Kira turned to watch him go. “Interesting choice, that one.”
“I didn’t choose him.”
“Well, I guess he’s handsome enough for a human,” her mother said. “And there is a certain sexiness to him.” It was her idea of a compliment.
Harmony stared forward, ignoring Kira. I have to get out of here before I go crazy and kill her.
“But he’s obviously trash,” her mother said as an afterthought.
“How did my father die?” she asked, trying to change the subject. She hadn’t really thought to inquire about that until now. He wasn’t old by Kirillian standards.
“He was working in the virology experimentation unit and his prophylaxis failed. He got an infection and was unable to recover from the ensuing illness. You know, some of my colleagues at Dexagen still ask about you. They would rehire you in an instant,” she said, with some of the acid leaving her tone.
Harmony stood up. “I’m sorry for your loss, Kira. Good-bye.”
“Your father’s death is your loss too, Harmony,” her mother said, annoyed.
“If you say so, Kira. Best wishes to you.”
Harmony marched toward the shuttle, tense and unhappy. She really didn’t feel like talking.
Tanner fell into step behind her. “I shouldn’t have made you come.”
She twirled on him. “I’m glad you finally figured that out. Maybe you can share your newfound wisdom with Edna. The next time I tell you I don’t want to do something, just fucking listen to me, okay? Do you have the answers you were searching for about me and my family?”
Her eyes were burning and her throat tightened. Something wet ran down her cheek. She wiped it away and was shocked to see it was a tear. She forced her emotions back down into the pit of her stomach and boarded the shuttle.
Tanner sat next to her and the doors closed. “You always call your mother by her first name?”
“Sure. What should I call her?”
“Um…maybe Mother or Mom.”
“She was neither a mother nor a mom to me. She always has been just plain Kira.”
“You don’t think that’s weird?”
“Not to me. Now can you shut up about it?”
He ran his hand down her thigh affectionately.
She glared at his hand on her leg. “You promised not to aggravate me if I let you come.”
“How is touching you aggravating you?”
She stared at him. “I just want to be left alone for a while. Don’t talk to me, don’t touch me and don’t ask me any questions.”
Tanner stopped moving his hand but didn’t remove it from her leg. “I already admitted I shouldn’t have made you come. The only other thing I can say is I’m sorry. Come on, don’t be pissed.”
Harmony took his hand off her leg and placed it in his lap. “I can only stop being mad when you stop making me mad. Now leave me alone for a while!”
Tanner closed his eyes and let her cool off.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
They returned to the Aries without another word. Tanner programmed the autopilot to head back to Galaxy Recovery and settled into the rear cot to read. Or at least, look like he was reading. God, he wished Harmony would come to him. He wasn’t angry over her request to be left alone, but it was a tall order for him. He loved being in contact with her. His whole body felt bare and empty, aching with the need to touch her.
He was sorry he hadn’t listened to her about attending the service but at least he understood her a little better now. It certainly wasn’t any mystery why she had a hard time expressing her emotions. With a mother like that, who dared? He hated to think what her father had been like. Tanner was also a little ashamed he’d assumed her coldness was only because she was Kirillian.
His own mother was nothing like Kira. She was a free spirit who spoke her mind gently, always open to a lively debate about one universal problem or another. He could remember spending hours arguing with her over how the rights of fathers were completely ignored in Earth’s current laws while most alien cultures celebrated them. He smiled, remembering how loved she made him feel, and made a mental note to contact her when they got back to Recovery.
He tossed his book down and watched Harmony at the tracking stage, hunting for Prime’s whereabouts as usual. She grew more beautiful with every passing day. She glanced back at him and her features softened. Finally she got up and came over to where he lay. Pulling her shirt off, she sat down on the edge of his cot. She let her shirt drop to the floor and then kicked her boots off. Getting back to her feet she slid her pants and underwear down her legs with an agonizing slowness that drove him wild.
Harmony sat on the edge of the cot and leaned back as Tanner moved in close. From the bedrock of his soul a fever was born, a lust so pure it demanded venting through his heated flesh.
“Kiss me,” he exhaled. Her heady, feminine scent seeped into his mind, taking him to new heights of sexual need.
Closing her eyes, Harmony touched her lips to his. Pushing his advantage, Tanner pressed his lips against hers, easing his tongue into her mouth. Harmony welcomed him into her mouth and caressed his tongue with hers. Embers of pleasure radiated from their point of contact, fueling his unquenchable desire.
She broke the kiss, breathless, and combed her fingers through his thick hair. “I want you inside me.”
Tanner’s heart sped up, pounding out a fierce rhythm. He needed her so bad she was like water in the desert. Stepping out of her wadded-up pants, she moved up over him, straddling his head, and lowered herself down onto his mouth. He slipped his fingers into the slick folds of her essence, parting them, pushing his eager tongue into her slit.
