She was beginning a new life. She was now free to choose her sexual partners, and she hadn’t chosen him. He’d been thrust into her life to protect her.
And even if she’d chosen him, he wasn’t the kind of man she should choose. Fuck.
“Damon, what’s—” Her expression and tone were bewildered.
She was a very sensitive empath. He had to stop sending her mixed messages. He needed to get a handle on his lust.
“Yeah, I want one.” He picked up a slider and ate it in one bite. Then he fed her another one.
Susa accepted his offering and then took a large sip of her wine. “Other than the unexpected sex show, this is a nice bar. Is Club Hades like this? Nadia told me I’d probably never see it since the clientele was sort of rough. Um, since this cruise stops there, where will the passengers go? These people aren’t what I would call a rough crowd. Just rich and kinky.”
Thankful for the distraction of her question, he responded, “Nadia’s correct. You—and Borac’s wife, Cissy—aren’t allowed in Club Hades, the bar where the rougher element hangs out. The jump station also has a casino and several other bars and restaurants, some with musical acts. You’d like the casino. And since I now suspect you’re a card shark, you’d make a killing there. We have the only live gambling in that part of the galactic rim, so it’s always busy when open for business. The station also has private playrooms to rent for kink play and sim rooms just as this ship has. That’s the part of the station cruises like this use as a draw. Of course, a few of these passengers like it rough, so I suspect they might visit Club Hades to walk on the wild side. Borac and I do police the cruise layovers very closely. Each passenger wears an alert necklace they can trigger if they find they’ve bitten off more than they can handle.”
“That’s nice.” Susa sighed and snuggled into his side. “You take care of them even though they’re willingly taking a risk.”
“Wouldn’t get much business if we didn’t.” Damon put his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her upper arm. “Looks as if the men are going for seconds.”
Susa looked up. “Hmm, I bet they plan to switch places until each of them has come in her mouth, pussy and each hand. Then I bet they’ll take her ass.” She turned. “That would be each man coming five times. They have to be on erection drugs.”
“We’re betting now, are we?” Damon chuckled. After her initial alarm and a glass and a half of wine, Susa had relaxed and was warming up to the entertainment. “Okay, I’ll agree they each plan to come in or on her four times. Why would you think each man will also fuck her ass?” He glanced up, and the men were still pounding away in their second round.
“There’s a flesh-colored plug in her ass.” Susa shrugged. “I figured it was there for a reason. So, for my bet–five orgasms for each man. If I win, I get to choose my own clothes and you get no veto power.”
Damon winced, but the odds of her winning were slim. Even with sex enhancement drugs, the men would be lucky to make it three times. “You’re on. I say each man only manages three climaxes tops. There’ll be no ass play since they won’t be able to get it up to do so. If I win, you wear what I tell you to, no arguments.”
Susa sipped her drink. “Deal.” She turned to watch the stage with a knowing expression on her face.
Seven hells of Jupiter, she was too confident. What had he missed? He focused on the action.
The men were all of a hominid-type species, so no pseudo-reptilian DNA to keep them hard and fucking all night long. His bet was a sure win, because as a male who’d tried erection enhancement drugs in his callow youth, he’d been hard-pressed to come three times in a row—and the woman involved that one time had been very inventive and game for any kind of sex. A fond memory. Not one he’d ever share with Susa, either.
Damon settled back to enjoy the show as grunts and groans from the men and muffled screams from the woman signaled second orgasms all around. It wouldn’t be long now—and Susa would lose the bet.
Two standard hours or so later, he scowled into his third whiskey. The four men had managed four orgasms—pussy, mouth, and two hand jobs a piece—then each had taken the woman’s ass, one by one, as the other three fingered the woman’s clit and played with her breasts. Her screams of pleasure and grunts as the men reamed her ass had him as horny as he could ever recall.
Fucking hell and Satan’s balls. Susa had won.
“How did you know they’d each manage to come five times?” He tossed back the rest of his whiskey. “Even with drugs, it should’ve been physically impossible.”
