Nell Thorn (7 page)

“Did you?” Nell rubbed her nipples as if she had an itch, and watched the sweat break out on Rowe’s forehead. “Fuck him, I mean. That’s the problem, isn’t it, Rowe? Is that the real reason you’ve not come near me since we’ve been in Rim space? You’re still hung up on the mysterious Angel.”

“For the record, he’s nothing to me. We were finished a long time ago.”

Result!

Nell put her breasts away with a triumphant snap of her top at his admission. “So there
is
something there. I’ve never seen such a reaction to someone who apparently means nothing.”

“Shut up, Nell.”

“Fuck off, Rowe. I’ve cooperated with you so far, but, with my current prospects potentially being reduced to becoming a sex vegetable for the rest of my life, I’m thinking now might be a good time to leave. Astride some Rim pirate, humping my way back to Inner Galaxy space if necessary.”

“Nell, shut the fuck up!” He stared at her, his expression one of controlled fury. “And who has been talking to you about what happens to the victims of
mindelves
?”

“It was mentioned in passing,” Nell snapped, not wanting to get off the subject of Angel. In fact, it had been mentioned several times in passing as she’d stood talking to Danyeo, and the fact that people were already making the application to Danyeo for her post-procedure ‘care’ was a little unnerving.

It wasn’t going to happen. She was Galaxy Elite Fleet; even Rowe wouldn’t be able to stop her if she decided to go. Rowe cocked his head to one side, almost as if he could read her thoughts. “Don’t even think of leaving—I’ll hunt you down. I have before and I will again if you make it necessary for me to do so.”

“You really are a spineless shit.” Nell stood toe to toe in front of Rowe and waved one finger in his face. “If you want Angel, for fuck’s sake, go after him. But don’t lie to me… Don’t make me into a fool, because I’m not. Don’t pretend to be attracted to me when the person you really want is him.”

Rowe looked at her, his face twisting with a range of emotions. Nell felt a wave of anger rise up within her. “Don’t bother to deny anything… I saw you with…him, with Angel.”

“Angel?”

She nodded, her lips folded tightly shut. She wasn’t about to say just how vividly the image was burned into her memory from the hall. The two men, one so fair, the other so dark, locked in a passionate kiss. Their jaws working as they moved their tongues together in a mind-numbing embrace. Hot.

“I think Angel might have been one of the people that…”

“Betrayed you?”

“Failed to come after me,” he amended.

It was an awful prospect. Yet Rowe was still involved enough to try to suck his face off.

“Do you miss him?” Nell leaned against the wall, one leg crossed over the other, aware of a bubble of hurt forming in her chest as her disappointment sank in properly. “Want a comfort fuck? I’m supposed to be pretty good at it, I’ll have you know.”

It was all Fleet rumour, of course.

“Nell Thorn, I bet you are.” Rowe seemed torn between shock and amusement, a reluctant laugh coming from him as he regarded her. “You really are beyond anything I’ve ever known before.”

“That’s me,” replied Nell, her brassy façade sliding back into place so securely she could almost hear it click—it was rejection, nicely phrased, but rejection nonetheless. “Beyond anything. But you saved my life, and a Thorn never owes a favour. I’m here to pay back that debt and I’m almost done. I’ll give my evidence to the Council, then I expect to be taken back to Fleet space, Rowe. Is that clear?”

She turned to show him the door but found her arm caught in a firm grip.

“What about your itch?”

“What itch?” She turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. “Oh, that. Funnily enough, it’s gone.” Nell was not about to be Rowe’s pity fuck, or a substitute for the drop-dead gorgeous Angel, without them both being honest about it.

“That’s a shame, because I’ve got an itch, too,” Rowe replied. “But it’s an itch I’ve had for quite some time now. Ever since I was placed in a cage by a rather beautiful, sexy as hell Fleet Captain, and it’s left me with a dilemma.”

“What kind of dilemma?” she had to ask.

“Kiss…or spank.”

Nell could only blink at him.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You over my knee, those gorgeous buttocks trembling in anticipation of the first strike”—his smile was pure sex—“or those legs of yours tied apart so I can kiss you into a million little pieces.”

