by Susan Hayes
“Kit!” She cried out his name as her hips rose from the mattress.
She was so close to release that it only took a few pumps of his hand to push her over the edge. Her inner walls flexed tightly against his fingers as she came hard and fast.
“Beautiful,” he whispered before kissing her.
She uttered a breathless laugh as she tossed the toy aside and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Nails raked lightly over his skin, and her answering kiss was full of hunger. She lowered her legs and slid under his body, pulling him into place over her, until their bodies were aligned and he was between her thighs.
“That was fun, but I’d rather have you than any toy. You’re real, and you’re here, and I want to be with you. I can go back to toys when my bed is empty again.”
“Maybe next time, Luke can go with you. We’ll find a way to make this work, Zura.”
“There’ll be times I’ll have to go without either of you. You know that. It’s okay, though. I’m used to being on my own. At least, for now, I have the two of you to come back to.”
For one brief moment, her guard dropped, letting him see a glimpse of her vulnerable side. This was a part of her he had never seen before. Seeing her like that, staring up at him with eyes soft with hope and shadowed with past pain was enough to send his protective instincts into orbit. “Yes, you do.”
He leaned in and kissed her with so much heat that it should have left scorch marks on the sheets. She twined one leg around his hips and arched upward, bringing their bodies together as their tongues dueled, and his world went up like a supernova. He drove into her body without slowing. He needed to be buried inside her, to feel her heat wrapped around him like silk and fire.
Wild need coursed through him, and for the first time, he stopped holding himself back. He needed to possess her completely. She was the woman he had dreamed of all those long, lonely nights he had been a soldier. Warm and compassionate, but brave too. She didn’t care that he was part machine; to her, he was a man. She was his perfect match, and at that moment, he knew with stunning clarity that he would never let her go.
Zura let herself get lost in the moment. Nothing existed beyond herself, Kit, and the passion that burned between them. She was the center of his world, and he was the center of hers. It was the most amazing feeling in the world, and she never wanted it to end.
He moved over her with pounding force. Every hard thrust and bruising kiss made her soar higher. When he tore his mouth from hers to bury his face into the side of her neck, she could feel his teeth pressed to her throat in a love bite she knew would leave a mark for days to come.
The thought only made the fire in her heart burn brighter.
Their sweat-slicked bodies danced together for a while longer, drawing out every moment of pleasure. When the end came, it took them both together in a shockwave of bliss that sent them spinning out of control. There were still stars dancing behind her eyelids when her senses returned and she found herself pinned beneath the still-panting bulk of her cyborg lover.
“I think you broke me,” she said as she opened her eyes to find him smiling down at her.
“Better than your toy?”
“Infinitely better. If you ever get tired of running the Nova, you can move onto the Sun Sprite and be my personal sex toy.”
Kit froze. “What did you say?”
“I was teasing you, but something tells me I said something wrong,” she said, reaching up to cradle his face in her hands. His expression was stony, and there were shadows in his eyes that hadn’t been there only seconds before.
The silence stretched out between them, but finally Kit sighed. “You didn’t say anything wrong. You just…that’s what Andrea called us. The night we asked her to move in with us, she laughed and said she wasn’t some pathetic fool who was going to fall for her sex toys. That’s all we were to her: toys. Machines she could play with and then toss aside when she was done.”
“She said what? That bitch deserves to get her ass fired into the nearest star. Maybe a black hole. You’re not machines. Well, I mean, you sort of are, but that’s not who you are. You’re so much more than that, Kit.”
His expression softened a little at a time, until the storms were gone from his eyes, and he was smiling again. “I’m such a fool. I wasted so much time twisted up in knots over her when I should have been seeing what was right in front of me. Fraxx, I should have listened to Luke. Please, don’t ever tell him I said that, though.”
“It can be our little secret,” she promised him, while making another promise to herself. If she ever crossed paths with Andrea, she was going to tear her to pieces for what she had done.
Kit didn’t say a word; he simply held her tight.
Lying there, wrapped up in her lover’s arms, Zura felt more at peace than she had in years. She didn’t know how the hell she was going to make it work, but some time in the last few days, Kit and Luke had become something worth fighting for. If they weren’t planning on letting go, then neither was she.
* * * *
Two nights later, they were speaking with Luke over the ship’s video comms. They talked for a few minutes every night. So far there hadn’t been anything of importance to relay, but Zura was enjoying their nightly chats. It was the first time she had ever had a reason to keep in contact with someone like this.
“So, how do you like the trip so far?” Luke asked.
“I’m enjoying it, especially the peace and quiet. No annoying siblings around to ruin my good mood,” Kit retorted. He was sitting in the ship’s mess with Zura on his lap as they chatted with Luke on the monitor.
“We don’t miss you, either. The place seems positively sunny without your broody, grumpy ass stomping around. Zura, feel free to leave him at the resupply station and come back alone. I miss you, gorgeous.”
She blew him a kiss. “I miss you, too.”
“Don’t worry. I’m taking good care of her.” Kit leaned down and kissed her. It was a long, slow, seductive kiss that melted her brain, made her instantly wet, and left her wanting more.