She stroked a finger along the back of his other hand where it lay on the table. “I guessed they were frequent passengers on this cruise and were asked to lead off this evening to get the audience loose and ready to play. Why have mediocre polyamory the first night out when you can have the ultimate test of sexual prowess, right? Now, the audience will line up to play on the stage each night of the cruise in an attempt to beat this act for bragging rights. At least, that made sense to me. So, I played a hunch. Plus, the mood of the crowd practically screamed this would be an extraordinary exhibition.”
Damon would never bet against her hunches ever again. He signaled Adina and held up two fingers and gestured to their drinks. The waitress smiled and nodded.
As the waitress moved off, Damon spotted three men. They stood two rows down and to the left of their booth; the trio were focused on Susa and totally passed over Damon’s presence. He wasn’t sure which offence bothered him the most.
The men all wore Dom leathers and seemed to be mostly hominid, but who could tell with all the inter-breeding in the galaxy. The trio was physically fit and looked to be in their mid-to-late thirties.
And they now headed this way.
“Damon, you just tensed. What’s wrong?” Susa looked around and clutched his thigh when she spotted the men.
Damon picked up her hand from his leg, took it to his mouth, and kissed the back of it. He lowered her hand back to his thigh, keeping her hand in his. “I’ll handle this, Susa.”
“Of course.” She snuggled into his side. “As promised, you’re the boss in situations like this.”
Her immediate acquiescence, and even more, her leaning into him for support—or was it to soothe his temper?—allowed him to throttle back on the need to wipe the trio’s hungry, predacious expressions off their faces.
“Good evening.” The man who’d spoken focused his attention on Susa. “We’d like to ask you both to perform on stage with us. The crowd seemed to appreciate the previous performance. We feel we could top it with your assistance.” He eyed Susa’s torso as if he could see through her clothing. “Are you a mated Prime?”
“That’s our private business.” Damon released his hold on Susa and slid out of the booth. Stretching to his almost six and a half feet, he said, “What she is—is mine, and I don’t fucking share. Ever. Understood?”
The spokesman scanned Damon’s face. “But can you hold onto her?”
Hands fisted at his sides, Damon growled and revealed the side of his personality he only used with pirates, sex traffickers, and randy bar patrons who abused his female employees. The side that had kept him alive while undercover in galactic rim pirate dens. He’d once been told he looked like a demon from the seven hells of Jupiter.
“Do you have a death wish?” He glared at the other two men who quite smartly retreated out of arm’s reach. “I’d be happy to oblige.”
The spokesman had more balls than the other two, or maybe he was just plain stupid—and proved it was the latter when he said, “I say she’s an unclaimed Prime female. I heard this from the captain. This means she was a sex slave on her planet. My friends and I were willing to include you as her owner in our play, but since—”
Rage unlike any he’d ever felt swamped his senses. He literally saw red and each breath felt like fire. Every primitive instinct urged him to kill the man who’d insulted Susa.
“Damon—” From her seat, Susa touched his arm
and somehow weakened the raging need to kill the pissant sullying her character. “He’s not worth killing, lubho. Please—”
With his heightened awareness, Damon sensed someone else approaching them. He turned his head ready to scare them off with a look and found Mori.
“What seems to be the problem here?” Mori managed to put his body between the soon-to-be-dead idiot and Damon.
“That ass slandered my woman.” Damon looked down at Mori. “He told us you were telling people our private business. I’m not happy.”
Mori turned pale and took a step back. “I’m sorry, Mr. Martin. I didn’t know Ms. Anghard’s background was to be kept a secret. All passengers’ backgrounds are normally listed on the cruise’s internal web, unless specifically excluded, so that like-minded persons can find one another.”
“That makes sense, Damon.” Susa slid out of the booth and insinuated her body under his arm and encircled his waist with her arms.
If he wasn’t so pissed at the fucktard who’d called Susa a piece of property, he would’ve thought it was cute that she was trying to hold him back.
