Holding her close, he tried to reassure her.
“It’s probably nothing.” She smiled when he sighed, seemingly resigned to the fact that he had to tell her. Did he already know her well enough to know that she wouldn’t let it go lightly? “I don’t think this reply is actually from my contact. I suspect that someone is trying to set a trap to catch me.”
She shivered in his arms, the thought of losing him turning her blood cold.
“So don’t go. We can head back to the ship and rethink our strategy.”
His body stiffened under her and his entire being stilled as anger seemed to boil in him.
“You are not coming back to the ship, ever. Do you understand me?”
She nodded slowly, but hid her face against his shoulder as she tried to control the sobs that threatened to break free. Hell, she was such a sucker. Somehow, she’d confused lust with caring and fabulous sex with something more. She tried to lift herself off his lap, tried to gather her shredded dignity, tried to hide her breaking heart, but he held her to him and rocked her gently as he made soothing noises.
“Sweetheart, that’s not what I meant.” He tried to lift her head so that he could capture her gaze. “I want you with me—more than I can explain—but I also want you safe. The men on my crew are dangerous, and I won’t put you at risk just because I selfishly want you by my side.”
She relaxed a little as understanding flowed through her. He wasn’t actually saying that he loved her, but he was admitting that what they had between them was something special for him as well. She wanted more, a whole lot more, but she set aside her emotions as she tried to get back to the matter that had bought them together—sick children with no way to access the medicine she’d been delivering.
“So what do we do now?”
“I meet whoever replied to my message at the rendezvous point and you stay here to get some well deserved sleep.” He said it so arrogantly, so self-assured that his orders would be followed that she barely restrained the urge to punch him in the face.
“Stay here? No fucking way! I came here to help you and help you I will,” she yelled, wriggling off his lap and getting to her feet. Anger pulsed through her, and she had the absurd urge to stamp her foot or do something equally ridiculous.
Absolutely fucking great
. He was treating her like a child, and now she was acting like one.
“No. I brought you here so that you could escape and head home in that tin can you call a space ship and I could find my contact and get the medicine to the people who need it. Simple as that.” His eyes sparkled as his temper flashed.
“No way,” she yelled as she tried to control her own rising temper, “I have a stake in this, too. I didn’t risk my life trying to deliver the stuff just to tuck tail and run now.” She planted her feet, hand on hips, in front of his seated form. “You need me,” she said angrily.
He grabbed her wrist and yanked her back onto his lap. “You have no idea how much I need you,” he said, just before his lips claimed hers in a soft, sensual kiss. He slid his tongue over her surprised gasp and captured her next words as he tugged on her lower lip with his teeth and then thrust his tongue into her heat. She groaned into his mouth. Her body already tingled with renewed desire as her breasts grew heavy and her breathing quickened.
His hands found her naked breasts and he dragged his thumbs over the distended nipples as he caressed the soft mounds. She couldn’t help but melt against him as she felt his hard cock press against her engorged sex. He shifted her so that she straddled him as his hand sought her wet heat. He pushed her lower against his lap as she pulled his thickening cock from the confines of the pants. He pressed her back a little and then lowered her onto him. He stroked deeply as he controlled the rhythm and captured her heart and soul as he loved her slowly, reverently. He carefully bought her to climax over and over. Heat flooded through her in gentle waves, the orgasm more intense than any other simply because of his caring, his worship, his gentleness. With him, right at this moment, she felt loved.
Chapter Six
Jordan watched her beautiful face as her body tightened and released over and over and her skin flushed prettily as her orgasm claimed her. He’d started this as a way to distract her, but somehow it had backfired and he’d felt himself falling farther and harder than he had ever done in his life. There was no hiding it from himself. He loved her with everything in him. He would die for her. He would kill to protect her and he’d keep her safe—even if it meant she would hate him.
His cock throbbed as he stroked in and out of her glorious heat. His heart thumped hard, beating a tattoo that shouted his love for this woman. She gasped one final time as another climax hit her. Her pussy pulsed around him and tipped him into his own release.
He held her close and cradled her gently against his chest, but couldn’t stop the single tear as it escaped and rolled down his face to drip into her hair. He’d finally found a woman he could love for the rest of his life, and she would most likely end up hating him for what he was about to do next.
She stirred in his arms as he stood, lifted her against his chest, and strode towards the bed. “Shhh. It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re just going to get some rest. We have time,” he reassured her as she stiffened. “Our rendezvous isn’t for several hours yet.”
He felt almost guilty as he laid her on the bed and settled beside her to pull her back against his front, spoon style. “Sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”
He held her for almost an hour, listening carefully. Eventually he heard her breathing deepen and felt her body relax in his arms, but he held her for a moment longer before he carefully moved away and reached for the tie on the hotel’s complimentary robe.
Gently, he looped the material around her left hand and carefully tied several tight knots before he twisted it around the bed head and then tied it to her right hand. She barely moved as he eased away from her, her body still soft and relaxed and her breath deep and even. He watched her for a moment. Regret rolled through him as he took a last look at the woman who would always own his heart but could never be part of his life. He’d contact the hotel management in a few hours so that someone could help her get untied and she could leave this pathetic little planet without him.
He left the room quietly and pulled on his clothes as he gathered his supplies. He checked that his stun pistol was fully charged and made sure the room was secure. Jordan was almost at the door when he hesitated and turned back to the bedroom to take one final look. From the doorway, he memorized every curve, every feature, every inch of flawless skin as he tried to prepare himself for a very lonely future. Yesterday that wouldn’t have bothered him. Today he felt like his soul had been cut from his body, leaving a wound that would never heal.
