While weighing the odds of slinking out the front door without detection by the bodyguards, a tap on Thea’s arm made her jump.
“Are you available to partner me in a game of Ruff and Trump? My friends are looking for another pair.”
Thea scowled at the big, rough-looking man. “What kind of crude sex game is that?”
Taken back at her sharp reply, he tilted his head at a twosome sitting at a table shuffling cards. “It’s similar to bridge.”
Oops.
“I’m afraid Miss Stone is spoken for, Harley,” Pandora said.
Thea glared at the madam. “No one speaks for me.” A nice long game of cards would give her time to think, and keep her away from Blade, who made her heart lurch in confusion every time she thought about him. “I’d love to play.”
Before Thea reached the card table, a man cleared his throat behind them, halting Thea in her tracks. Recognition required no visual contact. Blade’s nearness made her body hum.
“Sorry, Harley, but the lady and I have some business to discuss.”
One quick look over his shoulder and the big man nodded, walking away.
Blade held out his palm. Thea glared at it, worried about her reaction should she touch his warm palm. Brain cells fizzled whenever he came near her. Physical contact led her into a sexual trance. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Still playing hard to get, Thea?” Speaking for her ears alone, he staked his claim. “Give it up. You’re mine now. Take my hand.”
Resisting him was so damn hard. “In your dreams.”
“Would you rather I throw you over my shoulder?” he asked quietly.
The tingle in her body surprised her. The idea of being tossed over his solid shoulder, a warm hand on her butt steadying her, excited her. No one aroused her like this man could. Even when she boiled with anger, thoughts of Blade’s hands caressing her tore down her defenses.
And why the hell did every thought revolve around sex when she was with him? A twinkle of insight shone in his eyes. Afraid he might act on his threat, Thea spoke under her breath. “Don’t even think about it.”
He laughed. “Come with me, Thea.”
Sighing in resignation, she slid her hand into his, enchanted by their palms’ natural fit. They descended several floors, negotiating corridors lit solely by a strip of light along the edge of the floor, passing room after room of sequestered lovers.
Finally, Blade hesitated outside a door marked TROVER. “Where are we going?” Thea asked.
“Somewhere no one will ask questions.” He pushed open the door.
After a short jaunt down another corridor, they emerged into a well-lit space reminding Thea of a subway station. Sure enough, an odd train on big rubber wheels rolled up to the platform. Straying too far from the launch pad didn’t bode well for her escape plans.
Her stomach cramped. But how could she leave Blade? He was such a contradiction. At times rough, others tender, passionate, playful… Lord, help her. She was falling in love with him.
He clamped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. “Stay close.”
“When hell freezes over,” she muttered. Nonetheless, Thea rested the back of her head against his chest.
Blade chortled.
* * *
The track ride over the moon’s surface was bumpy, the seat cushions barely padding the bounce throwing Thea’s hip against Blade’s own. He grinned at her sullen expression, enjoying the rough ride for once. Glad the new hovercrafts hadn’t reached Callisto yet.
“I haven’t agreed to this arrangement, you know,” she brooded.
“I don’t remember asking for your input.”
Thea turned her face away. She jounced against him again and winced at the hard contact.
“Look, you’re mine now. My brother’s home is the only viable option, unless you want to stay at Healing Waters?”
“No. Take me back to Earth. I have unfinished business there.”
Earth, Earth, Earth. He was tired of hearing about it. “What business would that be?”
Thea swung her face toward him, brows raised at his sudden interest in her past. Blade mentally shrugged. He wanted her over whatever -- whoever -- called her home.
“Revenge on the bastard who killed my mother.”
This time, Blade didn’t question her declaration. He could see the truth burning within the hatred filling her eyes. Thea sought closure. Blade worried that if she didn’t get it, bitterness would blacken her heart. Hiding the rage pounding in his brain against this unknown person who’d hurt Thea, Blade lifted her sideways onto his lap, one arm wrapped securely around her waist, where she bounced more invitingly. “This bastard was he a soldier, a cop, what?”