She turned her glance toward Mori. “Captain, was it also listed on the cruise’s internal web site that my lubho is the co-owner of the galactic rim jump station, Charybdis? He and my cousin, the Prime warrior Borac Anghard, have held the station against all challengers for many, many years.”
“Not all of that, but enough people could infer those conclusions.” Mori inclined his head, a slight smile of what looked to be approval on his pale face. “Mr. Martin’s status is why you were my special guests this evening and are in the Admiral’s Suite.”
“I thought so. Then these men are not only stupid, but homicidally so.” She rubbed her cheek on Damon’s shoulder and stared at the men.
Damon inhaled her scent as it intermingled with his. The dominant male in him wanted to claim her in every way a man could claim a woman. Instead, he settled for rubbing his cheek over her hair. Her little sigh in response caused his heart to stutter for a split-second, a heretofore unheard of response for him. He found himself more attuned to her every breath and movement than with any other woman he’d ever met, including Bria.
What was going on with him? This need to mark Susa as his and his alone wasn’t like him at all.
“You see,” she addressed the three men, “Damon would have you for his morning meal without breaking a sweat. Why would I choose to be with any other man? I’m his and”—she raised her voice for the audience they’d drawn—“he’s mine. We only play with one another.” She looked at Mori. “Maybe you should add that important factoid to both our profiles on your internal web site.”
“It will be done, Ms. Anghard.” Mori turned to the trio. “Move along. There is nothing for you here.”
The trio slunk away and the small crowd dispersed at Mori’s and a bouncer’s urging.
Damon tipped Susa’s face up to his. “We’re leaving.”
“Okay.” She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “It looks as if audience participation is being encouraged. I’m fairly sure we’d stick out as the only people in the room not having sex.”
“You’re probably right.” He turned her toward the exit and then held her closely as he guided her out of the bar.
“Get used to it.” She winked. “I usually am.”
“Smart-asses get spanked,” warned Damon, teasing her.
Susa inhaled and shivered under his touch, and it wasn’t with revulsion. She liked the idea. So, did he. Too much.
He skimmed his hand down her back and cupped her tight round butt before settling his hand just above her waist. His actions elicited another shiver. She liked his touch.
Damn it, she was perfect for him. His cock wanted in there so badly.
What his overactive libido would get was a cold shower, his own right hand, and a bed on the floor for the night.
Chapter 14
Susa entered their suite and moved straight into the bedroom.
Geep jumped down off the foot of the bed where he’d been curled up, watching the large monitor across from the bed tuned into a—gambling tutorial? He scurried to greet her. He almost bounced up and down he was so happy to see her.
She tossed her clutch bag onto the bedside table and bent over to scratch the top of his head. “Gambling?” Geep blinked and sent her a telepathic “yes.” She laughed. “And do I see cookie crumbs around your mouth?”
Geep slid out his long narrow tongue and cleaned up the evidence of his late-night snack.
“He ate all the cookies we ordered. All two dozen of them.”
Susa turned her head to meet Damon’s gaze as he entered the bedroom.
“Did you want any of them?” When he didn’t answer, Susa straightened and gave Geep a signal to stay. She followed Damon into the dressing area. His mood was hard to pin down. The attentive, charming companion of earlier had disappeared as soon as they’d exited onto their floor. But she could hazard a guess about why he’d suddenly withdrawn behind a blank expression and muffled his emotions. “Damon, about the sleeping arrangements—”
“I’m sleeping on the floor.” He pulled off his jacket and tossed it over the back of a small chaise lounge.
Ouch. His tone could’ve breached the ship’s titanium hull. His mental shields had cracked and the tension coming off him practically shimmered in the air around him like heat lightning.
She picked up his jacket, shook out some wrinkles, and hung it up. Taking a deep breath, she kept her voice light and even. “I merely wanted to know which side of the bed you wanted and if I could have the extra pillow.”
