by Bonnie Dee
He returned to the Blaine estate at dusk with just enough time to shower and dress before the event. During all this time, he’d almost managed not to dwell on Leelah and how exciting and wrong their encounter in the garden had been. That is if “almost” meant thinking about her every other minute instead of every single one. But when he beheld her in the splendor of her ball gown, his heart nearly stopped. She was a goddess. The shimmering gold gown brought out the highlights in her high-piled hair. Her flesh even seemed to shine, although he didn’t know if that was an effect of the dress or of a sprayed on body shimmer. When she saw Ja-hun, her eyes, rimmed in dark liner, lit and glowed like miniature suns.
Her happy pleasure at seeing him touched him deeply. He’d never seen that look in a woman’s eyes directed at him, and it frightened him. This developing thing between them couldn’t possibly end well. Someone would be hurt. Probably him.
He crossed the room to her and took her arm. “Ready?”
“Always,” she murmured with a saucy quirk of her brow that gave the word a salacious meaning.
Once the father and daughter were escorted to their vehicle, escort cars closed in around a sham limo to mislead any who might try to attack the president en route to the ball. Ja-hun rode with the Blaines in their car, which exited the grounds after the caravan was gone.
The point he was most worried about was the damn red carpet stroll from the car to the entrance of the Gravatz where the ball was taking place. If Ja-hun had his way, he’d have hustled his clients in a back door, but as the president, it was important for Rogent to make an appearance.
Ja-hun’s nerves tingled, and his eyes moved constantly as he escorted Leelah to the building with the press and gawkers crowding the carpet on either side. Rogent had his own security detail with him, also sharp-eyed and on edge.
They made it safely inside, and he breathed easier. The guest list for this event had been carefully screened and contained dignitaries and diplomats from all eight of the Federated Worlds. He was fairly confident that the rest of the evening would be free of any possible danger for Leelah or her father.
Ja-hun took a moment to gaze at the woman by his side, her hand curved around the sleeve of his black tuxedo. She smiled up at him, and again he was reminded of the sun. Sun princess, the fanciful title occurred to him. He could almost pretend that he belonged here beside her, that a series of flukes hadn’t brought him, a boy from a poverty-stricken OldEarth slum, to attend a glittering gala of the social elite.
Then her father whisked her away to introduce her to various notables he needed to impress ‑‑ there was always a bill to pass, a vote to sway, or a policy to promote. Ja-hun’s arm was cold where her warm hand had been.
He retreated into a corner of the room, but kept his gaze fixed on her as she moved through the crowd, smiling, nodding, and graciously shaking one hand after another. There wasn’t a trace of the childish, rich bitch left in her manner. She was gracious and elegant, every inch a diplomat adept at working a crowd.
Ja-hun managed to drag his gaze away from her long enough to scan the room now and then. Everything seemed completely normal, everyone having a good time. The colorful ball gowns glowing against the black tuxes reminded him of Leelah’s discourse about colors, each one with a quality of its own and the ability to affect a person’s mood, according to her. Maybe she was right. The riot of color in Leelah’s room directly reflected her vivacious personality and had an energizing effect on him. The woman had infused his life with metaphoric color, and it would leach back to gray when he had to leave her at the end of this assignment. He didn’t think he could be satisfied with soothing gray any longer.
It appeared the meet and greet portion of the evening was winding to a close. Leelah’s father had let her go, and she was chatting with her friends Trianne and Burdah…as well as that Anuvian boy from the party, Danje. There was a sharp tightening in Ja-hun’s chest as he watched her laugh at something he said. They made a beautiful pair: both young, golden, and privileged. It made him feel ancient. He wasn’t sure exactly how much older than Leelah he was, since he didn’t know his age when he left OldEarth, but he was eons ahead of her in life experience. She was a bright butterfly and he, a crusty old barnacle.
