“Lucky us. Most highborn women won’t touch us. Forbidden fruit.” Braden winked at her, his smile sinful—and suddenly Katarina wanted him.
Her interest in Calder was no less strong, but she had the abrupt, overwhelming desire to crawl under the table, unlace Braden’s leggings and put her mouth over his cock.
She wanted him to bend her over the table and screw her right there, no matter how many people watched. It was not an emotional longing, it was pure physical need. Lust in its rawest form.
The blue of his eyes widened, swallowing the white. Need crawled through her, hotter than the Bor Nargan sun, making her just as sweaty.
“You see?” Braden said, voice soft. “You look at us, you want us, and we have no problem fulfilling our function.”
Katarina pressed her thighs tightly together, her body craving climax. “Please, stop doing that.”
“I’m not doing a thing. You do it to yourself. I’m a level three—like Calder—which means I’d like to tie you down and have you be a true submissive to me. That’s Calder’s specialty too. Women are terrified of him and beg him for it at the same time.”
Tighter, tighter. Katarina drew a sharp breath as excitement laced through her, followed by a warm sensation and the feel of heat between her legs.
“Careful,” Braden said. “Don’t let the patrollers think you’re enjoying yourself. I might get arrested.”
Katarina looked up to see two women wearing sand-colored overalls and carrying stun pistols watching Braden with narrowed eyes.
“Why would they arrest you?” she asked, trying to catch her breath. “You’re unnerving me, but that’s not illegal. Is it?”
“All you have to do is call for help and they’ll come running to throw me into the cells. They’d love to do it.”
Katarina’s mouth popped open. “That’s terrible.”
“It’s life on Bor Narga. Home sweet home.” Braden grinned at the patrollers and gave them a cheerful wave. They returned the look grimly.
“I’m sorry, I should go then. I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
Braden gave a short laugh. “Apologizing to Shareem. No woman does that, unless she’s in bondage at the time.” He gave her another allover look that said he’d love to see her in the position to apologize to him. “Don’t go yet, baby. I’m fascinated by your need to talk to Calder.”
“Do you think he would see me if you asked him? It’s very important.”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Calder is with a woman once and once only. You let him do what he wants then you’re done. It’s in his consent form.” Braden chuckled. “He’s the only Shareem I know with a consent form.”
Katarina remembering Calder mentioning it. “Consent form? What does he mean, exactly?”
“Calder won’t allow a lady to walk through his door without signing his form. That way he knows she’s already given him permission, and then he does anything he wants. Didn’t you sign it?”
Katarina shook her head. Her colleagues must have done that for her, laughing.
“It’s a beautiful idea,” Braden said. “But not for me. I suck at paperwork. Calder spends way too much time alone, comes up with all these different and exotic scenarios. Me, I just get out the manacles.”
“Why doesn’t he see a lady twice? I would think he’d be much in demand.”
“Because when ladies are with Calder, they lay everything out for him. They offer up everything they have, and believe me, he takes it. Besides, you feel it more don’t you? When you know it’s only once and never again?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Katarina said. “He sent me away before . . . We never got to . . . sex.” She whispered the last word, her gaze going to the patrollers.
Braden stared. “No shit?”
She shook her head. “No shit.”
“Huh.” Braden swallowed the dregs of his coffee, a worried look on his face.
“Will you take me to see him, Braden? If it’s money you want, I’ll give you as much as you ask . . .”
“It has nothing to do with money. Forget about Calder, sweetheart. He’s . . . Put it this way—when he got burned he went to a bad place, and I don’t mean the DNAmo lab. He never really recovered. There’s a darkness to him that a pretty lady like you doesn’t need to touch. He’s taken level three to a height even I don’t understand. And I’m pretty bad-ass.”
“It has nothing to do with that.”
Braden took her hand, his Shareem pheromones flooding her again. “Why don’t you spend the rest of your afternoon with me? I’ll give you what Calder would have, and we’ll figure out what you really need. All right? Say you will.”