His forehead deeply creased, Damon stared at her. His emotions were a chaotic whirl—disbelief, joy, and uppermost … sexual hunger. The last one hit her the hardest, because she craved him also.
Damon’s voice, a low rumble that set her nerves to vibrating, he finally said, “Are you sure?”
“Yes. We’re adults. We can control ourselves.” Didn’t he want to sleep with her? If they slept next to each other, could she handle it?
If what she suspected was really happening, well, no, she still refused to think about it. Time would tell on that issue. But no matter what was or wasn’t happening between them, she was attracted to him—just as he was to her. Propinquity would prove if the connection between them was real or not.
Susa slipped off her heels and then placed them on the shoe rack. She could feel Damon staring at her—the heat of his regard burned everywhere it touched.
“Okay.” Damon responded.
She turned to face him.
“I’ll take the right side—and yes, you can have the extra pillow.” He paused, his eyes narrowed. “You really trust me to sleep next to you?” His tone was skeptical.
“Yes.” She mentally dithered and finally asked the question she’d set aside back on Tooh 2 when they’d first discussed this very topic. “It’s Bria, isn’t it?”
“What’s Bria?” He sounded confused.
Susa took a deep breath and hoped she wasn’t about to embarrass herself. After all, it was only her empathic ability that told her he was as drawn to her as she was to him.
“I’m very attracted to you,” she said. “I think you’re attracted to me. But I get the sense you’re not over losing Bria.” She bit her lip as a myriad of emotions radiated from Damon before he shoved them behind that bakking mental shield of his.
“Bria’s not an issue,” Damon replied, his tone bereft of all emotion. Yet, his eyes betrayed him; he was still struggling with strong feelings. But was the conflict over Bria—or her? “She’s mated to Iolyn Caradoc. Iolyn seems like a good guy. From what Borac has told me about Prime mating, Bria will be the center of Iolyn’s world until the day they die, and possibly beyond.”
Damon’s words were ones Susa wished to hear. He also didn’t deny he was attracted to Susa, but he still seemed leery about romantic entanglements.
Giving him the courtesy of taking him at his word, she said, “So, if
it’s not Bria, it has to be Borac.”
“Borac?” Damon shook his head and asked, “What in the seven hells of Jupiter are you getting at, Susa? Just spit it out.”
Susa took a chance and leapt. “I want to have sex with you. But I have all these practical reasons why I shouldn’t have sex with you. So, I figured you probably had similar reasons—centered around Bria or Borac.”
“So … you’re saying you want to have sex with me?”
She nodded.
He smiled, and his aura lightened. “Okay, good. Now, I’ll bite. With Bria having been addressed, what makes Borac one of my supposed practical reasons for not having sex?”
“My cousin is your business partner and friend. I was worried it might cause some strife.” She bit her lip. “Borac loves you like a brother.”
“I love him the same way. But this isn’t an issue. Borac’s and my friendship was forged in the heat of battle. Plus, we’re adults, and Borac will have to accept our choices. What else?”
“If we wished for a longer relationship”—she held her breath and was relieved when he didn’t flinch at the suggestion—“you live on a jump station at the edges of the galaxy and I live on Cejuru Prime.”
Closing the distance between them, he said, “Yeah, I’ve thought about that also. It’s a problem in the long term, but not in the short term.” He gestured with his fingers. “What else?”
Damon had already thought about some of these things? That was good, wasn’t it? Still, the biggest practical reason, or more like an issue—
“And—” Susa faltered. Her body vibrated with tension and she fisted her hands at her side.
“And?” he asked, his voice a husky, deep-throated growl. “What has you so scared? Susa, look at me. I won’t let anything or anybody hurt you, not even me. Not my past. Not my future. Not you or your past or future, either.”
Susa moved closer to his warmth and looked him in the eye. She coughed to clear her throat, but her words still came out thin and shaky. “And … I was a sex surrogate.” Used goods. A karote. A whore.
Prime Target Page 16
