by Marie Harte
“Where the fuck is Kendrik?” Talson’s shout froze everyone in their tracks.
Shit. He knows. When Larry turned to her she put her finger to her mouth, pleading for silence. He nodded and motioned to the back door of the warehouse. It was near quitting time anyway. Talson wouldn’t necessarily be alarmed she’d left without checking with him. Maybe he’d think she felt too embarrassed to face him after what had happened this morning.
As she raced home going the long way, she dreaded having to put her escape into action. But she’d known what the outcome might be if she were caught. Better her than Susanna. Her idiot sister would have been in lockdown by now. Jamie still had a fighting chance of not getting caught. With anyone other than Talson, there would have been no question she’d have gotten away with it.
She made the half-hour commute in half the time and grabbed her pathetic excuse for a suitcase and the backpack containing her most prized possessions, to include a flower from her yjor plant. For some odd reason, it made her think of Talson. After double-checking that she hadn’t left anything vital behind, she took a deep breath and slowly let it out. The minute she left Port Watch her life would forever be at risk. A fugitive, and a female one at that, once caught, she’d be lucky if they killed her right away. A lifetime of sexual slavery would await her.
Negative thinking, negative thinking. She shook off the bad feeling and focused on the here and now. Gregory was headed to freedom and a new life, one he certainly deserved. Susanna would have peace of mind knowing she’d helped her lover avoid a bad end, giving her no reason to put herself in jeopardy to aid him. And Jamie could live with herself knowing she’d done the right thing.
“And no more Roarke Talson breathing down my neck.” The thought should have put a wide smile on her face. Instead, she felt a worrisome sadness that she might never see him again.
Reaching for the doorknob, she watched in horror as it began to turn. Swiftly locking the deadbolt, she took a step back and almost tripped over her unwieldy luggage.
“Dammit, Kendrik, open the door.” The familiar growl made her knees weak. “We have to talk.”
Jamie found herself unable to process. What to do? She had no back door, no other means of escape. She hadn’t thought he’d come after her this soon.
“Jamie, open the door,” he said in an uncharacteristically soft voice.
She eyed the door as if it were the gateway to hell. The doorknob jiggled again, this time violently. Spying salvation in the most unlikely of places, she shoved her bags to the side and lunged for an ancient faux-log doorstop. While holding it above her head, she quickly unlocked the deadbolt and hid next to the doorframe in the space that would be concealed by the door when it opened.
“Finally.” Talson walked through her door, sounding gruff and much more like the ogre she knew. “Kendrik?”
Sensing this might be her best shot, she crept from behind the door and whacked him in the back of the head. Instead of going down, he cursed and wavered, turning around to stare at her accusingly.
Before she could react, he crumpled to the floor, dazed, but not out.
“For God’s sake.” She scrambled to adapt. Running to her hole-in-the-wall of a kitchen, she yanked a loose cord from the blinds in her lone window and raced back to Talson.
She rolled him over, surprised at how guilty she felt having felled the giant. For the past year he’d been a thorn in her side, not an evil man, but one that made her life a living hell nonetheless. But this morning, after how nice he’d been, what they shared, doing this felt wrong.
Yet what choice did she have? Sure, she’d given him a helluva blowjob. But Mr. Rules would never overlook a smuggling infraction. He’d probably feel it his personal duty to escort her to prison himself.
Tying his hands behind his back with an effective knot, one she’d learned courtesy of working the docks, she stood and planned how best to reach the train yard.
Donning her backpack and grabbing her suitcase, she headed for the door when his words stopped her.
“You’re making the mother of all mistakes.” His voice was raspy with pain, but his eyes were clear and direct when she turned to stare at him. “In fact, your best bet would be to finish me off. Because once I’m free, there’s not a place on Earth or offworld that I won’t look to hunt you down.”
The satisfaction on his face alarmed her, and his words brought forth an ugly reality.