Harmony gasped and arched her back. “Tanner,” she groaned, rotating her hips in a seductive circle. The bewitching sound of her pleasure massaged the very core of his being. He laved the tender flesh, circling the swollen button of her clit with the tip of his tongue.
Harmony was sweet and wet as he slid a finger deep into her channel. A girlish chirp came from her and his mind rolled over into primal darkness. Nothing mattered but the two of them. Clamping down on her clit with his lips, he sucked hard, holding her bucking hips to him as she cried out, her slick muscles clenching his finger.
Rolling over on top of her, he claimed her mouth with his own. Harmony reached down with trembling hands and unfastened his pants, sliding them down his hips to free his cock. He broke the kiss and grabbed her by the jaw staring down into her stunning copper eyes.
“Show me how much I mean to you,” he commanded. “Open your heart up to me.”
At first he thought she was going to break off and escape him, but then she ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him down into the hottest kiss he’d ever had. The passion that exploded from her was like a steamy summer downpour and his soul soared with joy. She devoured his mouth, kissing him with a tender, loving hunger. That was when he took her. Nestling his cock against the threshold of her sex, he pushed into her with a carnal roar. Her hands were all over his back, touching and exploring him, exciting him like no other woman ever could.
Harder and harder he pumped, lifting his head to watch the delicate bliss etched on her face. “So fucking beautiful,” he groaned. “I love you so much, Harmony.”
“No more talking,” she whispered into the flesh of his neck. “Just keep going.” Then she whined, a tender, delicate sound that was all womanly passion. He fought not to come too soon.
Tanner slowed his pace, torturing her with long, easy strokes until she was struggling with him to take her harder. Her lovely brow knitted.
“Harder,” she whispered, digging her fingers into his shoulders.
He pulled her thighs up around his hips and interlaced his fingers with hers, pinning them above her head. Then he rocked his hips into her, grinding his cock deep, until her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her vaginal muscles clamped down on him, squeezing hard and rippling with the force of her climax.
His own passion went
wild as he picked up the rhythm, jackhammering into her like he hadn’t been with a woman in years. She cried out, driven into a delirious frenzy by his aggression, and peaked again, her orgasm milking his cock until he was completely spent.
Tanner collapsed on top of her and she grunted under his weight. Frowning, she pushed him off and lowered herself onto the deck next to the cot. That was Harmony. She couldn’t just ask him to move over, she had to have a spot all to herself, even if that meant lying on the ground.
“You want the cot, baby?”
Harmony grinned and waved him off. Apparently she was fine right where she was. Crazy woman. Tanner closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tanner came into the hangar and was met with the sounds of clanging tools and Kirillian swearing. The pungent odor of rocket fuel filled his nostrils. He hadn’t seen Harmony for two days. With her father’s service out of the way, she was devoting herself exclusively to fixing her wounded ship. He wanted to be pissed at her but he knew how it was—she needed to get back to hunting. Her obsession with catching Prime was all-consuming and now it had become personal. She couldn’t stand the thought of some other hunter capturing her skip.
Grinning, he had to admit he would have done the same thing. It probably didn’t help matters that Prime had hired thugs to kill her. Spending a year in stir just to get out and have assassins come after you would have sent him over the edge too.
A few replacement parts lay on the floor near the engine compartment. He heard her swear again in frustration.
“Harmony?”
She emerged from under the ship, wiping hydraulic oil off her hands. “What?”
Tanner crouched down and held out a cup of coffee. “I brought you a present.”
Harmony took the cup and pulled a few sips. “Thanks.” She gave him a warm smile.
Smiling made her look very young and he felt an overwhelming desire to protect her. He hated to think of her going after Prime alone.
“I brought you news too.” He fell back on his butt and rested his forearms on his knees.
“Please don’t tell me someone picked up my hydrocore.”
“No,” he said, chuckling. “You’re still in the running.”
“Okay, what is it?”
“Prime’s gone back to AEssyria.”
“Shit, shit, shit!” She rolled her head around her shoulders then rubbed the back of her neck. “I guess I’m going back to AEssyria then. Yay me.”
“They’re not going to let you back this soon after your release.”
“Gavin will allow me back on.” Harmony finished the coffee and placed the empty cup on the ground next to him. She turned back toward her ship.
Gavin? It burned his ass that she was on a first-name basis with the AEssyrian general. “I thought you two were done?”
Harmony just smiled and shook her head. “We are but we’ve known each other for a long time. I met him years ago when I first got started in this business. In fact, the first professional bounty I went after was a contract from him.”
“And you want me to believe there’s nothing going on now between you two?” His accusatory tone caught her off guard and she looked at him strangely.
“Even if there was some attraction left, he wouldn’t act on it. I told you, he’s happily married. We slept with each other almost a century ago. What the hell is your problem?”
“I’m jealous.”
Harmony tapped a wrench against her thigh. “Of him? Trust me. He has no further interest in me nor I him.”
