Not the Man She Thought

by Paige Tyler

  Rade frowned. “What are you talking about? I’m not attracted to her.”

  Kellen shrugged. “If you say so.”

  Rade opened his mouth to reply, but Kellen was already out the door. Rade walked over to the sideboard and poured himself a drink. He stared down at the glass, thinking about what his first officer had said. Usually, the old man was dead on, but in this case, he couldn’t be more wrong. Rade would agree that Laken was attractive, but that wasn’t the same thing as being attracted to her. The idea was ludicrous.

  His hand tightened on the glass. Kellen may not be right about that, but he was correct about one thing. He had been too hard on Laken. He’d just been so damn on edge after that ambush by the Federation. He and the crew had barely gotten out of there with their lives. If it hadn’t been for that, Laken’s insults probably wouldn’t have pissed him off quite so much.

  What was done was done, though, and trying to apologize to her would probably only make matters worse. The best thing he could do was keep some distance between them the rest of the time she was on the ship. Unfortunately, they weren’t due on Marlon Prime for close to a week, so avoiding her might be difficult. Although, after the spanking he’d just given her, she was probably going to be on her best behavior. He supposed he should be grateful for that.

  Realizing he hadn’t heard anything from the med-bay yet, he put down is glass untouched and headed for the door.

  * * * * *

  Laken was lying in bed on her stomach, wondering if soaking in the tub would help her throbbing bottom when someone knocked on the door of her cabin. She ignored it, hoping they would go away, but whoever it was only knocked again.

  “Laken, it’s Dev. Can I come in?”

  Laken groaned. She didn’t want to see the other woman, or any of the crew, for that matter. She opened her mouth to tell Dev to go away, but changed her mind. She couldn’t ignore the other woman forever.

  She rolled onto her side and she sat up, letting out a little, “Ouch,” when her sore bottom touched the bed. “Come in.”

  The door slid open and Dev hesitantly stepped into the room. She chewed nervously on her lower lip. “I came to apologize. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you. I assumed you knew we skirted the law on some of the jobs we did. This time, we needed the code to get past the Federation’s sensors, and I couldn’t get it to work. I wouldn’t have accepted your help if I knew it was going to upset you.”

  Laken didn’t say anything. Whatever else she was, Dev was still her friend. “I just wish you would have told me. I don’t know if I would have helped you, but at least I wouldn’t have felt like you were trying to trick me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dev said. “I really am.”

  Laken sighed. “It wasn’t you I was mad at anyway. It was Rade. He makes me so furious that all I want to do is scream. When I was yelling at you, it was really all directed at him.”

  A smile curved Dev’s lips. “You have that same effect on him, I think. You seem to be able to get him to lose his cool faster than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

  Laken’s bottom could vouch for that. “We do seem to get on each other’s nerves, that’s for sure. The sooner I’m off his ship the better.”

  The other woman frowned. “You know, the captain isn’t usually so bad-tempered. He just has a lot on his mind right now.”

  Laken made no comment. The man was a pirate. He probably spent most of his time worrying about getting arrested. “So, how is Jorn?”

  “He’ll have some stiffness in his arm for a while, but otherwise, he’s fine.”

  Laken was glad to hear that. As much as she might dislike the captain, she did like his crew. “Does that kind of stuff happen a lot? Getting shot at, I mean?”

  Dev shrugged. “Not a lot, but it does happen sometimes. We watch each other’s backs, though, and the captain takes care of us.”

  Laken nodded even though she didn’t see it that way. Rade was the one who put them in that position in the first place. She couldn’t imagine why Dev or any of the crew would be loyal to a captain who would put them at risk just in the pursuit of money.

  * * * * *

  Over the next two days, Laken did her best to stay out of Rade’s path. To her relief, he did the same. It was impossible for the rest of the crew to miss the tension between her and their captain, though, and they went out of their way to make up for it. She was surprised they even wanted to talk to her after she had accused them of being pirates, but they didn’t seem angry with her at all.

  She was having lunch with the rest of the crew for lunch two days later Rade came in to make an announcement. They were a little ahead of schedule, so he’d decided to make a short stop at one of the more reputable planets in the area that night so the crew could have some down time.

  “We’ll only be there for a few hours, but I’m sure that’ll be enough for most of you to spend your share of the money we made off these last few jobs.”

  The crew laughed, already talking about where they would go that night. Laken listened with half an ear as Rade took out a handheld computer and encode credit sticks for each member of the crew..

  “Doesn’t mean you have to spend it all tonight, you know,” he muttered as he handed them out.

  Laken leaned over to look at Dev’s credit-stick, her eyes going a little wide at the amount on it. She didn’t have any experience with pirate wages, but the amount seemed generous. While that surprised her, though, it was nothing to how surprised she was when Rade offered a credit-stick to her.

  “Your share of the profit for helping Dev with the codes,” he told her.