He looked slightly distressed, white patches pulling at the sides of his blue eyes.
“I have to see him.” Katarina gently disengaged her hand from Braden’s. “I’m sorry, I hope I don’t hurt your feelings.”
He stared at her in amazement. “Hurt my feelings? Sweetie, you are the strangest lady I’ve ever met. You’re not supposed to worry about a Shareem’s feelings.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
Braden shook his head, chuckling, his tension suddenly gone. “I have to see this. He’ll kill me, but . . .”
He slid off the stool, crumpled the coffee cup and tossed it at a passing garbage bot. The bot’s metal claw caught the cup and snaked it back into its body.
“I’ll take you to Calder’s place and I’ll get you into the same room with him,” Braden said. “After that, it’s up to him whether to talk to you or throw your ass out.”
Katarina exhaled in relief. “Thank you.”
“If he doesn’t cooperate, you’ll consider my offer, right? You’re adorable. We could tear up this town.”
Katarina dragged Braden down to her and kissed his cheek. The connection of her lips with his skin sent another river of warmth through her, but it was nothing compared to the volcano Calder had given her.
“I’ll consider it,” she said with a smile.
“Gods give me luck.”
Braden gave Katarina’s backside a Shareem swat, winked at the outraged patrollers, and led Katarina back to Barkelo Street.
Chapter Five
Calder sensed something wrong as soon as he stepped into the cool whiteness of his living quarters. The air felt charged, fresher, as though an ionizer had changed the stale molecules.
He set down the box of supplies he’d gone out to buy, unwound the sun-blocking cloths from his face, and tossed his robes and breath mask to their hooks. Stripping off his gloves, he strode into his front room and stopped.
“Hell,” he said.
Braden lounged on Calder’s square sofa, his leather-clad legs propped on the table. He’d folded his brawny arms behind his head and a spill of black hair fell over his shoulder to his lap.
“Nice to see you too.”
Braden was the closest thing Calder had to a friend, but Calder was not in the mood for Braden’s sense of humor right now.
Braden maintained a casual approach to life and didn’t care who didn’t like it. He thought Calder too anal, and Calder thought Braden too careless. Usually they got along fine.
“I knew I should have changed the locks,” Calder said. “I have a client coming. Whatever it is, make it quick.”
“She’s not coming.”
Calder halted. His leather-clad body creaked as he turned around. “What do you mean? How do you know?”
“I found her in your computer. I sent her a message that said you’d be delayed and will call her later.”
Calder’s rage warred with relief. The client was a woman from Delta-Terra, a highhanded bitch who’d sent him messages specifying what she expected him to do to her. Women sometimes tried to command him—and then Calder taught them that their dictates didn’t mean shit. It was one more way he turned their power against them.
He hadn’t really wanted to see the woman today, but then again he did, to expunge what had happened yesterday with Katarina. A good hunt
, followed by a good fuck, and he’d be all right again.
Calder swung to his terminal, but Braden’s next words stopped him.
“I brought someone else to see you.”
The door to his kitchen slid open, and Katarina d’Arnal, dressed in a soft silk tunic and pants, with no face veil, paused on the threshold. She regarded him in trepidation, as though she wasn’t sure Braden’s idea of bringing her had been a good one.
She was right about that.
Calder watched her give him a once-over, taking in his black clothes and his naked face. His cock was already hardening as those beautiful brown eyes roved his body. He never covered his face when he was alone, so she saw his scars in all their glory.
He glared at Braden. “Take her out.”
Katarina took a step forward. “I need to talk to you.”
“Book an appointment. Don’t ask my friends to sneak you into my house.”
“At least talk to her,” Braden said, bringing his feet to the floor. “What will it hurt?”
Braden, the idiot, couldn’t know how it would hurt. Usually Calder didn’t care about a woman’s fascination with the Beast, but with Katarina he did. She’d want what they all wanted—to touch him and lick him, and to have him overpower her.
