Amos Marks. The name suited him. It was strong and straightforward. He didn’t seem to be the type to play power games. Then again, she knew nothing about him. Maybe he was playing with her now.
He closed his ruined hand over hers and curled her fingers back around the bread. “No, you keep it. I think you need it more than I do.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. She could not show weakness. She still wasn’t safe. It was time to implement the second part of her plan.
She licked her dry lips and noted the way his eyes followed her tongue. It sent a shiver down her spine. “Thank you.”
“Why are you hiding on my ship?”
His ship? Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing. If he owned the vessel, surely he decided if she stayed or went. “You’re the captain?”
Amos shook his head. “My brother Flynn is captain, but we own the Abigail together.”
Why did she think the big scary man she’d glimpsed in the cargo hold was Flynn? She was in big trouble. “Don’t tell him.” Impulsively, she reached out and touched Amos’s arm. “Please.” She hated to beg. She’d learned long ago that pleading gained her nothing.
Amos sighed and raked his hand through his thick black hair. The lock of white fell across his forehead, and she had to fight the urge to push it aside. It looked so soft that she wanted to run her fingers through it.
“I have to tell Flynn.”
Terror filled her as she surged to her feet. “No.” Acting totally on instinct, she dropped the precious bread on the floor, gripped both his arms, went up on her toes and kissed him. Or at least she tried to. He wasn’t cooperating.
Amos was taller than she was, forcing her to slide her hands up his muscled arms and cling to his shoulders so he wouldn’t leave her. His lips were hard and firm against hers.
Her stomach cramped. She couldn’t fail. Not now when she was so close to her goal.
Angelina had little experience with men or kissing. Her uncle had kept her a virtual prisoner for most of her life, wanting to save her virginity as a bargaining chip for some future deal. Since it couldn’t always be medically proven if a woman was a virgin, her uncle had made doubly sure there were no questions by curtailing and monitoring all her activities.
She had a vague memory of her parents, but it was more like a dream. No, her reality had been learning about other cultures in order to be the perfect hostess for her uncle when his business associates came to visit. She’d socialized quite a bit but always in the company of others.
She’d been kissed exactly twice in her life, both by men who’d made no secret of how much they’d wanted her. But her uncle had made sure to intervene before it went too far.
She made use of everything she’d learned in her life and licked at Amos’s bottom lip. She nibbled on the edges and prayed for divine intervention.
He continued to stand there like a statue made of solid steel, not responding to her advances. How embarrassing was that? She’d always thought that no man would turn down a willing woman. At least that’s what she’d overheard in conversations between other women. She’d never had any close female friends. Her uncle hadn’t allowed it.
When he opened his mouth to speak, she boldly thrust her tongue inside before he could say a word. Her entire body began to warm. Her fingers kneaded his thick shoulders. He tasted warm and inviting.
She teased his tongue, rubbing hers along it.
Was the man made of titanium alloy? There was still no response. No, wait. That wasn’t quite true. Something hard pressed against her stomach and it wasn’t a blaster. Amos was aroused.
Angelina rubbed against his erection, praying it would encourage him to kiss her back. Why wasn’t he doing anything?
Just when she thought it was hopeless, he groaned and came alive. A loud metal bang echoed in her ears when the wrench slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor. His strong arms banded around her and yanked her right off the floor. He slanted his mouth across hers and sucked on her tongue.
Delicious. Angelina forgot all about her plan, forgot that her uncle was probably searching for her. All that mattered was that Amos was kissing her back.
He smelled of sweat and grease, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was the scent of hard work. After a lifetime spent around men who preferred to wield their power through business, it was a revelation. This is what a workingman smelled like. His muscles were earned honestly, and he was incredibly strong. He was holding her as though she weighed nothing at all.
His lips softened. He used his tongue to tease her lips and explore her mouth. Angelina was breathless, her entire body taut with longing. This was sexual arousal. She’d felt the beginnings of it before but had never experienced the full thrust of it. No wonder people were so enamored of sex.
Although, she had the sense it wouldn’t be nearly as good with anyone other than Amos. He shifted his hold so one of his large hands cupped her bottom and the other her neck. She should have been terrified by his show of strength. Instead it turned her on. Her panties were damp beneath her clothing.
Maybe the lack of food and sleep were finally getting to her. They’d certainly lowered the barriers she usually erected to keep others from getting emotionally or physically close to her. She didn’t trust anyone under her uncle’s employ. But Amos was a stranger who had no idea who she was. He wasn’t the one with the ulterior motive. She was.
When he eased his mouth from hers, they were both panting hard. She touched her lips with her fingers, amazed at how they still tingled.
“What are you doing?” His voice was even lower than normal. Her breasts ached so she rubbed them against his muscled chest. “Angel?”
He kept saying her name wrong. Not that she really cared. Not as long as he was touching her.
He started to lower her. She clung to his neck, refusing to let go. But he was determined and much stronger. She soon found her feet back on the ground and her arms removed from his neck.
