Yes.” Harmony could almost feel his eyes boring into her. She deliberately didn’t look at him as she adjusted the transmitter’s microphone. She imagined a clerk drunk or sleeping down there, his arms covering the speaker while she was trying to call. Does the owner only hire idiots at this place? She put her lips right up to the transmitter and spoke louder. “Storage facility, respond please.”
They went around the space station two more times as Harmony tried in vain to contact someone, anyone. With every orbit, her patience slipped further until she was practically yelling into the transmitter.
Finally Tanner said, “Fuck this.” He piloted toward one of the open bays. “I’m going to land.”
“We don’t have clearance to land yet.”
“Well then they can blast me.”
“Oh, do I ever wish.” Harmony pushed herself back in the seat and brooded. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t just some employee’s incompetence. Something must be wrong. But whatever the explanation, she needed her ship back.
Tanner skillfully navigated into a small well-lit slot, and as soon as they touched down, the blast doors closed. They waited for the green All Clear light on his control panel to come on telling them the bay had filled with air and they could exit. “I wouldn’t be too eager for my death if I were you, Harmony. If I get killed, who’s going to fuck your weird little ass?”
Harmony turned her head and glowered at him. Oh yeah, sex with him was a huge mistake. I should have just kicked him out and masturbated. “Are you saying that having sex with me was an act of charity?”
He grinned. “Sort of.”
She stared at the All Clear light. “You were the mercy fuck, my friend. I had an itch and you were there to scratch it. Besides, sleeping with you was easier than putting up with your clumsy passes all night.”
“And you hated every minute of it.” The light turned green and she jumped out of her seat as if she’d been stung by a bee. “On a scale of one to ten,” she said, heading toward the ship’s hatch, “you were somewhere around a six.”
“A six.”
“I said somewhere around a six.” A sense of relief came over her as the ship’s door hissed open. She marched out and headed for the office. Someone’s head was going to roll for wasting her time like this. No one should have to put up with Bart Tanner as long as she had.
Tanner fell into step behind her. “I’d say I was more like an eleven.”
Harmony stopped dead in her tracks. She whirled around and raised her eyebrows. He couldn’t possibility be serious. “Yeah? Well, maybe if your scale goes to a hundred.”
Tanner took a few steps closer and gave her a devilish smile. “So why all that screaming? Come on, baby, you know it was good. Why can’t you just admit it?”
“And trying to slam my head into the wall? Was that good too?”
“For me it was.” His shark-hide gray eyes sparkled.
Harmony opened her mouth to say something else then reconsidered and snapped it shut. Why the hell am I arguing with this ape man? He’s obviously created an inflated sense of self-worth to avoid the true misery of his loserness. I’ll just get my ship and put an end to this annoying encounter. “Glad you enjoyed yourself.” She’d taken one step away from him when he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against his chest.
She was so startled she winced as if he was going to punch her.
He captured her jaw and claimed her mouth, stealing a heated kiss. Furious at both the storage facility staff and now him, Harmony slammed her boot into his instep hard and shoved him. He stumbled backward a few steps. His nostrils flared, and for a moment she was convinced he was going to attack her. Tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her scalp tingled. She’d heard the whispered stories about his wicked temper and had no plans to end up dead. She placed her hand on the butt of her blaster. The very air around them crackled with a dark, dangerous energy.
Seconds turned into a full minute as she waited for him to explode into violence. Finally tired of the standoff, she raised her hands in the air and said, “Look, I appreciate you coming to pick me up and for the ride here, but I can handle this without your help.”
Tanner’s features softened and his eyes danced with dark laughter. There was no doubt about it, the man was pure evil. “What if your ship’s not here? What if they’ve sold it for scrap? You send me away unhappy and you might be waiting here a long time for somebody to pick you up. You’re not as popular as you may think, baby.”
She hesitated. He was right. Her ship could have been scrapped. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened to a hunter. That might be the reason why management was so scarce. Maybe they had a guilty secret to hide. “Okay, you have a point. What do you want from me?”
Tanner’s broad shoulders dipped down as he relaxed a little more. “I want you to owe me one.”
Harmony blinked. Oh, how I hate this man. It’s no great mystery why there are no women in his life. “Owe you one what exactly? Be specific.”
“A future fuck. Anywhere, anyplace I want.”
She nodded stiffly. She would have promised anything as long as he agreed to help her find her ship. “Okay. Fine. Now can we find the office so I can get my goddamn ship back?”
He smiled at her and she wanted to punch him in the face. “Sure.” He shrugged. “You’ve been here before. Just lead the way.”
Tanner had met a lot of female bounty hunters. Some were good, most were bad, but of all the women he’d dealt with or slept with, he’d never met one like Harmony. Their showdown in the passageway not only fired his blood, it gave him a new respect for the short Kirillian. Harmony might look like a helpless kitten but on the inside she was all guard dog. Just thinking about her standing up to him made him so hot he started to sweat.
He might not be the most successful hunter at Galaxy Recovery, but he was without question the most lethal. Everyone knew his reputation so it was rare that anyone had the balls to challenge him when he was pissed. But then there was Harmony, a woman so tough she even spooked him. Not only was she not afraid of him, she was ready and willing to take him out in a second. The realization gave him an electric rush.
Tanner followed close behind as they crept down the passageway, watching the way her hips moved in those snug bla
ck combat pants. A fresh surge of adrenaline coursed through his blood, making his hands shake. He had been with countless women but this one was eating him alive from the inside out. To say he wanted to fuck her was an understatement and didn’t even scratch the surface of what he felt. No, Tanner wanted to own her. He wanted to decipher and control her until that carefully built Kirillian foundation crumbled. He wanted her to fall hopelessly in love with him, and then, in that glorious moment her heart would be his…and he could crush it.
But for now he had a new challenge on his hands—find a way to not only convince Harmony that they were perfect in the sack, but to trust him. Once he accomplished that, he would get his revenge. Then they’d see how hardcore Miss Harmony Knox was.
Chapter Six
By the time they reached the administration office it was clear something was terribly wrong. The passageway from the docking bay was dark with only the hazy glow of emergency lights along the path. Silence hung heavy in the air, breached only by the soft clink of their boots along the grating. Broken equipment was tossed carelessly in the hall, and the electric locks that secured the door had been pried off with a heavy tool.
Tanner pulled his blaster and listened for movement as Harmony slipped into another nearby office marked Storage. He stepped cautiously into the main office and looked around. Someone had been looking for something worthwhile, probably galactic credits. A gray metal desk lay on its side with all the drawers pulled out. The door to the wall safe had been twisted back and hung open on fractured hinges.
Harmony emerged from the storage room across the hall, holstered her blaster and scanned the room. “Pirates. And they’ve been gone a while.”
Tanner glanced at her. “How do you know?”
“They left a crude skull and crossbones painted on the wall. I also found the office staff in one of the large storage lockers all tied up and executed. Based on the ambient temperature in the room and the rate of decomposition, I would guess this little surprise party happened about three weeks ago.”
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