by Nina Croft
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Acknowledgments
About the Author
If you love erotica, one-click these hot Scorched releases… The Captain’s Rebel
Private Reserve
Hooked
The List
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Nina Croft. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Entangled Publishing, LLC
2614 South Timberline Road
Suite 109
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.
Scorched is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.
Edited by Brenda Chin
Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill
Cover art from Period Images
ISBN 978-1-63375-919-0
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition April 2017
For anyone who dreams of the impossible…may it come true for you as it did for Ruby!
Chapter One
Ruby
I didn’t do it.
The words rose up in my throat, but I choked them down. They’d told me if I went quietly, they wouldn’t inform the police.
This can’t be happening.
The room swam. I was going to heave. Right into the brown cardboard box they’d given me to clear the things from my desk. I clamped my lips together and swallowed hard. No way was I throwing up over my favorite photo of Pete or my Princess Leia doll—the only memento I had from my mother.
The entire office was staring at me, peering over the tops or around the edges of their cubicles, and heat flushed my cheeks. I hadn’t done anything wrong. This was all a mistake. Or maybe I’d wake up any moment, and Pete would give me a hug, tell me I’d been having a bad—
“Miss?”
I jumped as the security guard spoke from beside me, his tone impatient. Clearly, it was time to leave. But as I jammed the lid on the box, my phone rang. I glanced at the guard. When he nodded, I picked up the receiver and pressed it to my ear. “Hello?”
“It’s Pete.”
Oh God, I needed him right now. He had to be a mind reader. “Pete, I—”
“I just phoned to say good-bye,” he interrupted. His voice held more than a hint of excitement.
Then his words actually made it through the thick fog in my head. “Good-bye?”
“I’ve been given a promotion. It’s a brilliant opportunity, but it means I have to move to New York. Today. Right now, in fact.”
“But I—”
“Sorry, Ruby, I have to go. A driver is taking me to pick up my stuff and then to the airport. Love you, sweetheart. Look, they’ve told me I’m going to be really busy, so I’ll call you when I get a chance. But it might not be for a while.”
There was a click, and the line went dead. He was gone. I stared at the phone.
What just happened?
First my job. Then my boyfriend.
What next?
Nothing. That’s what. Because I don’t have anything else to lose.
My lower lip wobbled as I pushed myself to my feet and picked up the box, wrapping my arms around it and hugging it to my chest. The walk to the elevator took forever.
I was so not going to lose it in front of these people.
The elevator doors slid open, revealing a man I’d never seen before—I would have remembered him. He was tall, broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hips, with short, dark-red hair and piercing green eyes. Wearing faded jeans and a black T-shirt, he looked like he didn’t belong—and didn’t give a fuck about belonging. I was envious.
“Ms. Robbins,” he said. “Come with me.”
Where?
Somehow, I found myself in the elevator, box clutched to my chest, eyes pricking. Maybe they were going to arrest me or—
“Jesus, you’re not going to cry, are you?” His voice sounded coolly amused.
“No.”
Probably not… Maybe not… Perhaps?
I sensed his gaze on me and peered up—he was at least a foot taller than my five-two. He was studying me, his expression brooding. “Ms. Robbins, you are shortly going to be made an offer,” he said. “I’d advise you to turn it down.”
“What?” At that moment, the doors opened, so he didn’t get the chance to reply. Instead, he ushered me into a huge office with floor-to-ceiling windows. We were high up, presumably on the top floor, and I could see London spread out before me.
A man sat at a desk.
While I’d never met him, I’d seen his picture many times, and his narrow face, silver hair, and dark eyes were instantly recognizable. Jonathon Pendleton. Head of the Pendleton Institute, and my ultimate boss. Or he had been, until I was sacked thirty minutes ago.
I came to a halt in the center of the room, my box still clasped to my chest like armor. The man beside me plucked it from my arms and dropped it on the floor. Then he circled me, like a shark surveying his dinner, before turning back to Pendleton.
“Well, here she is.” His tone implied he was less than impressed. “And I think you’re making a huge fucking mistake. She’s a mouse.”
Am not.
I was aware I gave that impression, but then I’d grown up in the foster care system and learned at a young age the best way to stay out of trouble was to be invisible. I’d mastered the art. Now, being the focus of attention was making me twitch.
Pendleton rose to his feet. “Ms. Robbins…or may I call you Ruby?”
I nodded.
“Ruby, I am Jonathon Pendleton, and this is my assistant, Alexi Rekowski. Please take a seat.” He waved at a chair in front of his desk.
I didn’t move, except to fold my arms across my chest, so the shaking wouldn’t show. “What’s this about?” I glanced at Rekowski, and he raised a brow, a hint of dark amusement in his eyes. I turned to Pendleton. “I didn’t steal anything.”
“I’m aware of that.”
He was?
