Anthology - Kick Ass

by Maggie Shayne, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, Jacey Ford

  Alina and Baird didn't linger to sightsee, instead heading straight for the glass-enclosed antigrav lift. It opened at their approach, and they stepped inside. The double doors closed with a musical trill, sealing them in the tube as it slid smoothly upward. Through the glass, she noticed a pair of grav-dancers soaring around one another in the center of the lobby, their bodies nude except for swirls of glittering paint. No sooner did they come together than one or the other swooped away, so that they dove and soared like birds. Watching them, Alina felt her heart ache.

  "They're a pretty good metaphor for us, aren't they?" Baird asked softly, watching her face.

  "You always were far too good at reading my mind." She turned away from the dancers and forced a smile. "I don't want to think about that now."

  His face hardened. "No, I don't suppose you do." The doors opened. "And neither do I."

  Before she could move, he bent and swept her up into his arms, startling a laugh out of her as he carried her out into the hall. Alina wasn't used to feeling delicate, yet cradled in those powerful arms, she did—and she loved it.

  Baird strode down the corridor with her, surefooted and powerful. Alina stared up into his tight profile, wondering at the hint of danger she felt from him, the edge of anger.

  Yes, this was more than the old grudge. But what?

  His room responded to his biological signature at their approach, and its door slid open in welcome. He carried her inside without breaking step.

  The room was a simple enough affair. Its only furniture was a small table in the corner flanked by a couple of chairs, and a huge oval bed covered in dark blue slicksheets that matched the carpet.

  Baird tossed her lightly on the bed. Alina landed with an unwarrior-like gasp and giggle.

  "Strip," he growled.

  She'd have told another man exactly what he could do with his commands, but this was Baird. Smiling wickedly, she rolled onto hands and knees and stared at him through the curtain of her blond braids. "Do I look like one of your recruits, Captain?"

  "You look like a Warfem who's about to get fucked." He grabbed the seal of his unisuit and dragged it down in one ruthless motion. As she watched, breath caught, he stripped the suit off to stand boldly naked. His cock bobbed free, flushed and thick.

  Alina swallowed, her hungry gaze fixed on his broad, sculpted chest. It was furred in a dark ruff of chest hair that narrowed to a trail leading straight to that impressive cock. His legs were long, the thighs and calves thick and round with brawn. As she stared at him, dry-mouthed with desire, he strode to the wall. A panel slid open at his approach, and he reached inside to pull out a length of flexible forcecable.

  She raised a brow, interested but not shocked. Warlords tended to be fairly inventive when it came to sex. "We never did bondage before."

  Baird shrugged, braids swinging beside one high cheekbone. "It seems to suit my mood. You're still not naked." His eyes were glowing red, a Warlord's indicator of stark lust. He was on the verge of losing control.

  Heart pounding, Alina reached for the hem of her tunic and pulled it over her head. He went still, watching as she flicked open the closure of her breastband. The band fell away, freeing her breasts. His eyes widened and flared bright red.

  Deliberately taunting, she rolled onto her back and slid her boots and trousers off, taking her time, letting him get a good look. Smoothly, easily, she lifted on leg and pointed the toe at the ceiling. He licked his lips and dropped his gaze between her thighs, and she hid a smile. "Is this naked enough for you, Captain?"

  "Perhaps a little too naked," he said, his voice hoarse. "I think you need to accessorize."

  Baird moved so fast even Alina was taken by surprise. One minute he was across the room, staring hot-eyed at her nudity. The next, he was on the bed and spinning her around so she was on her knees with her back to him. He pulled one of her wrists behind her back and wrapped it in the forcecable, then bound the other wrist, too.

  Alina inhaled at the wild arousal that exploded low in her belly. She twisted around to grin at him. "You taking me captive, Baird?"

  For just a moment, she thought she glimpsed bitterness in his golden eyes. "It seems to be the only way I can keep you."

