Braden (7 page)

Judith noticed Braden and Elisa sitting so close, the flush
on Elisa’s face. “Damn it, what did I miss? I step away for ten minutes…”

Elisa abruptly got to her feet. “Nothing at all. What do I
owe you?”

“It’s on the house. I never charge during a sandstorm.”
Judith switched her gaze to Braden. “Don’t tell me ‘nothing’, Braden. You look
sated and yearning at the same time.”

Braden adjusted his leggings, stifling a groan at the brief
friction of cloth on cock. “I was telling Elisa a little fantasy I had about
her.”

“Fantasy. That can be fun.” Judith smiled. Judith considered
fucking four Shareem at once fun, too.

“It’s late,” Elisa said. “Can you call a taxi for me?”

“Taxi?” Judith laughed. “In this neighborhood, this late,
after a sandstorm?” She swept up their empty ale cups, still laughing, and went
to open the storm doors.

“Trains don’t start running until dawn,” Braden said. “Don’t
you have your own car and driver?”

“I gave them up as part of the Way of the Sky. We live
simply.”

“Hey, if you like simple, you’d love my apartment. But don’t
worry, love. I have friends, and they have transport.”

* * * * *

Elisa wasn’t certain she wanted to leave. She knew she
should—she had to be at the library when it opened, and her servants would grow
alarmed if she didn’t return tonight. The overly protective Alonda might even
call the patrollers, and then the world would know that Elisa n’Arell had gone
to Pas City with a Shareem.

But to be stuck down here with Braden, in this strange
world, would be exciting. She’d have to think hard about what he’d made happen
to her, but she didn’t regret it.

“I’d be grateful,” she said to Braden. “And I’ll pay them.”

“Sweetie, I don’t think Brianne d’Aroth needs your money.”
He rose, skimming his fingers across her shoulders as he left the table.

“Brianne?” Gods, he was going to ask the granddaughter of
the ruler of Bor Narga to give Elisa a ride home. The woman who was living with
two Shareem—who’d just gone home with those two Shareem. “Won’t she be…busy?”

Braden laughed. “Of course she will, and I’ll enjoy the hell
out of interrupting them.” He disappeared into the back hall, where Elisa saw
him leaning over a console.

Judith returned to wipe off the table. “You’re a celibate?”
she asked, sounding interested.

Elisa picked up her robes from the stool and folded them
over her arm. “I took the vows.”

Judith sent her a dark look. “Do me a favor, sweetie. Don’t
tease him. Shareem aren’t like us. If Braden can’t have you, don’t hurt him
pretending that maybe he can. Cut it off and let him go.”

Elisa regarded her in surprise. “I had no intention of
hurting him.” How could she, anyway?

Judith’s eyes softened. “The Shareem can be enticing, I
know. But the garbage about them not having emotions is just that—garbage. So
don’t mess with them, all right?”

She sounded so protective that Elisa wondered. “Are you and
Braden…?” She glanced toward the back room, where they could hear Braden
laughing. The sound of that laughter warmed Elisa.

“Lovers?” Judith finished. She grinned. “No, not in the
‘love’ sense of the word. He’s a friend. A good friend. I don’t like seeing him
hurt.”

Such an odd night Elisa was having—visiting Pas City for the
first time, with a Shareem no less, having her first-ever orgasm, and now a
barmaid looking her in the eye and championing that Shareem.

“I assure you that I have no power to hurt him,” Elisa said.
“I believe Braden is teasing
me
. I’ll go home and he’ll be finished with
this game.” Why did something inside her just die a little?

Judith gave the table a final swipe. “I don’t think so,
honey. You’ve been bitten, and you’ll want more. I kind of envy you, your first
time with a Shareem, but then I kind of don’t.” She straightened up, folding
her cloth. “It’s going to be rough.”

Before Elisa could ask what she meant, Judith walked away
and Braden returned. “All set, baby. Brianne’s driver’s on his way.” He slid
his arm around Elisa’s waist. “Aiden says hello, but what Ky said was
unrepeatable.”

His arm was strong, both protective and sensual. How
wonderful it would be to have Braden’s arm around her every day of her life,
for Elisa to be so casually intimate with him. She’d never had such thoughts
about a man before—not about anyone before. Only Braden.

