by Vi Keeland
At the next corner, Dallas turned right down a small street. The crowd thinned considerably. The blackened windows of the abandoned store fronts along this street reflected the blurred images of the two of them as they moved quickly. The woman’s hand had snaked into the back pocket of his jeans, and even through the material the heat of it seared into his skin. Damn, he needed this.
Another quick left and he was guiding her down a back alley where nothing moved save for the velgir rodents scurrying for scraps of food. They sidestepped a Ka’al, passed out against the back of another abandoned building. Except for the deep hue of red skin and their extreme size, the Ka’al were the closest thing to human in the Nebulae Galaxy. Formidable-looking for sure, but Dallas knew they were dangerous only when provoked.
“Don’t worry about him,” Dallas said as he felt a shudder shimmy down her back. “They’ve got more brawn than brains, and from the smell of that one, it appears he’s gone and drowned himself in gall’s blood.” He turned her in his arms to face him and pressed her back into the alcove of a doorway, his hands resting on the cold stone of the door frame on either side of her head. “I’d like to finish what we started in the street.” His gaze searched her face for any indication she wanted out of this liaison. But even in the shadows of the alleyway he could see the desire darkening her eyes. Maybe she wasn’t faking it after all.
“You didn’t ask,” she whispered.
“I don’t care how much.” His mouth came down on hers, feathering across the velvet heat of her lips. As much as his cock was urging him to plunge ahead at a reckless speed, Dallas had every intention of moving slowly and savoring this woman.
She pulled back and looked up at him. “My name. You didn’t ask my name.”
Cradling her chin in his palm, Dallas brushed his thumb over her lips. She pressed her mouth against the pad and sucked it into her wet heat. His cock jumped. “What’s your name?”
“Lilly.”
“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” He pushed aside the collar of her coat and brought his mouth down on her jumping pulse point, tasting the sweetness of her skin. She inhaled deeply, arching her back, which both exposed her neck and pressed her breasts into his chest. A low groan rumbled in his throat as his hand dropped to squeeze and reshape the flesh, the fullness overflowing his palm. Damn, he loved a woman with curves and it seemed Lilly had that and more. He undid a couple of buttons of her shirt and slid his hand beneath the satin of her bra. Her skin was hot and soft, and the nipple already hard. Dallas didn’t bother to undo the bra. Instead, he lifted her breast from the confines of the material and let the bra act as a shelf to display her creamy flesh. He bent and sucked the beaded nipple into his mouth, alternately nipping and licking it until Lilly was writhing against his body.
Lilly slid her hands under the tails of his shirt, her long nails raking up his stomach and around his back, pulling him tighter to her body. Once again her leg slid up his thigh as she rolled her hips and ground against his aching erection.
“Dallas, I don’t want it slow.” The hot words spilled over his cheek before she pulled his earlobe through her teeth. “I want it hard and dirty, right here. Right now.” Her hand snaked between their bodies and she palmed him, squeezing with just enough pressure to shoot horny sparks of current zinging around his balls. She dropped her leg to make room for her other hand between their bodies and made quick work of undoing his belt and the button of his jeans.
“Jesus, Lilly, you have the most beautiful body.” He lifted the other breast from her bra and pushed the satin mounds together. His tongue flicked from one pebbled point to the other. Her areolas were puckered and he sucked one completely into his mouth, her salty sweetness fueling his hunger. He rolled the other pearled nipple between his thumb and forefinger, loving the hiccupping sounds of her need filling the air.
Dallas could have lavished her breasts far longer, but she already had his zipper down and was working her hands around his hips. The way she moved he was afraid she would have him coming in her hand before he had a chance to enjoy the rest of her body.
Kissing his way up her neck, he captured Lilly’s full mouth. With the sweetness of slow seduction replaced by their greedy lust, he pressed his tongue between her lips and filled her mouth. Her tongue danced with his, circling and retreating, filling his mouth with her honeyed taste.
