Taking Liberty

by Jodi Redford

  The taunting memory of her meltdown slapped her like an icy hand across the face. Having Lucus witness that mortifying scene was bad enough. Having him rub it in was just plain obnoxious. “Unless you want to end up winded, flat on your back like before, I advise never bringing that up again.”

  “If you start doing as I say, you and I won’t have any issues.”

  Her fingernails biting into her palms, she stared at the arrogant set of his jaw. Oh man, it was tempting to say the hell with it and remind Lucus how capable she was of taking him down. But one quick scan of the area drove home the disheartening truth. To survive, they needed to stick together. “Fine.”

  “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Giving her arm a patronizing pat, he sidled past her and headed into the surrounding desert. “You coming?”

  A lizard scampered up the side of the rock and flicked out its long tongue. Great, even the local reptiles were mocking her.

  They spent what felt like hours combing the nearby terrain for remains from the Starflight Folly. Other than a few stray pieces of twisted metal, nothing useful cropped up. Certainly nothing that would get them off the godforsaken planet.

  Rini used the toe of her boot to clear sand away from a strip of metal protruding from the ground. Satisfied she’d uncovered most of it, she stooped and pried the object from the desert’s tenacious grasp. She buffed the metal with the hem of Lucus’s shirt to get a better look at the symbol etched on the corroded surface. “This looks like one of the symbols from the rock.”

  Lucus stopped poking through a stack of charred cactus husks and strode to her. She handed him the metal piece for inspection. “Yep. This is probably from the Starflight’s masthead. Used to be captains would fly their ships with their crew’s names and rankings displayed. Not sure why the practice isn’t kept up.”

  She stared at the shadow of day-old beard gracing Lucus’s jawbone and became seriously irked when her nipples tightened at the idea of being teased by the dark bristles. “How is it you’re fluent in ancient Illonican?” she demanded in hopes of distracting her aggravating hormones.

  He gave the metal strip a final look before tossing it on top the burnt cacti. “When I first started trading, I did business with this grizzled farmer on Orrik who used to be a professor of languages.” A grin overtook his rugged features. “Guess Cal needed a change of pace from harvesting melons all day because he’d toss lecture books at me every chance he got.”

  “Hmm, wish I’d known Cal when I was busting my hump trying to keep my grade point average steady at the ranger academy.”

  A teasing hint of challenge danced in Lucus’s eyes. “The girl who graduated top honors had trouble keeping up her grades?”

  “Just in languages and anthropology.” She batted away a persistent army of gnats trying to roost in her hair. The damn things were a nuisance, particularly when she already felt sticky and grimy.

  Lucus’s palm suddenly squashed against her forehead. She gave him a double blink and one corner of his mouth quirked. “One of the gnats snuck by you.”

  “Um…thanks.”

  “Anytime.”

  The heat of his skin continued seeping into her and she began to wonder if he’d forgotten where he’d plastered his hand. But then an intense look crept into his expression and she had no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing. His face inching closer, he snuck his hand along her cheek. She licked her lips. “Before this goes any further, I think we should both remember we don’t like each other.”

  “I like you fine.”

  His lips brushed just to the side of hers and she released a shaky breath. “You said the same thing about your brother.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t have this overwhelming urge to lick my brother’s nipples.”

  “I should hope not, because that would be majorly twist—” Lucus’s mouth swallowed the remainder of her sentence. His tongue coaxed its way inside and she had trouble remembering why kissing him back was an incredibly lousy idea. Her hands crept under his shirt and roved over the damp skin above his rib cage. Talk about unfair. Here she felt like a gross, sweat-soaked dishrag, yet Lucus’s body was a slick and delicious yummy treat.

  His lips trailed to the underside of her jaw and she gasped, blinking against the overhead glare of the sun. “What are we doing?”

  Lucus’s chuckle vibrated against her neck. “If you have to ask, I’m severely out of practice.” His teeth scraped the sensitive hollow beneath her earlobe.

  “This…” She swallowed and tried again. “This is a residual effect of our close call with death.”