“You’re a total bastard.”
Kit chuckled and lifted his head to grin at his brother’s image on the monitor. “You say that like it’s a new discovery for you.”
“Fine, you’re being even more of a bastard than usual. I swear, Zura, next time, I’m coming with you, and Kit can stay behind to babysit the club.”
Kit slid a hand down the front of her shirt and kissed her again. “Yeah. Next time. This time, she’s all mine. Say good night, Luke. It’s time I tucked our girl into bed.”
“Asshole. You’re going to pay for this when you get back,” Luke grumbled.
“We’ll be back soon enough, sexy, then we can make up for lost time,” Zura promised. She was enjoying her time away with Kit, but that didn’t stop her from missing Luke at the same time.
“Good night, gorgeous. I’ll see you in my dreams,” Luke said to her, then looked at Kit. “And you, I’ll see in my nightmares. Have a good night, you two.”
“You, too,” she said.
“Night, Luke.”
The link was severed, and the screen went blank.
“You shouldn’t tease him that way; it was mean,” she scolded Kit. She was trying to ignore the way his fingers were toying with her nipple, but with every passing second, she was growing more aroused.
“I’ll never stop teasing him. If I did, he’d think I was malfunctioning or something.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” She leaned in and kissed him hungrily.
“Now, I’m going to take you to bed and tease you a little, too. Maybe a lot. I wouldn’t want you to feel left out.”
Kit scooped her into his arms and kissed her again before rising and heading for her quarters.
One thing she knew for certain: With both Kit and Luke in her life, she was never likely to feel left out of anything again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kit was squeezed into the co-pilot’s seat in
the cockpit of the Sun Sprite. It wasn’t built with cyborgs in mind, but it was worth a little discomfort to be able to watch as Zura deftly navigated the ship to their assigned berth and set her down with a practiced hand.
“Welcome to Resupply Station Fargo. We’ll have a few hours of downtime while we refuel and offload the cargo and then we’ll head home.”
“You do this often? Come and go the same day?” After three days aboard, he was more than ready to get off the Sun Sprite and enjoy a change of scenery.
“It depends on where I am. Some places I’ll grab a good meal and enjoy myself. If I’m on a resupply station, I usually turn and burn instead of sticking around. Most of them are best described as somewhere between rustic and rusting. The food’s all from dispensers, the drinks are criminally watered down, and the only other living beings on the whole station are miners with the bad luck to run out of something they needed before they were due to come back to the Drift. The markup on goods out here is insane. You’ll see what I mean when we get inside.”
“I’ve heard about these automated stations. Never been to one, though. Everything is controlled by a single AI and the work’s all done by droids and drones, right? It’s a little creepy, if you ask me.”
“Try being the only person on the whole damned station. That moves the dial from a little creepy to fraxxing unnerving real quick.” She gestured out the window to where two mining ships and another freighter were docked. “That won’t be an issue today.”
She rose from her chair and checked the slender data tablet she had carried with her everywhere since coming onboard. “The station’s AI has already sent our paperwork. Let’s find out where we are on the schedule and how long before we can take off again.”
“Yes, captain.”
Zura grinned at him. “I really do love it when you say that.”
By the time she had completed the requisite paperwork in triplicate and overseen the removal of her cargo, Zura was hungry enough that even a meal at the station’s sole eatery sounded good. Normally she avoided socializing on these trips because a crew of horny miners who hadn’t seen a female of any species for months were far from ideal dinner companions. They’d hit on anything with a pulse and didn’t respond well to the word ‘no’ unless it came accompanied by threats of bodily harm.
She was betting that Kit’s presence would be enough of a deterrent for them to get through dinner.
She gave Kit a brief tour of the place, but it didn’t take long. Mostly it was an excuse for both of them to stretch their legs.
She walked Kit through the cargo bays and refueling area and then made their way to the far end of the station where the computerized commissaries stood ready to dispense everything from toothpaste, to shield amplifiers, to medical supplies.
They were almost done with their tour when Kit reached for her hand, closing his fingers around hers as he muttered something low in his throat.
“What’s wrong?”
“Those guys have been staring at you since we came into view.” He nodded ahead of them, down the dingy corridor to where several men were standing.
“They don’t mean anything by it. I’m probably the first woman they’ve seen in months. I just ignore them.”
“It’s rude.”
She laughed. “Have you met most of the people on the Drift? It’s not like it’s populated with charm school graduates.”
“It’s still fraxxing rude to stare. Especially at another man’s woman.” He drew her in closer to his side.
Was he actually jealous? The idea made her laugh.
Instead of laughing with her, Kit pulled her into his arms and kissed her right there in the middle of the corridor.
His mouth was hard against hers as he plundered her lips. He gripped her hips and lifted her off her feet, taking the kiss deeper as he spun her around and walked her backward until she was up against the dented wall of the station. His hard body pressed against hers, letting her feel every muscled inch of him as he claimed her mouth in one torrid kiss after another. When she felt like she was standing in the center of a star, he finally tore his mouth from hers.
“What was that for?” she asked in a dazed whisper.
“Because I wanted to let those assholes know you’re off limits. Do I need another reason?”
