Taking Liberty (3 page)

She was tinkering with the stupid running light. He'd never known someone so determined. So single-minded.

So annoying.

“But she does have a damn fine ass.” His gaze drifted past her tailbone and he licked his lips, imagining his tongue exploring the cute little dimples he'd noticed earlier nestled at the base of her spine. Desire pulsed in his dick and he groaned.
Shit
. This was what happened when he went too long without sex. The horndog in him started salivating over the last woman he should be sniffing after.

“You'd think I would have learned my lesson on that one.” Scowling, he kicked away a loose stone blocking his path and crossed the final yards to the ship. He pulled up short next to the debarking ramp. Rather than hassle with the cargo doors, he'd stow the truffles up by the bridge.

“We need to talk.”

Sending the hover cart up the ramp ahead of him, he glanced towards Rini. She piloted the ladder beneath the wing. If the mulish set of her chin didn't clue him in to the argument on the horizon, the stiff hands planted on her hips sure as shit did. He rubbed the back of his skull, willing his headache to find someone else to torture. “Can we do it on the way to Aquatica? We're still on a tight schedule.”

“Why in the universe would you jeopardize your pilot license and your ship to smuggle caviar?”

The pit of his stomach dropped. He stared at her, the eerie drone of desert insects providing a tense backdrop. Just as quick as the cold dread spread through his limbs, it was replaced by sizzling anger. “Who gave you the right to snoop in my cargo?”

“I wasn't snooping.” She stepped off the rung and stalked towards him. “I found the crate on accident, during my search for the ladder.”

Son of a bitch
. Why didn't he just fix the damn light himself? Stupid, stupid,
stupid
. Pivoting, he grasped the debarking rail and trudged up the ramp.

“I'm not finished with you yet.”

“Yeah, babe, I figured as much. But you'll have to do it inside. Like I said, we're running late.” Without waiting for her inevitable complaint, he ducked inside the ship and grabbed the top box of truffles. Ignoring the staccato beat of footsteps trailing him, he stashed the box behind the pilot's seat. Turning, he almost collided with Rini when she shoved the second carton of truffles against his chest.

Her gaze bore into him, accusing and slightly hurt. The expression baffled him. What the hell did she have to feel hurt about? She was the one who'd decided to paw through his cargo—someplace she had no business being. If anyone should be moping around with a look of betrayal, it should be him, damn it.

Dropping the truffle carton atop the other, he pushed past her and went to seal off the debarking station. His jaw locked in a rigid line when he noticed she'd already beaten him to it. Where did she get off performing his preflight duties? A repo contract didn't give her jurisdiction to act like she fucking owned his ship.

Rini sidestepped him and reached for the hover ladder.

His patience—thin as a monofilament fiber—snapped. “Leave it.”

She straightened, a frown pinching tight above the ridge of her brow. “But the ladder needs to be secured.”

“What needs to be secured is your ass. In the seat.”

Her eyes gleamed with defiance. Growling beneath his breath, he grabbed her arm. An instant later, he found himself flat on his back, her boot digging into his sternum. It took several seconds to chase down his breath.

With her heel planted firmly in place, she leaned over him, her eyebrows smugly arched. “It's extremely rude to touch someone without being invited. Might want to remember that.”

“Well, since you've already corrected me for the oversight by cracking my spine, I might as well make it worth my while.”

“I didn't crack your—”

Before she finished spitting out the denial, he grasped the leg pinning him and tugged. Hard. She toppled, sprawling across his chest with an “
Oof
.” Her shocked gasp puffed against his face. Gripping the back of her neck, he dragged her in for an angry kiss that finally managed to shut her up. She attempted to jerk back, but he clamped his hand against the base of her skull and captured her bottom lip between his teeth.

He'd intended the kiss as punishment, never realizing he'd become the victim of his own dirty game when a soft moan spilled from her mouth. The sound wrapped around his cock like silken fingers. Coaxing. Teasing.

