Daggertail (5 page)

How the fuck was he supposed to figure her out?

Ignoring her seemed like the best option. After the barracks debacle of that morning, he had come to the conclusion that she wanted nothing more than his protection. That she'd been prepared to fuck him to get it shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering her background.

The sex had been incredible, sure, but he had actually started to like her. From her unpredictable actions to the sense of humor she tried to pretend she didn't have. Then she threw the offer of a freebie in his face.

He'd wanted her to understand that he'd keep her safe regardless of whether or not she offered him sex. But just when he thought they understood each other, he'd been blindsided with the scent of her arousal. How the contrary woman managed to turn it off and on at random baffled him. He'd not run across a creature like her in his thirty years of life.

He gritted his teeth together and keyed the final sequence that would engage the
Daggertail's
autopilot. It took longer than it should have. No doubt she had something to do with that. After squelching his sexual desires for years, he now walked around with a perpetual hard-on.

He already told her she didn't have to go back to Louie's. Why the hell did she still smell like sex about to happen?

That was perhaps the most baffling thing about her. One of the major reasons he went so long between liaisons was because true arousal could not be faked. He couldn't muster any sexual interest in a woman who smelled of boredom and practiced seduction. It was both a blessing and a curse of his heightened senses. Scents didn't lie. People did. When their words said one thing and the body language and scent said another, he went with the unspoken truth.

But there in the cabin of the
Daggertail
, the exotic scent of her arousal swept over his senses as it had back in his dormitory.

He swung his chair around to find her staring. She rested lightly against the worn fabric cushion with one boot propped on the seat and her legs spread wide. Her breaths were deep and even, hitching when she noticed she had his attention. She'd secured her long hair in a spiky knot. The sexy-as-hell look left several strands framing her fine-featured face. Her green eyes were welcoming, pupils dilated. He could see a fine sheen of perspiration on her soft skin. Her scent wasn't lying. Tavish wanted him to spread her legs and plunge his cock into her pussy just as badly as he did.

A smile kicked up one corner of her mouth. Rolling her neck from side to side, she rose from her seat.

“It's kind of hot in here.”

He blinked, wary of misunderstanding the signals she was sending him. “It only feels that way because you're wearing more clothing than you're used to.”

“Could be.”

Tavish took a few steps toward him, stopped, and lifted her arms above her head. She appeared to be stretching out her back. He focused on the way the material of her shirt pulled taut around the fullness of her breasts. Her nipples hardened as he watched, poking through the fabric to beg for his attention.

“How long until we get to Janus 5?”

He forced his brain to process her question. “We'll be at the spaceport by tonight.”

“So we've got a whole day to do nothing?”

Her posture alone gave him half a dozen ideas of how to pass the time. He could start with a taste of her nipples and end with a sample of cream from her sweet pussy.

Xave tightened the leash on his self-control. This was no time to give in to his lust. He'd done that earlier and failed spectacularly. The time had come to find out what this enigmatic woman was getting at.

Tavish turned, giving him an enticing view of her tight ass as she stretched upward and rocked back and forth to loosen up her sides. He couldn't stop watching the way her hips gyrated, with her legs spread just wide enough to accommodate a man his size.

“What do you do to pass the time?” She tossed a teasing look over her shoulder. “Masturbate?”

He held off answering, trying to decide if those had been her words or his mind playing tricks on him. But true to her sassy and unpredictable nature, that was exactly what had come out of her mouth.

His face eased into a grin as she pivoted to face him. “Are you insinuating that a Neanderthal guy like me spends all his free time with his cock in hand?”

“Actually, considering the huge load of cum I coaxed out of you this morning, I think you need to exercise your cock a little more regularly.”

Holy hell. How the fuck had they gone from terse exchanges to blatant sexual innuendo? Had he missed a few key moments somewhere? “Yep, you found me out. I prefer reading to yanking my own shaft.”

Tavish laughed, the husky sound lifting the hair on the back of his neck and forcing him to shift position in order to ease the ache in his groin.

“It sounds to me like a change of reading material is in order, Mr. Kovuchenko.”

Xave sobered. “Don't call me that, Tavish. Xave is fine.”

“Just following protocol. I didn't figure we'd known each other long enough to be considered friends.”