  “Mm, you think?” His tongue traced the shell of her ear, making her shiver.

  “Yes. I mean between the near drowning in the cell and crashing, it’s a miracle we haven’t ripped each other’s clothes off.” Oh man, why the hell did I say that?

  “Excellent point. Maybe we should do something about it.” His fingers swept to the buttons on her shirt and flicked the first one from its hole.

  She should stop him. She should really, really stop him.

  Eventually.

  He made quick work releasing three more buttons. Her shirt gaped open and his hand slid inside, molding perfectly over one breast. His thumb rasped the cotton and lace covering her nipple. Gasping, she arched into him. Warm, firm lips resettled over hers with a groan. The sound rumbled through her, striking a match to her already inflamed senses.

  His tongue glided over hers. She tasted desire and hot, aroused male. Dizzy from the sensory overload, she curved a hand around the nape of Lucus’s neck, the ends of his dark brown hair tickling her knuckles.

  She pulled back slightly, the oxygen leaving her lungs in staccato bursts. “You and I. Bad idea.”

  “The worst.” He pushed her tank top upward until it was anchored beneath her armpits. Dipping beneath her bra cup, he caressed one traitorously eager nipple.

  “You need to stop doing that.” Even as she forced the wispy words from her mouth, she leaned into him, effectively offering more of her breast to fondle.

  “Yeah, I should.” Lowering his head, he eased the lace away and circled her nipple with the tip of his tongue. The touch might have been feather-soft but it sparked a lightning-bolt reaction throughout every nerve receptor in her body. His teeth enclosed her nipple before he suctioned the bud inside the warm, wet cavern of his mouth.

  “Oh God.” Her knees started to give and he caught her tight against him. So tight, there was no mistaking the solid nudge of his erection against her belly. I want that. Much as she debated telling her inner slut to shut up, she couldn’t deny the truth in those three embarrassing words.

  Lucus pressed his face between her breasts, his harsh, uneven breaths ballooning against her skin. “Maybe we should finish this inside the ship.”

  She opened her mouth to agree and jumped when a loud shriek sounded nearby. Very nearby.

  Tensing, Lucus jerked his head up. “What the hell was that?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  He shoved away from her and grabbed the strip of metal from the cacti pile before walking in the direction of the eerie noise. Not about to be deprived of her own flimsy excuse for a weapon, Rini bent over and snatched a good-sized rock. Stuffing her boob back inside her bra, she raced after Lucus. Another shriek shattered the oppressive stillness, and they both ducked as a huge red-tailed buzzard swooped from its perch atop a forroc cactus and soared away.

  Lucus’s shoulders relaxed. “At least we know where the screams were coming from.”

  Rini’s gaze remained fixed on the departing bird. “Call me crazy, but that thing looks big enough to carry both of us off without breaking a sweat.”

  “Yeah, but I bet he’s damn fine eating.”

  She scrunched her nose. “Think I’ll pass. Anything that likes snacking on roadkill isn’t going anywhere near my lips.”

  “Babe, you might not have any choice if we’re stranded here without food.” Lucus stashed the strip of meta
l inside the rear waistband of his pants and waved towards the dusty path they’d traversed. “The pickings are pretty slim back at the Liberty. Come next week, that buzzard will be looking like a gourmet feast.”

  Being reminded of their situation managed to throw her into the same glum mood she’d been in before Lucus’s mouth made chummy with her breast. “What do you suppose our chances of survival are if we don’t get the Liberty’s control panel operational?”

  Lucus leaned over and swiped a lone red feather left by the buzzard. He ruffled the feather’s serrated edge with his thumb. “Let me put it this way. We might end up being Big Ugly’s main course.”

  Goose bumps homesteaded her skin at the unpleasant picture conjured by his statement. “We are so fricasseeing him first chance we get.”

  “Thought you’d see it my way.” Smoothing her hair back, he tucked the feather behind her ear.

  The second he touched her, the tingles returned. Judging from the darkening of his pupils, he was experiencing the same side effect. She swallowed, desperately wishing her sanity hadn’t decided to take an inconvenient vacation. “I know I wasn’t very adamant about stopping things earlier, but—”

  “You’ve had time to think,” Lucus finished for her.