  Laken stared at the credit-stick in his hand. It didn’t have as much on it as Dev’s did, but it was certainly more than she had to her name right now. It might even be enough to book passage on a really cheap ship headed to Marlon Prime. When she made no move to take it, he lifted a brow.

  “I don’t want it,” she said coolly. She wanted to say something insulting about it being dirty money, but remembered her promise not to provoke him anymore.

  Rade shrugged. “Suit yourself. You earned it, whether you want to admit it or not. If you prefer, I can have it credited to an account once we drop you off on Marlon Prime. I wouldn’t want you to accuse me of stealing from you. What was the name of this guy you’re supposed to be engaged to? I can put it in his name, if you want.”

  She didn’t was anything to do with Rade or his money once she got back to Mallin, and she certainly didn’t want her fiancé knowing how she had earned it. She reached out and snatched the credit-stick from Rade’s hand before he could erase it. “Don’t bother. I’ll take it.”

  Rade’s mouth quirked, but he made no comment.

  Laken closed her fist over the credit-stick, her face coloring. She was going to have a hard enough time explaining to Mallin how she had gotten all the way to Marlon Prime. She certainly didn’t want him asking questions when mysterious sums of money just started to show up in his account with her name on it. It would be better to simply take the money and forget the whole thing had ever happened.

  They landed on Konteline early that evening. Though it didn’t look quite as cosmopolitan as Tellune, it was considerably better than either of the other planets the ship had stopped at previously.

  Other than Kellen, who had volunteered to stay back with the ship, everyone else was going into the city. The crew was all gathered in the cargo hold when she got there. Keir immediately came over to meet her at the bottom of the stairs.

  He flashed her a grin. “What do you say I show you the sights?”

  Aware that his fellow crew was watching the exchange, Laken didn’t want to embarrass him by bluntly refusing his offer, but nor did she want to accept it, and she was thankful when Dev came to her rescue.

  “If she goes with you, all she’s likely to see is the inside of a hotel room,” the dark-haired woman said. “I’ll show her around.”

  Though Dev had been more than blunt herself, Keir didn’t look th
e least bit offended. His grin broadened. “I’d be happy to escort both of you. I know all the best clubs.”

  Dev rolled her eyes. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

  Taking Laken’s arm, she led her across the cargo hold and down the gangway.

  Like most spaceports, the one on Konteline was within walking distance to most of the shops, restaurants and nightclubs, and as she and Dev made their way down the crowded sidewalks, Laken found herself dragging the other woman into practically every store they passed. She didn’t really want to buy anything, but she enjoyed looking.

  However, not being the professional shopper that Laken obviously was, Dev announced she was exhausted after a dozen shops and said she need to get something to eat. Though Laken could still have shopped for hours, after seeing the haggard look on the other woman’s face, she reluctantly agreed and they left to go in search of a restaurant. They chose one that served traditional Kontelinian food, which was heavily spiced, and though not to Laken’s usual taste, she found that she still enjoyed it.

  Over dinner, they ended up talking about men. Dev wanted to know all the details about Mallin, and Laken was more than happy to talk about her fiancé. She was shocked when Dev asked her how he was in bed. Laken wasn’t used to talking about something so intimate, but after she finished blushing, she admitted Mallin was extremely talented in that department. Of course, she didn’t mention that Mallin was her first and only lover, and that she didn’t have a lot of room for comparison.

  It was nice talking to someone about Mallin. She was embarrassed to realize she hadn’t given him a lot of thought in the past day or so. That made her feel guilty. She was going to marry him as soon as she got to New Ashanti, after all.

  Dev divulged a few intimate details herself, talking about a how she would “hook up” with men she met when the ship docked on certain planets. The other woman’s romantic encounters sounded a lot more adventurous than her own, and Laken couldn’t help but be a little jealous. While Mallin was a good lover, he was more reserved in bed. His kisses were gentle and romantic, not passionate, like Rade’s.

  Laken blinked, wondering where that thought had come from. Rade’s kiss hadn’t been passionate. It had been brutish, just like he was.

  After they had eaten, Dev suggested they go to a nightclub. Laken readily agreed. It seemed like a lifetime since she had been out to a club. Since Dev had been to Konteline before, Laken let her pick the place.

  Men approached them the moment they sat down at a table. Thinking that it wouldn’t be right to dance with another man since she was engaged, Laken politely refused the men who asked her, but was pleased when Dev went off to dance with a tall, blond good-looking guy.

  Laken was so busy watching the couple dance, she didn’t see the man that had come over to the table until he sat down in the chair beside her. Draping his arm over the back of her chair, he leaned in close. Average looking, with dark hair and gray eyes, he smelled like fish. Which wasn’t all that surprising,, since Konteline was known for its fishing industry.

  “How about a dance?” he suggested.

  His breath reeked from alcohol, and she tried not to make a face as it wafted over her. “No, thank you.”