Groaning, he let her lip slip free of his teeth and he licked along the seam, easing the sting. Her eyes stared into his, so close he could easily detect the darker specks of blue in her irises. He eased his hold on her scalp, the soft, cool strands of her hair sifting between his fingers. Angling his head for a better approach, he delved his tongue between her lips. Her tongue retreated. Not far, once he captured it and sucked it into willing submission. She tasted like cinnamon and spice and everything sinful. Everything he should be running screaming from. So why the hell were his hands traveling the slope of Rini's neck and feathering past her shoulders to her breasts?

Her nails bit through the thin cotton of his shirt, sinking in just above the waistband of his pants. If she inched a little lower…

Rini shifted her mouth away, earning his frustration. She nibbled on her bottom lip.

“Baby, don't. That's my job.” Chuckling, he curled his fingers around her chin, drawing her closer.

She wrenched away from him before his mouth could reclaim its prize. Pushing to her feet, she glared at him, her chest heaving. “You're unbelievable.”

Why did he have the feeling her words weren't intended as a compliment to his kissing skills? “Why? What did I do?”

“Don't try to play the innocent. You don't wear the role well.”

He lurched to a sitting position. “Mind clueing me in on what the hell you're blabbering about? I seem to have left my female outrage decoder at home.”

“You kissed me.” She hissed the accusation.

“Yeah, I'm with you so far.”

“Are you going to deny you did it to sidetrack me?”

He didn't immediately answer. Apparently that was the wrong tack to take. She spun away and stalked into the bridge. Planting his hands on the steel flooring, he hefted to his feet. He arched his back and winced, massaging the tender—and likely bruised—base of his spine. “Babe, if I thought a kiss would sidetrack you, don't you think I would have done it before we left Warddok Ten?”

“I don't know,” she shot over her stiff shoulder. “Maybe you're not real quick on the uptake.”

Moving like a hundred-pound weakling who'd just gone twenty rounds with the intergalactic sumo-wrestling champion, Lucus staggered towards his seat. He'd learned his lesson. His mother hadn't raised a dunderhead who didn't know the drill. Okay, maybe she'd raised
one
dunderhead. Regardless, no matter how delectable Rini was, his lips would keep a ten-foot radius from her at all times. He was too attached to his dick to risk anything closer.

He plopped into the pilot's seat and bit his tongue to keep from whimpering in agony when his sore tailbone hit the hard ridge of the metal seat support. Looking across at Rini, he met her cocky expression. Okay, so she knew how to make a grown man cry like a baby who'd lost his pacifier. Didn't mean she needed to gloat.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, never been better.” He squeezed the words between clenched teeth.

“Look, I'm sorry if I hurt you. Are you still able to fly, or do you want me to take over?”

Why didn't she just chop his balls off and be done with it? “Sweetheart, it's going to take a hell of a lot more than a hundred and ten pound woman to put me in traction.”

A cute pink blushed her cheeks. “Thanks for the compliment, but I'm closer to one thirty.”

Well hell, at least he didn't overestimate her weight. Maybe it'd put her in a good mood and she'd go easy on him.

“So why are you smuggling caviar?”

Then again, maybe not.

“I prefer calling it a goodwill offering.” He powered up the Liberty and took off. At this rate, it'd be a damned miracle if they reached Aquatica by dawn. The star cruiser hit a rough air pocket and he coasted higher to combat the turbulence. From the corner of his eye, he caught the tell-me-another-bullshit-story expression darkening Rini's face. He didn't owe her any explanations, and what he did with his ship was no concern of hers.

So why did it feel like a boulder sat dead center on his chest when she dropped her gaze to the hands clasped in her lap? Her disappointment poked his conscience. Damn it, he
wasn't
a bad guy. “Sometimes you have to do unpleasant things in the name of survival. But I'm guessing you've never had that problem, princess.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

He glanced at her, cataloging the giveaway details. Expensive haircut. Small yet tasteful diamond studs tucked in her earlobes. When you've been burned once by the social elite, you know what to look for. “You come from money.”

She stiffened. “Whatever you're implying, you're wrong.”

“Am I? I'm guessing it took a shitload of capital to start up the UGG's repo agency. Your family must be swimming in cash.”

“Things haven't been handed to me.”