  She fiddled with the tail ends of the oversized shirt and noticed how his eyes heated with interest while he stared at her breasts. Quickly refastening the buttons, she edged away and clasped her hands behind her back. “Lucus, you and I come from different worlds. I crave stability and order. You run illegal goods and fly the messiest ship this side of the Milky Way. We’re a match made in hell.”

  “Yeah, you won’t get an argument from me there.”

  Relief shuddered through her at his unexpected compliance. She wasn’t sure her defenses could have withstood any seductive coaxing he might have tried to weasel by her. “Good, then you see the stupidity in pursuing this.”

  “What I see is someone who’s digging for excuses.” He ignored her sputtering rebuttal and swung his arm to encompass the surrounding desert. “Have you taken a look where we’re at? Out here it doesn’t matter if I’m a lowlife smuggler and you’re an uptight repo agent with a major stick up your ass.”

  Her hands balling into fists, she glared at him. “I do not have a stick up my ass!”

  “Babe, any farther up there and you’d be walking funny.”

  “Arrgghh!” Whirling, she stalked towards the Liberty.

  “You’re doing a great job proving my point for me.”

  “Go blow yourself.” God, what possessed her to kiss the giant jerk wad? Sunstroke. Yeah, that must have been it. She slipped on a stone poking from the parched valley’s soil and twisted her ankle. Smothering a few swear words, she limped to a nearby boulder and parked her butt.

  Lucus’s shadow fell across her, providing a momentary reprieve from the invasive sun. “What did he do to you?”

  Furrowing her brow, she massaged her throbbing ankle. “Who?”

  “The guy responsible for your fight-or-flight M.O.”

  Her fingers tightened around the cuff of her boot. He couldn’t know. It’s just a lucky guess. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “No? How about the bastard who sent your world toppling off its axis? Ring any bells?”

  She forced a laugh that sounded mechanical even to her own ears. “I said all that for Jeneet’s benefit.”

  “And here I thought Chase was the shittiest liar of all time.”

  Moving with less grace than an elephant on crutches, she hopped to her feet. “Believe me or not. I really don’t give a crap.”

  A heavy shroud of silence accompanied them on the return journey to the star cruiser. Lucus muttered something about tapping into the ship’s water tank for drinking water and climbed inside the exposed hole. She waited until his broad back disappeared before letting her body slump against the Liberty’s cockeyed belly.

  No matter how far she ran or how many planets she crash-landed on, her past would never release its ugly hold.

  Chapter Eight

  For the hundredth time since sprawling on the lounger, Lucus rearranged Rini’s jacket under his head and rolled onto his side. Sleep was one hell of a teasing bitch tonight. As if that weren’t bad enough, the dried beef from dinner sat like a rock in his gut.

  The soothing hum and rattle of the coolant pipes, something that usually lulled him into la-la land whenever he camped out in the Liberty, was annoyingly absent thanks to the system’s control being shot. Instead, he was stuck with dead silence and way too many thoughts tumbling around in his brain. The scariest of them was the realization he wasn’t the least bit shocked to be staring down death in the middle of an alien wasteland. No, the only surprising part was Rini. He’d always assumed he’d die alone—and more than likely cursing his brother. Hell, he was batting two out of three.

  Rini’s scent clung seductively to her jacket, a teasing blend of spicy floral. It was driving him fucking crazy. Grunting, he swung his legs over the side of the lounger and stood. He traversed the corridor in the dark. Good thing he knew the ship’s layout better than the back of his hand. The tarp he’d secured over the Liberty’s damaged wing area made a whispery soft frippt noise as the stingiest of breezes played with the canvas. Peeling the material back, he jumped to the ground and scanned the area for potential predators and other nosy, unwanted nocturnal guests.

  The moon, freakishly large overhead, spilled its phosphorescent glow across the valley. Satisfied no threatening creatures lurked in the shadows waiting to make a midnight snack out of him, he walked to the fire ring he’d erected earlier. The dying coals radiated just enough heat to chase off the desert chill.

