Dangerously Hers (16 page)

She wasn’t as tall as the females of Sonis but she wasn’t much shorter either. Her butt was perfectly round, with slender hips. Her waist was small and led up to perky breasts. Her hair, which she usually wore short and spiked, now lay flat in damp, soft waves on her scalp.

“I like your hair,” he said. She turned around and stared at him, searching his face. “It is very appealing that way.”

Immediately, she used her fingers to comb her hair up to spikey points.

He chuckled. “I like it that way as well.”

Jess growled low in her chest. “Stop playing with me.”

“I’m not playing with you. I like your hair either way.” He indicated to JB’s vacant blanket. “Are you feeling better?” He sat down and waited for her.

She hesitated before joining him. “Listen, thanks for trying to make me forget about Marcie and her bullshit but what happened before can’t happen again.”

“Why not?”

“You’re my boss. That means we have to keep our relationship purely business. And I have to learn how to control my temper.”

“But—”

She shook her head, not letting him finish. “There can’t be any buts. We both have weaknesses. I can’t deny that. I like what I do here. And I can’t afford to let you or Marcie screw it up for me. If you think it’s going to be a problem, let me know now.”

“What if Eva gave you a different job? I would no longer be your boss.”

“If you’re no longer my boss then I might as well meet up with Ryan on
The Vengeance II
.” She raised a shoulder. “I always have a job with him.”

“You are not to leave Sonis,” he bit out.

She sat back on her elbows. “So this means you’re still my boss?”

“Of course.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well then,
boss
, don’t forget Taio wants you to join him for the conference call with the Zarcarians today. Mazel seems to think you all can convince them the uninhabited lands by the Singha Ocean would be a perfect vacation settlement.”

He and Taio had been working nonstop to market the unsettled lands of Sonis to various species. It had been Ship who suggested the lands by the Singha Ocean as a settlement for the Zarcarians. Their species held water as a sacred element. It wouldn’t be hard to build dwellings for them in one section of the ocean and still have plenty of room for other designs.

The only problem would be meeting all the Zarcarians’ provisions. As a water species, they would require unencumbered access to a majority of the ocean and seeing how Sonis had only one ocean, the terms by both sides were steep in negotiations.

He glanced over to Jess. “What do you think?”

She stood and adjusted her clothing. “It doesn’t matter what I think.”

She seemed not to care but he could tell she had a thought about the Zarcarians. Even though she had been technically off work these past two rotations, her heat signature had shown up in her office more times than once, where he knew she spent her free time poring over his records, learning about Sonis and the interests that Sonis held.

“Your thoughts are very important. As my advisor it’s important to me what you think. Your input could be vital in the decisions I make.”

She watched him briefly before finally answering. “I’ve never been to the Singha Ocean and I’ve never formally met a Zarcarian before. But I do understand what Taio is trying to accomplish here. If they’re a safe species and they have the potential to bring business and jobs to Sonis then I think you’ll need to make them an offer they can’t refuse.” She pinched her nostrils together. “Even if it means taking a loss right now,” she said nasally.

“What’s the matter with your nose?”

She scooted away from him. “Nothing, well…the smell.”

He sniffed the air. What smell was she referring to?

Finally she released her nose and waved her hand. “Um…it’s gone. I’m fine,” she said.

“Are you holding your breath?”

She shook her head.

Not convinced, he looked around then stilled. Was it him? “Is my smell offensive to you?”

“Offensive? No.”

He held up an arm and sniffed. He didn’t stink. “Then what is it?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

When he lifted his other arm to smell underneath, she stopped him. “You’re causing a scene. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

He followed behind her as she started back to the palace.

“Take the loss, Rasha.”

“Why would we want to take a loss?”

“Of course you wouldn’t
want
to take a loss but sometimes in business, to get on top, you have to. You take a loss now but what you gain in the long run will more than outweigh what you’ve lost.”

“I don’t know.”