It was still hot when they emerged from the bar, though the
night wind was clean, the sandstorm gone. A hovercar moved down the street
toward them.

Braden’s voice was low in her ear. “Kiss me goodbye?”

“I can’t.” But Elisa wanted to; oh, did she want to. “It’s
against the rules.”

“The kiss of a friend. On the cheek. Let me do that.”

That was allowed. Being celibate meant eschewing sex and
sexuality but not affection.

As the lights of the hovercar swept over them, Braden leaned
down to Elisa and kissed her.

His mouth landed half on her cheek, half on the corner of
her lips. His lips were hot, strong, sensual. Braden let the kiss linger,
fingers tracing circles on her back.

He eased his mouth away. His breath touched the moisture his
kiss had left before Braden brushed the moisture away with his thumb.

“Goodbye, Elisa,” he said, voice low. “My beautiful
librarian.”

His eyes were still very blue, the look in them empty.

Elisa touched his hand. “Thank you, Braden. For everything.”

As she stepped away to enter the car, which a chauffeur very
properly opened for her, she remembered Judith’s warning.
It’s going to be
rough.

It would be, Elisa thought as the car slid away. She looked
through the rear window at the solid upright that was Braden, and something
tightened inside her. The road ahead was going to be very rough indeed.

* * * * *

Braden watched the hovercar turn the corner, out of sight,
and he felt a hole burn into his chest.

Damn it. Damn it all to hell.

He wanted her. And Braden couldn’t have her. He’d likely
never see her again.

This was different from the usual might-have-been sexual
encounter, not that Braden’s life had contained many of those. Usually he got
whatever woman he wanted, because they wanted
him
—wanted Shareem—even
before they met him.

This was Elisa, who was fair-minded, sweet, smart and
celibate. Off limits. Fantasy was the closest he could ever come.

Not having her was going to hurt for a long, long time.

While Braden stood eating the dust of the hovercar, a human
man walked past him and into the bar. The bar was closed for the night, but the
guy walked on in like he knew he’d be welcome.

His name was Mitch, and he was an off-world pilot who
stopped by to see Judith whenever he landed on Bor Narga. Braden wasn’t sure
from which world Mitch hailed, and Mitch never enlightened them. He was tall
with light brown hair and amazing green eyes, which made him stand out, even
from the exotic Shareem.

Braden and his friends liked Mitch, though, because he
didn’t view Shareem as animals or less than human or any of that shit. Mitch
regarded them as rivals for Judith’s attention, which was true.

“Well, look what the sandstorm blew in,” Judith said, hand
on one hip. “Sorry, darling, there’s no more ale. I’ve shut down the pumps for
the night.”

“Not what I came for.” Mitch caught Judith as she walked by
and pulled her to him for a long kiss.

A nice kiss. Braden leaned on the doorframe and watched,
feeling a tug of envy. Everyone was pairing off tonight…or tripling-off, in the
case of Aiden, Ky and Brianne.

Was
tripling-off
even a word? His librarian would
know.

Judith came up for air and smiled at Mitch in a way she’d
never smiled at any of the Shareem. “Nice to see you, babe,” she said. “Braden,
you’re still here?”

“Waiting to offer my services as a third.”

Mitch gave Braden a smile, not an unfriendly one. “Sorry,
Braden. I fly solo. Come back tomorrow and we’ll catch up.”

“Right. You two kids have fun.” Braden patted the doorframe,
shoved himself off and walked away.

Alone.

Damn it.

No, not quite alone. Someone dogged his tracks through the
now-busy streets, and wasn’t being very subtle about it.

Patroller? It was past Shareem curfew—not that Shareem
cared, but getting caught meant spending the rest of the night in a cell. A
transparent-walled cell full of cameras, and watching patrollers meant no hope
of jerking off. Shareem had
some
pride.

Braden stepped silently into the shadow of the next doorway.
Whoever it was walked too heavily to be a female patroller, but sometimes they
employed males for routine duty.

A man stopped alongside the shadowed doorway, but it wasn’t
a patroller. He was seven feet tall and heavily muscled—a Shareem—but Braden
had no idea who he was.

That couldn’t be right. Braden knew every Shareem on the
planet.

“Braden, right?” a voice grated. “Thought I recognized you.”

The Shareem stepped fully into the light. He wore off-world
clothes but Braden finally recognized him—he’d known the man twenty-five years
ago but hadn’t seen him since.