Danje led her onto the dance floor where they coiled together with sensual grace to a tribal rhythm. Ja-hun shook his head and snorted. Why would she even give him a moment’s notice when she had a partner like the Anuvian attending her? It was fine, though, and the way it should be. Better to have the blinders torn from his eyes before he allowed his foolish heart to engage any further.
But it was torture watching them dance together, so Ja-hun grabbed a glass of pinje from a passing waiter and carried it with him toward the doors leading out to the patio. He stood, inhaling fresh air, but listening to the sounds in the ballroom behind him, ready to dive in if something happened. A sudden attack by armed insurgents wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, and he must always be vigilant ‑‑ that’s what he was here for.
Ja-hun was so observant he nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand fell on his arm. “Hey. How are you?”
He turned to face Leelah.
She laughed and squeezed his arm. “You didn’t hear me coming? What the hell kind of bodyguard are you?”
“A useless one, apparently.”
“That’s okay. I don’t think I really need one tonight, but I do need a new dance partner. Will you?”
“I think we’ve established I don’t dance.”
“Sure you do. Just hold onto me and move a little. Come on.” She grabbed his hand and towed him along behind her to the dance floor. Turning to face him, she placed one of his hands on her waist and held the other. Her free hand rested on his shoulder, and her face tilted up toward his. “Now sway back and forth.”
He did, shifting his weight from foot to foot in time with the beat. The dancing wasn’t hard, but his cock was. Her proximity, the scent of her perfume, and the warmth of her body had his erection swelling.
“See, I knew you could dance.”
“Not like your friend.” He nodded at the Anuvian gyrating with a black-haired, olive-skinned Sythe.
“Who? Danje? He’s not really my friend. We just met at Burdah’s party.” She turned her attention back to Ja-hun, and her eyes suddenly widened. “You’re jealous! That’s so adorable.” And she began to laugh.
“I’m not jealous,” he growled. “That would mean I had some claim over you, which I don’t. We just met, too.”
“Doesn’t feel like it.” Her laughter died, but her smile remained. “I feel like I’ve known you for years.”
“But you haven’t. You don’t really know me at all. Any more than I know you.”
“You like gray. That’s a start. What else do we need in order to have a relationship?”
“Perhaps something in common. You and I share no interests. You like loud music and dancing. I prefer silence and reading. I’m a vegetarian. You’re not. You want to charge out into the world and do things. I’m tired of the world and just want to be left alone. Besides, I’m leaving. You’re staying.”
Her body swayed close to his, and he wondered if she could feel his erection. “You forgot another important difference. I’m a ‘glass half full’ kind of girl. You’re definitely a ‘glass half empty.’” She sighed and rubbed against his crotch. “With so much keeping us apart, it’s simply amazing how well we fit together. If you want to do something about that poker in your pants, there are a lot of little private spaces we can slip off to.”
His cock swelled harder at her words. “Not again, Leelah. It’s not a good idea.”
“Of course not, but that’s what makes it fun.” Cocking her head, she gazed at him. “You must think I’m a sex addict, but I swear I’m not always like this. It’s just what you do to me and the feeling that we have to seize every bit of time together we can.” She stopped dancing and took hold of his hand. “Come with me.”
Once more, as in
the garden, he allowed himself to be dragged where she willed. This time it was a storage room down a hallway from the ballroom. She pulled him inside and shut the door behind them. The place was filled with random pieces of furniture, outdated equipment like microphones and projection screens, a broken chandelier that matched those in the ballroom, and sealed boxes that probably contained more junk. There was barely room to stand in the confined space.
Turned out that was all the space they needed.
Ja-hun did what he’d longed to do all evening: pulled the gold-draped vixen into his arms and planted a kiss on Leelah intended to leave her gasping. Her lips were soft and yielding beneath his, and she tasted of pinje, sweet yet with a bite. His hands bunched the shimmering fabric of her dress where it draped over her buttocks. It would be hard to fuck her fast and dirty with this long gown covering her.
As though realizing the same thing, Leelah broke off their kiss, her lips wet and shining, and turned to brace her hands against the closed door. She gave him a seductive glance over her shoulder and wiggled her bottom.