A flicker of anger pierced the haze of confusion in my brain. If he knew I was innocent, why had I been fired? Why had I been humiliated in front of my colleagues, marched out of the office like I was some sort of criminal? “I think I’d like to leave now.”
“Sit down!” Rekowski barked the order from beside me, but I locked my knees.
“No.”
“Not such a mouse after all,” Pendleton said. “Which is good—she’ll need some spirit if she takes this job.”
“Spirit will only get her punished,” Rekowski replied. “Or worse.”
Punished? Worse than punished?
“She’s ideal.”
“She’s far from ideal, but she’s the best we’ve got right now.” Rekowski’s gaze ran over me. Slowly. “And she certainly looks the part—all blond curls, baby-blue eyes, and big boobs—they’ll love her.” His gaze lingered on my breasts, and my traitorous nipples peaked. Ugh. I had no taste. I should’ve moved, gotten out of there, but something held me in place. “She’s too soft,” Rekowski continued. “She�
�ll break before they reach their destination. Then they’ll dump the body in deep space, and we’ll be back to square one.”
Dump my body? In deep space?
He was trying to shock me. And succeeding. But, at the same time, a little coil of excitement unwound in my belly. How many nights, as a child, had I dreamed of alien abduction, of discovering I was really a princess and destined to save the world? But I’d always known they were nothing but dreams.
Pendleton waved to the chair again. “Please sit down, Ruby. Listen to what we have to say, and if you still want to leave, then of course we won’t stop you.”
My sense of self-preservation was telling me to run as fast as I could. Instead, I crossed to the chair and sank down, knotting my fingers together on my lap. The lure of deep space was just too high.
“Good girl.”
My shoulders stiffened. That was Rekowski. Could he sound any more patronizing?
Pendleton shot him a sharp glance and cleared his throat. “Ruby, you recently applied for a position in the Space Exploration Department.”
Of course I knew that. The Space Exploration Department was the reason I’d taken a job with the Pendleton Institute straight out of school. It was the only privately funded unit of its kind, and rumor had it they were planning a trip to Mars sometime soon. And while I was pretty sure they’d never send an accounts clerk into space, I could still be a small part of the adventure.
“The selection process requires an in-depth security check,” Pendleton continued. “And when your profile landed on my desk”—he tapped a folder in front of him—“it occurred to me you would be perfect to assist us with…a problem that has arisen.”
“I would?” It seemed unlikely.
“You would.” He smiled and then slid a piece of paper across the desk. “This is a non-disclosure agreement, Ruby. You need to sign it before we move forward.”
I glanced from him to the paper and, without thinking any more, picked up the pen and scrawled my name before I could change my mind.
“Reckless,” Rekowski murmured. “More punishment. Maybe you’d survive longer as Miss Mouse.”
I gave him a sharp glance. I didn’t like him. He was good looking and had a dark edge that was seriously hot, but something about him made me twitchy. And all this talk of punishment was ringing alarm bells. “Is this some sort of perverts’ club you want me to sign up for? Bondage and beatings? Because let me tell you—it’s never going to happen.” I might fantasize about that stuff—but real life? No way.
Pendleton raised an eyebrow. “Nothing like that, I promise. But what I’m about to tell you will come as a surprise, so listen until I’ve finished.”
I gave a slow nod, because really, I was going nowhere. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to me in…well, forever.
He settled back in his chair. “It’s not commonly known, but aliens have been visiting Earth for hundreds of years.” My mouth fell open, but before I could say a word, he continued, “The Pendleton Institute has been involved from the start, and in fact, the Space Exploration Department forms the interface between Earth and the Federation, the organization which governs the civilized universe.”
Wow. Aliens were real? Hadn’t I guessed it all my life? I’d lost my mother to cancer when I was six, but up until then, she’d done a great job of filling my head with stories of space from Star Trek, Doctor Who, and her all-time favorite, Star Wars. I’d fallen in love with Han Solo before I knew what love was.
But did I dare believe Pendleton, or was this some sort of practical joke? And if it wasn’t, where did I fit in? Maybe the aliens needed an accounts clerk. I felt like I was reaching. “And you’re offering me a job?”
“Not quite. As I said, a situation has come up.”
“A situation?”
“Two weeks ago, my daughter, Yolanda, disappeared.”
“Oh.” Not what I’d been expecting. “I’m sorry.”
He smiled. “Thank you. You’re a sweet girl. I believe she was kidnapped by a faction who wishes to force my vote in an upcoming meeting—a meeting which could determine the very future of mankind.”
More wow. But I still had no clue where I came into this. “And could they force your vote?” I asked.
He looked away for a moment, then back to me. “Truth? I don’t know. She’s my only child. I love her. I’d rather not put it to the test.”
“You could resign.”
“Then they’ll kill her. Horribly.”
Clearly not an option, then.