“No. A drug dealer.”
Deep in thought, Blade caressed her thigh. Atlas’s report rewound through his mind. Although she associates with drug addicts… “You’ve been hunting this person?”
“Hunting? I guess that’s a good way to put it. He’s a pharmaceutical salesman who sells his samples on the side, particularly the addictive ones. Fowler charms his way through medical assistants to patient lists, contacting them directly, offering to boost their prescription’s effectiveness with a stronger dosage. Before long, the patient is hooked and Fowler has a regular customer.” Thea clenched her fists in her lap. “My mother was his beta test. She died of an overdose three years ago. Before the criminal investigation, Fowler got hold of the drugs he’d sold her, the only incriminating evidence against him. It took me a long time to put two and two together. Now it’s just a matter of catching him in the act. I was so close!”
Close to death. “If I take care of this man for you, you’ll abandon your campaign to return to Earth?”
Thea twisted on his lap and cupped his face, the tender contact searing straight to his groin. “I take care of my own problems.”
In his mind, he snarled at her. Why did the women he cared about refuse his assistance? “I’ve lost touch with my sister because she rushed off on her own. Though prostitution is not frowned upon like it is in your time, now she’s in a lifestyle I am sure she didn’t foresee for herself. I don’t want to lose you too.” He captured Thea’s mouth and kissed her soundly, his frustration showing.
Thea pulled away. “I need to settle the score with Joe Fowler. Please take me back, Blade.”
The criminal’s name finally, suddenly, clicked. His heartbeat quickened. “The man you said you’d been watching at the strip club is this Joe?”
“Yes.”
Not her lover, after all. Blade suppressed a groan. “You are a detective.”
“Yes, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Ah, crap, he’d bungled an arrest. Blade smiled. “You’re not a hooker.”
Thea narrowed her eyes, then shook her head. “I was working undercover.”
Cautiously, he dragged a finger down her throat and into her tight cleavage. “Nice disguise.” Thea blushed. “So all those claims of innocence were true… hmm… and instead of screaming rape, you submitted because you wanted me every bit as much as I wanted you.” He lightly kissed her neck.
“Actually, I used sex as a bargaining tool. If you wouldn’t believe my innocence, maybe I could’ve convinced you to keep me on board as your lover and take me back to Earth.”
God, Thea hated lying to him. Using him would have been a good tactic if she could have remained aloof, but she didn’t have the willpower to resist him. Underneath the domineering exterior lay a caring man, sensitive enough to fulfill her sexual desires first -- a woman he’d assumed to be a whore. A man who staunchly believed relocating prostitutes to a place where they would have more life choices, limiting as they were, was a humanitarian act. Maybe it was. Fowler’s whore seemed happier at Healing Waters than bent over a chair in a strip club, and in a year she’d be free to start a new life.
Still, Thea drove her point home. Nothing mattered more than returning to Earth and taking down Joe Fowler -- not even
her burgeoning love for Blade. But sticking to her resolve when Blade ran his finger along the top edge of her bustier proved difficult.
Her lover growled low into her ear. “My touch doesn’t stir you, Thea?”
How could she lie when erect nipples poked against tight leather?
The corset buckles popped open in rapid succession and Blade thrust it away. One arm wrapped around her back, the other large warm hand grasped her breast and squeezed, not painfully, but possessively. Blade stroked the plump masses until Thea dropped her head back, her breasts swelling into his palms. Air rushed into her lungs as his fingers contracted toward her nipples and rolled the tight pink tips. She arched into his hold as pleasure spiked from her breast to her mons like a short-circuited wire. The instantaneous response he evoked was always a surprise.
“This is an act, babe? A ploy?”
Thea didn’t bother answering his arrogant question. She’d been primed for this before they even stepped on the train. The act had been her indifference to him. And the moment Blade had pulled her onto his lap thoughts of escape had puffed into thin air. If Blade didn’t take her home, she’d find a way back to Earth -- eventually, but right now… oh, now… Blade had her full compliance.
