Steel Coyote

by Beth Williamson

  “Do you have a minute?”

  She stretched and turned to face him. “I do.”

  He opened the door all the way and stepped in. His size dwarfed the cabin once again. Her gaze flickered briefly to the big bed. The last time he’d been in here, they’d been together on that very piece of furniture. Her body tightened and a tingle began low and deep in her belly. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to forget her physical reaction to him. Now wasn’t the time for it. It might not ever be the time, but especially not today.

  To her relief, he left the door open and leaned against the hatchway.

  “I didn’t mean to yell at you earlier.” He crossed his ankles and his arms, looking at the floor instead of at her. “I, uh, was out of my element in there.” His self-deprecating grin brought forth that Fletcher charm.

  “I thought you were doing well. You’ve got Morgan convinced.” She tapped her fingers on the keyboard, wondering if she should tell him what she’d found out about Haverty. Not quite yet.

  “Mason is a tougher nut to crack. He’s like I was after I escaped. Full of anger and nobody to take it out on, so he unleashes it on everyone.” Max frowned. “I made them promises I don’t know if I can keep, but I am damn well going to try.”

  “You promised to keep them together.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Together with me. You know my history—they are my brother and sister, no matter where they came from. I can’t leave them to the hell I fought when I was dirty, outcast, and without a penny to my name.” His words took him far away for a moment or two. Remy wished she could know what he was thinking. Truly thinking, not his silly strings of words.

  “Have you told them everything?”

  He shifted position. “No.”

  “They won’t trust you until you do.”

  His head snapped up, and he finally looked directly at her. “What makes you say that?”

  This time she couldn’t keep it inside. She had to speak what was shouting to get out.

  “Because you haven’t told me everything, and that makes me not trust you.” She got to her feet, and he watched her with his ice-blue gaze. “I want to trust you. Hell, Max, I want you in my bed every night. I want you in that pilot’s seat every day. I even want you to fight with Foley every day. I want to wear that red nightie for you.”

  His expression reflected surprise.

  She couldn’t go back on what she’d said. Done was done.

  “Every day and every night? Everywhere?”

  A nervous chuckle burst from her throat. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

  He moved away from the hatchway and, without breaking his gaze, shut the cabin door then tapped his wrist, presumably to turn off his Moral Compass. Remy’s heart slammed into her ribs.

  Max stalked toward her like a big cat, his steps slow but sure. He crowded her, pushing her toward the wall with gentle movements until her back was up against the cool steel, her hands flat against it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Seeing how much you want me. Everywhere.”

  She flipped the hair out of her eyes, and he shifted his attention to her locks. He wrapped his finger around a bunch and tugged.

  “I’ve not seen you with your hair down much. It’s soft, like a flower.” He brought it to his nose and inhaled. “You smell like home.”

  He pressed against her from top to bottom, head to toe, inch by delicious inch. Hard male flesh surrounded her, set her skin on fire.

  “Too bad we can’t take a shower together. I’ve been fantasizing about it since we met.” He smiled, slow and sexy, and leaned in to brush his lips against her jaw. “Not enough water because that old fool can’t find his ass with both hands.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “I think he deliberately doesn’t fix things so I keep needing him to fix them again.”

  “Maybe he’s not such a fool.” He cupped her chin in his big hand. “I want you to keep needing me, too.”

  Naked longing blazed from his eyes. It was more than physical. Much more.

  “I need you.”

  His mouth descended on hers and she was lost. Her body sang with sweet, wet heat and she couldn’t stop her arms from draping around his neck and pulling him closer. His cock hardened, pressing into her softness. Thank God there was a bed behind them.

  She opened her mouth to his questing tongue, dancing and rasping right along with her pulse. Thump, thump, thump. He grabbed her ass and lifted her, trapping her against the wall. A thrill shot through her at the position, so she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his hips. His hard staff was exactly where she wanted it, against her pulsing core.

  Yes. More.