  * * *

  CH@%!*R 4

  Before she could question that flash of dark anger, Baird caught her breasts in his warm, long-fingered hands, and she gasped. Skillfully, he rolled her tight nipples between thumbs and forefingers until pleasure furled through her like a red silk ribbon. "Believe me," she wheezed, "I have no desire to go anywhere."

  "Are you sure?" He raked his teeth gently over the straining cords of her throat.

  She shivered. "Ooohhhh, yes." His fingers tightened, pulled, pinched, Each tiny motion created glittering sensations that raced through her body in a river of fire headed straight between her thighs. "Especially when you do that."

  "Then I'll do it some more. You have the most luscious nipples." He twisted the little tips until she squirmed her butt against the hard ridge of his cock.

  "Glad you"—she had to stop to pant—"glad you approve."

  "Oh, I definitely approve." Baird reached down between her thighs, finding the very spot that craved his touch. His fingers slipped easily in the slick cream that had risen as he'd played with her. "And I'm not the only one."

  "That's putting it mildly." Alina let her head fall back against his shoulder as he strummed nipple and clit.

  "Bed," he ordered the mattress, "I need a little hump. About fifty centimeters high and forty across." Obediently, the bed ex-traded a soft mound of mattress. Baird draped her belly-down across it, then moved in behind her.

  Alina licked her lips in anticipation. With her wrists bound at the small of her back, she felt deliciously vulnerable and intensely aroused. She'd never played sexual games before—which probably wasn't surprising, given that her encounters had been rare and hurried, usually driven by riaat hunger more than true attraction. The only man she'd ever really wanted had been Baird.

  And now, for tonight at least, she had him.

  The bed shifted under her knees, and she tensed, swallowing. Shooting a quick look over her shoulder, she saw him kneel at the foot of the bed and lower his head to her backside. His fingers parted her labia for his tongue.

  Alina groaned as he gave her sex a long, slow lick that ran right between the seam of her lips up to her clit. "Oh, sweet Goddess!" She stopped to pant. "You do realize I don't really need any more foreplay?"

  "Perhaps not." He took one of her lips between his teeth and gave it a gentle, teasing tug. "But I've waited for this a very long time, and I'm going to make it last." He released her, then went for her clit, his tongue dancing over the hard little nub.

  Pleasure jolted through her body like bolts of current. "In that case"—she had to stop to moan—"be my guest."

  A long forefinger slid into her sex, slowly, as he angled his head and licked. Each flick of his tongue felt like a hot little flame, and Alina writhed, maddened. She could feel her climax heating, stoked by that working finger and his clever mouth.

  Her sweet young lover had grown into a big, skilled, outrageously sexy stranger.

  The orgasm built like a storm about to break, hot and fast and…

  He stopped. "Not yet."

  "What?" Outraged, she tried to grind down on the finger so temptingly deep inside her.

  Baird snatched it away from her and slapped a hand down on her hip, stilling her. "Not yet."

  "You can't…"

  "I can." His tone was hard and inflexible, one she'd never heard from him before. "This time I set the course. Not you. And fucking well not Rajin Kasi." The tip of a callused finger circled her clit. Sparks of heat and arousal danced at the contact.

  "Yes, master." She'd intended the words as mocking, but they emerged too faint, straining under the weight of desire.

  "That's better." The humor was back in his voice again, though it had that dark, bitter edge she kept glimpsing in him.
r />   "You carrying a grudge, Baird?"

  "Who, me?" His laughter was a sexual rumble that made tiny muscles ripple inside her. "What gives you that idea?"

  And Baird drove his cock into her sex in one hard, long thrust that made her back arch. "Just wondering," she wheezed.

  "You okay?" The question was abrupt, almost as if he didn't want to ask.

  "Fine," she managed. He began to pull out, and the sliding pleasure made her moan. "Better than fine."

  "Good." There was that dark satisfaction again. He was definitely working off a grudge. And he was entitled to one. Imagining his reaction if he knew her secret, she winced.

  Then Baird was pushing inside, and she forgot everything else but how good it felt to be full of him again.

  He thrust slowly, taking his time. Sometimes he added artistic little touches, working his way to the balls and then grinding his hips, raking both her clit and the walls of her sheath with merciless pleasure.