Kit’s eyes were full of heat as he looked at her.
She cocked her head to one side and pretended to consider her answer for a second before shaking her head. “Nope, you don’t.”
“In that case, expect me to do that often. You’re mine, little one, and I want everyone to know it.”
Her heart did a slow somersault in her chest. “If you keep saying things like that, you might get your wish.”
“Fraxx, I hope so.” He kept his hand on the small of her back as they walked the short distance to their destination. The moment he set eyes on the entrance to the self-serve eatery, Kit wondered if they might be better off back on the Sun Sprite.
The sign was only partially lit, and several of the letters were flickering. Inside, things weren’t any better. The floor was sticky under his feet, the tables were stained and chipped, and the chairs looked like they’d been left in the path of a meteor swarm. The lighting was dim, but he couldn’t tell if that was an aesthetic choice or simply a lack of maintenance.
An entire wall was filled with food and drink dispensers, offering a wide array of meal choices, apparently organized by their planet of origin. The signs on the machines were scratched and faded almost beyond recognition. Some of the wording was so damaged that despite the fact his programming allowed him to speak and comprehend every major language known, he didn’t recognize one in three words he tried to read, even the ones in Galactic Standard. It was a wonder that the station’s visitors didn’t poison themselves regularly simply by eating the wrong damn thing.
“How many languages can you read?” he asked as she led him past the Torski and Jeskyran areas to the human options.
“A few. I know a little of everything, really, though Galactic Standard is the only language I speak fluently,” she said, then frowned. “Don’t tell me you’ve got a program for languages. If you say yes, I’m going to be jealous.”
“Be jealous, then. I think it’s your turn, anyway,” he said, watching her blush as he reminded her of his jealous kiss in the corridor earlier.
He glanced around to the handful of others who were eating and talking at various points around the place. “You sure it’s safe to eat anything here?”
“Is the big, badass cyborg worried about food poisoning?” she asked, laughing as she made her selection.
He ordered the same thing she did just to be safe, and within minutes they were both seated at an empty booth while he tried not to think about how much the meal had cost him. Zura hadn’t been kidding about the markup.
She seemed to be spending a lot of time looking around as they tucked into their meal, and Kit got curious. “Who or what are you looking for?”
“I thought I recognized a ship on our way in. If I’m right, then it’s someone I knew back when my dad was still alive.”
“An old friend? I thought you didn’t have any friends out here?”
“I didn’t think I did. If Phyl’s out this way, then she hasn’t been here long. Maybe she’ll be able to tell me what Vin wants with me.”
“If she knows that, why didn’t you contact her when you were talking to your other connections?” he asked.
“I couldn’t. She blocked all incoming transmissions from my ship a long time ago.” “Why would she block communications from your ship? Is this a friend or an enemy?”
“She’s a friend. It’s just that she and my father…let’s say they have a past, and she isn’t one to forgive, or forget.”
“Your father had a knack for pissing people off, didn’t he?”
Before Zura could answer, a new voice joined the conversation from the booth behind Zura.
“Russ Watson was one of the biggest asshol
es in the known universe. He pissed off everyone he met at some point, and he met a whole lot of people. Only ever did one thing right in his whole sorry existence. Somehow, he raised a daughter with more brains than he ever had.”
Zura bounded out of the booth. “Phyl? It’s nice to see you again. You’ve had the Beacon upgraded since last I saw her.”
A tall, muscular woman with close-cropped black and gray hair and a hawkish profile rose from her seat and clasped Zura’s hand in greeting. “I thought I taught you to keep a better eye on your surroundings, girl. I saw you come in, but you didn’t see me. You’re getting sloppy.”
Zura shook her head. “Who says I didn’t see you? I recognized the smell of that engine degreaser you drink from halfway across the room. You also taught me it’s better to let people come to you in their own time. Once I saw you, I knew you’d make your presence known eventually.”
Phyl snorted with laughter. “It’s nice to know you were paying attention. Now, don’t you be knocking my drink of choice. Torskian Ale is good stuff. It’ll cure all your ails.”
“Or kill enough brain cells you forget what those ails might be.” Zura turned to Kit. “Kit, this is Captain Phylomena Harrington. Phyl, this is my…uh. Kit.”
“Kit Armas. I’m the Sun Sprite’s Security Officer,” Kit explained as he rose to his feet and greeted Phyl.
“You taking on crew again? I thought you were done letting men on your ship?” Phyl’s brow furrowed. “Armas. Why do I know that—son of a bitch, You’re one of those cyborgs from the Drift. The Nono Club—no, that’s not it—Nova Club, that’s your place, right? What the hell are you doing running around the cosmos with him, girl? The Nova Club crew are supposed to be a little crazy even by Drift standards.”
Kit crossed his arms over his chest and glowered. “We may be crazy, but we protect our own. Zura is under my protection, and I’m here to see she is safe.”
Phyl’s brows raised in surprise. “Uh huh. I’m going to need another drink before we get into the details of why you need protection. I know you’ve been on the straight and narrow since your dad died, so I’m going to assume that your current problem is related to your past life.”