No, they had somehow passed up the friends label and gone straight to an ambiguous
something else
. “It's just Xave. Mr. Kovuchenko is a waste of syllables.”

“Are you saying I'm wasting time with my mouth?”

Xave narrowed his keen gaze. He'd watched this kind of wordplay between couples before. Hers was practiced, polished by a hundred different trial runs. He didn't doubt that any turn of subject could be skillfully twisted into sexual innuendo. Yet even though her words and basic gestures were calculated, an unspoken invitation existed beneath the playful words.

Tavish's pussy was wet. The heat had a scent unlike anything else. She wanted him well enough. He just couldn't decide whether she lacked the words to tell him what she desired, or if she had some other game going on.

Xave decided to rock her a little, throw her off balance. See if he could force her away from this role she seemed so determined to play.

“Awful lot of thinking going on over there, Mr. Kovuchenko. Care to share anything with me?”

“Do you keep your name short to avoid wasting time, Tavish?”

“Nope, I just never had a longer name.”

“Where'd you get Tavish?”

“It was the name of the pirate vessel I came in on.”

Xave racked his brain for a ship that had gone by that name, but nothing came to mind.

“I didn't talk for more than three months when I first got to Louie's. They took to calling me Tavish, and the name stuck.”

“You remember anything else?”

“Nothing I wouldn't rather forget.”

He inhaled deeply, letting the scent of her emotional turmoil wash over him. “You said you lost your family in a raid?”

Her delicate shoulder shrugged. “Doesn't matter now; the cyborg bastards killed them and everyone else I loved.”

As if they didn't have enough awkwardness between them. Here was huge piece of her history that conflicted with his present and future. It was like some cosmic force had twined their fates together in all the wrong places.

Cyborg prejudice wasn't uncommon in the systems. Most came from ignorance, and the rest from Alliance propaganda. Neither had ever made Xave's life easier. Changing the way people thought was a process he and Warrick both had an interest in, and that's what made Mendez so important.

Anger hardened her eyes and turned her posture aggressive. For the span of two breaths, her scent revealed how much the upheaval of her childhood still affected her. Her nostrils flared as she sucked in a deep breath. Her exhalation served to bottle the anger back inside, forcing it under control, and afterward, the arousal in her scent rose again.

Xave relaxed back into his chair, taking a moment to stretch his stiff shoulders. He had her off balance, all right, and now she would try and turn the conversation again.

“That's quite a pose,” she said, voice husky.

The arousal permeating the air around them grew a fraction heavier. Xave offered her a lazy grin and laced his hands behind his head.

“So how come a guy like you is still single?”

Xave threw his arms wide to encompass the interior of the
Daggertail
. “Yeah, what woman would turn down a chance to be mistress of all this?”

“Hey, you're a guy with a job and your own ship. I know a hundred girls who'd throw themselves in your lap.”

“My lap, huh?”

Tavish crept closer, her movements smooth as silk. “Sure, especially when they got a look at that weapon you're packing.”

He snorted. “Weapon?”

“Isn't that how most men think of their equipment?”

He reached out and snagged her arm, pulling her closer. “Weapons are meant to hurt. Did I hurt you earlier?”

A brief cloud passed over her features. “No, it was…different.”

“Different good or different bad?”

There was something she wanted to say; he could see it on the tip of her tongue. But before he could coax it into the open, her lips eased into a sultry smile and she climbed astride his body.

Xave stiffened, his cock hardening to the point of pain. Tavish wriggled a little, settling her knees on either side of the chair. He hissed, the tiny movement creating torturous friction between their clothed bodies.

“How the hell do you function with all this clothing on?” she wondered out loud.

A chuckle escaped his gut, surprising both of them. He leaned away from the chair, careful not to unseat her, then pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside.

Her low sound of pleasure sent another rush of blood to Xave's groin. She placed both hands on his chest and tested the resilience of his skin. Just when he thought he could take no more of her teasing, she leaned down and tasted him.

“Tavish.” He hissed her name from between clenched teeth.

She followed the muscular grooves of his pectorals with her tongue, lingering over his hard nipples. She nipped and bit, scoring his flesh with her teeth and then soothing it with her tongue until he could hardly fight the urge to take control.

When her fingers found the trail of dark hair that began around his belly button and ended at his testicles, she paused.

“So soft,” she whispered.

“No softer than yours.”

