by Shona Husk
He drew back and summoned some self-control, but immediately he craved to sink fully into her. His shaft slid against the slick lips of her slit, tormenting himself some more. She wiggled as she tried to find satisfaction. He eased in a fraction, watching her face and listening to her gasp. He pulled back before he could thrust fully into her waiting core.
Haliday bit her lip, her back arching as if she wanted more than what he was giving her. She ran her fingers down his sides, then up his back, close to where his spines poked through the skin, the base of each one full of nerve endings. He rolled his hips so the head of his cock was bathed in her wet heat. This time when she tilted her hips, he couldn’t resist any longer.
Slowly he thrust into her tight sheath. She felt so good. He withdrew a fraction and pressed deeper until his cock was fully buried in her core. For a moment he didn’t move, just enjoyed the sensation that ran through his skin, plucked at his nerves and made his balls ache with the need to fuck and come.
But waiting wasn’t what she wanted. Her hands gripped his hips and her nails dug into his butt as if she could force him to start thrusting. He reared back and grabbed her hips, dragging them up so her ass rested on his thighs.
Her mouth opened as she watched him fuck her. Her slit spread wide before him, full of his cock. He used his grip on her hips to deepen the thrust, his cock slick and glistening with her fluid. So wet and tight. Her breathing became shallow pants and her gaze was fixed on where their bodies joined. He made long slow thrusts, determined to make the most of this moment. He watched as she took him deep, then as he withdrew almost fully.
Tension tightened every nerve. The scent of her lust was all over his skin and seeping into his blood. He brushed his thumb over her clit, needing to feel her climax roll through her and squeeze his cock hard as he came. He gave up all pretense of holding back and fucked her hard.
“Come for me.” He thrust faster and deeper, determined to push her over the edge before following—he wanted Haliday Fisher to remember him the next time she took a businessman to bed.
He smelled her climax a milli-tric before it rippled through her body. He thrust again, deep and hard as his cock thickened and his balls released his cum. He shuddered as her core clenched, milking him dry.
For a moment they lay still, locked together and breathing hard. He really needed to get home more often, or at least closer to home. Then the pheromones that had driven him to fuck left him. The urge to close his eyes was almost overwhelming. That was the other reason to take blockers. Pheromones really screwed the men over. He withdrew from her body even though all he wanted to do was stay there and close his eyes for a few milli-trics. Falling asleep on top wasn’t the done thing.
He lay on his side and pulled her close. He wouldn’t be out for long and when he woke up he wanted her there—no doubt she was fighting the aftereffects too. She snuggled against him and he let himself relax. Not that he had much choice.
Chapter Four
Haliday forced herself to stay awake. The men had it worse, but with Callen’s body curled behind her and his arm over her, it was tempting to close her eyes and rest. Her body ached in all the right places—she wasn’t sure she could walk out of his room. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. Damn, she always met the nicest guys at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons.
Callen was a bounty hunter, and while he said he was here for a bit of fun, if he realized who the Dooraump was, she’d have to fight him for the chits. She made herself list the names of all the criminals she’d turned over to the APM for judgment to stay awake. After twenty, she was sure Callen was asleep. She eased away slightly and held her breath.
Nothing.
So she eased out from under his arm and straightened up her dress. She’d never be able to wear it again without thinking of him. Her gaze drifted to his sleeping form. He lay still in the temporary stupor that blockers would have prevented. His arms were curved with muscle, his chest and stomach more hard slabs that begged to be licked. She bit her lip. He was a fine piece of Phrial male.
And one who would no doubt turn her into Yem if he had even the faintest idea who she was and who she had once belonged to, just for the chits. Callen was dangerous to her, and not just because he made her pheromones wake up with a heady rush that no Phrial male had ever done—she’d felt smaller rushes of attraction, but she’d always ignored them. Maybe there was something in that old theory about picking a partner by pheromone.
Even if it was the tiniest bit true, there’d be someone else who’d made her body hot and quivery with just a glance.
She needed to make sure he stayed here while she got Noga.
A quick glance around the room gave her two options, rummage through his luggage or use his clothing. She looked at his luggage, but it was sealed with a print recognition device and she had no idea which finger he used. He’d used all of them on her. Her belly tightened and she stifled a yawn that suggested she should be in bed with him. His pants it was.
With a few well-placed knots, she bound his hands to the ring on the bed head made for tying people down. She shuddered and almost relented, knowing how much she hated being bound.
No. Callen was bad news. Hopefully by the time he got free, Noga would be hers. She opened the door, cringing at the almost silent whisper. He didn’t stir.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed, and then she left, making sure the door closed behind her.
In the elevator, she swiped her card, then tucked it back inside her dress. The cards only allowed visitors access to their floor or the entertainment levels. It was a measure of security, one she was sure Noga had bypassed. She went to her room, had a very quick shower to remove the scent of sex and changed clothes. A long green dress with splits to her hips. This time she wore underwear, since she knew sex wouldn’t work with Noga. Even though his friend Benth was interested, she wasn’t. Not now, not when all she could think of was Callen.