  He dragged his mouth from hers, down her neck and to her shirt, licking and nipping as he went. Remy thought she’d combust into a million pieces of lust waiting for him to arrive at her aching nipples.

  Max spent his time exploring her cleavage while she wiggled around, trying to find the perfect spot to pleasure herself. He chuckled against her boobs and she pinched his arm.

  “Get over them already. I need more.”

  “I love your breasts. The first time I saw you, I saw them. You’re gorgeous. I can’t help it, honey. I need them.” He wasn’t a poet but he was honest—she could hear it in his voice.

  “Take it off, then.” She raised her arms and he whisked off her shirt and brassiere with the speed of a bullet.

  Max gazed at her naked boobs as though he were worshipping at an altar. She resisted the urge to jiggle them. Instead, she cupped them. “You wanted these?”

  He let loose a near growl before descending on her. His mouth seemed to be everywhere, licking, kissing, biting, nipping, tugging, and pleasuring. She never knew how sensitive her nipples were until Max Fletcher taught her. Her hands grasped his head, her fingers sliding through the deliciously exotic hair, soft and wavy. When he bit her, a shaft of pain-pleasure shot through her, and she tugged his hair.

  “I need to be careful or you might snatch me bald.” He kissed her breasts in turn. “What I really want is to fuck you until neither one of us can see straight.”

  His words made her even wetter. She shouldn’t be doing this and neither should he. None of that mattered though. They were going to.

  “Then we’d best get the rest of our clothes off so it can happen.”

  He set her on her feet and both of them shed their garments with lightning speed. Soon they were both completely nude, standing in front of each other, breathing hard and aching. She glanced at the bed then back at him.

  Before she could react, he scooped her up, big ass and all, and carried her, setting her down on the bed with a gentleness she hadn’t expected. He crawled atop her, his rougher skin gently scraping against hers, his chest hairs, his leg hair, oh hell, the hair around his balls. It was tremendously erotic, adding to her already aroused state.

  His staff lay heavy and hot against her leg, pulsing with each beat of his heart. She grabbed at his back, urging him to do something with it.

  “I thought we could—”

  “Not this time.” She didn’t want finesse. She didn’t want romance. She wanted him. “In. Now,” she commanded.

  Max wasn’t so easily swayed. He continued his assault on Mt. Boob. She was trapped beneath his body weight but wiggled and squirmed, hoping he’d use that tool tempting her.

  “Please, Max.”

  That apparently got his attention. He let her nipple go with an audible pop. It glistened in the low light of the cabin.

  “I don’t think I’ve heard you call me Max before. And I damn sure haven’t heard you say please.” He slid forward, nudging her entrance.

  Yes.

  This was what she wanted, needed. She didn’t want flowers, romance, or foolish notions of forever. Even if it’s what she really wanted, in her heart. For now, what she needed was Max.

  He entered her in one swift thrust, filling her. She gasped, her body trembling with the sheer joy of having him
inside her again. It was as she remembered. Perfect. He began to move. The sweet friction of flesh against flesh rippled through her, raising all the small hairs on her body.

  Yes.

  His thrusts were measured, slow, fast, fast. Slow, fast, fast. Slow, fast, fast. She scratched at his back.

  More. Now.

  It was like he’d read her mind. He let loose whatever had been restraining him. That’s when he truly joined with her. Faster. Harder. She could hardly keep up with the sensations buffeting her. Remy was close, so close. Her nails dug into his skin and he seemed to understand.

  He leaned down and took her nipple into his mouth again then bit hard. She came, orgasming like never in her life before. It was blinding, electrifying, shattering. Millions of pieces of Remy littered the air, raining down as the waves of ecstasy rolled over her, through her, inside her. Max roared her name and found his own bliss.

  She shook with the force of what had just happened. Their first encounter had been incredibly good. It paled in comparison to what had just occurred. Perhaps it was because they’d grown closer. Perhaps it was because her heart was now involved. She didn’t know, and it scared her.