“Justin?” Braden said. “What the
fuck
?”

Chapter Six

“I thought Rio lived here,” Justin said as he pulled off his
robes in Braden’s apartment.

Beneath the robes Justin wore a sleeveless, translucent blue
tunic that showed off his muscles. It and his leggings didn’t hide much of him,
which made Braden realize he hadn’t gotten the clothes on Bor Narga.

Braden, still sweating from his encounter with Elisa and the
hot walk home, stripped down to his loincloth. Justin didn’t appear to notice.
For Shareem, naked was natural.

“Rio did live here,” Braden said. “When he left for Ariel,
he gave the apartment to me.”

“Rio went to Ariel?” Justin asked, surprised. “How did he
get permission for that?”

Braden grabbed some ale from the kitchen, handed Justin a
bottle and collapsed onto the shallow couch. At least Justin’s out-of-nowhere
arrival helped deflate Braden’s cock a little.

A
little
. The damn thing was still killing him.

“Rio didn’t get permission,” Braden said. “He fell in love
with a sweetie from Ariel and she smuggled him off planet.”

“In love?”

“Shareem can fall in love, my friend, no matter how much the
scientists at dear DNAmo tried to pound into us that we couldn’t.”

“I know that.” Justin sat on the other chair, but on the
edge, as though unable to relax. “I was just surprised it happened to Rio.”

“You say ‘I know that’ like you have personal experience.”

“Maybe I do.”

Braden took a long drink from his bottle of ale. “Justin,
why the
hell
did you come back to Bor Narga? You were away, free, gone.
Don’t tell me that where they sent you was worse.”

Justin shook his head, looking sad. “No, it was great. The
original purchaser of my services was forced to let me go after the authorities
on Sirius III pointed out that human trafficking, not to mention sex
trafficking, was highly illegal on Sirius. She was pissed as hell and out a
pile of cash.”

“So what did you do? Wander the streets selling your
services?”

He grinned. “Gods, your mind’s in the gutter. No, I got a
job. A real one. Working cargo on the docks at first—I’m strong. Worked my way
up through the ranks and then started my own offloading company. Made good
money.”

Sounded like paradise. “And you gave all this up, why? What,
you were homesick for Bor Narga?”

Justin’s smile faded. “I sold the business when my lover
died. She and I had gone into it together.” He drew a breath. “We were together
fifteen years.”

The quiet way he said it told Braden that Justin knew all
about falling in love. “Damn. Justin, I’m sorry.”

“She’d been sick for a while. When she was gone, I didn’t
have the heart for the business anymore.” Justin dug fingers and thumb into the
corners of his eyes, and they were moist when he looked up again. “That was two
years ago, and still I miss her. I’ve been kind of kicking around ever since.”

Braden hadn’t known Justin well at DNAmo—Justin and Rio had
been close—but they’d all shared the DNAmo experience. Justin had gotten away,
lived and loved and lost like a normal human. It must have been wonderful.

“Still doesn’t explain why you came back here,” Braden said.
“Can’t have been for the weather.”

“Yeah, that was a bitch of a storm we just had.”

“Does your return have anything to do with Rees?” Braden
asked cautiously.

Justin looked puzzled. “Who’s Rees?”

“Ah.” Braden drank more ale. Maybe if he got drunk enough,
he’d forget all about Elisa. Yeah, right. “Never mind.”

Braden wasn’t certain he could trust Justin with the knowledge
that Rees had once been the experiment called
R294E8S. Some
secrets were just too risky. He’d have to find out more about Justin first, and
alert Rees before
he
spilled all to Justin.

“Nope, I didn’t come back for Rees, whoever that is. Or
Rio.”

“No? You said you were looking for Rio.”

Justin shrugged. “I looked up Rio because I need crash
space.”

Braden gestured with his ale. “My crash space is your crash
space. I have a spare bedroom—well, it’s more like a closet with a bed in
it—but you’re welcome to it. Had a pretty lady medic living in it for a while,
but then Calder took her away.”

“Calder? Wasn’t he burned or something?”

“Yep. Fixed by the pretty lady medic. Damn lucky asshole.”

“Man, I need to catch up.”

“You do. Rylan moved way the hell out into the mountains,
and Aiden is fucking Ky.”