She nodded. Shortly after her arrival into the suite, a huge four-course dinner under glass and silver domes had been delivered. She’d eaten her fill, Stratton’s hunger be damned. “Any time away from your barbaric attitude is well spent.” Unable to glance away, she drank in his semi-dressed state as if she’d never seen a man before. Black curls made a light mat over his pectoral muscles, and a thin, black ribbon of hair trailed down the middle of his chest, past his belly button to continue into his waistband. Her mouth watered at the sight of that creamy, brown skin. Her fingers itched to explore his perfect abdominal planes.
By the time her gaze jerked to his face, he was openly smirking. “Like what you see? I’d be happy to uncover the rest if you want to check out my lower half.” His fingers drifted to the zipper.
“Don’t flatter yourself.” In an effort to change the subject and prevent drooling on her part, Willa gestured toward a low bureau on one side of the room. “There’s your prize for first place.” Curiosity about what had occurred between him and Chaf buzzed in her mind, but she held it in check. Wondering about their juvenile fighting would only hamper her objective.
Stratton moved across the room, affording her the opportunity to greedily take in the play of muscles along his back. “This is the prize?” A long, slim finger tapped the head of a foot-high statue which was a direct replica of the hotel. “Not that a jade sculpture isn’t valuable on the black markets. I had a different purse in mind.”
“You giant ass, didn’t you read the informational packet regarding this stop?”
“No. That was your job as nav, remember, so I can concentrate on flying and driving?”
“Pig.” She stormed to his side, plucked a small silver mallet from beside the statue and handed it to him. “You break the statue. It’s not jade but made of spun sugar to resemble it.”
He wasted no time. With one mighty smack of the mallet, pieces of the statue flew in every direction, leaving a pile of glittering emeralds of all shapes in its place. “Fantastic! Do you know how rare emeralds are in this galaxy?” He picked one up, holding it in his palm. “This is more like it.” Flipping the stone in her direction, he grinned when it tumbled down her cleavage. “I guess women aren’t useless in the cockpit after all.”
A host of Lingorian words to describe his chauvinistic attitude leaped to her mind. Too bad they’d all be wasted on him. His sense of self-worth was incredible. Instead, she wriggled until the heavy emerald fell to the floor. “You could say you’re proud of me and leave it at that.”
“What is your hang-up with people being proud of you? Don’t you know if someone is or not? Why do you need to hear the accolades so badly?”
“You and I aren’t close enough for a heart-to-heart talk.” Despite her words, yearning for his praise tugged at her.
“And there it is. The official raising of that wall of yours.” He rolled his eyes. “Damn, you’re a frosty bitch.”
The heat in her face returned, spurred by the anger he churned in her. “You bring it out. I was perfectly fine before I met you.”
“But still a bitch, since you didn’t deny it.” A burst of cynical laughter broke from his throat. “I doubt you were fine. Beneath that prickly exterior, you teeter on a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem.” His fingers fumbled again at his zipper. “I’m about to get comfortable. By all means, look if you’re curious.”
Willa turned away and beat a retreat to the opposite side of the room. What did he wear beneath the uniform? For that matter, why had neither one of them remembered to bring their overnight bags in from the quad rover? Not for worlds would she turn around and watch him undress. When she heard him move into the attached bathroom, she heaved a shuddering sigh. It was insane to be trapped in a hotel room with a man who truly represented the embodiment of sin. Get through the night, Willa. Nothing else matters but being on that podium at the end of the race.
She nodded to herself and drifted to the huge window that occupied one wall. Pulling open the heavy brocade drapes, she sucked in a breath. Starset occurred much more quickly here than in other parts of the galaxy, and the darkness only served to showcase the planet Isolinee. Reddish land masses flowed serenely into greenish-blue bodies of water, lightly veiled by wispy white clouds. “Gorgeous.”
“That’s the general reaction I get.” His whispered voice tickled her ear, prickling her skin. She jumped, unaware he’d snuck up on her, so absorbed had she been in the view.
