Gabriel, sensing the commotion, sat up groggily. Jerico reached him before he could get to his feet and knocked him off the bunk. Leaning down, Gideon settled her almost tenderly on the bed and began checking her for breaks. Bronte tried to fight him off but as soon as she pushed his hands away they settled somewhere else.
She swung at him when he caught her legs and parted her thighs to examine her pussy, missing, unfortunately.
He straightened finally, staring down at her. “What is wrong?” he demanded, his voice threaded with both confusion and anger.
“Too much cock,” Bronte muttered unwisely, rolling onto her belly.
The smack of a hand on her buttocks brought her back to life. She reared up on the bed and glared at Gideon, who was looking with a mixture of surprise and dismay at his hand, as if it had acted independently of his will. He transferred his gaze to her after a moment. “You are not hurt!” he growled accusingly.
Bronte set her jaw. “It wasn’t as if you didn’t try! What made you think you could both fuck me at the same time!”
Reddening, Jerico and Gideon exchanged an uncomfortable glance. “What the hell did you do?” Gideon ground out furiously.
“Nothing you did not do!” Jerico snarled.
Groaning, knowing what as coming, Bronte struggled to drag herself off the bed and seek shelter. She slid off the end of the bed and onto the floor just as Jerico hit the wall behind the bed and landed where she’d been moments before.
“What the hell happened?” Gabriel, who’d been glancing from one player in the drama to the next like someone watching a tennis match, demanded just as Jerico launched himself off the bed at Gideon, catching him in the mid-section and carrying him halfway across the room.
She certainly wasn’t going to tell him! Ducking, she wiggled under the bunk, praying no one was going to land on it and squash her like a bug. Gideon and Jerico were slinging each other around the room, however, and she was fairly sure she couldn’t make it out of the room or into the bathroom without getting flattened by one of them. She collapsed weakly against the wall as far from any edge as she could get once she’d climbed under the bed, wondering uneasily if they were going to remember what had started the fuckathon and free-for-all once they had exhausted themselves.
Recalling the look on Gideon’s face when he’d emerged from the hold and discovered her studying the star charts, she shuddered. It dawned on her that they must have suddenly realized she was alone and the bridge unattended. Ordinarily, they ‘sorted’ the supplies in the hold until they were too exhausted to manage much more than crawling out again, and sometimes not even that much. This time, though, both of them had still been pumping aggressive adrenaline when they’d arrived to find her trying to plot escape.
Not that she’d had a chance in hell of actually managing anything.
She supposed, if she’d been thinking more clearly, as in—not scared shitless at her audacity—she could’ve blocked the hatch to the hold and trapped them down there, but probably only long enough to sabotage the ship.
Because she was pretty sure that would’ve been the results of tampering with any of the controls.
They weren’t even in the Milky Way Galaxy—not even close enough to identify it anymore! She didn’t have a clue of where they were, but it looked like uncharted space to her—at least uncharted by humans.
Fortunately for her, the rage they were feeling at that moment of discovery had spilled out in lust. Even so, things had seemed pretty touch and go there for a few moments, and she’d almost begun to get seriously worried when she realized they weren’t stopping at merely fondling her all over at the same time.
She’d had no idea three people could do that!
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t had sex both ways before—she’d never especially cared for the backdoor entry, but she’d done it plenty of times with her ex. It had certainly never occurred to her that she could be done both ways at the same time, though!
God! That had been the most awesome climax she’d ever had in her life! She’d thought for a few moments that she’d actually had a seizure, that her brain had exploded when her body did.
A shiver skated through her and she realized she was still naked.
Jerico and Gideon seemed completely unconcerned about the fact that they were, but she was getting cold. Seeing that Gabriel had joined the battle, she inched toward the end of the bed and felt around on the top until she managed to grab a handful of the cover.
She’d pulled it halfway off the bed when a hand suddenly closed around her wrist. Gideon dragged her from beneath the bed and stood her on her feet. “What were you doing at the ship’s controls?” he growled.
Bronte stared at him, chewing the inside of her mouth. “Just looking,” she said finally.
His eyes narrowed.
“I didn’t touch anything! I swear it!”
He studied her a moment longer and finally turned to Jerico and jerked his head in the direction of the bridge. Swaying slightly, Jerico stared at him blankly for a moment and then nodded, stumbling from the room unsteadily.
“You, too, Gabriel,” he said grimly, without turning to look at the other man, his gaze still locked with hers.
Gabriel didn’t move.
“That is an order,” Gideon said in a low, rumbling growl, sliding a narrowed glance at the man. “Make sure she did not tamper with anything.”
With obvious reluctance, Gabriel saluted and left.
Bronte swallowed uneasily when she realized they were alone.
“You can not be trusted,” he said after a long moment.
Bronte gave him a look that was a mixture of guilt and indignation. A thought occurred to her abruptly. “You were testing me?” she demanded, outraged.
Something flickered in his eyes, the barest hint that she might have guessed wrong. “If I were, you failed, did you not?”