Blade snickered at her breathy sighs. A man walked down the aisle, peering briefly into their space, and then did a double take. Thea twisted and hid her breasts against Blade’s chest, luxuriating in the caress of his silky shirt against her skin.
“Hey, a potential rescuer just walked by, Thea. Aren’t you going to scream for help?” Blade taunted while he slipped his hands beneath her skirt and squeezed her butt cheeks. “You should have taken advantage. At this hour the Trover is basically empty.”
Thea was so aroused at this moment that leaving him was the last thing on her mind and he knew it. But she played the game, squirming in his tight embrace. “Let me go, Blade. I don’t need anyone else’s help. I’ll get off at the next stop and find my way back.”
“Will you now?” He tugged one leg across his lap so she ended up straddling him, her skirt stretched taut across the top of her thighs, her wet pussy eager for his touch. Thea automatically gripped his shoulders. Between her spread legs, Blade’s erection bulged against his pants.
Hiding her excitement, Thea looked back up at him. “I’m going back to Earth with or without you, Blade.”
He smiled while he massaged her breasts. “I know how to keep you occupied elsewhere.”
Thea held her breath as he toyed with her nipple ring. The little tugs zinged hot yearning through her belly and into the nerve endings of her sex. Even with her mind in turmoil, she couldn’t stop the gasp of delight brought on by the long finger entering her.
Blade’s thumb slipped through her moist folds and rubbed her sensitive clit. She nearly came undone. “Follow your instincts, Thea.”
Was he kidding? Her instincts told her to run. Except her legs shook too much. Her internal muscles contracted around his finger, holding him in place, contradicting any notions of fleeing.
She was a fool. Each time they connected physically, she lost another little bit of her soul to him. Soon breathing would be impossible without his fingertip upon her pulse.
Blade’s thumb rubbed over and over her clit, increasing the pressure and the vibration until Thea clenched her muscles, fighting her release. But the climax whirled tighter and tighter, compressing into a tornado of desire. It swept through her pussy and flung her out to the stars.
“Aah!” Thea dug her nails into his shoulders and hung on for life as the climax ripped through her. “Oh, God.” Ever so slowly, as the jolts of pleasure subsided, she disengaged her grip, leery of showing him too much by clinging for a second or two too long.
“My God, Thea.” Blade kissed her, clutching her body to his solid length, his clothed erection pressed hard against her entry. He thrust his tongue between her teeth, stroking her mouth, tangling with her tongue in a mating dance.
Groaning into her mouth, Blade rubbed and rocked and ground against her. Another climax built and she moaned. Thea tilted her head back, and panting for breath, she gripped his tense muscles and looked into his eyes. “Oh, please.”
Blade ripped open his pants flap and drove his hard cock into her.
Her tight sheath pulsed around the thick shaft filling her. Thea’s hands roamed over his body, memorizing the contours of his shoulders and chest, grasping his thighs while he plunged in and out of her liquid center. Right now, nothing else mattered in the world except the feel of this man’s body enveloping hers, binding them together in sexual bliss.
There was something wrong with that judgment, but she was too wound up to expound on it now.
Blade’s chest heaved with each pounding slap against her flesh. “Gods, you’re so tight, woman. I should have known you were not a professional by that alone.” He grunted and surged deep, pressing his cock’s tip against her womb.
Thea writhed on his lap, burning with the pressure of his thick cock, wanting to pull Blade inside herself and connect on a level beyond the physical.
It wasn’t meant to be.
“Thea!” He jerked out a bit and pounded in hard, the thrust lifting Thea.
Her head banged against the top of the berth. “Ouch.”
Blade’s hand cupped the top of her head. “Sorry, honey.”
Giggling at their wild aerobics, Thea tucked her head against his cheek.
Blade snagged her shimmying hips in a bruising grip, but she was beyond caring, caught up in the maelstrom of passion. The pinnacle flickered just out of reach. There… there… “Oh, yes!”
She muffled her scream in his neck and hugged him hard, grinding his cock deep as the orgasm raged through her core.