He stepped to the bed and carefully lifted the covers over her nakedness. “I love you,” he whispered as he turned and left the motel suite, quietly locking the door behind him.
* * * *
Sarah held still a moment longer as she listened intently to make sure he was actually gone. Stupid man! If you loved someone, you didn’t leave her tied to a bed while you went off to risk your life. Satisfied that she was indeed alone, she moved quickly and used her teeth to untie the knots, grateful that he hadn’t thought to bind her legs, as well. That would’ve made following him just a little bit harder.
Releasing herself, Sarah strode into the main area, collected her clothes, and emptied the pockets. She chuckled at how easy it had been to grab and hide all of the pieces while she maneuvered her little ship on the way here. If she’d really wished him harm, the man would’ve been in a whole lot of trouble. She moved confidently from years of practice and assembled all of the different little pieces back into a stun gun and tracking device. She laughed again as she remembered how she’d timed it perfectly. He hadn’t even felt the sting when she’d injected him in the back of the knee with the subcutaneous tracer.
Well,
she laughed to herself,
men did tend to be a little preoccupied when a woman held his cock in her mouth
.
Switching on the device as she quickly pulled her clothes on, she watched the little blip move across the screen. If they’d been on Earth, she would’ve been able to co-ordinate with global satellites and essentially watch his every move. On this planet, however, she needed to follow the little blip, and, judging by its slow movement, he was still on foot. She gathered her stun gun and tucked it into her pocket. It wasn’t
little darlin’
but it would still be better than walking around unarmed.
* * * *
The hairs at the back of his neck prickled as he watched the entry to the store where he was supposed to rendezvous with his contact. The very fact that Oberon had set their meeting indoors had been unusual in and of itself, as he usually preferred the anonymity of a large market area or food court. What really had Jordan on edge had been the way the message had been phrased. Oberon had always,
always
left two spaces between the third and forth words in any communication as a verification of his identity to anyone reading the messages. It would’ve appeared as a simple typing error if someone had noticed, but to Jordan the missing extra space was a red flag that couldn’t be ignored.
“No sudden moves, pirate,” an overconfident voice said from behind him as he felt the barrel of an ancient projectile weapon pressed against his head. “We’ve been waiting for y…”
He never finished the sentence and after a moment’s hesitation, Jordan moved slowly and turned to see the young man crumpled at his feet.
“Didn’t your Momma ever tell you to watch your back?” Sarah asked, a broad smile on her face. “Lucky I came along,” she said as she pocketed the man’s weapon and hauled him further into the shadows.
“What are you doing here?” Jordan growled, panic for her safety overriding his common sense. “You can bet your ass he’s not alone.”
She glared at him. “You mean the guy on the roof across from us? Or the woman down the road without a baby in her pram?”
His gaze zoomed to both locations as fear for her pounded heavily through his system. He saw no one, so he glared back at her until she shrugged and patted her little stun gun before sliding it back into her pocket.
* * * *
If she hadn’t been so angry with him, she probably would’ve burst out laughing at the comical look on his face. God, men were stupid sometimes. He’d been so busy trying to protect her that he hadn’t even considered asking her what skills she might have. He’d just assumed that because she was out of her depth on his ship surrounded by nasty pirates that she’d be a cowering female who needed his protection, no matter where they were.
“I worked black-ops for seven years, you moron. I’m more qualified than you when it comes to this stuff, so quit looking at me like that and grab this guy. If we can get him somewhere secluded I can interrogate him and find out where your contact is.”
Chapter Seven
Still a little stunned, but more than grateful for her timely arrival, Jordan nodded and then bent to haul the young man to his feet. He threw an arm around the guy’s middle and held him up in a fairly believable imitation of helping a drunken friend. He took a step forward and then stopped, turned to her, and said two words that seemed to surprise Sarah.
“I’m sorry.”
Black-ops for seven years? No wonder the woman had a kick-ass attitude. As far as he knew, black-ops were deadly undercover missions for elite Earth military personnel, and they included everything from hostage rescue to assassinations.
Sarah led him to a dead-end alley. Tall concrete-type walls surrounded them on three sides, and he took their unconscious guest deep into the shadows. He stood back as Sarah tied the unconscious man using a long slim piece of cord that she’d withdrawn from her pocket. Jordan spared a moment to wonder where or how she managed to have so much stuff with her but decided to shelve the question for another time. He winced as he watched her wind the cord around their prisoner in an intricate pattern, including a loop around the man’s penis and another around his testicles, with nothing but a thin scrap of material between the cord and the guy’s sensitive flesh.
Jordan almost felt sorry for the guy. His own balls ached in sympathy for a fellow male, but he managed to shake off the strange feeling by reminding himself that moments ago this guy had pointed a lethal projectile weapon at his head. Satisfied with her knots, Sarah stepped back, holding both ends of the cord as she slapped him solidly across the face.
“Wake up, baby,” she said sweetly, her fingers caressing the pink outline of her hand print on his cheek. “I want to have a little chat.”
The man woke slowly, groggily looking around as he tried to get his bearings. Jordan knew the exact moment he realized his predicament, the guy’s face morphing into horror as he glanced down at the cord between his legs. He began to struggle against the knots that bound his arms behind his back but stilled almost immediately when the action pulled the cord tighter around his genitals.
“Now that I have your attention,” she began pleasantly. “I’ll explain the rules of this little game. I’m going to ask you a question and if you answer me truthfully, I pull this end.” She pulled the cord in her right hand in demonstration. “It releases the tension a little.” The man almost smiled as he felt the cord slacken a little, but it was short-lived as she continued her demonstration. “But if you lie to me, I pull this cord.” The man’s face tightened in fear as the cord pressed harder against him.