Good Lord. Was this Rowe talking?

The same man she had convinced herself wanted her for nothing other than her ability to give evidence. Nell moved her mouth, but no sound came out.

“Speechless? Good. I can think of other uses for that mouth of yours, Nell, and they don’t include talking“—he quirked an eyebrow—“or swearing.”

She couldn’t help but lick her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. All she could think of was Rowe’s cock buried deep in her mouth, sucking it and licking it. Maybe with Rowe returning the favour with his face buried between her legs. Her clit pulsed to life even as the thought came to her mind.

“What about Angel?” She cursed the fact that her voice came out so weakly.

“What about Angel?” Rowe studied her face. “Nell?”

He lifted a finger and smeared the paint from her lips. “I like the idea of spanking you. Until you are in tears, until all this paint runs off you because of the sweat and emotion pouring down your face. Delicious.”

He ended his words on a sibilant hiss. Nell knew she was watching him as if mesmerised, but still she seemed unable to pull her gaze from his.

It sounded…amazing. The slow-burning curl of desire started to unfold once more deep within her abdomen, her skin prickling as if it was being licked by fire.

His hand traced the line of her face, then moved down to cup one of her breasts, a finger brushing the nipple. “But not even that could be as delicious as releasing these from this damn thing.” He turned her round and bent her forwards, rubbing her breast through the thin material of her top. “Or taking you any way I choose, again and again, until you’ve come so hard that you can’t speak anymore.”

Nell attempted to straighten up, desire immediately twisting in her gut, but he ran his hand up her back to bury it in her short, blonde hair. She was held back against a body as hot as a furnace by an arm that felt like a steel band. She wriggled in a half-hearted effort to get free, but was stopped instantly by his hand sliding up over her ribcage, his fingers planting themselves firmly between her breasts.

“It sounds”—Nell gulped—“fantastic, but I am concerned I’m simply a rather second-rate stand-in for Angel, who is—”

“Nowhere near as gorgeous as you are, Nell. Have you no idea?” Rowe groaned as he turned her round again, then pulled off the support vest, her breasts bouncing free as he did so.

He fell to his knees before her, licking, pulling the ends of her nipples gently with his teeth, holding her up as her legs buckled. A wave of lust swept her from head to toe. It was as if the tips of her breasts were connected directly to her clit, and every suck, every pull of his mouth on her nipples made her moist with expectation and excitement.

“Oh, yes,” Nell gasped as she felt the thickness of his erection against her leg. Lust unfurled within her, the greedy need to possess him. Her momentary exclamation became a moan of need as he ran his tongue across her sensitised flesh.

“Trust me to look after you,” he whispered, suddenly urgent as he reached beneath her breasts and ran his hands over the soft skin of her ribs onto her back. “Let me show you…take care of you.”

“Oh…” Her sighs vibrated through them both as she responded to his touch, the thought of simply surrendering to someone else the most intoxicating thing of all. “Yes,” she pleaded, “yes.”

“Nell…” The groan in his voice as he said her name made her catch her breath in response. Emboldened, Nell, crouching, moved her hand downwards to explore his stomach, then his cock. He laughed, gasped, then moved his attention to her mouth, cupping her face and kissing her deeply and slowly. The kiss went on and on, burning away every doubt and care until all that was left was their mutual desire. As she inhaled the heady scent of him, all the remaining barriers in her mind seemed to melt away. All that mattered was her and Rowe.

“Tell me,” he urged her huskily, “tell me what you want.”

“You.” She moaned the words. “I want you. I’ve wanted you so badly right from the start. Right from when you almost got yourself killed because you wouldn’t give in to those bastards on Egalita.”

“Then what are you waiting for, Nell?” he muttered as she pressed urgently against him, shocking sensations running throughout her body. The passion that simmered between them had been there from the beginning. In a moment of intense clarity, Nell looked up into his face and knew that things would never be the same for her again. Rowe had changed the heart of her forever. She shut her eyes, lost in the experience of this man wanting her, her instinctive movements and her response to his own taking them beyond what was sensible, what was advisable. If this was kissing the thought of spanking made Nell almost lose control altogether.