  He grinned and leaned closer. “Come on,” he cajoled, his breath brushing her cheek. “One dance. What do you say?”

  Laken moved as far away from him as she could without falling off her chair. “I said, no thank you.”

  He reached out and put his hand on her arm. “Come on. A pretty little thing like you can’t sit here all alone.”

  “She’s not alone,” said a deep voice. “She’s with me.”

  Surprised, Laken half-turned in her chair to find Rade standing behind her.

  The man beside her gave her a questioning look. “Is that true?”

  As much as hated to do it, Laken knew it would be smarted to play along with Rade, especially since she couldn’t think of any other way to get rid of this drunken jerk.

  She gave the man him a nod. “Yes. I’m with him.”

  When the man made no move to leave, Rade took her hand and gently pulled her to her feet. “Let’s dance.”

  Rade didn’t give her a chance to answer, but instead led her onto the dance floor and pulled her into his arms.

  Laken held herself stiffly. “I don’t want to dance with you.”

  Rade’s gaze flickered behind her to the table where she’d been sitting. “If you’d rather dance with him, I can always leave.”

  Laken glanced over her shoulder to see the man still sitting there watching them. Swallowing hard, she turned back around to find Rade regarding her with an amused expression.

  She gave him a fake smile. “I suppose I do want to dance with you after all.”

  “I thought so,” he drawled. “You don’t have to act as if it’s such a chore. I’ll have you know, that there are plenty of women who would enjoy dancing with me. I’ve been told I dance very well.”

  Laken snorted. “I imagine that whoever said that was under the influence of alcohol at the time.”

  Instead of the angry retort she thought he would spit out, he only grinned. “I’m sure you’re right. But it doesn’t mean they were wrong.”

  Before she could say anything else, the beat of the music changed, and Rade swept her into a complex series of twirls vaguely reminiscent of some of the latest dance steps on Tellune. She was so surprised a pirate like him could dance so well she made no attempt to stop him. As much as she hated to admit it, Laken enjoyed dancing with him. Mallin didn’t really like to dance, and when he did, it was usually the more rigid, formal steps that the merchant class of the Federation approved of.

  The music changed again, this time becoming slower and more hypnotic, and Rade pulled Laken closer, his hand slipping down to the small of her back. Being so near to him made her think of the way he had pulled her into his arms and kissed her back on the ship, and she automatically pulled.

  “I-I’m a little tired,” she stammered. “I think I’ll go back to my table.”

  Rade glanced over her shoulder again. “Only if you want spend the rest of the evening with that guy trying to grope you.”

  Laken glanced over her shoulder. The jerk who had been harassing her earlier was still at her table. She was trapped. She could either dance with Rade until that idiot went off to bother some other poor girl, or she could take her chances with him.

  Deciding Rade was the lesser of the two evils for now, Laken stayed where she was.

  Rade held her close as they danced, his hand on the small of her back, his body moving slowly and sensuously to the beat of the music. Laken instinctively moved with him, her hips swaying in time with the music. He was right. He was a very good dancer.

  Pressed close to him, she could feel every inch of his well-muscled body against hers. Once again, she couldn’t help but compare him to Mallin. Her fiancé was fit, but definitely not built like this. The feel of Rade’s body against hers, combined with the sensual beat of the music, had an intoxicating effect on her, and she found herself grinding against him.

  Her face colored as she realized he was hard underneath his breeches. She tilted her head back to look up at Rade, only to find him gazing down at her. Her breath caught at the hungry look in his dark eyes.

  Oh, God. He was going to kiss her. Heart pounding, she turned her face away. Her gaze went to the table where she’d been sitting to find it empty, the man who had been bothering her nowhere in sight. She turned back to Rade. “The jerk left. You don’t have to babysit me anymore.”

  Rade’s mouth tightened and for a moment, Laken didn’t think he would let her go, but then he inclined his head. Taking her hand, he led her back to the table.

  “I enjoyed the dance,” he said. “Stay out of trouble, if you can.”

  Before Laken could think of something suitably flippant to say, he turned and disappeared into the crowd. She watched him go, feeling strangely let down that he hadn’t actually kissed her. She couldn’t bel
ieve she could even think, but she couldn’t help it. Some part of her had wanted him to kiss her again, longed for it even.

  A light touch on the arm startled her and she turned to see a tall, dark-haired man standing beside her. She eyed him warily for a moment. With hazel eyes set behind wire-rimmed glasses and a charming smile, he was attractive enough, she supposed, and the cut of his clothes was definitely expensive. She hoped he wasn’t another jerk there to make a move on her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, he said. “I was just wondering if that was Rade Karsten I saw you dancing with?”

  Laken’s brow furrowed. “Yes. Do you know him?”

  The man’s lip curled. “By reputation only. Truthfully, and pardon me for saying so, but I’m surprised to see a lady of your obvious quality in the company of a man like him.”