Then she redid her makeup in swirls of green. Before she left, she pressed a small flower sticker to each thumbnail. Biodegradable trackers, and untraceable by security, they were also very costly, so she used them only when necessary. Pressing them to her nails activated them. They were good for twenty trics. She was on the clock.
She glanced at the time. The docking port would open for outward-bound passengers in ten trics. She needed to get moving. She still needed a plan to get Noga alone.
* * * * *
Callen went to roll over. His body was relaxed and the scent of sex still hung in the air like a tempting perfume. His hands jerked and his eyes opened. All traces of relaxation vanished.
“The bitch.” He jerked on the bindings and quickly realized she’d tied him to the bed with his pants. “That is the last time…I knew there was something off about…” He swore in a few of the other languages he knew as he maneuvered around to work himself free of the knots.
As he studied them, it took only milli-trics to see she knew what she doing. These were the knots of a professional. A professional what?
His skin went cold and the spines on his back lifted as adrenaline flooded his system. He glanced around the room, but she was long gone, yet his things seemed untouched. Even the room swipe card was on the bedside table.
With his teeth, he loosened one knot and was able to work his hand free. Did she realize that what she’d done violated the rules of the Moon and he could have her thrown off? Not that he was going to. No, he was going to hunt her down and find out what she was up to.
And who she was working with.
A stab of panic gripped his stomach and twisted.
He remembered the look on her face when he’d admitted to being a bounty hunter and gave himself a mental kick. He should’ve lied. But if she was working with Noga, she’d have found out what he really did anyway. He got his other hand free and shook them out. Aside from a few light abrasions, he was fine.
He looked at his pants and the bed and his stuff. She could’ve cleaned him out, tied him up be
tter, had Noga come in and kill him already. She hadn’t. Something was off. Like a rotten corpse in a Lekithian bog, he could smell it, but he couldn’t see it. Yet. But he wasn’t going to step in it. Haliday had fooled him once, but not again.
With annoyance still scratching his nerves, he dressed in civvies and pulled out his plex. He checked his messages, then started doing a quick, but methodical search on Haliday Fisher. He wanted to know everything, from where she was born to her tax ID.
A preliminary search gave him that, everything was as it should be. Most people would give up and move on. Not him. The woman he’d just slept with had avoided passing out from the pheromone haze—which took effort—and had tied him up as though she was an expert. So he dug deeper.
That was when the adrenaline turned cold and punched him in the gut.
Five years ago, Haliday Fisher hadn’t existed.
He swallowed and did a few other searches that he could do legally because he was registered. He didn’t like what he found, or more precisely, what he didn’t find. Haliday Fisher was a construct, a well-done construct that most people would never look deeply into simply because they were dazzled by the lights around her, but she could be anyone.
“Fuck.” He’d thought with his dick and was now balls deep in a mess he couldn’t see a way out of. He ran a hand over his face.
Regroup. Replan. He had less than ten trics until the dock opened. More before the Moon blew. Noga wouldn’t go down with the Moon, he’d be long gone—making it that much harder to pin on him.
For a moment, he considered hacking the Moon systems but then decided against it. They’d have found the hack and found him before he was able to leave. He couldn’t risk losing his license.
Trust no one, especially pretty scented women of his own species. Had Noga been expecting him and used Haliday or was Callen now being overly paranoid? Was it possible to be overly paranoid when the Moon he was sitting on was going to blow and become contaminated space junk in less than one Allied Standard Day?
He rummaged through his luggage until he found what he wanted, then scanned the room for bugs or anything that didn’t belong. Nothing. Clean as the day he’d arrived. He packed everything away, slipped his plex into his pocket and left the room. He may not be able to find Noga easily, but finding Haliday should be much simpler. She made sure everyone saw her and was looking at the smile and the fashion, not what she was doing behind her back. Clever. He had to admire that. He was smiling when he got in the lift, and he wasn’t faking.
But she wouldn’t trick him twice.
* * * * *
Haliday had Benth’s full attention as she chatted to him in the Aqua Bar. Her palms were itching. It was stress related and she was trying to ignore it and smile as the orange-skinned man patted her hand and made less and less subtle hints about what it would take to secure a donation for the orphanages. Any other time, she would have taken him up on the offer. He was the type of rich investor that she was usually seen with and she was used to faking her way through sex.
Her belly tightened at the memory of being in Callen’s bed. There’d been nothing faked there. Heat swept over her skin, followed by a prickling down her back. If she’d been male, her spines would’ve been lifting. Callen was in the bar. She didn’t need to turn to see him. She could sense him, smell him as he got closer and almost feel the animosity rolling off him like a midsummer thunderhead.
He was angry. And she didn’t blame him. She also hadn’t expected him to get free so fast. It had taken her ages to learn how to undo those knots without making them tighter.
Benth was waiting for an answer. What had he asked?
She smiled at him. “I think I need another drink.”
“I’ll get it.”