“If they don’t take the deal then what? The land will still be uninhabited and jobs aren’t being created. If jobs aren’t being created then there’s no income here, no growth. As much as these ali…I mean people love Taio, no one is going to stay if there’s no opportunity for growth or prosperity. Everyone will eventually leave.”

Rasha thought about it. He’d never seen it that way and he was sure Taio hadn’t either. “You give me a lot to consider,” he replied. “When am I scheduled to meet with Taio?”

Jess clicked on the timepiece on her com-link. “After lunch.”

“Good. We’ll take a trip to the ocean. It’ll give you an idea of what we’re putting on the table.”

“What? Now? But I have a lot of work to do.”

Holding on to her elbow, he steered her in the opposite direction of their offices. “Whatever you have to do can wait.”

“But—”

He pressed his com-link. “I need a royal transport ready at the main transport bay.”

“Are you traveling off-world, sir?” dispatch asked.

“No, we’re traveling to the eastern edge of Singha Ocean.”

She looked around, flustered. “We can’t leave right now. What about the conference call?”

“We can always join in from the site. It might be an added benefit to negotiate via live feed.”

Looking up at him, she cocked her head to the side. “You know, you might actually be right.”

Chapter Sixteen

Her heart leapt with relief as the hum of the transporter finally began to die down. Despite her best efforts, she could not hold her breath the entire trip. She couldn’t even keep her eyes off him.

She could blame needing to breathe on her stupid lungs. But there wasn’t any excuse as to why she couldn’t stop watching him.

Rasha hadn’t made it easy for her to ignore him either. He had spent the ride with a stupid grin on his face and laughing at jokes that apparently only he knew the punch line to. “What did the
Thorium
worm say to the
Islay bucolic
?” When she stared at him blankly he replied, “That’s my tail, not yours!” He then slapped his leg and laughed so hard he began to choke.

She couldn’t take it anymore. His jokes—correction, bad jokes—and all the smiling and laughing put her on edge.

She fumbled with the release latch on her harness and scrambled from her seat to the door. She opened the hatch just as the transporter was coming to a rolling stop on plush green grass.

Without waiting for the transporter to stop completely, she stepped out and down, losing her footing.

“Shit,” was all she could get out as she tumbled to the grass, landing on her stomach. Catching her breath, she dug her fingers into the dirt underneath her. Her mind traveled to playgrounds and parks…and her dad.

Rasha’s strong hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her to her feet as though she weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. Righting her footing, Jess yanked her arm out of his grip.

“I believe you humans would say thank you.”

She tried not to look at him. “Thanks.”

Jesus, why is he so damn fine?
The rays reflecting from the suns illuminated his skin. His normally golden tone appeared more radiant than before. His black hair, which he had pulled back in a ponytail, shined and his eyes…the amber in them twinkled and danced in the light.

When his perfect lips smirked and a fine black brow cocked in question, she tore her gaze away.

“Most would have waited for the transporter to make a complete stop before jumping from its doors.”

She brought her arm up to shield the brightness of the suns. “Yeah, well
most
haven’t been trapped in a transporter with a giant.”

“You could have hurt yourself.”

She smiled as brightly as she could. “It’ll take more than a tumble out of a cruising transporter to twist me up.”

He shook his head. “I actually don’t doubt it.” He started down a path made of stones. “Follow me, the shoreline is this way.”

“There was this time when we all had to rescue JB from a rogue brothel. They had him trapped there.”

“Who would willingly trap JB in a brothel? It seems as though it would be bad for business to have one person wearing out every female there.”

“That’s just it. He wasn’t fucking anyone. They had him drugged so he only
thought
he was but these succubus things were really siphoning his energy. We had to sneak in there and get him. Kyle, one of the crew, was almost killed.”

“It sounds very dangerous. Your captain should have never had you in such a situation.”

She snorted. “There was this other time when I had to infiltrate a luxury transport vessel. I planted explosives in the cargo area. It took longer than expected.” She pinched her fingers together. “I was this close to becoming space trash but the haul was worth it.”