  He smiled down at her, a drop of sweat meandering down his temple. Oh yes, she was well and truly emotionally compromised with this man. This mysterious man who’d lived the first sixteen years of his life as a slave, who wanted to work on a cruise ship instead of a real ship, who was charming, silly, funny, annoying, sexy. She didn’t know what she would do with Max Fletcher.

  Something must have shown in her expression because his smile faded. “I didn’t think about…well, you taking on the kids.”

  She stopped him, pressing a hand to his mouth. “There’s no way I can ever have young’uns of my own, so Morgan and Mason will be good for all of us.”

  He frowned. “None of your own? How do you know? I mean, I’m not boasting or anything but I’m sure I can—”

  “It’s not you. When Gunnar found me, he took me to a doc. They told him someone had fixed it so I wouldn’t be a mother. Ever.”

  He withdrew his body from hers and lay beside her, propping himself on one elbow. “They fixed you at four years old?”

  “I don’t know if it happened when I was four, but it was discovered then. I don’t remember any of it.”

  “You don’t remember any of your life before Gunnar found you? And your Remington, of course.”

  A small grin. “If I do, it’s buried and I don’t want to remember.”

  His expression turned serious. “I can appreciate that. There are many things I don’t want to remember, either.”

  “Something we have in common.” Perhaps they were more alike than she could admit out loud.

  “You have a beautiful birthmark on your shoulder.” His fingers trailed down her skin. “Kind of looks like a sword. You know I’ve always thought you looked like a Valkyrie.”

  She smiled. “My father used to call me his warrior. Said I was brought into his life with a gun and a sword.”

  “Fierce from the minute I saw you.” His breath gusted past her cheek. “We do need to talk about what happens now. And the first thing I want to know is, where is that nightie?”

  She was about to respond when a pounding shattered the silence, and she nearly jumped off the bed in surprise. Max’s brows rose. Remy wasn’t given to histrionics or to being startled or scared. She was definitely on edge.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  Morgan’s voice sounded from in the corridor. “Captain, Miss Katie sent me to find you. She said there’s a military ship signature. I don’t know what that means, but it’s powerful important.”

  Remy met Max’s gaze and saw her own concern mirrored. “Fucking hell.”

  “I can’t find Mr. Fletcher, either. Miss Katie is truly upset,” Morgan continued.

  “Give me five minutes and I’ll be up on the bridge. I’ll make sure Mr. Fletcher joins us.” Remy shook her head as she looked at him. “After all, the military is after him.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The girl’s tiny footsteps echoed through the corridor.

  A pregnant silence grew. Remy had her thoughts, and Max obviously had his own.

  “What do you think it means?” He didn’t sound nervous, but rather curious.

  “It means Gina called in a favor to find us. She must’ve realized you were the one who paid for the fuel on Azesus and made the connection she’d missed earlier.”

  He played with the seam of the sheet on the bed before he looked at her. “You know I don’t want you to miss your deadline on Haverty. I don’t want to be the cause of any more destruction coming down on you or this ship.”

  She shrugged with a casualness she didn’t feel. “I suppose I consider you one of the crew, which means I protect you.”

  “I’m under your wing?”

  “If that’s how you want to say it. Gunnar taught me to protect my crew and ship against all enemies.”

  “And this Gina, she’s your enemy?”

  She didn’t want to go into details, but she also didn’t want Max to get the wrong idea. “Gunnar knew her father. We met when we were both young, and we were friends for a while. When we were about Mason’s age, she nearly beat a boy to death in front of me because she was ordered to. I tried to stop her and ended up in jail. Then, she joined the Corporation military and was very eager to move up in the ranks no matter how she got there.”

  He frowned. “I know the like. I’ve met them before myself. Will she come after us no matter what?”

  “Yes.”

  “So another guest joins the party when we get to Haverty. It’s just this ship against Coddington, Cooper, the Corporation, and the Great Family. I didn’t expect this for you.”

  “It isn’t your fault, Fletcher. I took on this job, and I aim to finish it one way or another.”