Ja-hun didn’t need to be told twice. He lifted the heavy, rich material in both hands, pushing it up until her ass and legs were framed in the flowing gold of her gown. Naked! Not even a scrap of thong rode in the shadowed cleft between her cheeks. They were round, smooth and completely nude. The knowledge that she’d been like this all evening, anticipating a private moment with him set his heart racing. He swallowed hard as he swatted her soft cheek.
“Ooh, spank me again, mister. I’m such a bad girl.”
Instead, he slipped a finger into that sexy groove in her ass all the way down between her legs where it got so wet he felt like he’d entered a steaming jungle.
“Feel how ready for you I am,” she whispered. “Go ahead.”
He was already unzipping his trousers and pulling out his cock. He took one more moment to gaze at the erotic sight of her uplifted ass, shockingly displayed in the golden folds of her gown. Pulling her cheeks slightly apart, he examined the small, puckered aperture of her anus. He teased the tip of his juice-soaked finger into it, and she groaned, pushing back onto it.
His cock ached so badly it felt like it might explode. It strained toward her body, the tip brushing her soft cheek. But he didn’t give in to the urge to ram into her. He continued to work his finger gently in and out of her sphincter, which squeezed around him tightly. His tongue swept over his dry lips as he considered filling her there.
Leelah whimpered and pushed harder against him.
No. This wasn’t the place or time with no lubricant at hand. He removed his finger, grasped his cock, and guided it to her larger entrance, soaking wet and waiting for him. He grabbed her hips and drove deep inside her with one strong thrust.
“Unh,” she grunted. “Oh, yeah. Do it hard.”
He needed no more encouragement. Her choked words and the atmosphere of the storeroom, a place perfect for unexpected, hurried trysts, spurred him on. With no finesse and the randy eagerness of a youth, he slammed into her again and again. His grunts, her moans, and the slap of naked flesh were the only sounds in the tiny room.
“Susura,” she murmured the endearment followed by a loud exclamation. “Fuck!”
He leaned over the bare expanse of her bent back and pressed his lips to it. He rested his forehead against the ridge of her spine, feeling her shuddering breaths as he pumped into her and she pushed back onto him. Curved around her body like this, it was as if they were joined into one being. The swirling fragments of need coalesced into a strong whirlwind right at his center. He was going to be sucked into the vortex and disappear.
“Oh, baby, now. Now!” She gasped and let out a small cry that she buried against the flesh of her forearm.
The word “now” unleashed Ja-hun, and he fell into the spinning cloud that spread from his groin and filled his body. His essence spilled from him deep within her body, and he collapsed against her back as ecstasy surged through him.
When he came back to himself, he realized he was probably crushing her. Leelah’s hands braced against the door and her feet planted on the floor were supporting both their weight. He straightened and pulled her around to face him, drawing her to his chest and kissing the top of her head. The long skirt of the ball gown slid off the ledge of her buttocks and fell back into place, covering her legs and hiding the residue of their lovemaking. There was something very sexy to him about the idea of his cum rolling down her inner thighs and drying there, marking her as his, at least for the evening. “Don’t clean up,” he whispered into her hair.
“Perv.” She pulled her face away from his chest and looked at him with a grin. “All right. I won’t.” She tapped his chest with her index finger. “And you…don’t wash your fingers.” A wink and a waggle of her eyebrows let him know she was kidding. Maybe.
“I suppose we should get back. Your father might worry.” He tilted her chin up with his finger and kissed her lips.
“My father’s in the middle of schmoozing with the elite of the Federation. He’s not thinking about what I’m up to.” Nevertheless, she adjusted her dress and smoothed her hair. “My ’do is probably wrecked.”
He resisted the urge to plunge his hands into the artfully arranged curls and let her hair spill down around her shoulders. “It looks perfect. You look perfect.” He bent and kissed her once more, tasting pinje and strawberry lipshine.