“I don’t understand why you were put in harm’s way.”

She shrugged. “I had to pull my weight.”

He shook his head. “Dangerous, everything you’ve done before now was too dangerous. But I am glad you have come through the worst of it unscathed.”

She followed on his heels. “Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say unscathed but I’ve survived.”

“Is that what you live for, Jess? To survive?”

“What else is there to live for?”

“A mate.”

Yeah right.
Of course he would say something as corny as that.

He turned around to briefly stare at her. He started to say something but continued down the path.

As they progressed farther, the light dimmed as the overhanging trees blocked out more of the sky. The trees and bushes around them teemed with the sounds of alien wildlife. The shrieking of an unknown source brought her closer to his back, where she accidently trampled on his heels.

He stopped to give her an appraising look. “No need to fret. The predators do not show themselves until after the suns are no longer visible.”

Predators.

“I’m not fretting, I never fret.” She added the last part with a scowl. “You have weapons.” She indicated the blaster and
jango
he had strapped to his muscled body. “And I have my blaster.” Just for added comfort she let her hand rest on the hilt of the weapon strapped to her thigh.

He let out a deep chuckle. “We’re prepared for battle.” He winked and continued down the path. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“
Pft
, I don’t need protecting.”

The loud shriek sounded again, this time closer than before, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She scanned the trees for its source.

His chuckles brought her attention back to him. “I think your sense of self-preservation has other ideas.”

She followed his gaze to where she had her fingers hooked into the back of his pants. She quickly pulled away. “Holy fuck,” she muttered. “Why are we in a fuckin’ jungle anyway? I didn’t know Sonis even had one. I thought we were going to the ocean.”

He started down the winding path again. “This hardly constitutes a jungle. The jungles on Ahbakalan, now those are jungles.” He tilted his head in thought. “I think I’ll take you there one day.”

She screwed her face into a frown. “Why in hell would I want to go there?” Especially since she was just getting used to Laconia and now Sonis. Another new planet? No.

He held a low-hanging branch out of the way. “Because you’ll be with me,” he said, as if that was all she needed to hear.

Whatever.

“Since this is the only real water source on the moon, vegetation grows abundant here,” he explained.

The path widened as they reached the opening. Finally she stood once again under the sun’s blaring heat. Beautiful blue waves beat against the shoreline. A breeze whipped across her body.

The view almost reminded her of home, a perfect picture of a beautiful California shoreline. That is, if you took away the two suns high in an orange sky and the dusky-brown planet looming there as well.

She closed her eyes to block out the visual and inhaled deeply. It wasn’t salt in the air she smelled but…she didn’t mind the alien scent at all.

It was perfect.

“And you said the Zarcarians have been here?”

“Of course.”

“They’re fools for not jumping on this. I would love to build a house here.” She opened her eyes and walked forward. She stopped just where the water met the tips of her shoes and receded again. What she really wanted to do was slip them off and immerse her bare feet in the water.

“They are a very quiet species. Their concern is not with the location.”

Jess gave a long, sweeping glance of the ocean and the land it breached against. “Rescind your offer.”

“What? Why would we do that? What about your plan of cutting the price to make the offer more appealing to them?”

She laughed. “That was before I saw this place. They are playing you and Taio for fools.” When Rasha bristled and puffed out his chest, she added, “Look at this place, Rasha. You’re practically giving this land away. I haven’t been to as many worlds as you have but I can spot a prime location just like anyone else. They want this land. They’re just trying to swindle more out of the deal.”

He cradled his chin in his hand and stroked his jaw. “We always thought this was prime land but they’ve always turned us down.”

“They’re using the oldest trick in the world—well, universe, I guess now. They’re working off your desperation to open Sonis to settlers. Forget what I said earlier. Rescind the offer and I bet they’ll come knocking down your doors to make a deal.”