Unable to maintain eye contact, she looked away. She didn’t know why she should feel the least bit guilty about it, or distressed that she might have disappointed him. She was their prisoner, after all. That was what prisoners did—try to escape.
She realized, though, that it hadn’t actually been a test, not per se. The fact was that he’d begun to trust her or he wouldn’t have ‘forgotten’ and left the helm unattended.
And she’d really screwed that up!
That was why she felt guilty and distressed. Not because she’d actually done anything wrong, but because she could tell she’d thrown away something she didn’t realize she’d wanted until it was gone.
Damn it!
He hooked a finger beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “I did say that there would be consequences.”
Her entire body went taut at that, his words instantly recalling the last ‘consequences’. She swallowed with an effort. “I thought that was what we just did,” she said uneasily.
His expression tightened. “Not quite.”
She hadn’t realized he’d shifted closer until she felt the edge of the bed behind her knees. She tipped backwards as he crowded her again, sprawling on the bed. Before she’d even stopped bouncing, he was on top of her, her wrists manacled to the bed on either side of her head.
“Gideon!” she gasped breathlessly.
His gaze, which had been focused on her breasts, lifted to hers. “Good,” he murmured, dropping his head to trace a feather light path across her throat with his lips. “At least we have established who I am.”
He would throw that up to her, she thought with a mixture of uneasiness and irritation, now, when he had her completely at his mercy! She should have known he wouldn’t forget … and he would hold a grudge for that minor act of defiance!
Her heart was hammering so hard by the time he reached her breasts they were trembling with the pounding beat. Extending his tongue, he traced a circle with the tip around one nipple and along the side of her breast, across the valley and up the next mound, lazily, mind shattering circles around first one and then t
he other until her breath was coming in short little gasps and she was dizzy with the heat surging through her blood. She bit her lip as the need tightened inside of her for him to take the aching tips into his mouth. Instead, he merely teased her, on and on, never quite touching her where she yearned to be touched, until she bucked against him, struggled to jerk her wrists from his hold.
“What do you think I should do to you for trying to sabotage the ship?” he asked in a low, husky voice.
Bronte swallowed with an effort. “I wasn’t.”
He flicked a glance at her.
“I wasn’t!” she said testily.
He studied her for a long moment and dipped his head again. Bronte sucked in a sharp breath when she felt his lips close on one engorged tip. She held it, waiting hopefully. He merely nipped it lightly with his lips, however. It wasn’t what she wanted, needed. It was bad as what he’d done before, just enough pressure to almost feel good. He nipped at it until she was ready to scream at him and then moved to the other nipple and teased it in the same way. She curled her fingers tightly into her palms, trying to close her mind to the movement of his lips. It was just enough pressure to make it impossible to ignore and not nearly enough to satisfy. Her skin felt as if it was growing too tight. The warmth in her belly spread outward, warmed her skin and then heated it more until it was stinging, driving her crazy.
“What was the plan then?”
Dizzy from her gasping breaths, Bronte opened her eyes and tried to glare at him. “I didn’t have a plan,” she finally muttered.
“No plan?”
There was disbelief in his voice, and that didn’t augur well for an end to the torment. She licked her lips with a tongue that felt almost as dry. “I was just wondering where we were.”
He lifted his head. “Try again.”
“That was all … really,” she said a little weakly. She was not going to tell him about her half-baked plan to take over the ship when they killed each other! He was bound to think she’d been plotting to try to murder them and she would really rather not give him that idea.
He went back to teasing her with the tip of his tongue. She struggled against him again until she couldn’t find the strength to struggle any more. “Gideon! Please!” she said a little desperately.
She nearly came out of her skin when his hot mouth closed over her nipple and suckled. She hadn’t realized until that moment that the blood was building tighter and tighter until her nipples had grown painfully swollen. For several moments it was almost more torture to have him tugging at the engorged bud than it had been when he’d been driving her crazy with the teasing. She lost her breath, groaned when she finally managed to fill her lungs again.
The muscles of her sex clenched so tightly her belly cramped painfully. Moisture flooded her nether regions.
She began to think she was going to faint … or die if he didn’t stop. The only thing that she could think of that could be worse was if he did stop.
He stopped. She was nearly sobbing for breath by then.
“You were studying the star charts.”
Bronte twisted her head away. “To figure out where we were … in case.”
“In case?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
She refused to look at him. When she didn’t answer him, he dropped his head and took her other nipple in his mouth, suckling on it hard enough she cried out at the molten tide that washed through her. It was tortuous to feel the tug of his mouth on her … in the most wonderful way imaginable.
She began to feel desperate for the feel of him inside of her, plunging into her. The muscles along her channel clenched and unclenched frantically for the feel of him.
He stopped abruptly, released his hold on her wrists and shoved away from her. He’d already climbed off of the bed before it dawned on her that he was leaving her.
She still couldn’t believe it!