“But I bet you haven't exactly had to struggle for anything either.” His assessing glance lingered on her pink-polished nails. He remembered his ex-wife's standing weekly appointment at the expensive salon she'd insisted was a necessity and the teary eyes she'd predictably turned on him when he'd asked her to cut back on the spending. In the end he'd caved. When it came to Sandra, that'd always been his M.O.

Tearing his thoughts from dark alleys he'd rather not traverse, he gestured towards Rini's hand. “Maybe that's the real underlying reason you decided not to become a cop. Why settle for a low-paying job that'll only ruin your manicure?” He met Rini's indignant glower but all he could truly focus on was the dazzle of those damn diamonds in her ears. They brought out the bastard in him. “After all, Mommy and Daddy have a nice, cushy job all set to go at the agency. Way better than having to actually work your way up the ranks, like all the rest of us poor peons.”

He waited for her inevitable denial. When it didn't come, he shook his head with a scornful snort. “Yeah, that's what I thought.”

 

Rini made no move to correct Lucus of his idiotic assessment. Let him think the worst of her. It was better than him knowing the sordid truth.

Hardly anyone knew the real reason she gave up her dream of becoming a ranger. Not her parents, not her coworkers, not her best friend. Only two other people knew the truth, and they certainly weren't going to blab to anyone. So her story was safe—a painful secret stuffed in the furthest recesses of her heart.

She had every intention of keeping it that way.

Lucus leaned forward and adjusted the temperature control. She hadn't noticed how warm it was in the bridge. Of course, the sight of his shirt pulling snug over his broad shoulders only made it feel a hundred degrees hotter. Jerking her gaze away, she focused on the stars and satellites zipping past the viewing shield.

He didn't like her. She didn't like him. If she had the slightest sense, she'd stop thinking about his yummy body and brain-frying kisses.

The sound of plastic crumpling drew her attention back to Lucus. His hand was stuffed in a bag of Galaxy Gus's potato chips. He looked over and caught her staring.

“Want some?” Lucus extended the crinkled sack, but she hesitated. He shook the bag in invitation. “Don't worry. It's fresh—opened earlier this afternoon.”

Reassured, she ducked inside the package and fetched several chips. She popped the first one inside her mouth and her stomach rumbled in anticipation.

Lucus must have heard the embarrassing sound because he chuckled. “When's the last time you ate? Sounds like a mutiny is going on in there.”

She swallowed the chip and licked the greasy salt from her fingers before answering. “I had a nice steak dinner planned, but I ended up sacrificing it to your hound.”

“So that's how you snuck past Roscoe. Remind me to fire that damn dog.”

“Roscoe?” Tapping another chip against her lips, she contemplated the name. “Yeah, it suits him. Kind of butch and no-nonsense. And I get that he's a guard dog, but really, would it kill you to bathe him once in a while?”

A quick snort shot from Lucus. “Trust me, if I could catch him he'd get a scrub down every damn day, considering his love affair with garbage cans leaves him reeking to high hell. As it is, I'm lucky to blast him with the hose on occasion before he runs off.”

She nibbled the edges of the chip clutched between her fingers. “Hmm, he doesn't sound very obedient.”

“Speaking of which—you're staying in the ship when we reach Aquatica.”

The remainder of her chips forgotten, she glared at Lucus. “Excuse me, but that sounded an awful lot like you telling me what to do.”

“It is what it is.”

“It's
demeaning
. In case you didn't notice, we're no longer living in caves and clubbing wooly mammoths.”

A nerve twitched in his jaw and he crushed the chip bag before stowing it next to his seat. “This has nothing to do with sexism. I just don't want you sticking your nose in my business.”

“Why, what sort of
business
are you conducting on Aquatica?” She stared at his profile, willing him to allay her suspicions. His mouth stayed fused in its stubborn line. “Well, I guess that explains how you managed to gain trade access with their leader.”

Irritation shimmered off him like an invisible force field. “Like I said, I do what's necessary to survive.”

He made no move to elaborate further and Rini saw no point in dragging out an argument that was clearly pointless. She settled back in the seat and tried preoccupying herself by finishing her chips and mentally jogging through the rest of her week's schedule. Most of the jobs were simple—easy enough a drunk monkey could do them blindfolded.