This wasn’t part of her plan. He was supposed to be overcome with lust. Why wasn’t he? Should she be insulted? She didn’t have enough experience to know.
Then a sudden thought occurred to her. “Are you married?” The idea she’d been kissing a married man horrified her. He wasn’t wearing a ring or mating mark that she could see, but many cultures didn’t have outward signs of a union.
“No.” He stood with one hip cocked and his hands on his hips. He looked so good she wanted to nibble on the strong column of his neck. She’d never had the urge to bite anyone before in her life. What was Amos doing to her?
“Then why did you stop?” She thought it was a perfectly valid question, but it obviously startled Amos. He took a step back and looked around as though he half expected someone else to be with her.
His gaze narrowed and his lips thinned. “What kind of game are you playing?”
“No game.” This was her life, and she was tired of feeling like a pawn in someone else’s plan.
She unfastened her cloak and let it fall to her feet, leaving her clad only in a thin pair of pants and a white tunic. Both garments clung to her curves. She knew men were attracted to her shape. He uncle had used that fact many times to distract visiting business guests.
Amos’s gaze flicked to her body but immediately went back to her face. Frustration filled her. Why wasn’t he acting like every other man she’d ever met?
“You have to sleep with me?” she blurted.
“Why?” His bland reply was totally at odds with her impassioned plea. If it weren’t for the hard bulge in the front of his flightsuit she’d swear the man was an android. Of course, he’d been all hot male while he’d been kissing her. That gave her some hope.
“To save my life.” Angelina held her breath and waited for his reply.
Chapter Three
Amos blinked, certain he must have misheard her. It was the last thing he’d expected her to say. It was definitely the first time he’d heard such a reason as an enticement to have se
x. “I have to have sex with you in order to save your life?” he repeated, wanting to be sure he wasn’t misunderstanding her.
She nodded, her chin moving up and down in a vigorous manner. Her long white hair slid over her shoulders like a cape. His entire body tightened at the thought of all that glorious hair feathering over his body. His cock jerked, and his balls clenched.
Focus.
There was obviously something wrong with this situation, besides the fact that she was a stowaway. She didn’t have the hard look of a woman used to paying her way with sex. Those women rarely kissed a man, preferring to keep the sex impersonal and strictly a business transaction.
But the woman in front of him with the hopeful look in her eyes had put everything into the kiss. It had been hesitant and untutored, and all the more arousing for it. He could still taste her. She tasted like the grain bread she’d been eating. He glanced down at the floor and eyed the poor squashed loaf.
She followed his gaze and winced. “I’m sorry about your lunch.”
Even as she said it, her stomach growled. Amos shook off the sexual haze surrounding him and really studied her. Her clothing was stained and bedraggled, but good quality. She was pale with dark smudges beneath her eyes. A sense of desperation clung to her like a bad smell.
He didn’t like it.
“Why don’t we get you something to eat and talk this out?” Whoever she was, she was obviously in some kind of distress. A woman didn’t stow away on a trading vessel without knowing who it belonged to. It was simply too dangerous. Which prompted his next question. “Are you by yourself?”
She shivered. “Yes.”
Amos wasn’t about to trust her. He bent down, grabbed her cloak, and wrapped it around her. Better to cover her curvy body so it didn’t distract him anymore than it already had.
Honestly, he’d lost all common sense. What the hell had he been doing kissing her? If she’d had an accomplice on board, he could have easily been killed. Time to get his mind off Angelina’s body and back to business.
He grabbed what was left of the loaf of bread in one hand, gripped her arm with the other, and towed her behind him as he made his way to the control console. “Stay,” he told her. He tossed the bread into the small recycling unit beside the desk, silently mourning its loss. Then he took a seat and ran a complete scan of the ship, searching for all life forms and androids as well.
She shifted her weight from foot to foot while she waited. “I wasn’t lying,” she muttered after she looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing.
“Forgive me if I don’t take your word on that.” His tone was dry and brisk, and she stepped away. He glanced at her and narrowed his gaze, a silent reminder to her not to go anywhere. She frowned at him but stayed put.
When the scan was completed and he was satisfied she was the only intruder, he swiveled his chair around to face her. “Who are you?”
Her frown deepened. “I already told you. I’m Angelina.”
“Your full name.” Better to find out exactly what he was dealing with before he took her to meet Flynn and the others.
She shook her head, that ungodly fear back in her eyes. “No. You don’t need to know. Just sleep with me and then you can drop me off at the next planet.”
Amos wondered if she was out of her mind or simply incredibly naive. “You want me to have sex with you and then drop you off on the nearest planet?”
“Yes.”
He sighed. “You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”
“Why are you being so difficult?”
Amos almost laughed. His bedraggled angel looked so put out with him. “Let’s get you something to eat. Then you can tell me why it’s so important that I have sex with you.” He wasn’t about to pretty it up by saying he’d make love with her. If she was going to treat it like some business proposition, then so was he.
“I suppose.” She dug the toe of her shoe into the metal floor and gripped the edge of her cloak in her fisted hands.