Slowly, he dragged his palms down her sides, his thumbs grazing her hard nipples. He went all the way down to the top of her boots and slid back up. Hooking his thumbs under the hem of her leather skirt, Dallas pushed it up as he caressed the silky softness of her thighs. On the street, he thought she had been without panties, but the barest thread of a satin thong curved over her hips.
Oh hell, yeah.
Lilly pushed his jeans down over his ass and the heavy belt buckle dropping them to his feet where they hit the bricks with a satisfying thud. One hand traveled the length of his cock, from root to tip and back again, while the other toyed with his balls, rolling and squeezing until he nearly drown in the sensations heating his blood.
Trying to ignore the pressure building, Dallas lifted her leg back on his hip. He focused on the cool leather of the boot against his skin rather than the heat of Lilly’s hands expertly milking his cock. He cupped her ass cheek, holding her steady while his fingers followed the band of the thong down. His knuckles brushed the velvet skin of her pubic bone and she sighed. The smell of her arousal filled the air around them and he knew she’d soaked through the material before he’d even touched her.
Dallas cupped his hand around her pubic bone, releasing a groan of satisfaction when he found her cream coating her thighs. Pressing the tip of his finger against her clit, he swallowed her moan of pleasure but didn’t release her mouth. He slid his finger along the lacy edge of the thong and slipped it under the material, tracing a slow path down her satin flesh. The thought of burying himself in her silken heat sent a surge of lust straight to his cock and Lilly’s talented fingers rubbed the resulting pre-cum over the mushroom head.
She pulled her mouth from his, her breath coming in hard pants. “Enough. I’m hot. I’m wet. I’m ready.” She lifted herself and wrapped her other leg around his hips, tilting her pelvis so the tip of his penis ran along the wet heat of her thigh. “And don’t worry about covering this bad boy, I’m protected. I just want it hard and fast.”
“I just thought it—”
She sandwiched his face in her hands, her dark eyes boring desperately into his. “Really, Dallas, a little less thinking and lot more fucking.”
“A knight shouldn’t argue with his lady. Your command is my wish.”
He pushed the lacy slip of material away from her entrance and guided the head of his erection to her slit. Hot cream coated his cock as he pressed it against her opening. Dallas had every intention of entering slowly, but Lilly grabbed his ass and impaled herself on his erection, screaming with pleasure as he buried himself to the hilt in her silken channel.
There was no control once the velvet fist of her surrounded him. He tipped his hips back and then forward, slamming into her, his skin slapping against hers. Lilly’s nails dug into his ass cheeks as she begged him to fill her harder. Dallas lost himself in the myriad sensations overtaking him—the fleshy weight of her breasts crushed against his chest, her nails scraping along his back, the desperation of her legs wrapped tightly around his hips and the slurping sounds of their fucking all mixed with her carnal cries and his ragged breathing.
He felt her arch, every muscle bowed tight. Lilly threw her head back, her mouth open with a silent cry of ecstasy trapped in her throat. He pistoned his hips faster, feeling the tight pressure radiating from his balls and gathering in his low back. He held off his own climax until Lilly shattered in his arms, her internal muscles contracting, releasing more hot cream around his cock. She screamed profanities of bliss as her muscles trembled with the rapture of her release. Unable to hold on any longer, Dallas’ orgasm pulsed through him, his
hot seed filling her. Spasms of pleasure radiated out from his pelvis, boiling his blood and stealing his breath. He gentled his thrusts, milking the last of their bliss until she fell back limp against the door, her legs dropping one at a time from his hips.
Still seated deep inside her, he buried his face in her hair and nipped the soft flesh behind her ear. He wasn’t sure this one go-round would be enough to fill the void all the lonely months of self-imposed celibacy had left in his soul.
“You still didn’t ask,” she mumbled.
Confused, he lifted his head and looked into her heavy-lidded eyes.
“That’ll be three thousand credits and cab fare.”