Despite her earlier admonition, she half turned and gasped in relief. He’d exchanged his slick gear for a robe similar to hers. “I meant the view.” Belatedly, she realized he could take that the wrong way as well. “Of the planet.” Her throat went dry when she thought of sleeping in the same bed as him. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to turn in while you bathe. I’m pretty worn out.”
“Actually, I do mind. You’re like an old-fashioned powder keg, kita, ready to blow.” He reached out a hand and tugged at a lock of her unbound hair. “Tell me why you find it so hard to believe your father is proud of you. I didn’t have the chance to really get to know my parents, so I’m curious.”
“Tell me your story first.” She couldn’t think straight with him so close. No one flirted with the wall she kept around herself, but Stratton didn’t seem to play by anyone’s rules except his own.
“Sorry, can’t do that. You owe me something for that first-rate performance you did in the rover.”
So he’d noticed her double wordplay. Terrific.
The smirk returned. “The longer you don’t talk, the more I might feel the need to drop this robe. And, in case you were wondering, I sleep nude, so prepare yourself.”
Chapter Four
Willa closed her eyes against the image of his finely honed body reposing between the sheets. When she opened them again, Stratton stared at her, one dark eyebrow cocked, waiting. The lesser of two evils it would be. “Having so many brothers and being the only girl, I suppose it was natural that I’d be expected to compete and perform like one of the boys.”
“Were you expected to, or did you do it in order to be heard over the noise?”
She shrugged, unwilling to delve deeper to figure it out. She was here to win a race, not navigate the shadowy tangents of her brain. “I’m not sure.”
“Here’s the way I see it. Your brothers took to flying naturally. When you realized you were the only girl in a male-dominated household, you probably felt your folks treated you differently. In your eyes, that made you bizarre or not loved equally, so you did everything you could to play down your gender.”
“That’s not true.” Willa backed away, under Stratton’s intense gaze, until the cool glass pressed against her rear.
He wasn’t done theorizing. “And when none of that gained your family’s attention, you talked yourself into believing winning the next race or conquering the next obstacle would be the key to unlocking that love.” His gaze never relented. “Sound familiar?”
Was she so transparent that Stratton could read her? Her throat tightened. She cleared it, banishing the emotion. “I know they’re proud of me. I can feel it in my heart, but it’s easy to doubt when I never hear it. Does that make sense?”
“Absolutely.” Stratton’s eyes were the same hard brown she’d glimpsed at their first meeting. “How do you feel about that?”
“It doesn’t matter how I feel. They won’t change.”
“Yet you keep doing these things to gain their attention. Why?”
“I’ve done it so long, I have no idea what I should be doing.” Willa rapidly blinked her burning eyes. She hated the thought of crying in front of him, knowing he’d mock her, yet the urge to unburden her soul and start anew remained strong.
Instead of the reaction she expected, Stratton took a few steps toward her. “You know, it’s okay if you want to let it out. Hell, I’ll wager you’ve kept it bottled up inside. Just yell, scream, hit me if you need to, but leave it here.” He cupped her cheek and drew the pad of his t
humb along her bottom lip. “You have to move forward, and you can’t do that until you leave the baggage behind.”
She nodded, holding his gaze, wondering how he could be so certain of things he knew nothing about. It was almost as if he could see inside her soul and read her hidden thoughts. “You’re right. Of course you are.” She turned away from him, relieved that their brief contact was broken. His touch heated her skin, made her feel alive like never before, as if she could disregard all that she was and do crazy things. That scared her. “How did you come to terms with your past? I know you have one.” The beauty of the planet held her attention and staved off additional thoughts of him.
Stratton Sinnet left heartache in his wake. She refused to be a part of his legacy.
“I do have a past. It’s not something I could control. It’s not something I’d trade.” He shrugged, and she caught his grin in the window’s reflection. He was sin, all right. If he continued to smile like that, she’d have no muscle strength left and no willpower to resist him. “It happened.”