She stared at him, then at the doorstop, then back at him, weighing her options. As if she had a choice. Knocking him in the head had been impulsive. Dwelling on the matter made the decision simple. There was no way she could strike him again, not when he lay helpless on the floor. Much as she wished he’d bother someone else, she knew harming him further was out of the question. She couldn’t murder in cold blood. Not Talson.
“You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that?” She sighed and closed her eyes, wishing she’d let the easygoing Lowrens purchase her servitude instead of Roarke Talson. But living in New Hattan, across the country, and working her time off as a love slave had less appeal than working her ass off for Talson.
Opening her eyes, she stared down at the glowering man, wondering why fate had let him purchase her debtor’s ticket. For that matter, she still wondered why he’d bothered to buy it in the first place.
He shifted on his back and brought her attention to the present in a flash. When she narrowed her eyes, he stilled. She wanted to slap herself for being so stupid. While she’d been reminiscing, he’d been trying to work his hands free.
Dropping her bags, again, she found the reinforcing structural tape she normally used to block the slow leaks in her barred window and approached him. He tried to resist her pull, but the blow he’d taken to the head made him weaker than she’d suspected. She rolled him onto his belly and reinforced the cord around his wrists with a layer of tape. Rolling him over onto his back, she straddled him, in a position of authority once more. Remembrances of this morning refused to leave her as she took charge.
He glared up at her, his lips a thin line and his eyes…she couldn’t quite figure out what she saw in his eyes. Anger, annoyance, but no real hatred. And something else, something that made her look away in a hurry.
She really didn’t need this. Not now. Not after a year of dealing with her insane attraction and the impossible man who’d instilled it. But what if she never saw him again? Much as Talson annoyed her to no end, she’d be a fool to deny his physical appeal. Blue-black hair, dark brown eyes, a firm chin and a straight nose. Not a pretty man, but a thoroughly sexy leader in his prime. Jamie was a sucker for muscles and drive, both of which he had in spades.
What the hell? She’d already hidden an Otra aboard neutrally declared cargo and brained her boss with a doorstop. What was one more sin on top of a life sentence?
Ignoring the caution that flashed in his eyes, she lowered her face until she could feel his sweet breath on her lips. A wave of heat feathered through her, and without giving it another thought, she pressed her mouth to his. Finally, her first real kiss with Roarke Talson.
Instantaneous fire shot through her, and the moan that escaped startled a sharp intake of breath from both of them. His lips felt like silk, smooth yet with the male firmness she associated with him. All too easily she could imagine his taste, and before she could help herself, she penetrated his lips with her tongue.
Like warm chocolate with a hint of brandy, he packed an addictive wallop. She wanted more. Her hands settled on his muscular chest of their own volition, and she absorbed his heat through his thin shirt. He might as well have been naked. Delicious was all she could think as she practically devoured the man. Lost in her desire, she didn’t immediately pick up on the fact he offered little resistance.
Then again, she could barely think at all through the haze of sensation coursing through her blood. Just this morning she’d felt like this, so needy, so unbelievably sexual. It was as if her entire body centered on the ache in her womb. She c
ouldn’t blame the berries this time. Only Roarke had this effect on her.
She squirmed atop him, unable to stop herself, and his groan and the resulting hardness rubbing between her thighs made her press closer. Rocking over him, she drew closer and closer to the ecstasy she’d felt hours ago. His scent, his touch, the strength abundant in his confidence and sensuality drugged her into taking more.
Roarke whispered against her lips, encouraging her to ride him. He plunged his tongue back into her mouth and took charge, even as he lay helpless under her.
Jamie couldn’t understand her desperation, but she couldn’t stop. She had to reach that pinnacle he promised with every caress of his lips.
“Yeah. Fucking come,” he said on a breath when she leaned up, rocking against him.
Staring down into eyes now as black as sin, she twitched over the hard length of him and let the fiery blaze overtake her. “Roarke, Roarke.” She blew apart, her climax explosive. Sensation obliterated all thought and she floated in a sea of pleasure.
