Beloved Bodyguard (8 page)

“Feel how ready for you I am,” she whispered.
“Go ahead.”

He’d already unzipped his trousers and was
pulling out his cock. Spreading her cheeks, he examined the
puckered aperture there and teased the tip of his juice-soaked
finger inside. Leelah groaned and wiggled. His tongue swept over
dry lips as he considered filling that tight channel. But no, this
wasn’t the place or time without lubricant handy.

Ja-hun removed his finger, grasped his aching
cock, and guided it to her pussy, soaking wet and open for him. He
drove deep inside with one strong thrust.

She grunted and pushed back toward him. “Oh,
yeah. Do it hard.”

Her choked words spurred him on. With no
finesse and the randy eagerness of a youth, he pumped in and out.
His grunts, Leelah’s moans, and the slap of naked flesh were the
only sounds in the tiny room.

“
Susura
,” she murmured the endearment
followed by a breathless exclamation. “Fuck!” Her fingers gripped
the door frame as he drove relentlessly into her.

Ja-hun curved his body over hers and pressed
his lips to her shoulder. He felt her ragged breathing in his own
chest. Spooned together like this, it was as if they were one
being. Swirling fragments of need coalesced into a whirlwind right
at his core. He was going to come any second.

“Oh, baby, now. Now!” Leelah gasped and let
out a cry that she buried against the flesh of her forearm.

The word “now” unleashed him. He fell into a
vortex that spread from his groin and filled his body. Ecstasy
surged through him and he released.

When the shudders of climax died away, Ja-hun
peeled himself off Leelah’s back. He must be crushing her, and she
was supporting both their weight. Ja-hun pulled her around to face
him and held her close, his chin resting on the top of her
head.

The skirt of her ball gown fell back into
place, hiding her legs again, and the residue of their lovemaking.
His cum drying on her thighs marked her as his, at least for the
evening. And the thought excited him.

“Don’t clean up,” he whispered.

Leelah pulled away from his chest and looked
up at him with a grin. “All right. I won’t.” She tapped his chest
with her finger. “And you don’t wash your fingers so you smell like
me. Kidding. Sort of.”

“We should get back. Your father might worry
if he notices you missing.” He tipped her chin up with his finger
and kissed her mouth.

“My father’s in the middle of schmoozing with
the elite of the Federation. He’s not thinking about what I’m up
to.” Still, she adjusted her dress and smoothed her hair. “My hair
is probably wrecked.”

“It looks perfect. You look perfect.” He bent
and kissed her once more, tasting wine and strawberry lipshine.

Ja-hun left the storage room first, opening
the door 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 smiled at him
before heading toward the ladies room.

Ja-hun checked in with the Gravatz security
as well as the Blaines’s team. No one had anything out of the
ordinary to report.

Across the room, Leelah was back, every hair
in place as if nothing had happened, and talking to Danje. Ja-hun
didn’t feel a twist of jealousy this time. After their encounter in
the storeroom, it was clear she wanted him and not the Anuvian. He
felt warm and golden inside at the thought, as if she’d infused him
with a touch of her sunny personality.

Danje said something, Leelah nodded, and they
headed toward the doors leading out to the patio.

By the time Ja-hun had threaded his way
across the crowded ballroom, the pair was no longer in sight. They
hadn’t come back inside, and there were no formal gardens where
they might be walking. The only other place they might have gone
was around the side of the building to the lot where valets had
parked all the expensive vehicles.

Danje might have wanted to show Leelah
something in his car. Ja-hun didn’t want to guess what that might
be. The kernel of jealousy flickered back to life and burned sourly
in his gut.

As he walked toward the lot, Ja-hun passed
several guards. The grounds were completely secure. Leelah was as
safe as if she was in her father’s compound, yet Ja-hun felt a
growing sense of unease. The hair at his nape prickled, and an
inner voice clamored that something was wrong. Was it fear about
what “his girl” was doing in the dark with another man, or was it
natural instinct kicking in, that gut feeling which had kept him
alive more times than he could count?

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 in the passenger
seat.

Ja-hun ran across the lot, dodging between
vehicles 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 Jet was gliding
toward the exit. Unfortunately, Ja-hun’s own car was 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. Since it was an antique
model, he could start it without a fingerprint ID and soon he was
speeding after the Jet 150 while keeping his distance.

Ja-hun fought to hold his emotions in check,
something that had never been a problem in his job in the past. He
felt ready to leap out of his skin with worry, but he could only
help Leelah by keeping his cool, so he shut down every stray
thought and concern until he trailed his quarry with the
single-minded purpose of a shark. Leelah Blaine would not be
injured in any way. Not on his watch.

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 struggled to lift her lids.
It felt like someone had glued them closed. When she finally got
them open and looked down, her wrists were secured with some kind
of tape, which also bound her ankles. She pulled against the
binding, but there was no give to it. Her bound wrists and ankles
were also tethered together by another piece of the sticky tape.
She couldn’t even raise her arms.

She lay on a bed in a room she didn’t
recognize. Kidnapped! As the daughter of the most important man in
the Free Worlds, this had been a threat and fear shrouding most of
her life. Now it had actually happened, and she didn’t feel at all
brave and clever as she’d always fantasized she’d be in such a
situation.

If whoever was holding her hoped to use her
as a bargaining chip, they were sorely mistaken. Leelah had talked
with her father at length about the importance of the single versus
the many. No negotiation with terrorists. He would sacrifice her
for the good of the Worlds if he had to. It was what she expected
and wanted him to do. If there was to be any getting out of this
situation, she’d have to accomplish it herself.