“Right now,” Pendleton said, “Earth is classified as a ‘closed’ planet, which means we are off-limits and our resources cannot be exploited. Unfortunately, there are those who sometimes slip through the safeguards, and we believe Yolanda was taken by one such group. A group that traffics in Earth women.”
I glanced at Rekowski where he’d perched on the edge of the desk, one jean-clad leg swinging. His comments about my appearance made more sense now. “You mean like sex slaves?”
“This particular group, yes.”
That was awful—except in certain novels where it turned out to be not so bad after all. I cut off the thought. I was prevaricating. “Have you caught them?”
“Right now, we daren’t openly go against them, as they may just kill my daughter. Normally, we’d go to the Federation for help, but we’ve come to suspect someone high up is working with the slavers. Hopefully, when we find Yolanda, we’ll also find some answers.”
“So what are you doing about it?”
“We need to find where Yolanda has been taken, and so far, our people have failed.”
“And…?” I shifted to the edge of my chair and leaned forward.
“With the exception of Yolanda, the women have all fit a certain profile. Young, pretty…and alone.”
“Alone?”
“They were all orphans, single, and out of work. People nobody would miss.”
Hey, make me feel good about myself, why don’t you? He could have been describing me. Except, until that morning, I’d had a job and a boyfriend. A little niggle of doubt worried at my brain. They wouldn’t have…would they?
“They are targeting lonely, vulnerable women, Ruby.”
“Women just like you,” Rekowski murmured, in case I’d been too slow to pick up that bit.
Pendleton flicked open the folder to reveal a photo. Of me. “When I saw this, read your background, it occurred to me that with a few little adjustments, you’d be a perfect match.”
It looked like they would after all.
“Adjustments? You mean like my job and my boyfriend?” My voice sounded small, but it was settling in. They’d done this, treated me like a thief, sacked me, and sent Pete halfway around the world. Ruthless didn’t begin to cover it. Still, I couldn’t walk away.
“We do what we must, Ruby.”
I cleared my throat. “What do you want me to do?”
“The slavers use spotters to identify suitable…candidates. We have managed to infiltrate one of those gangs of spotters. If you agree, we’ll hand over your information, and they’ll pick you up. We’ll fit you with a tracking device, and hopefully, you’ll lead us straight to Yolanda.”
There was one thing I felt I needed to ask, though I wasn’t even sure the answer would affect my decision. “Will it be dangerous?”
Rekowski snorted. “Yes, Ms. Robbins, it will be extremely dangerous. And likely very unpleasant. It will no doubt involve bondage, beatings, and pain. While aliens come in a lot of different forms, the average male sex organ is one and a half times bigger than a human’s.”
Really?
How the hell did Rekowski know that? Something occurred to me, and I gave him a quick glance. He was still perched on the desk, so I couldn’t get a good look at his package. “You’re not an alien, are you?”
“No, I’m as human as you.” He leaned in close, so his breath feathered against my ear as he whispered, “But my cock is at least one and a half times bigger
than average. You want to try it out for size, Miss Mouse, see if you’re up to the job?”
“I’ll pass, thank you,” I said primly. What I really wanted to do was punch him in the nose or kick him in the balls. But what I wasn’t expecting was the little pulse jumping between my thighs. My clit clearly liked the idea of Rekowski’s monster-cock.
“Ruby,” Pendleton said, “remember you will be valuable merchandise to these people—they will not want you damaged.”
“Well, not permanently damaged anyway.” It was almost as if Rekowski didn’t want me to agree… Right then, I remembered his comment in the elevator—he’d told me to turn it down. Why? “She’s not a virgin,” he continued. “There’s no reason for the crew not to make use of her on the journey.”
That didn’t sound good.
“We’ve already thought of that.” Pendleton sounded exasperated, as though he’d also picked up the negative vibes from Rekowski. “We have a reconstructive surgeon waiting to operate. For all intents and purposes, she will be a virgin.”
Probably better than being poked by the alien crew for the entire trip. While I might have had the odd fantasy about threesomes, and I certainly wasn’t averse to a handsome alien joining in, a whole crew did not sound like fun.
But I was actually considering this. Well, that wasn’t even true. I was having to hold back from screaming—yes, take me now! Because space. I couldn’t believe it.
“And Alexi will be close behind you. He’ll pick you up as soon as you reach your destination, before anything…untoward can happen.”
I turned to Rekowski. “You have a spaceship?”
“No, Ms. Robbins, I’m going to flap my fucking wings and fly after you.”
Honestly, there was no need for sarcasm.
“Alexi and Yolanda are engaged to be married,” Pendleton said, as if this excused his bad manners. “Obviously, he wants to be the one to go after her.”
“Lucky Yolanda.” Not. But maybe his—how big was the average penis, six inches?—nine- or ten-inch cock made up for what he lacked in the personality department.
“And when you return,” Pendleton said, “there will be a position for you in the Space Exploration Department.”
“If she returns,” Rekowski added. He was such a killjoy.