She shoved herself up on one arm and glared at him when she saw he was striding toward the door, feeling disbelief yield to outrage and then pure rage. He really did mean to leave her like this! “You son-of-bitch!” she snarled at him, wishing she had something to throw at him … like a knife. “I will kill you if you ever do that to me again, you asshole!”
He halted at that, twisted his head to glance at her over his shoulder. “I am son of none. I had no mother,” he growled. He hesitated. “You will not go near the bridge again. There will not be an ‘in case’. We are much harder to kill than you can possibly imagine.”
That comment washed over her like a douche of ice water. Dismay followed it. She didn’t want them dead! How could he think she wanted that! It was just a figure of speech. She hadn’t really meant it, for god’s sake! It wasn’t like she could do anything to them, damn them!
She felt like crying. Her chest tightened. Her throat closed. Her eyes and nose stung with the need and they just wouldn’t come.
She got up when she realized she couldn’t find the relief she needed and went in to take a bath. The water, usually so pleasantly soothing, didn’t soothe her at all. Her entire body still ached from being so aroused and then left unfulfilled.
Which made it impossible to ignore the fact that she wanted to kill him for arousing her and then not finishing, not because he’d aroused her to start with.
“Bastard!” she yelled angrily.
He had no mother … no father … no family … no life beyond what he had here. She felt like crying all over again when his words echoed in her mind, this time from remorse—‘I had no mother’. She did cry that time, hurting for him, for them.
Chapter Eleven
Gideon settled heavily in the command chair. Adjusting his aching member and painfully throbbing balls, he draped a knee over one arm of the chair, slouching tiredly in his seat as he stared unseeingly at the forward vid screen.
“We have checked everything twice. She did not tamper with any of the instruments.”
Instead of glancing at Gabriel when he spoke, Gideon lifted one hand and rubbed it down his face, settling it over his lips and chin for several moments before he lifted it away from his face and frowned down at the tremor in his hand. “That is good at any rate,” he said finally, dropping his hand to the arm of his chair.
“You did not hurt her?”
Gideon’s head swiveled sharply in Gabriel’s direction. “I would not so far forget myself no matter how angry!” he growled.
Gabriel stared back at him unflinchingly. “You and Jerico left her alone in here,” he pointed out, “or she would have had no opportunity to sabotage the ship. You did something you should not have when you caught her or you would not have been so anxious that you had hurt her. Do not tell me you will not lose control! You have not been in control since we brought her onboard!”
Gideon massaged his chest at the reminder of the pain that had shot through him when she had wilted to the floor like a crushed flower. He was not certain what had caused it, or the jolt of knee weakening adrenaline that had followed it, but he thought that had more to do with his anger than anything else that had happened. He frowned, but thoughtfully. “I have not seen that either you or Jerico have behaved any more rationally,” he said coldly.
“You are certain we did not hurt her?” Jerico asked uneasily.
Gideon shrugged. “I could find no damage and she felt well enough to threaten to kill me when I left. I do not think so.”
“Why would she do that?” Gabriel ground out.
Ignoring the challenge in Gabriel’s voice, Gideon thought that over. “I am not entirely certain. She did not like the method I used to interrogate her, I think.”
Gabriel considered that and finally relaxed. “What else are we to do when she is so fragile, and more than our lives are worth besides? She has no room to complain,” he said resentfully. “She has tortured us far more than we have tortured her. I am almost ready to cut my genitals off and toss them into the incinerator. You two, at least, have had some relief. I have had none!”
“It
is worse afterwards,” Gideon said morosely.
“How would you know?” Gabriel snarled angrily.
“Because I felt as you do before, and now it is worse!” Gideon growled back at him. “You should pleasure yourself to relieve the pressure.”
“I have!” Gabriel said indignantly. “Else I would have lost my mind long before now. It helps for a short while and then I feel worse! I begin to think the more I empty this thing, the more it produces! I am up to six times per cycle now and I am sure my balls are getting larger.”
“Precisely my point,” Gideon retorted.
“I can not think that our plan is going at all well if she is trying to think of a way to escape,” Jerico put in thoughtfully. “I was taken completely by surprise. She has shown no aggression at all—only fear, though it has not seemed to me that she is nearly as fearful as before. And I still am stunned that she would be so bold that she would seize the first opening to try something. I think we must concede that she is not at all like any opponent we have come up against before. I am not at all certain how to proceed with someone who appears so passive and attacks without any warning whatsoever.”
“She knows that she is not strong enough to challenge us. She is waiting for us to kill ourselves for her so that she can return home. She was trying to familiarize herself with the controls and plot a course back.”
“She told you that?” Gabriel demanded.
“Not in those words, but she inadvertently revealed her plan while I was interrogating her.”
Gabriel smiled faintly. “She is very clever. I would not have thought that she would be any challenge at all … not in that way.”
“You have lost your mind or you would not be smiling like a moron!” Jerico snarled. “She wants us dead! I am as certain as I can be that that means she will not consider a contract with us!”
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