“Then talk,” he said tightly to Katarina.
Katarina wet her lips, making them luscious and red. “I still need to scan you.”
Calder stared. Of all the things she could have said, he wasn’t expecting that. “You thumbprinted the exam. It’s finished.”
“Because you forced me.”
Braden’s black brows rose. “He forced you?”
“He grabbed my thumb and pressed it on the handheld,” Katarina said.
“Calder, you shithead.”
“I don’t need to be scanned,” Calder said. “You already have records of my body. It hasn’t changed.”
“But those aren’t the rules,” Katarina said.
“Fuck the rules.”
Damn it, Calder’s control was slipping—again. What was this woman doing to him?
“If I reported you—”
Calder was across the room, pinning Katarina to the doorframe before she could complete the sentence.
“Are you threatening me?” he growled down at her. Damn her body felt good under his.
“I’m saying that if someone found out, if they’d seen you do that, you could get into trouble.”
Braden returned his booted feet to the table. “She has a point.”
Calder released her. Katarina smelled too good when he stood close to her. His cock danced.
“What do you want, Katarina?”
“I told you. To scan you.”
“And if I don’t want you running your wand over my naked body?” Gods, I shouldn’t have put it like that. “Will you report what I did to you in my pleasure rooms?”
She reddened. “No.”
Calder remembered how pink her other cheeks had gotten when he’d spanked her. He’d wanted to get her ready to take him in her ass, something that would be as unfamiliar to her as flapping her arms and flying.
He’d known Katarina had never been fucked, not properly fucked in her pussy. A highborn woman got her hymen removed at a clinic when they were ready. Women made a big deal about it, pretending that losing the hymen taught them all the mysteries of womanhood. They forsook sweet cock-in-pussy fucking so they could study philosophy and learn how to create children without touching a male.
“Then what will you do?” Calder asked.
“Nothing.” Katarina folded her arms, which pushed her breasts into luscious mounds. “I’ll scan you privately and enter the data. After that, no one can accuse you of breaking the rules.”
She was serious. Her pretty eyes regarded him worriedly.
Calder leaned over her again. He liked the way her breath smelled, spicy and sweet. He wanted to put his tongue into her mouth.
“No,” he said.
“I know your body has been burned. I don’t mind seeing that.”
Old rage boiled up inside him, the rage that had kept him alive when the scientists in the lab thought he was a write-off. “Fuck that. Maybe I mind.”
“I’m not trying to humiliate you.”
Calder straightened up. “Braden take her home.”
Braden grinned from the sofa and didn’t move. “Nah. She’s right. How come I have to get scanned and you don’t?”
“What you do when you go to the clinic is your business,” Calder said.
“I think you’re missing a fine opportunity here, my friend. Maybe you two can strike a bargain.”
Calder looked back at Katarina. She stood still, folded arms shutting him out.
But he felt her pheromones, double strength almost, her wanting pouring from her. His own body couldn’t help reacting. He wanted to rub his cock against her, first on her pussy, then her bare ass.
Straddle me, he’d say. Ride me, sweetheart.
Braden was there, but Calder didn’t mind him watching. Having Braden’s hungry eyes on her might turn Katarina on.
He let his voice grow dangerous. “You’re right, Braden.”
Katarina looked at them nervously. “What are you talking about?”
“What kind of bargain can I make with her?” Calder asked, looking at Katarina. “What do you think, Braden?”
“I think if you don’t want her, I’ll take her.”
Katarina broke in. “Would you two please not talk about me like I’m not here?”
“Ooo,” Braden chuckled. “She has a temper too.”
Katarina stuck her tongue out at him.
“Bring that over here, baby. I have a few things you can lick.” Braden smiled as he spoke, the blue of his eyes getting wider every second. His cock showed hard at his crotch, and he unashamedly adjusted it under the leather.