Blade held her so tight it hurt, growling low in his throat, and thrust one last time before he pumped his hot cum into her womb.
Their limbs shook so hard, Thea didn’t know where her trembling stopped and his started. She hugged him with the last bit of strength she possessed. Then every tightly sprung muscle in her body slackened all at once, and Thea slumped against his body.
Blade tipped his forehead against hers, his chest heaving with each rapid beat of his heart. “You… are not… going anywhere… without me.”
* * *
Once Blade understood her reasoning for returning to Earth, Thea had hoped they’d race back to the Decree. But as soon as she met Blade’s brother, Steele, she learned Blade had other plans.
The brothers slapped each other on the back with affection that warmed Thea’s heart. In her line of work, she didn’t see too much familial love.
“This is Thea Stone,” Blade said. “I picked her up on Earth -- twenty-first century.”
“What were you doing… oh! Did you find Zara?”
Jealousy zinged through Thea. Who the hell is Zara?
Blade shook his head. “Missed her again. But I’m getting closer. I’ve stepped up the tracer timing. I’ll fill you in later. We’re going to be here for a while.”
“If it’s not an inconvenience,” Thea said, giving Blade the evil eye for his lack of civility.
Steele wiped a hand over his mouth to hide his grin. “No problem. Staying long?”
“Two moon phases. I’ve given the crew liberty while the ship’s solar sails are refurbished.”
Thea didn’t know whether to be ecstatic or devastated by the delay.
Hours later after they’d retired to their room and lay relaxing in an antique bed, Thea asked about Zara.
Blade tucked Thea’s head into the hollow of his shoulder and stared up at the glass ceiling where a zillion stars twinkled in the night sky. “My sister took off ten months ago. I’ve been searching for her. I could go back in time and stop her from disappearing, but disrupting her timeline could have dangerous repercussions. I just need to know she’s all right.”
Thea relaxed. She vaguely remembered Blade saying something about his sister diverting him to Earth. Snuggling against Blade’s heat, Thea
cast an arm over his broad chest. “Tell me about her.”
A deep sigh raised and lowered his chest. “Zara was a shy child, but with two forceful brothers to contend with, she developed a tough inner core. When my parents died in a crash landing, Steele and I took over raising her.” Thea had never heard Blade’s tone so serious, so sad. “Usually she acquiesced to our wishes with a smile, especially when it came to deflecting the men who buzzed around her. Little did we realize Zara used her gentle nature to wrap us around her dainty finger. Steele and I idolized her.”
Silent for a long moment, Blade twisted Thea’s hair around his thick finger. “Looking back, I can see the times she became frustrated with our bossiness. Zara aimed to please and we took advantage. I guess she got tired of giving without receiving anything in return.”
“I don’t know how you can say that, Blade. You obviously loved her.”
Blade shrugged. “She slipped away in the middle of the night. We know she boarded a spaceship, but no one could identify it.”
Seeing how much Zara’s departure hurt him, Thea’s heart bled for him. Blade was domineering. Thea could handle that. Liked it, in fact. But, Thea could understand how a young woman might crave freedom from two older, overbearing brothers. “Are you going to search for her while the rest of the crew takes a break?”
Blade rolled onto his side, pulling her body flush to his. “What I want… need… is to spend time with you.” He kissed her affectionately, slipping his ever-eager cock into her warm folds.
* * *
Lost in melancholy, Thea opened the air-locked doors in her bedroom letting the humid breeze waft into the room. She stared at the fountain in the courtyard, wishing she could soak her hot skin in its soothing moisture and ease away the depression cloaking her this morning.
Thea wasn’t unhappy, exactly. Blade was an exhilarating lover, showered her with gifts, and kept her entertained with tales of other worlds. He was a gentleman when it suited him and pleasant to everyone working on the estate, even the odd creatures that made Thea cringe. Still, she wanted more from Blade. She wanted his love.
An unfair wish since she also wanted to leave him and return to her old life.
Bonds of Justice: Blade’s Decree Page 4