“Just juice this time. Too much alcohol goes straight to my head and I won’t be able to talk business.”
Disappointment flickered across his features. At least she thought it was. Sometimes it was too easy to misread facial expressions on other species. The cues were slightly different.
Alone for a moment, she ran her fingers through her short hair and tried not to look at Callen directly. He was smiling, even though she could feel him bristling. But he wouldn’t risk attacking her on the Moon, no one would. There was too much security and too many rules.
Her traitorous body started melting, her underwear dampened and her nipples peaked because she could smell him. Worse, he hadn’t showered and she could smell herself on him and the unmistakable scent of sex. Bastard. He’d done that deliberately.
Benth came back with a drink. She could smell the alcohol before he set it down. Did he not realize how well tuned a Phrial’s sense of smell was? That he was trying to get her drunk enough that she’d go with him filled her with sadness and resentment. Pricks like him thought money bought whatever they wanted, including people.
She stood up, deciding that Callen was the lesser danger to her person. “Time has gotten away from me. I have another meeting to attend. Contact my assistant if you need further information, but I do look forward to hearing from you and I know the children would be delighted if you do decide to fund the building of a nursery school.” She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder as she walked past as if she truly were sorry she had to leave him. “We both know how important education is in improving one’s lot in life.”
When she walked away, it was minus one tracker. Maybe he’d be able to lead her to Noga. If not, she’d be hanging out by the dock and then following Noga onto whatever craft he boarded. If she got him, she wouldn’t need Benth’s chits to fund the school that would take children from three city orphanages.
With her chin up, she glided past Callen. She knew before he got up that he would follow her. She didn’t glance back but kept walking as she considered where to go—somewhere public, but not too public. She didn’t want their confrontation to stand out so they both got thrown off the Moon.
She knew just the place.
Her heart beat fast as she made her way to a theater. Safety in crowds. It was how she hid. It had always worked in the past. Yet she couldn’t fight the nerves that made her want to scratch her palms until they bled. For the first time she began to think she was in over her head.
She should’ve given up on Noga, walked away and gone after a smaller, easier scalp. And yet she couldn’t. She had to push herself to take bigger risks and bigger scalps because one day she wanted Yem in chains. She wanted him to feel powerless and alone and afraid that each day would be his last.
That was what got her up in the morning. That was the thought that made her give away almost everything she got to make sure no one else was sold the way she was. But she knew it happened. Corruption and poverty went hand in hand in a twisted dance.
She walked around the back of the theater, looking for a table with a bit of space around it. Most people clustered toward the front for the best view of the performance. Above the stage, acrobats in very little spun and tumbled, while onstage dancers moved like the ocean, sensuous and never still. It took her a moment to realize it was a very naked and sexy retelling of the Moth Prince and his mermaid lover.
For a moment, she was mesmerized by the beauty of the performance. The dancers might be here because of their beautiful bodies, but the shows were of a quality that was well above what she’d expected. She’d thought they would look cheap and smutty, not exquisite and sensual.
A hand slid around her waist and lips brushed her ear. “We need to talk.”
She swallowed and resisted the urge to lean against Callen. Her mind was filled with images of his naked body. The room was too hot and her head was light, but he wasn’t exuding any new pheromones. She’d killed his attraction when she’d tied him to the bed. A bubble of sadness popped in her chest. She wouldn’t be enjoying him again.
He drew her into an alcove, one of many that lined the walls, for those who couldn’t wait to get back to their room. She could resist, call out and have him arrested, but she didn’t wa
nt to. She had to keep her cover and Haliday Fisher would let the handsome man try to seduce her. Not that he was going to do that, judging from his closed expression and the thin line of his lips.
“You want to explain or shall I jump to what I think?” He kept his voice low and his hand around her waist. To anyone watching, they were simply lovers kissing and contemplating a semi-public tryst for excitement.
Her pulse fluttered in her wrists, but she forced her hands to be still instead of exposing them to him and revealing how she felt. No doubt it was too late and he could smell her. Blockers. She was never going to stop taking them ever again—no matter how expensive and hard to get they became.
She met his gaze and tried to keep the act going that she was nothing more than a socialite looking for a good time or a man with more chits than sense. “I wanted to make sure you were still in bed when I came back.”
“You sure you were coming back?”
“Of course.” She ran her hand up his chest.
He caught it but kept it there. “Were you coming back alone?”
Haliday frowned. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Callen drew her closer, so her body was pressed against his. There was no way she could slip free from his grasp. “I know that five years ago you didn’t exist. What I don’t know is what you are up to.”
Her spine stiffened. He knew. He knew! He was going to hand her into Yem and collect the reward. It wasn’t well publicized, but she knew it existed. She twisted her hand and tried to break his hold, but he was quicker and stronger. Ex-military. She was screwed.
“Start talking, Haliday, or I will have you detained for working with a known criminal. There may not be a bounty on your head, yet, but you mix in the wrong circles.”
Her mouth opened. He thought she was working with Noga? She blinked, but in those few milli-trics, she could understand why he’d think that.