“No, but different still.”

He bracketed her narrow hips with his big hands. “Let me show you how different.”

“Xave, wait.”

The sound of his name on her lips made waiting unacceptable. Issuing a low growl, he stood and took her with him.

Nobody had told Xavier Kovuchenko about that particular rule.

“Just wait a minute,” she said.

The feral smile on his face said he was finished with that game. A sense of panic rose inside her. She wasn't supposed to lose control of her lust. She wasn't even supposed to have any lust! This was business.

Her back met the worn red fabric of the bench seat. Before she could utter a single protest, Xave had her buttons undone and her pants at her ankles.

“Let me undo yours,” she begged.

“In a minute.”

How had he managed to unlace her boots so quickly? It'd taken her ten minutes to get the damn things on! They hit the floor with a hollow
thud
, and her pants landed in a twisted heap on top of them.

He groaned. “No underwear?”

“Do you really think I'm going to wear someone else's underwear, Xave?”

His big body shuddered.

Note to self—quit using his name!

Her legs fell open of their own volition, baring her wet pussy for his enjoyment.

“So beautiful,” he murmured.

The gravel in his voice tied her belly in knots. She reached out, but he kept just out of range.

“Please let me. I want your cock in my mouth.”

“Not this time, Tavish.”

She tried to relax. What was she afraid of, anyway? A hundred men had stroked her cunt. What made him any different?

That wasn't hard to answer. Her body wept for him as though someone had tattooed
for Xave's pleasure only
on her pussy. One orgasm and she'd become a damned addict!

He placed one knee on the seat beside her and knelt. His pale eyes found hers and held. “That shirt has to go.”

“But you still have clothes on!”

“Works for me.”

He didn't wait for her cooperation, he just tugged her shirt over her head and whipped it back over his shoulder, out of reach.

Tavish swallowed. This was getting out of control. She needed to get a grip on the situation, get the upper hand and prove she knew how to please him, fuck him senseless until he was too tired to do this to her body.

Xave's bicep bulged as he took his weight on one arm, reaching out with the other. She watched it happen. Time slowed to an agonizing crawl as his hand crept closer, talented fingers extending toward the slick folds between her spread legs.

Tavish nearly came at the first touch. She convulsed, her pussy clenching hard on emptiness as he made one long stroke from her creamy opening to her clitoris.

“So wet, Tav. So ready to come.”

His murmured words made her whimper with desperate need. She spread her legs farther, arching her back and thrusting her ass toward him.

Using two fingers drenched in her juices, he began a series of quick, rhythmic strokes. He straddled her clit, driving her mindless with the need to feel a firm, hard rub on the sensitive bundle of nerves. The wet sound of his fingers fucking her pussy notched her excitement even higher until her hips bucked with each movement.

Fire trickled down the backs of her legs, pooling at the base of her spine and scorching any protests she might have made. The bouncing rhythm jiggled her breasts. Feeling neglected, her pouting nipples plumped and hardened, begging for his attention.

“Touch your breasts, Tavish.”

Countless times she'd been ordered to do just that. This was the first time the instruction raised gooseflesh and released a sweet gush of juice from her pussy.

Keeping her eyes locked with his, Tavish ran her palms lightly up her torso and over her heavy breasts. When her fingers latched onto her flushed pink nipples, he groaned, his hand grinding against her cunt.

She twisted her nipples. The erotic attention enticed them to elongate and throb with pleasure. Tavish dragged in a breath and let go a cry of desperate longing. She'd never felt so hot and achy before in her life. Nothing would do, nothing but the thick crown of Xave's cock pressing into her cunt until he was seated inside her body.

“Please, Xave, fuck me. My pussy aches.”

“Come for me, Tav. Let it go and I'll give you everything you want.”

She shuddered. Her hands stroked her breasts, and her head thrashed back and forth against the cushion. Sweat shone on his forehead. His bare shoulders and chest gleamed in the dim light.

A low, pulling sensation began somewhere below her belly button. It spread until her pussy contracted and her legs went rigid. He slid three long fingers deep inside her channel, pressing them hard against her pelvic bone.

One stroke was all it took. The friction burst, and she broke wide open. Undulating waves of release swept her body. Eyes rolled back into her head, she cried out in shock, awed by the amazing sensations riding her muscles.