Tanner stared at the soft pout of her lips. He wanted to place soft kisses there. “I know you want to catch this bounty on your own but maybe you should consider letting me go with you. I have experience fighting a hydrocore. You wouldn’t need to hide any weapons.”
Harmony closed a few of the hatches and gave him a sober look. “I appreciate your offer but I’ll be fine on my own.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them. He’d expected her to ditch their partnership but it still hurt to hear her say it. He was such a fool. Leave it to him to be out for revenge and get burned with his own match. This love affair had been doomed from the start. He might as well accept the truth.
A dark sadness filled him as if all the light in the world had been covered by storm clouds. Tanner stood up feeling like his insides had been trampled. “Good luck with your skip. I’ll let you finish your repairs.”
Harmony nodded and watched him go. “Thanks, Tanner.”
Damn him! Harmony twirled the small wrench through her fingers and bit her lower lip. How could Tanner make her feel so horrible about a decision that was the best for both of them? She didn’t need him tagging along on her bounty, wanting sex every five minutes. He’d only get in the way. She’d always worked on her own and that was the way she liked it.
The hangar doors slid open and Edna walked in. She handed a tiny disk to Harmony. “The latest update on Prime,” she said with an evil grin. “Afraid he’s gone back to AEssyria.”
Harmony slipped it into her flight jacket. “Thanks, Edna, but Tanner already told me.”
Edna glanced at the door as if the hunter was standing within earshot even though there was no one around. “Is he going with you?”
A moment of hot anger flashed through her. “No. Why would he?”
“Tanner’s a decent hunter. Just thought he might be pleasant company too,” Edna said with a dismissive shrug.
“I don’t need company. I work alone,” Harmony said, annoyed she was explaining herself.
“Is that a good thing?”
“What are you driving at?”
“Just this—this universe is a cold and lonely place. You work your ass off all your life and, if you’re lucky, you might be successful. But what good is all the money and fame in the world if you have no one to share your life with?”
“You did it alone. You never needed anyone.”
“Yeah, but I paid dearly for it. I have everything I ever wanted but the one thing that matters the most. Love. I’ll tell you Harmony, I’d trade it all for a partner who cared about me like Tanner seems to care about you.”
Harmony scraped at an oil stain on the concrete with her boot. “He only cares about the regular sex.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“I don’t want to love him.”
Edna gave her a compassionate sigh. “I know.”
Harmony tried to bury the pain in her heart. “I’ll be gone in the next few hours.”
Edna knew a snub when she heard one. She walked toward the hangar doors. “Okay. Keep me posted on your progress,” she tossed over her shoulder.
Harmony stared down into her empty coffee cup and thought about taking Tanner with her. Edna was right, he was good company. But then he’d want them to go on all the assignments together and she worked alone.
No, it was better this way. She needed to make a clean break before they got too attached. Tanner would fall for some other woman in a few days and he’d completely forget about her. But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, the thought didn’t make her feel any better.
Chapter Thirty
The pilot’s lounge smelled like stale cigarette smoke and burnt coffee but it had the best view of departing ships on the station. Tanner watched the thrusters of Harmony’s ship ignite with a brilliant orange explosion and quickly disappear in the distance. He rubbed his chin with a nagging sense of worry. It was a strange thing to feel so attached to a woman. He missed her already.
“Aren’t you going after her?” Edna’s voice came from behind him. “She won’t admit it, but she’ll need some help on AEssyria.”
“She wants to catch this skip herself. It’s personal.”
“The hydrocore is a dangerous catch, Tanner. Prime knows her now, knows her scent. This mission will be difficult. I don’t want to lose my most talented hunter to a fuck stick like that.”
“Harmony can handle it.”
/> “What about this thing between you and her? Is that personal too?”
Tanner turned around and looked at her. Her eyes were soft and inquisitive.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s very personal.”
She shook her head like she was trying to get a bad taste out of her mouth. “Listen, Tanner, I’ll cut right to the meat on this one. Harmony is one of my best bounty hunters but she doesn’t have your animal instincts and cunning. You’ve fought a hydrocore before. The time before last when she faced off with Prime, she was almost killed. Now she’s going down there with very little allowable weaponry, and Prime is ready for her. He knows she’s obsessive and that’s her weakness. He’s holding all the cards. All he has to do it wait. It would sure make me feel better if you’d go out there and shadow her to make sure this turns out all right. I have a strong feeling she’s going to need you on this one.”
Tanner leaned back in his chair. “She’d spot me in a minute.”
“So what? Once you’re down there with her, what can she do? Order you to leave?”
Tanner returned his attention to the window, watching the vast sea of space awash in a midnight blue spattered with the white glow of a billion stars. A dull ache filled his gut when he thought of taking another assignment without her and rattling around alone on his empty ship. It could be months before he saw her again, years even. He just couldn’t imagine it. “She’ll be pissed,” he said to his ghostly reflection in the window.
“She needs you, Tanner. You can tell her I made you go.” Edna slapped him on the shoulder. “Take care of her for both of us.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Hunters Page 13