“What did?” She held her breath. Would he finally reveal something personal?
“My parents died during an alien attack on Earth when I was eight years old. After that, I bounced around from family to family. Some were kind; some were not. Each one taught me a lesson and toughened my hide for the life I lead now.”
“How can you talk of it without emotion, like it never happened?” She kept her focus on the spacescape. It was the only way to maintain control.
“There was plenty of emotional angst for years, but when there was no one left to care, I left it behind. Why dwell on something I can’t change?” He moved to stand behind her. “It built character. I took that character once the government finally kicked me off Earth for my…unsavory idiosyncrasies and began a new life.”
“Of crime?” When he lifted her hair and the coolness of the room hit her skin, she shivered. As the gentle touch of his lips warmed her nape, flutters filled her stomach. He didn’t answer, which was just as well. She didn’t want to know that either. The less she knew, the less likely she’d begin to understand him or care about him. “Good for you. I don’t have that much strength, apparently.”
“That’s an excuse, and you know it.” Stratton placed another fleeting kiss on her neck. “It doesn’t matter what your family thinks of you. It doesn’t matter what anyone else on this circuit thinks of you. It’s what you think about yourself that’ll keep you moving into your future.”
“But…” But what? What could she say that wouldn’t make her look weaker than she already did? She frowned. When had she started wanting to make a good impression on Stratton, of all people?
He cut into her thoughts. “I’ve known you for two days. I have a feeling you’re gonna shake things up all over this galaxy before you’re done.” When he released her hair, it dropped heavily over her shoulders. “Dump the doubts.”
“And what? Then my life will suddenly change, and I’ll be pooping out starshine?”
“I don’t know you that well, but it could happen.” He gave her a swat on her rear, an accompaniment to a chuckle. “From what I’ve seen, you’re too good a person to let your clueless family determine your self-worth.”
“Are you proud of our finish today?” From all she’d seen of him, she expected him to be crowing with arrogance and victory. When he didn’t, but treated her with tenderness instead, she reeled in a twister of confusion.
“Yeah, I am. You surprised the hell out of me today, Willa. No woman has ever been able to do that, but what I think doesn’t matter either.” A rustling followed his statement.
She watched him in the glass but kept silent. He’d yanked a pillow case from one of the pillows and was now loading it up with toiletries from the bathroom as well as extra linens and anything else he could find.
“If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll never go anywhere. I can promise you that.”
Willa stared at her reflection in the window, looked past her face and focused on Stratton. He’d finished with his low-key looting and stood silently behind her once more, his expression inscrutable. What was his angle in all of this? Was his pep talk a way to break her down, undermine her determination?
“Don’t go all introspective on me. I can only handle one set of issues per race, but I’m told a good toss in the sheets will clear a head.” He nudged a knee against the back of her thigh.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Of course, sex was his angle.
Get a hold of yourself, Willa! Snap out of the funk. She knew she was a good pilot, an even better racer, a decent person. She didn’t need to prove it to anyone, but she sure as hell wanted to win just for the thrill of saying she’d done it—and to show the SOB she was partnered with that a female was good for more than just being a bed warmer.
Yet his horrid behavior belied his recent gentleness.
Turning away from the window, she chewed her bottom lip. In a dark part of her mind, she wondered if the racing boards deliberately paired beings together they knew were complete opposites. Was it strategy, or were competitors supposed to learn something from each other?
“You know what, screw it all. If you or my family don’t like who I am, you can all kiss my ass at the finish line. I’m proud of who I am.”
“At least you’ve got your head on straight finally.” His expression shifted to surprise. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve just had an epiphany.”
“Something like that. Thanks for being such an ass so I could find my way to this point.” The man made her crazy with his smirk and the knowing twinkle in his eye. He deserved to feel as off-balance as he made her. For the hell of it, she wanted to kiss Stratton. Before she could change her mind, she closed the distance between them, gripped his shoulders and brought her mouth to his.