  Alina hunched back at him, dying to come. But every time she was about to go over, he pulled away.

  "You've got a mean streak," she managed, the third time he stalled her orgasm.

  "Now that you mention it"—he drove in yet another hard thrust that tormented her sweetly—"I do. Maybe you should keep that in mind."

  "Noted." He did that wicked little thing with his hips again. Unable to stand it any longer, she writhed, whimpering. "God, Baird, please…"

  "Please, what?"

  Her temper snapped. "Let me come, blaze you!"

  He drew out, eased in. "You could always have your computer send you over."

  "I don't want the flipping comp! I want you!"

  Male satisfaction rang in his voice. "That's all I wanted to know." He started pumping, long and strong and hard, grinding just enough.

  The climax he'd been holding off exploded through her body in a silent rain of sparks. She yowled, almost blinded by its savagery. It was so much fiercer than anything she'd ever felt, a feral erotic storm that made her convulse like a woman in a seizure.

  Distantly, Alina heard Baird's triumphant roar as he began to shoot his seed deep inside her.

  Limp and thoroughly sated, she scarcely noticed when Baird untied her wrists and told the bed to flatten out again. She roused only when he picked her up, flipped the covers back, and slipped between them with her. "That was… I can't think of a word to do it justice."

  He curled muscled arms around her and pulled her back into the sweaty warmth of his big body. "I can safely say it was my pleasure."

  Sweaty or not, he felt good. "Goddess, I wish I could stay with you."

  Baird stiffened. It was slight, but she knew him well enough to notice. "Do you have to leave now?"

  Alina sighed. "Not now. I'm supposed to ship out to Calista in the morning. Rajin's waiting for me there."

  "As it happens, I'm headed for Calista, too." When she glanced up in surprise, he shrugged. "I'm joining my new ship there. We didn't have anything headed that way, so I'm taking a civilian transport. The Antares Empress."

  "That's the same ship I'm booked for." Alina hesitated. Had he been a stranger, she'd have found that detail a little too coincidental. But this was Baird, and he would no more work for an enemy of Vardon than he could breathe hard vacuum. "We could spend more time together."

  He lifted a dark brow. "Won't that torque Rajin?"

  Alina grinned, feeling suddenly reckless. "I'll argue I need a bodyguard. After the business with the Tevan, she won't kick too hard."

  Baird studied her face, his golden gaze perceptive. "Why do I get the impression you're not terribly happy with the old… Femmat?"

  "I haven't been happy with Kasi's esteemed president in twenty years."

  "Then sue. You know damn well you'd win."

  Alina looked away. "I can't afford an attorney."

  Baird frowned, visibly puzzled. "Aren't you a member of the Guild?"

  "Of course." She'd joined the Vardonese Guild of Warriors decades ago.

  "Then they'd provide you with an attorney, given the circumstances. That's what they're for—to intercede between warriors and the Femmatocracy."

  He was right, of course, but there was a great deal he didn't know. "As I said before, it's complicated." She gave him a hot grin. "And I'd much rather make love than explain."

  Baird looked at her for a long moment, his gaze wary. Then he smiled, though it looked a little tight. "You've got a very good point."

  The night passed in a delicious blur of passion that ended in sated, exhausted sleep.

  Baird woke the next morning as he'd woken so many times twenty years before—with Alina cuddled against his side, warm and trusting.

  He lifted his head and looked down into her sleeping face. One of her blond braids lay across a high cheekbone, adorned in the campaign beads she'd won risking her life beside him. In the bright morning sunlight, he suddenly noticed faint shadows under her eyes, as if worry and guilt were constant companions.

  And well they should be, if his suspicions were true.

  Seeing her lids lift, he forced a smile. "Good morning, sweet. Hungry?"

  Alina yawned hugely and gave him a grin that made his heart catch. "After all that riaat—and all that sex? I could eat a Soji Dragon. Raw."

  His smile was more genuine this time. "I trust the hotel restaurant can produce something a little more tender than that."