“Come on, baby. A little more. Yeah.” Roarke arched his pelvis against her, his erection like an iron bar beneath her.
Reality splashed over her like a cold dose of water. She couldn’t believe how much she still wanted to continue this exploration. To take him into her bedroom and let him push inside her, that massive length of him crammed deep. She shivered, trembling because her clit still throbbed over his thick cock.
Talson said nothing, lying still while he watched her with guarded eyes and flushed cheeks.
“Th-that was a mistake.”
“Not from where I’m lying.” He had the nerve to grin at her, his expression almost evil. “Oh, yeah. Run as fast and far as you want. But I’m getting inside that pussy. And you’re going to finally know your place. It’s time you paid your dues.”
She wanted to hate him, to rail at him for being such an arrogant jerk. But the truth was, his dominance only turned her on that much more. Striving to shake free from his sensual web, she rose to her feet, unable to look away from his heavy-lidded eyes. I shouldn’t want him. Not at all. He’s bossy and annoying and mean and…oh God, so fucking sexy. This is so not normal, so very, very not okay to want Talson like this.
Gathering speed as desperation and shock fought for control of her thoughts, she picked up her bags and flew out the door, wanting nothing more than to escape her path to ruination…and her insane desire.
Roarke stared at the door, trying to catch his breath. His dick was rock hard, his need for the fiery redhead all-consuming. Watching her come had been as good as watching her blow him. Such passion, such life in a woman who’d worked hard to overcome adversity.
He concentrated on willing away his erection, knowing he wouldn’t find the ease he wanted. Not until he ran her down and finally laid claim to the woman he had no intention of letting go again.
Like him, Jamie was a fighter. Sure, he knew what people said about him. They called him the bastard son of a whore who didn’t know better than to spread her legs for an alien. Though most thought Roarke human, enough rumor circulated to call his humanity into question. He’d grown up having to fight for respect, to have a place on this Earth when aliens weren’t welcome in many parts of the country.
Enduring, pushing through, striving to be better, he’d busted his ass to make it on the docks before he took the name Talson and everything that went with it. He knew the backbreaking labor of the docks, because he’d grown up with it. And he’d seen what happened to those who were weak.
Roarke had thrived, but he’d been lonely too. Always feeling different, never at peace with his Otra brothers because of his human genetics, he’d kept himself apart. His father tried to understand, but he didn’t know what it meant to deal with others without a psychic connection. Roarke was human in all ways but one. And sharing orgasms made him more a freak than a catch in society.
Jamie hadn’t seemed to care. Nor would she. He knew in the very fabric of his being she belonged with him. Not to him, but with him. He couldn’t handle a shy or weak-willed woman, even one as beautiful as Jamie. But a woman with that much fire, one who’d risk everything to help an Otra, who saved up every bit of currency to support her sisters?
That woman held his heart. And he had every intention of collecting her before she slipped through his fingers.
He had a hard time knowing she’d almost bested him. If not for his brother’s discovery on Werfal 7, he might have missed it. Yes, he’d wondered about the cargo manifest the other day, since it didn’t match the initial weight of the box. But knowing Jamie didn’t make mistakes had led him to believe there must have been a glitch.
Yeah, a glitch with his reasoning. He smiled despite himself, caught with his hands behind his back and his dick still aching to slide inside her warm, wet pussy. She’d bested him, but he’d won as well. He’d counted on her integrity. When she could have, and probably should have, taken him out when she’d had the opportunity, his truehearted Jamie had resisted the impulse. She’d kissed him and sealed her fate.
At the thought, he felt warm all over. To his surprise, the tape around his wrists melted away and he broke through the frail cord holding them together. He apparently had more Otra in him than he’d known. Now to share that with a feisty redhead currently on the run.