Chapter Two
Dallas threaded his way through the crowded sidewalk back to the alley. He’d learned over the past month the residents of this territory on Garalon Five were night owls. Not that they had a choice. Things wouldn’t slow down until the first two moons were well below the horizon and the third just beginning to rise. The lack of daylight had thrown him when he’d first arrived. Though the Nebulae Galaxy—a term that grated as it was technically a solar system—had a major star at its center, the weak light didn’t reach a good portion of the planets. Heat on the inhabitable planets came from deep within their crusts.
He didn’t give a shit about the specifics, just that the interminable darkness was fraying the ends of his taut nerves. Another two days, a week tops and this mission would be finished and Dallas could return to Earth for a much needed vacation with some human companionship.
Working for the government was a lonely business. Lonelier still when he was out in deep space away from his own species. Five years ago, when Dallas had graduated from Quantico, he’d envisioned this life—traveling the stars in search of bad guys and adventures. But working for QAL wasn’t all the pamphlets had promised. It seemed even in space, shit happened, people died and no matter how far he ran, he couldn’t outrun a broken heart.
Dallas turned the last corner to see the alley he’d left not twenty minutes ago was now empty. It worried him a little that the Ka’al wasn’t here and wondered if he’d missed something crucial in his lust-filled fog. No one knew better than him that spies were everywhere. He passed the doorway where he’d been buried in Lilly’s heat and cursed when her honeyed aroma tickled his nose. Probably nothing more than his horny imagination, but it ate at him just the same.
He’d known what Lilly was when he’d spotted her in the tavern—a two-bit space hooker with a full rack and luscious ass. Though he shouldn’t expect her to see him as anything more than the client he’d become, Dallas had thought he’d seen something in her eyes when they’d been at the bar. He’d initially wanted nothing more than to get her out of the alien’s arms, but that sultry voice and kissable mouth had been his undoing. Like a siren, she’d wrapped him in a spell and seduced him. Not that his dick needed much encouragement on that front. Dallas couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen an Earth female, let alone held one in his arms. There weren’t too many of them out this far in deep space. He’d lost himself in her body, forgetting what she was. Still, it had been a major hit to his ego to pay her the twenty-five hundred credits he’d negotiated her down to and put her in the luna cab.
Dallas should be grateful. That slap of reality set him back on track and refocused him on the mission at hand. He couldn’t afford to screw this one up. Not when so much was at stake. Skirting around the Dumpster, he shot another quick glance over his shoulder before laying his palm on the key pad disguised as one of the stones on the side of the building. Experiencing the cold wash of energy flowing over him as the solid stones became gas and surrounded him never became easier to experience. He was still a little disoriented when he materialized into the bright room of the temporary QAL headquarters.
“Sawyer, where the hell you been?”
Darren Bastower stared at him through a hologram of the tavern illuminated over a control table. Abandoning the plans, his boss strode angrily toward Dallas, his bare feet slapping the concrete floor. This night the hulking Braugtot was in the form of a Ka’al. The QAL lieutenant in charge only took that form when he was really pissed. Lucky him.
“We’ve been looking for you. We’ve got less than one Earth hour to have everyone in place. It might only be logistics to you, but we’re treating this as the real thing.” Anger throbbed in the veins at his temples and neck, turning his mahogany cheeks a bruised shade of purple. His telltale facial tattoo that marked him as a male Braugtot pulsed angrily around his left eye.
“Yes Sir. I’m aware. It’s not like I’m late. I—”
“Thaegan’s been here nearly thirty minutes. He told me you were at the tavern together and would be right behind him.”
He shot a look over the lieutenant’s shoulder. The large Ka’al, who’d been monitoring the alley as a drunkard, acknowledged his impudent behavior with a one-fingered salute and a shit-eating grin. That bastard of a partner was supposed to cover his ass, not deliver it in a sling to his boss.
“Yeah, well, I had some business to attend to before I could get back here.” Dallas headed for his desk. “Since Thaegan’s been here that long, I assume he’s briefed the team on their positions.” He bent and pulled the Treljon laser from his boot. Though it was little, the damn thing radiated heat and sent electrical sparks tingling down his toes. Everyone told him the sensation was a figment of his imagination. Since his skin still jumped with the memory of Lilly’s hands on his body, he just didn’t need anything real or imaginary to be adding to the twitchy sensation. Dallas would like to rip the cochlear translator from his ear as well, but knew his boss wouldn’t like speaking English. “If he’s got everyone ready, then I guess we can roll.”