  Despite the persistent chattering of a family of gelinka lizards scurrying from cactus to cactus, Lucus couldn’t get his thoughts to leave him be. This time, Rini took starring role. Having her around was one huge complication—one he worried would ultimately do him in. If he didn’t get his libido under control, he stood a ninety-nine percent chance of trying to sweet talk his way into her pants again. “You’d think fifteen years and a failed marriage would have cured me of any weakness for rich, pampered princesses.”

  The problem was Rini didn’t exactly come across as being spoiled. A huge pain in the ass—yes. Spoiled, no. Sooner or later, he wouldn’t be able to blind himself to the fact and then the true misery would kick in. Because he wanted her, with an intensity that was downright scary. Tasting her, touching her, had been a sublime journey. One he couldn’t stop reliving in his head. Over and over and over.

  Groaning, he scraped a hand through his hair. “If I keep this up, I’m gonna have to resort to a date with Rosie palm and her five sisters.”

  “Rosie who?”

  Lucus swung sideways and gaped at Rini. Her face a mask of confusion, she hopped from the star cruiser.

  This is awkward. Clearing his throat, he adopted a scowl and gestured to the opening behind her. “Next time let me know you’re there. Almost gave me a damn heart attack.”

  “Sorry, I thought you heard me.” Huddling deeper into the baggy shirt he’d loaned her, she joined him at the fire ring. “Couldn’t sleep either?”

  “No.” He shoved his hands into his pants pockets to stop from drawing her close. Sharing body heat was a temptation that would only lead to bad things. Sexy, naked bad things. Don’t even go there.

  Apparently oblivious of the turmoil inside his head, Rini chuckled. “Crazy, you’d think we’d both be exhausted from the lack of sleep these past twenty-four hours and the constant dodging of death.”

  “Yeah, you’d think.”

  She peered at him, her smile fading. “You’re not talking much.”

  He responded with a grunt and she hugged her chest. A strange pensiveness seized her face while she dropped her gaze to the glowing embers near their feet. Tense silence dragged between them. He took a step back, intending to retreat with a hastily uttered good night, when Rini’s soft voice cut him short.r />
  “His name was Mark.” Still staring at the fire’s remnants, she traced the toes of her bare foot against a crack in the heat-baked soil. “Mark Sommers.” She blinked and looked up at him. “It’s been so long since I’ve said his name out loud, it almost sounds weird to my ears.”

  It took several moments to realize she was finally answering the question he’d egged her with earlier.

  “Maybe it’s just because he was…my first…but I thought I loved him. And I thought he loved me.”

  Everything told him not to ask. Not to open the door that would potentially make him understand her. Make him want to be everything that Mark Sommers couldn’t be. But the words bullied their way past his mouth anyway. “What happened?”

  Her fingers repeatedly smoothed through the ends of the hair draping her right shoulder. “He was my instructor at the ranger academy, came in as a replacement towards the end of my final year after my previous instructor suffered a massive stroke and had to retire early. Plenty of voices inside my head warned me not to get involved with Mark. Unfortunately, I didn’t listen to any of them.”

  Lucus conjured a picture of a young, naïve Rini being seduced by some suave academic type with leather elbow patches on all his jackets and a pipe constantly sticking from the guy’s mouth. The description probably fell short from reality, but it was better than imagining Rini with some young, handsome stud who’d quiz her on combat weaponry while he banged her on his cherry wood desk. “Let me guess. The academy found out about you two and he called it off.”

  “No, his fiancée found out,” Rini said flatly. “I was quite surprised when she showed up unexpectedly at his campus house, since I had no idea of her existence.”

  Of course not. Clenching his fists, Lucus shoved his hands deeper in his pockets. What Sommers needed was a good ass kicking. “I hope you nailed instructor boy in the balls.”

  “I was too devastated to even think of it. And everything that happened afterwards…” She dragged in a shaky breath and expelled it slowly. “Well, it pretty much shut me down physically and emotionally for a long time.”