Glenn, Stormy and Hagen, Lynn - Pax's Blues [Lady Blue Crew 2] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)

Lady Blue Crew 2

STORMY GLENN AND LYNN HAGEN

Copyright © 2011

Chapter 1

Pax stared out of the porthole as the Lady Blue began its descent. His fingers curled around the rim of the window, watching Paktil come into view. Pax hated this part of living on a ship. He’d give anything to stay onboard, but he knew that being part of the crew, his duties didn’t always allow him this.

Hell, Pax would scrub the ship from tip to retractable ramp if he could stay onboard. He really didn’t trust people, but Pax was more comfortable with the men on this ship. He at least knew them—somewhat.

“We’ll be landing in a few minutes. Aren’t you excited?” Gigi, the cook on the ship, yapped eagerly around Pax. “Paktil has way more sights to see and things to do than End of the Line. I have a project I want to start, and you’re just the man to help me.” Gigi sang the last part.

Pax shook his head as he groaned inwardly. He wasn’t thrilled about this, more like dreading it. Gigi seemed excited, and Pax
wanted
to be, he just couldn’t find it in him. The bouncing human grabbed Pax’s hand and dragged him down to the retractable ramp.

When the door lowered, Pax’s nerves wound up tight, making his stomach cramp. He’d already been left behind once before and didn’t want a repeat performance. Not that the crew had done it on purpose, but still. It didn’t feel good to be left behind, even by accident. In fact, it downright sucked. And they were on the planet he’d accidently gotten left behind on? Was he nuts? Pax had to be to even consider leaving the ship.

“Do we have to be out here long? We’re gonna get the stuff we need and come right back, right?” Pax asked as his eyes darted around at all the people walking around the largest marketplace Pax had ever laid eyes on.

“Oh sure.” Gigi giggled. “We just have to get what’s on my list, and we can come right back. I promise.”

Pax’s eyes rounded as Gigi unrolled a piece of paper the length of his arm. They might as well rent rooms. That list was going to take forever to fill. “What’s this project?” Pax asked. Maybe they could skip the market.

“Hydroponics lab,” Gigi said proudly. Then he frowned, his lower lip curling up in disgust. “I hate that damn replicator.”

“Hydroponics lab?” Pax blinked as his attention snapped back to Gigi. “Do you even know anything about growing plants?”

Gigi snorted. “No.”

Pax shook his head. He would never understand Gigi. The man was as nice as he could be, but he had a screw loose somewhere. Maybe Livewire could tighten it up…or replace it.

“It’s a small list. We can handle it.” Gigi pointed to the items on his large list. “But we will need to get the starter kit as well.”

Pax groaned. Getting everything they would need to start from scratch was going to take hours. He’d had built a hydroponics before, not on the scale Gigi was talking about, but Pax knew this wasn’t going to be a quick trip to the market.

They rented a shuttle cart, filling it as they walked through the market. Pax had never seen so many expensive things in one place at the same time before.

“Can we afford all of this?” he asked worriedly. Pax had lived on the streets before joining the crew of the Lady Blue. He wasn’t used to purchasing things he needed, let alone what he wanted. This was an odd feeling for him, and he worried that they would run out of credits before they were even halfway through their list.

Gigi hummed along as they gathered the soil and seeds they would need. Pax knew they also needed the special bulbs to grow the vegetables and fruit. Starting from scratch took a lot more than just grabbing the stuff from the marketplace.

“Sure, Crank and Colt are out doing a job now. We’ll replenish the credits with no problem. Besides, we still have a good amount of credits from the blast job on Beta Five.”

Pax’s belly fluttered at Colt’s name. The hawk shifter always made him nervous. Pax could read mists—almost like auras—around people, telling him if they were good or bad. Colt didn’t have a mist. That worried Pax.

“How’s the shopping going?” Remy, the commander of the Lady Blue, asked as he neared them.

Pax liked Remy. He had an honorable blue mist. Pax knew he could trust Remy.

“Peachy keen,” Gigi said as he leaned into his mate, puckering his lips for a kiss that Remy granted him.

Pax glanced away. He’d never had anyone want to be near him before—until Colt. And the shifter always made him nervous.

“All done, commander.”

Pax gulped when he heard Colt’s deep and gravelly voice. His skin began to tingle now that he knew the man was near. There was something compelling about Colt, but hell if Pax knew what it was. Pax stole a glance in Colt’s direction, immediately wishing he hadn’t. The shifter’s sapphire-blue eyes locked onto Pax’s, and then he gave Pax a friendly smile.

Pax blushed and lowered his eyes, unused to anyone paying him close attention. His fingers itched to run through Colt’s gorgeous black hair.
Someone shoot me now, and put me out of my libido-driven misery.

“Hey.” Colt smiled down at Pax, making panic rob him of a reply.

Pax just nodded and hoped that Colt would accept that as a reply. He felt flustered, anxious, but strangely, not in a bad way. He didn’t feel unsafe. Pax knew part of that came from being surrounded by huge men. Remy and Colt wouldn’t let anything happen to him—well, at least Pax knew Remy wouldn’t. The jury was still out on Colt.

Pax frowned as he glanced over at Colt through the fall of his hair. The man didn’t have a mist. That was so wrong. Pax had never met anyone that didn’t have an aura unless that person was dead. Pax inhaled deeply. Nope, Colt most certainly wasn’t dead. In fact, he smelled delicious.