He left her apartment and opened all his senses, aware that by accepting Jamie, he’d unlocked a door inside himself. Within moments he caught her scent, a light hint of yjor and woman. He’d picked up the plant on Werfal 6 while thinking of her. She’d never known where the strange plant had come from, just that it appeared one day on her doorstep. Nor had she realized the slow courtship he’d begun the day he’d bought it to her.
“No matter,” he murmured and left the apartment, his blood humming at thoughts of the hunt, of finally capturing his prey. “Oh, Jamie, you can’t run far or fast enough. I’m coming, sweet. And soon, you’ll be mine.”
Chapter Four
She’d been aware of a prickling at the back of her neck a little after she’d left Roarke tied up on her floor. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t keep thinking of him as Talson, not after what they’d shared. Just thinking about how he felt and tasted aroused her, and a part of her wanted to run to him as fast as she was running from him.
Passing another marker directing her toward Port Watch’s transit station, she tried once again to push the stubborn man from her thoughts and concentrate on her own well-being. Kissing and grinding over Roarke Talson was all well and good, but if she planned on having any kind of a life out from under the man’s cock, she needed to get a move on.
“Last boarding for Ellis Bay Gatehouse,” an electronic voice chimed.
She hurried forward and managed to board the hover rail as the doors closed. She had just enough credit to buy a one-way passage out of Port Watch, but to what town she had no idea.
When the ticket master arrived, she handed him her credit chip and waited. When he handed it back, her heart resumed its beat. Roarke must have been too ashamed at being defeated by a woman to report her absence to the authorities. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t find a way to find her, but she could rest easy, at least for now. She imagined that once enough time had passed and he still hadn’t found her, he’d call in the authorities. And God help her then.
The ticket master pointed her in the direction of the sleeping berths. “Cabin 105,” he said with a pleasant nod and checked the room off on his digital register.
Relief settled when she entered the small cabin. It wasn’t much, but for the next few hours at least, before they reached the next stop, she’d be able to rest while she figured out what to do and where to go. She glanced at the fold-down bed, curious that it seemed larger than she would have expected for such a cheap price. But not one to question good favor, for once, she set her bags down, pulled out the bed and sighed into a plush comforter.
The rail began its rhythmic descent into steady movement, and she’d almost drifted into sleep when h
er door suddenly banged open.
“Sorry, wrong room.” She smiled to take the sting out of her sharp words and froze when Roarke Talson shut and locked the door behind him.
He stood in her room looking extremely pleased with himself.
“You’re good, I’ll grant you that.” His deep voice still had the ability to simultaneously irritate and arouse her. “But I’m better.” He stared from the top of her unbound hair to her socks, lingering at points in between. His scrutiny discomfited her. The way he stared, she might as well have worn nothing more than a frown.
He leaned back against the door and crossed his arms over his chest, drawing her attention to his obvious power. She swallowed around a dry throat and he grinned.
“Well now, Jamison. Seems to me, you’ve violated your contract. I’ve been waiting for this day for a very long time.”
The satisfaction oozing from his every pore made her blink. He stood still, unmoving, but she noticed the unsteady rise and fall of his chest, the preternatural gleam of his eyes and the sexual magnetism he exuded like a heady cologne.
“You’re Otra.” Hadn’t she suspected before?
He nodded and began removing his clothing, throwing her speculation into complete chaos. Fascinated with his satiny skin, she watched him bare his chest before snapping her mouth shut. “What are you doing?” Yes, that was the correct response, and what I should have said the minute he reached for the hem of his shirt. Unfortunately, the breathless quality of her voice and her inability to look away from the sculpted bronze muscle of a man built to dominate made her sound less than unenthusiastic.
Shadows played off the ridges of his abdomen. His pecs and biceps bulged each time he moved. The man was ripped, and he had the strength to crush her easily.
Though he didn’t seem angry, she had bashed him in the head. Her arousal faded beneath a wave of fear. What would he do if she said no? Could she refuse him? Should she try, when she didn’t really want to?