Stubble rasped against her chin. She breathed in his clean soap scent and the earthier smell of man. His lips felt soft and firm, his jaw slack with shock—or so she’d like to imagine. Just as quickly, she broke their link and held his gaze. He gave nothing away. Damn the man. He tasted as sinful as he looked—exotic spices and the faint bite of alcohol he must have snagged after she’d left him.
Good thing this one kiss was an aberration, a thank-you gesture for his words of wisdom.
When she made to pull away, Stratton tugged her into a tight embrace and slanted his mouth over hers. Authoritative and certain, he walked them both forward until her back connected with the window glass. As the chill seeped into her skin, it fought with the liquid heat his kiss generated. Settling her arms around his neck, she leaned into his strength, meeting each pass of his lips, unwilling to let him take control.
He seemed to know exactly what she was about, since he pinned her against the window with his body, his hard length flush against her softer curves. Placing a large palm on either side of her head, fingers splayed into her hair, Stratton increased the pressure on her mouth, sweeping his tongue along the seam of her lips until she parted them. When his tongue touched hers, mating, demanding, ordering her compliance, Willa fought for dominance.
Stratton’s determination ultimately toppled her will, and she gave in, a tiny bit grateful to let someone take the lead and make the decisions.
Immediately, the kiss softened into long, drugging meetings of mouths and lips, kisses that stole her breath and sent her head spinning. Warmth coiled in her belly and lower. Her pussy came to life with faint throbs of need and prompted a primal moan to break from her throat. She wanted to lean on him, call upon his strength for a few moments, to give in and admit she didn’t always know best and be fine with that.
She wanted to be needed simply for herself. Stratton Sinnet could never do that.
Pushing against his chest, Willa ducked out of his embrace and put distance between them. Pieces of the shattered candy sculpture crunched beneath her feet. She didn’t spare a thought to the discomfort. She concentrated on keeping her breathing even. “Well, that was interesting, but I
think we need to get to bed.”
Anticipation lit his face. “Sounds like a great idea.”
Heat seared her cheeks. “No. We’re never doing…that.” She glanced at the bed, the window, anywhere to keep her traitorous gaze off him. “That kiss was an accident and won’t be repeated.”
“Oh, I think it will, and often.”
She shivered and tried to put his statement from her mind. “Is being difficult something you learned in your past as well?” She edged toward the bed, careful not to come into his gravitational pull.
His grin widened to that of a predator. “Life left me orphaned, not celibate.”
As her body responded to the low rumble of his voice and her hardened nipples scraped against the soft robe, Willa dove onto the bed. In a flurry of linens, she burrowed beneath, pulling them up to her chin. “Good night.”
“Scoot over, kita. I need a fair amount of room.” He reached for the bedclothes, his brown eyes twinkling.
“Perfect, then you’ll have no problems finding all the room you need on the floor.” Laughing at his surprise, she threw two pillows in his direction, followed by an extra blanket that had lain folded at the foot of the bed. “Early morning tomorrow. Better rest up.” Before he could respond, she switched off the lamp and grinned into the inky darkness.
That would teach him to play with her emotions. What an idiot she’d been to think he actually cared about her state of mind. If he thought she’d fall for another ploy to get her into his bed and play the pliant female, he was a bigger idiot than she thought. Starting tomorrow, she’d be calling the shots, and if they ever ended up in bed, it would be her choice.
Stratton rubbed the small of his back, working out the various kinks and knots that passing the night on the floor had brought him. Sometime after Willa’s soft breathing had proclaimed her deep in blissful sleep, he’d gotten up and made a meal with the leftover stone-cold food. Then, finding nothing else to occupy him, he’d tried to make the best of the pallet, cursing that he’d allowed her the upper hand. The woman had left him with a shaft as hard as steel, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to take care of the call for relief. The only way he wanted to deal with the issue was to shove deep inside her.
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