“I need you, Tavish.” His voice was rough.

She ripped open the fly of his pants, yanked them down over his hips, and pushed them as far out of the way as she could. He gave a menacing growl before reaching out and grasping her by the hips. Her arms found purchase over the back of the bench seat as he lifted her ass into the air and pulled her legs around his waist.

“Look at me.”

The demanding tone of his voice brooked no argument. Green eyes met blue as he impaled her pussy with one long, hard thrust.

“Xave!”

“Hold tight, Tav.”

The warning was pointless. She wanted him to fuck her hard, to mark her, take her, and possess her body as no one ever had.

The corded arms holding her were rigid. Her ass hovered in midair, her legs wrapped around his waist. He pumped his cock into her pussy, bouncing her body against his and making erotic slapping sounds.

Every stroke sent the crown of his cock pushing deep inside her body. The friction grew unbearable. She closed her eyes and gave over to the wild rhythm of his thrusts. Seconds later her pussy clenched, and another orgasm shattered any semblance of control. He grunted, slamming into her with one last thrust before convulsing. She felt the hot spray of his release deep inside her womb before her body collapsed against his in exhaustion.

She should've felt idiotic about the way he took such pains to keep their bodies joined while maneuvering for a seat. But it felt too right to snuggle against his bare chest, his cock still inside her pussy. She'd never felt such a sense of belonging.

“You okay?”

His words rumbled through his chest, vibrating beneath her ear and tickling her cheek. She nodded. Verbalizing her current state of mind would have taken effort. Besides, she'd just muck it up anyway. She was no good with words.

He sighed.

This was usually where the men wanted to get up and leave. But since Xave had no way to leave with the
Daggertail
halfway between Hyperion 4 and Janus 5, she wondered how things would work.

Tavish began to tense up, waiting for the unspoken signal that would tell her to get up and get dressed. She began to worry whether he might be annoyed with the way she'd collapsed on top of him. Tightening her tummy, she attempted to put a little distance between them.

Xave's hand pressed against her back, mashing her closer to his warm chest. “Not a chance.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means relax and quit overanalyzing everything.”

A smile tickled its way onto her face. “What makes you think I'm analyzing anything?”

“Just a feeling.”

She considered this. “Is that how a guy in your line of work survives?”

He made a low noise of agreement that reverberated throughout her body and created a delicious feeling. The man was a walking powerhouse. But his rough-hewn exterior gave no hint to the complexity hidden beneath muscle and bone.

The hand pressed against her back relaxed when she did. Moments later he began threading his fingers through her tangled hair in an alien yet oddly satisfying fashion. How was it possible to feel cherished by a man she hardly knew? Tavish wasn't even certain Xave liked her. They had more communication problems than the Interplanetary Senate.

“I've never done this before,” she said after several minutes passed in silence.

“Done what?”

“Just laid here.”

“I seem to recall someone using the term
snuggling
.”

Tavish stiffened. “Someone as in some other woman?”

He chuckled. “You're not jealous, are you?”

“Of course not. That would be ridiculous.”

“I can't recall spending much time snuggling with a woman. Dating isn't easy in my line of work.”

The urge to giggle struck her. “Mine either.”

He joined in the laughter, his rich baritone blending with her voice.

“You're kind of nice when you're not growling at me,” she said.

“Wow, was that a compliment?”

“I suppose you could take it as one.”

Silence stretched between them. The ship's drive hummed in the background. The cabin was comfortable, and Xave's body heat kept the chill at bay. Her eyes had just begun to drift closed when he spoke again.

“You need a new line of work.”

And there it was. He had gone back to that “having-higher-standards” thing.

Well, fuck that. She was what she was.

“Tavish?”

“It's just a job.”

“It doesn't have to be anything.”

“I'm not in a position to choose whatever career catches my fancy.”

“There are plenty of independent women out there who don't have to sell their bodies to get by.”

She flushed with embarrassment. Why did this man have the ability to make her ashamed of something she'd long ago come to terms with? If she was fine with being a whore, why should he care? And she was fine with it. Wasn't she?

“I even know a few female bondsmen.”

“Warrick hiring women? I find that hard to believe.”

“Don't be such a skeptic. The women in this trade are damn good at what they do.”

“Most women are good at what they choose to do,” she said quietly, “regardless of what it is.”