“Hey.” He caught her chin and raised it so she was looking at him. She was honestly the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. “Everything will be fine.”
“If you have sex with me it will be,” she muttered.
Amos admired her spunk and tenacity, but he wasn’t touching her again without knowing more about the little angel. He valued his own hide too much. But more than that, he valued his brothers’ lives. No way was he getting them involved in something that might come back to bite them on the ass.
He stood and went back for the wrench, unable to leave one of his tools simply lying on the floor. He detoured to put it away, not concerned she’d run. Now that he knew she was onboard there was nowhere she could hide. He also wasn’t worried about her getting into the computer system. Every operation was password protected, and he had her in sight the entire time.
She didn’t move, but her eyes tracked him, growing wider when he walked back to her. “Come on.” He reached out and took her hand in his. It was so small and soft compared to his large, callused one.
She was reluctant but fell into step behind him. Amos left the engineering room, making sure to lock it on the way out. Only his palm print or his brothers’ would open it. He didn’t think she was out to sabotage the ship, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
He led her up a level and into the galley. Fortunately, it was empty. From his earlier security scan, he knew Flynn was on the control deck, Garth was sleeping, and Kal and Rory were indeed in their room.
“Sit.” He motioned to the metal benches bolted to the floor that ran on either side of the steel table. She slid onto the end of one of the benches and clasped her hands in her lap.
He didn’t think she’d had much, if anything, to eat the past few days so he ordered up some hearty soup. It would be easier for her system to handle than something more solid.
He placed the bowl in front of her, handed her a spoon, and then sat across from her. “How did you get on the ship?”
Angelina dug into the bowl and scooped up several mouthfuls of the hot soup before answering. “Saw you taking on cargo. You went inside to check on something while the cargo droid went to get another shipping container.” She ate another spoonful of the soup. “I sneaked on board.”
Amazing. It had been far too easy. They’d have to implement new security protocols immediately. He’d set it up so that the cargo door was rigged to alert him if anyone other than himself, his brothers, or the cargo droid entered.
He reached out and snagged a bottle of water from the refrigeration unit and placed it on the table next to her bowl. She was probably dehydrated as well.
“Why this ship?” He had to know if it was intentional, if old enemies were targeting the Abigail. They’d made a few over the years—other crews who thought they should have won trading contracts he and his brothers had gotten, as well as space pirates they’d thwarted. Not to mention the people they’d pissed off over the course of their search for their sister. They’d left no stone unturned in their efforts, and not everyone wanted to talk with them. Sometimes, they needed to be persuaded. That was Flynn’s job.
She blinked as though the question surprised her. Then her cheeks turned the most beguiling shade of pink. “Because you looked nice,” she mumbled and ate another mouthful of soup.
Amos had been anticipating a lot of replies, except for the one she gave him. “I looked nice?”
Angelina nodded. “Yes. I liked the way you looked. Okay.” She set her spoon down in her bowl. “I figured if I had to have sex with a man I should at least like the way he looked.” She reached out, calmly opened the water bottle and took a long swallow before setting it back on the table.
Amos dug his thumb and forefinger against the inner corners of his eyes and rubbed. He was getting a headache trying to understand how her mind worked. He looked up. “Why do you have to have sex with me?” He had a burning need to have that particular question answered. “Or would any man do?” That thought soured his
mood even more.
When she bit her bottom lip, he knew the answer.
“So any man would have done?” He wanted to hit something or someone, preferably the phantom man she might have chosen over him, which made no sense at all. He barely knew her. But he’d kissed her, melded his lips to hers, and had her fingers dig into his shoulders. Hell, he’d rubbed his cock against her stomach. Yes, they’d both been clothed at the time, but he’d done it.
Surely that was why he was feeling proprietary toward her.
She reached up and touched her lips as though she was remembering their kiss as well. His cock swelled to life once again. Not that the damn thing had gone down all the way, but it had subsided enough so his pants weren’t so tight. Now they were taut once again.
She shook her head. “I thought any man would do, but not anymore.”
Yeah, like he’d believe that. Even as he had the thought, he knew he wanted to believe her. That was dangerous.
“I have to take you to Flynn.”
She began to tremble. “Please. Have sex with me first. Then you can take me wherever you want to.”
Amos reached across the table and captured one of her hands. “Why is it so important?” He was filled with a deep, primal need to understand this confusing, alluring woman.
She studied him for the longest time and seemed to come to some inner conclusion. Anticipation zinged through him, putting him on edge.
“If you take my virginity my uncle can no longer sell me into marriage.”
****
Angelina wished she could tell what Amos was thinking. Right now, he was playing statue again. His entire body was stiff with tension. His grip on her hand tightened, and his eyes narrowed. A muscle in his jaw flexed.
“What did you say?”
She swallowed hard. It had been difficult enough to get out the first time. “My uncle has promised me to a high-ranking warrior on Gravas, but their men will only marry a woman if she’s untouched. If I’m no longer a virgin the marriage contract is null and void.” At least that was her understanding of the situation.
Unexpected Angel Page 2