“Are you all done with your shopping, angel?” Remy asked.

“Oh yeah, almost,” Gigi said holding up his list. He pointed to the last few items that had yet to be crossed off. “I still have one or two things to get.”

Remy took the list and looked it over then tore it in half, handing one piece to Colt and holding on to the other piece. “Why don’t you and I get this half, and Colt and Pax can get the other items. It will cut off half our time.”

Gigi beamed and wiggled in place.

Pax groaned. He so did not need to be alone with Colt—really. Time spent alone with Colt was something he had been avoiding for weeks. As much as Pax wanted to be with Colt, he knew if he did, he wouldn’t be able to hide how he felt about the big man.

And the scary part was that he wasn’t sure how he felt. His stomach always felt a little funny around Colt, and it was hard to breathe. The mere sight of Colt was enough to take every last breath of air from Pax’s lungs.

“Want to bet on who can get their list done first?” Colt asked.

A burst of laughter shot out of Pax’s mouth when Colt wiggled his eyebrows. He flushed and slapped his hand over his mouth when Colt looked in his direction, a lone eyebrow raised. He had giggled. How flipping embarrassing.

“What are the stakes?” Remy asked with a gleam in his eyes.

“What do you think, Pax?” Colt asked. “Dinner and a vid?”

Pax shrugged, although the idea of curling up on the couch with Colt in the media room intrigued him right down to his toes. He loved watching the vids in the media room. He especially liked it when everyone sat and watched them on the huge couch. As big as it was, it wasn’t nearly big enough to fit them all properly. It was a great excuse to sit close to Colt.

“Dinner and a vid it is,” Remy said with an air of challenge to his voice.

Gigi let out a whoop loud enough to make Pax’s eyes widen, grabbed Remy’s hand and started dragging him through the marketplace. Colt chuckled and held out the list in his hand.

“I haven’t got a clue where any of this stuff would be located. Any ideas?”

Pax smiled as he took the list and quickly read it over. He looked up and glanced around the marketplace. “I think I have a few ideas.”

“Then let’s do it. We can’t let Remy and Gigi win,” Colt teased him.

“No, we can’t.” Pax gave Colt a small smile as his face heated. He’d blushed more times around the man standing next to him than he did his entire life. His hand slightly shook as he gazed over the list.

“Okay, it says we need cucumber and tomato seeds.” Pax pointed his finger at Gigi’s writing. Colt leaned down to look closer, and Pax had to swallow back a moan. His hand began to shake more noticeably with Colt being so close.

When Colt reached out to steady his hand, Pax thought he was going to cream his pants right there in the middle of the market. Colt’s thumb ran over the back of Pax’s hand, making Pax’s knees clack together. This was going to be torturous.

“What’s your plan, little bird?”

Pax blinked at the large hand covering his and couldn’t remember his own name. The man smelled like a shower of stars and a dozen rainbows. For the first time in his life, Pax moved a fraction of an inch
closer
to another man willingly.

Colt didn’t move a muscle nor did he make a sound. It was as if he was letting Pax make the moves. Pax whimpered when a hand was placed on the small of his back, pushing him into Colt’s personal space. Pax was in a daze as he licked his dry lips, wondering what it would feel like to be kissed.

“You’re in the middle of the road!” someone shouted. The spell shrouding Pax’s brain shattered, and the noises of the market came rushing back. Pax quickly took a step back when he noticed how close he’d been standing to the shifter.

Colt cleared his throat. “The list.”

Pax nodded as he panted. “Yeah, the list.”

* * * *

Colt wanted to walk over to the loudmouth and knock him on his ass. For the first time since meeting his mate, Pax seemed receptive. Too bad it was in the middle of a damn market. “We should find this stuff before we end up cooking dinner for Remy and Gigi.”

Colt said the words, but in his heart he knew he wouldn’t mind spending time with Pax. For weeks the little guy had dodged him at every turn. It would be nice to be in the same room with Pax for more than a few minutes.

“Okay. I still have a few ideas,” Pax said as he held the list up. “We could find someone who knows this place like the back of his hand and have him help us. How does that sound?”

Colt glanced around and saw an errand boy standing by one of the stands. He lifted his arm up and waved the young man over. The kid looked weary but headed their way.

“I’ll give you five credits if you can get what’s on this list in ten minutes,” Colt offered.

The kid snorted and raked his eyes over Colt. “Five? I’ll do it for twenty and not a credit less.”

“That’s more than a few of these items cost.” Colt growled at the small hustler. He knew times were hard everywhere, but what happened to doing shit honestly? Was that out of style?

“Take it or leave it.”

“Anok?” Pax said as he stepped around Colt. “Is that you?”

Colt gave a low warning growl. He wasn’t sure how his mate knew this guy, but Pax was
his
. Hawk shifters were very territorial. Colt didn’t even like Pax around all these people as it was, but to have someone he knew standing so close by, someone Colt didn’t know, made his talons start to emerge.

“Pax!” The short man ran to Pax, his arms outstretched for a hug. Colt stepped in front of his Pax, the young man running into his chest and falling back on his ass.

“What the hell, man?” The guy climbed to his feet and dusted his ass off as he glared up at Colt. “I was trying to give my long-time friend a hug, not suck his damn tongue down my throat.”