“Not without my permission.” The tug of possessiveness surprised Calder, but no way would he let Braden simply have her.
Braden switched his gaze to Calder. “I like that idea. Will you order her to pleasure me? Pretty please?”
Calder sensed Katarina’s heightening pheromones, could taste them on the air. Braden excited her, did he? Calder wasn’t sure whether the twinge in his heart was jealousy or need.
He put his hands on Katarina’s shoulders and leaned to her. Her lovely scent made it hard for him to remember how to speak. “You agree to do what I tell you now, and I’ll submit to your scan.”
“For how long am I agreeing to do what you tell me?”
For the rest of my life.
“For the afternoon.”
“And then you’ll come back to the clinic for your scan?”
“Yes.” Fuck that. By the time he was done with Dr. Katarina d’Arnal, her thoughts would be far from her clinic. He’d finish what he should have yesterday, and she’d never want to see him again.
He had no idea why his heart constricted in that annoying way when he thought of never seeing her again.
“All right.” Katarina drew a breath that pushed her breasts toward him. “I agree.”
Calder straightened up. His heart pounded. “Go on then. Pleasure Braden. Suck his cock for me.”
Katarina stared, mouth open, her body temperature climbing. “But—”
“Do it,” he said. “I want you to.”
Braden closed his fist. “Yesss!” He started unhooking his leggings. “The carpet’s soft. We’re good.”
Katarina moved to him woodenly, and Calder watched, holding his breath. Would she do it? Would she and Braden get so turned on by each other that they’d go away and leave him alone? Then he wouldn’t have to think about her anymore.
No, came a voice in his head. Mine.
Braden paused, his hand on his fly. “You want to do this?” he asked Katarina. “Make sure. I have to have your permission, like I told you. If you say no—I’ll probably die right here, but hey, no pressure.”
“What about Calder? Do I have to give hi
m permission?”
“You signed the consent form,” Calder reminded her.
“I didn’t. Someone forged my print.”
Braden laughed. At least someone thought all this was funny.
Calder strode to his terminal, loaded a blank form into his handheld and brought it to her. He slid his arm around her waist and thrust the handheld under her nose.
“It’s all here. You agree to let me do to you anything I want, including telling you to pleasure Braden, or a wooden pole, or whatever I think of. You agree to obey me, and accept whatever punishment I dish out if you disobey. In return I visit the clinic.” He leaned closer. “Yesterday, I decided to be nice to you because you’re cute. Today, I’ve changed my mind.”
Braden uttered a small moan. He thrust his hand down his half-open leggings. “Hurry up. You’re killing me.”
“Decide,” Calder said, ignoring him. “Go and never seek me out again, or stay and I do whatever I want.”
She turned her head, her hair brushing his nose. “I want to stay.”
“Thank the gods,” Braden breathed.
“Good.” The word brushed Calder’s lips against hers, but he did not kiss her. He held up the form. “Thumbprint.”
Katarina raised a shaking hand and pressed her thumb to the lighted pad.
Chapter Six
Katarina couldn’t believe she was doing this. She watched Braden hurriedly pull open his leggings as Calder tossed the handheld aside.
Calder lowered her to her knees, his grip loosening her legs until she glided down where he wanted her. He dropped on one knee next to her, enclosing her in the spread of his legs, his thigh planted firmly behind her back.
Braden sighed with relief as his cock sprang out, hard and needy. It was dark red, the engorged tip almost purple.
“Take it in your hand,” Calder said. “Get to know it. He doesn’t mind.”
Braden spread his arms over the back of the couch and parted his legs. “Nope. Don’t mind in the least.”
Katarina reached out a shaking hand. Again she reflected that she’d seen plenty of holo images of penises in her medical studies, could name all the parts, inside and out. But that had been theory only.
Braden’s swollen cock was no theory. Calder’s breath brushed Katarina’s neck as she reached a shaking finger forward and touched Braden’s tip.
Tales of the Shareem, Volume 2 Page 5