For such a large alien, Thaegan moved around the desks with incredible grace. “You’re lead on this, Dallas. Wouldn’t want to step on any toes. We’ve been waiting on you.” He stepped next to him, lowering his voice. “And you know us Ka’als, more brawn than brain.” He crossed massive arms over his muscular chest, lifting an eyebrow with the corner of his mouth.
“Oh. You heard that?”
“I wasn’t close enough to catch a whiff of the female. Other than that…there wasn’t much of your interlude I missed, my friend.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Who said I was complaining?”
Thaegan and Dallas had been partners for nearly five years. A good portion of it spent chasing Hij’Rozhod across the galaxy. They’d covered each other’s asses in the most dangerous of situations. Adrenaline highs had even had them sharing a female alien on more than one occasion. Dallas had brought Lilly to the protected alley because he’d known he could let down his defenses and live in the moment. Allowing Thaegan to enjoy the experience as well, just seemed as natural as breathing.
“Gamma team, front and center.” Though he hadn’t needed to, Bastower hollered across the room.
Dallas’s ragtag team of five mismatched aliens—one Xerick, a Drikspa, a Braugtot in Ickbata form, his distinctive facial tattoo swirling along his snout, Thaegan and the newest addition of a second Drikspa, returning to QAL after being wounded in the line of duty—had started to ready themselves when he’d stepped into headquarters. The six of them plus Bastower circled the table displaying a hologram of the tavern.
“Tonight’s just a dry run,” Bastower continued. “If our intel is right, Hij’Rozhod won’t show until tomorrow night. But I want Sawyer to walk everyone through this one more time. I don’t want another FUBAR like Canus Delta.”
Dallas knew Bastower wasn’t laying the blame of the failed mission at his feet. Otherwise he wouldn’t have given him the lead in this assignment. But as he moved his fingers over the panel in front of him, Dallas couldn’t shake the heavy cloak of guilt weighing on his shoulders.
One of his team had died on Canus Delta along with President Orch. Never mind the fact he’d nearly lost his life as well. The undeniable reality was that someone had double-crossed QAL and fed their pl
ans to the enemy, leaving Dallas to doubt his ability as team leader. This would be his chance to prove he had the cojones to continue in that role, not to QAL, not to his team, not to Bastower—but to himself.
The holographic image of the tavern faded and a three-dimensional map of Garalon Five appeared. “We have credible intel the Znedu alien, Hij’Rozhod’s right-hand man, landed on Garalon Five about six hours ago.” It was understood that time and primary language would be in terms of the home planet of the team leader. “Intercepted transmissions have him going by the name of Venair Grebetz. We suspect this is an alias, but haven’t been able to determine his true identity.” Another push of the button by Dallas and a hologram of a small craft landing on a lighted patch of dirt in the desert appeared. “Last position had him in the Plaintar Quadrant when the first moon rose.” A gangly, humanoid alien disembarked from the craft, his thin body covered by a full-length satin robe, giving him the appearance of a scholarly monk rather than a cold-blooded killer.
“As you all know, when we got wind the Znedu was looking for more men for his team, we managed a meet-n-greet with Jones here,” Dallas pointed to the Xerick on his left. “He’s scheduled to meet Grebetz’s boss tomorrow night at the tavern. We’re betting the farm it’s Hij’Rozhod. We’ll be in position to take him down at the tavern when he shows for the interview. But we need to be sure we’re ready for anything.”
Dallas worked the panel. “We have confirmation the guy’s scoping out the meeting place tonight, which is why we’re going to be there. But it’s a dry run.” The desert disappeared and a schematic of the tavern, the surrounding shops and the street front popped up again. “Every piece of equipment will be checked and every possible scenario covered in preparation for tomorrow night. But we’re staying well back from the action. We don’t want to spook the Znedu tonight.”