But first, she had to establish where “here”
was and who 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. As they’d descended the stairs from the
patio, it occurred to her that she should tell Ja-hun first, but
she shrugged off any worry. They’d be back by the time Ja-hun knew
she was missing.

She cursed herself for that pivotal moment
when everything could have been different if only she’d listened to
the cautionary voice inside. But, no, she’d followed her impulsive
streak and look where it had landed her. Tied up on a bed in a what
appeared to be a crappy motel room.

Was Danje kidnapped too? Or was he the
kidnapper? Had to be the latter, thought she could hardly wrap her
mind around the idea. How could she have ever guessed Danje wasn’t
exactly who she thought he was, a diplomat’s son and university
student from a similar background to her own? He loved to dance and
wanted to change the world. He was just a normal guy.

“Comset on,” she said to activate the device
implanted in her ear. “Ja-hun.”

Nothing happened.

“You’re awake.” Danje’s voice made her jerk
and the sticky tape dug into her wrists.

She’d thought she was alone in the room, but
he moved into her field of vision from wherever he’d been. He
crouched down by the bedside so they were on eye level. “Don’t be
afraid. This is temporary. Your comset has been deactivated.”

“What…?” Her voice cracked, and she swallowed
hard, trying to work up some saliva.

“This isn’t really about you, but a point
needed to be made. Your father must understand the gravity of the
situation. Change doesn’t come about without some suffering, you
see?”

“I.A.?” she croaked. Insurgent Alliance.

“No. A.R., Anu Reborn.” He cocked his head.
“You’ve heard of the movement?”

She started to shake her head, but her vision
went blurry so she stopped.

“Sorry. I put a Dartex patch on you. The
narcotic is pretty primitive and has some side effects, dry mouth,
dizziness, headache.”

“Hnh,” she grunted. “What do you want?”

“Anu Reborn is nothing like that collection
of barbaric lowlifes who make up the Insurgent Alliance. Those
cretins squawk about equality for all. We want quite the opposite.
Anu needs to take its rightful place as the center of the settled
universe, the light at the heart of the Free Worlds.”

His smile was so white and pretty in his
handsome face it was almost impossible to take him seriously. If
she hadn’t been trussed up on a bed, they might have been having
some theoretical discussion over a cup of
chamti
tea on a
college campus.

“The older generation on Anu has been happy
to be part of the Free Worlds alliance. But there are many of us
who recognize the need for Anu to assume its rightful position of
authority. While men like your father try to accommodate everyone
and end up pleasing no one, Anu would control the other planets as
they so need to be controlled.”

She nodded slightly so she wouldn’t hurt her
head. “Unity under a benign dictatorship. Surely it would be best,
particularly for the less advanced societies. I see.”

I see you’re a fucking loony.
Again,
she tested the strength of her bonds, wiggling her fingers and
picking at the tape as best she could.

He glanced down at her busy hands. “Don’t
bother. Even if you freed yourself, you couldn’t get out of the
room.”

“Where am I?”

He reached out and brushed her hair back from
her face, sending a chill down her spine. “You don’t want to know
that. Should your father comply with our demands, we can let you
go, if you don’t know where you’ve been held.”

Except I know who
you
are. You’ll
never let me live.
The extent of the danger she was in hit her
hard like a punch to the gut. She might have very little life left.
Oh, Gods, help me find a way out of this. Ja-hun, come find
me.

“What are your demands?” Keeping him talking
seemed the best thing to do. Distract him while she considered her
extremely limited options.

“To start with, Anu must become the seat of
the government instead of NewEarth. Of course the transition must
take place over time to prepare people for the new order. Once the
shift in the government seat is established, your father step aside
and an Anuvian leader will take charge.” He waved a hand.
“Chandre’s plan is much more detailed than that, of course, but
that’s the general idea.”

Leelah assumed Chandre was the leader of the
movement. How many members did they have? Was it a big organization
on Anu, or only a few extremists involved?

Guilt at her stupidity engulfed her. She’d
fallen right into their trap, allowed Danje to walk off with her
right from under the tightest security in the universe. But how
could she have known that a guy she met at Burdah’s party would be
part of a terrorist cell?

“Burdah said he met you in a college class.
Is he a part of your organization?”

Danje laughed, the sound as musical as wind
chimes. “Of course not! Only pureblood Anuvians are recruited.”

“Of course.” She gave a strained smile. “How
about your mother? She’s a Representative from Anu. Is she a part
of this too?”

He scowled while still managing to look
gorgeous, which was really creepy. “She’s part of the problem, not
the cure. She insists on working with your father and the rest of
the Federated Worlds. Mother is definitely
not
a part of
this.”

He rose from his crouch. “May I get you
something to drink?”

She nodded.

Danje walked to a coldchest in the wall and
withdrew a bottle of water. He tossed it up and down in his hand as
he crossed the room toward her. “You know, I was this close to
having you at Burdah’s party. I decided to wait until the party
moved to the beach where it would be easier to slip away. But your
skanderi
bodyguard ruined my plan.”

The slur he applied to Ja-hun was a
derogatory epithet for OldEarth humans or other inferior races.
Leelah had rarely the term. Her friends didn’t think that way. She
bit her tongue and kept silent. Defending Ja-hun was the least of
her worries right now.

When Danje offered her the water bottle, she
spread her fingers indicating her helplessness. She couldn’t lift
her hands far enough to reach her mouth.

Danje started to unscrew the cap, and she
knew he was going to hold her head and feed her the water.