  "God, I hope so. Does this place have a real water shower?"

  "I think so."

  She rolled out of bed, long and lithe and breathtakingly naked. Her breasts were high and full, and she had a tight waist, a sweetly curving backside that felt perfect in his hands, and long, muscular legs. "Good. The sackracks Kasi likes to stick me in have nothing but sonics. I know they get you clean, but I never really feel like it."

  His eyes followed her delectable backside as she made for the bathroom. He rose and strode after her. "Then by all means, let's get wet."

  By the time they emerged from the shower, they were both prune-skinned and pleasantly sore from yet another dizzying sexual encounter. "Why don't you go down and order for us," he told her as they dressed, him in his captain's uniform, her in the violet tunic and black pants that made the most of her dramatic coloring. "I need to make a few calls."

  She gave him another of those flashing, wicked grins. "Make it quick, or I'll eat your breakfast, too."

  He forced a grin. "I'll risk it. Get me something with plenty of meat."

  "Okay." She frowned, scratching her eyebrow. "We're going to need to catch a cab and swing by my hostel before we head to the shuttleport. We have to be aboard The Antares Empress by 1400 hours."

  "I know. We've got plenty of time."

  Alina nodded and sauntered out. Baird's gaze lingered on her swaying hips until the door closed behind her. He locked his sensors on her as she walked down the hall, scanning her progress through the walls.

  It was only after he knew she was gone that he walked to the wall panel that hid his secure com unit. He could have used his internal communication system, of course, but there was a chance Alina would somehow manage to intercept it.

  And considering the call he was about to make, that would be very bad.

  * * *

  CH@%!*R 5

  The panel sensed him and slid open. Baird pulled out the oblong bag that held his gear, opened the seal, and spilled the hand-sized unit into his palm. Popping open the small screen, he sat down on the bed and murmured the voice command. There was a long, annoying wait while the unit set up communications with his contact.

  Then the Tevan's familiar face appeared on the screen. They'd been partners for five years, ever since Baird left ship service for the intelligence branch of the Vardonese military.

  "I'm in," Baird told him. "We don't have to keep trying to convince her she needs my protection."

  Four yellow eyes rolled. "Gods and goddesses, that's the best news I've had all day. You broke my ribs, you bastard."

  "You des
erved it. I told you not to hurt her, Ualtar. She had to go into regen."

  "So did I." His partner's amber gaze searched his. "And may I remind you, if she's involved, a few bruises are the least she deserves."

  Baird frowned. "I still can't believe she knows what's going on."

  "You don't sound as convinced as you were last night."

  He raked a hand through his long hair. "She seemed…unusually evasive."

  "You mean guilty." Ualtar shook his spiked head. "I told you, Baird. She's in this up to her horns—if she had any."

  "Ualtar, there's no way she's working for them. Not Alina."

  "It's been twenty years, brother. You don't know what she's capable of." The Tevan leaned closer to the pickup, his expression grim. "And I don't want you finding out the hard way."

  "I can handle her."

  "Not if you keep thinking with your dick. You have to maintain your objectivity on this, or you're going to end up dead. These people do not play around."

  "Believe me, Ualtar, I know exactly what they're capable of."

  "Yeah, but they're not the real problem, are they? She is."

  Baird killed the com link and clicked the unit closed. Brooding, he tossed the little device aside and leaned an elbow on his thigh.

  He'd become an adept and skillful liar after joining Vardonese Intelligence, but lying to Alina had been surprisingly difficult. He ached to confront her with their suspicions and beg her to prove herself innocent, but he couldn't. There was too much at risk. If she was involved in treason and discovered he was on her trail, the enemy would slip through their fingers like smoke.

  Still, he couldn't believe the laughing lover he'd known during the occupation could have become a traitor. She'd been too forthright, too loyal, too courageous.

  Restlessly, he rose from the bed and began to pace in long strides. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, two decades had changed Alina. She'd become closed and wary. Too often last night, he'd seen fear in her eyes. But fear of what? Him? The thought made something clench tight in his chest.