  He looked at her with a measure of respect, a smattering of charm, lust, and a bit of playfulness. “Then I’m standing right beside you, Cap’n, no matter what uniform I wear.”

  “Good. Just don’t be naked up on the bridge.”

  “Why not? Foley can stop calling me pretty boy if he sees I’ve got a dick and balls.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “Foley should be more concerned about fixing the damn water purifier or we’ll all perish from thirst long before anyone else has a chance to kill us.”

  A laugh erupted from deep inside him, a big, loud belly laugh that echoed. Everyone must have heard it. She wanted to pinch him, smack him, or shoot him, but it didn’t matter. They should take the measure of doses of life, including pleasure. In a very short time frame, there might not be anything left to taste.

  …

  Max’s gut was tied in knots. He clicked on Saint and told him what was going on as they made their way to the bridge. The Corporation military force had lost them out of Azesus, but he should have considered they’d put out something on the comm about the Steel Coyote. That general had a corncob up her ass about Remy, and now about him, too.

  Apparently the Corporation military force continued to hunt him, and they had to run faster, harder. Damn. He truly didn’t want this for Remy or the ship, but now that the hounds were on the scent, they’d run them to ground. The only alternative was to get sneaky.

  He ran up the steps onto the bridge to find everyone there, including Foley, who was scratching his ass and staring holes at Max. Ignoring the old man, he approached Katie.

  “Tell us what you found.”

  She frowned. “About fifty clicks out, I found a military signature. It’s moving fast. Not as fast as the Steel Coyote in hyperdrive, but a steady speed we can’t match.”

  Max wracked his brain for a plan while everyone watched him. “The ship has a transponder, right?”

  She nodded. “Of course. They all do.”

  “That’s how they track a ship?” This question he directed at Remy.

  “Yes. The military ships have bloodhound sensors on them.”

  “What if we mo
dified our transponder?” He was asking a lot, but in war things got down and dirty. After a few seconds, everyone started shouting at once, even Saint.

  “Foolish.”

  “Illegal.”

  “Dangerous.”

  “There has to be another choice.”

  “You’d be cheating, Mr. Fletcher.”

  “You wouldn’t be much of a pretty boy then.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “Stop! Everyone just stop.” He held up his hands until the cacophony ceased. “I know it’s illegal and stupid and foolish, but I think the circumstances call for it. We are out here alone, damn it, and no one is going to help us. In fact, they’re either hunting us, lying in wait for us, or want us dead.”

  Remy was the first to speak. She folded her arms and scowled. “I could go to Corporation prison, not to mention lose my ship and pilot’s license, but I think you’re right.”

  Katie scowled even harder than her boss. “I don’t want to go to prison for it. I won’t do it.”

  “Fine then. I’ll take all the blame. How far off is that military ship?”

  Remy had agreed with him. He could hardly take it in.

  “Two hours at most.” Katie’s tone was nothing but distaste.

  “Max and I will tinker with the transponder until we get the signal modified.”

  “Max? It’s Max now, is it? Ever since he came on the ship and you took him to your—”

  Remy cut off the engineer. “Don’t say something you’ll regret, Katie. We’re friends, and I want to be friends after this is all over.”

  Katie’s face flushed, and she stared at Max. He held her gaze, willing her to see he was sincere, and she let out a gusty sigh. “I’d better do the modifications or you’ll fuck up the entire electrical system.”

  His gut was tied in knots. He was the one being chased by the military, yet the entire ship was being punished. Not only that, they were now modifying the ship’s transponder, which could get all of them thrown in Corporation prison. Or worse.

  Katie left the bridge with her arms swinging and a frown deep enough to scare small children and puppies. She cursed and mumbled under her breath, nearly jumping down the stairs.

  Max followed with Remy at his heels. She had no idea the depth to which he’d gone to save himself, but perhaps this was a taste for her. He wasn’t a mercenary, nor was he a killer, but he was a survivor. His hand crept to the small bag hanging from the chain on his neck. He held it close for just a moment.