Ja-hun left the storage room first, opening the door a crack and peering into the hallway before emerging. As he walked with Leelah down the hall, he put a hand on her waist, wanting to touch her for just a bit longer before he had to resume a professional distance once again.
Back in the ballroom, she headed toward the restroom, and he made another scan of the room and checked in with the Gravatz security as well as the Blaines’ team. No one had anything interesting to report.
Across the room, Leelah was back and talking to Danje. Ja-hun experienced only a little twist of jealousy. After their encounter in the storeroom, it was clear she was interested in him rather than the Anuvian for whatever reason. The diplomat’s son said something, Leelah nodded, and they both headed toward the patio. The tiny kernel of jealousy inside him burned a little hotter.
By the time Ja-hun had threaded his way across the crowded ballroom, the pair was no longer anywhere on the patio. Had he somehow managed to miss them when they returned inside? No. It was impossible. The only other place they might have gone was around the side of the building to the lot where the valets had parked all the vehicles. Danje might have wanted to show Leelah something. Ja-hun didn’t want to guess what that might be.
As he walked down the steps from the patio and along the path leading around the side of the building, he passed several guards. The grounds were well secured. Leelah was as safe as if she was walking the garden of her father’s estate, and yet Ja-hun felt a growing sense of unease. The hair at his nape prickled, and adrenaline pumped through his veins. Was it simple suspicion because he wondered what “his girl” was doing in the dark with another man, or was it his natural instinct kicking in, the gut feeling that had kept him alive on several occasions?
He rounded the corner of the building and was confronted by a shiny sea of cars. Halfway across the lot, Danje was just opening the door of his Jet 150 and sliding inside. Leelah was nowhere in sight, which meant she was already seated in the passenger seat. What the fuck was going on here?
Ja-hun raced across the lot, dodging between the cars as he pulled his zynpher from its holster beneath his jacket. He didn’t shout at Danje. It wouldn’t have done any good since the car door was already closed and the vehicle was gliding toward the front of the lot. Besides, his intuition told him it would be better to follow than to alert the Anuvian that he was being pursued. Unfortunately, Ja-hun’s car was back at the Baines’ estate, but boosting vehicles was one of his many skills from the old days.
He located a V-1 not blocked by any other cars and slipped behind the control panel. Even with
out a fingerprint ID, he knew how to get it started, and soon he was speeding after the Jet 150 while keeping his distance and holding his emotions in check. His heart clamored that there was something wrong, but he could only help Leelah by keeping his cool. He shoved his emotions deep down inside as he trailed his quarry.
Chapter Six
Her hands were stuck together. Why were her hands stuck together? Leelah tugged on whatever was restraining them as she opened her bleary eyes. She fought to lift her lids. It felt like someone had glued them together. As for her hands, when she finally looked down, her wrists were secured with some kind of tape, which also bound her ankles. She pulled on the binding with both hands and also tested her bound feet, but there was no give to it. In addition, her wrists and ankles were linked together by another piece of the sticky tape so she couldn’t even raise her arms.
She was lying on a bed in a room she didn’t recognize, and as she looked around, taking in her surroundings, she realized she was in serious trouble. Kidnapped! It had been a threat and fear shrouding most of her life. As the daughter of the most important man in the Free Worlds, it had always been acknowledged, although seldom stated aloud, that she might be taken and held hostage in an attempt to influence her father’s policies.
But Leelah knew her father well and had talked with him at length about the importance of the single versus the many. He would sacrifice her for the good of the Worlds if he had to. It was what she expected and wanted him to do. So whatever was happening here, she’d have to get herself out of the situation.
First, she had to establish where “here” was and who exactly was holding her prisoner. The last thing she remembered was going with Danje to his car. He’d said he had a bootleg copy of a rare early performance by Kingset, performed in the club where they’d gotten their start. For one second as they descended the stairs from the patio, it occurred to her that she should tell Ja-hun first, but she’d figured they could be back by the time she found him and explained everything.