Rowe pulled her down beside him and pushed her legs wide, moving his body to slide his mouth over her clitoris, then rolling her so she was facing his cock with him lying on the floor beneath her.

What was a girl to do? She took his cock in her mouth, gagging slightly as she swallowed almost his entire length. Then she withdrew, rubbing his shaft with the surface of her tongue, skimming the tip around the edge of the head. It felt surprisingly smooth and tasted pleasantly salty.

Rowe groaned, thrust slightly, then pushed her legs even further apart as he ran his tongue across her clitoris, into her vagina. Holding her clit gently in his teeth, he sucked it hard.

Nell screamed.

The climax, when it came, was exquisite and complete, a release of shattering intensity. Nell clung to Rowe, shuddering with each continuing stroke of his tongue. As she came she continued to suck and lick him, even as another orgasm rolled through her body. With a deep groan Rowe came in her mouth.

“Swallow it,” he groaned against her.

Like a good girl, Nell swallowed, still sobbing through the last of her own orgasm. The aftershocks of passion finally gave way to languor, and languor to reality as she brushed the hair back from her eyes and turned her gaze to connect with Rowe’s. His eyes were fathoms deep, an unreadable, impenetrable grey.

It came to Nell on a wave of suffocating awareness that she would never be able to escape Rowe, because wherever she went, however far away, he would still be there, in her head and, quite possibly, her heart.

Shit.

Chapter Ten

Nell awoke as a hand clamped down on her mouth and both arms were seized and borne above her head.

The world was an inky black, but seemed to be packed full of any number of bodies, all intent on pressing in on her, keeping her silent and stopping her from moving. She was grabbed by the back of her neck, thrown from the bed to the floor, then dragged, naked, backwards across the room by the unseen hands.

Nell’s feet were bare, still warm from where she had been sound asleep after her encounter with Rowe, but she still kicked out, up, down, to the side. Heel first, punch-kicks aiming to hurt her assailants and make them cry out when she could not. She hit a cloth-covered knee with a satisfying crack, then struck again to make contact with what felt like someone’s groin or stomach. The resulting curse was silenced by a barked command from somewhere near her head. Nell heightened her efforts to no avail. A bag was pulled over her head and shoulders, down as far as her buttocks. The rough warmth of the cabin floor gave way to the cool smoothness of the external corridor and she scuffed her heels as she was half dragged, half carried away, trying to gain any sort of purchase in order to start her fight back.

An injection pressed against her right thigh. There was a sharp sting as a cool fluid was injected under her skin and dispersed into her bloodstream. It had to be some type of tranquiliser.

A horrible thought occurred to her.
She was being taken for the mindelve despite Rowe’s vows and promises to the contrary.
And now time was of the essence because the bastards had drugged her.

The sudden terror that swept through her body gave her arms and legs an adrenaline rush of raw power. She threw herself into a frenzy of kicking and as the floor continued to slip past her flailing limbs she twisted first one way, then the other in an effort to get free. Nothing worked—all her efforts brought her was a lot of loud swearing from her abductors and a heavy-handed blow to one side of her jaw that made stars appear before her eyes even inside the stifling thickness of the bag over her head.

Then there was a shout.

Nell was dropped to the floor like a sack of stones, where she landed flat on her back, unable to breathe in the aftermath of the impact. The combination of the injection and being winded meant that she started to lose consciousness, a rushing in her ears replacing the loud noises of a serious skirmish, whilst she was still trying to draw breath. As she did so, she had the peculiar feeling she was falling backwards, although her brain registered she was on the floor.

“Nell?”

Someone was calling her name repeatedly, but she was unable to respond. The roaring in her ears finally claimed her before she had a chance to draw one precious breath.

* * * *

She woke in a state of panic, her hands flying out to steady herself, but she was already lying down.

“Nell?”

It was Rowe’s Angel who was sat before her, hands on his knees, watching her with a predatory blue gaze. “Are you okay?”

Nell looked at him suspiciously before giving a reluctant nod.

“Good.” Angel climbed to his feet, lean and graceful, and moved over to a set of controls to study them further.

They were in a location she did not recognise. Nell looked about herself quickly, her eyes running along the banks of controls. It looked like a Rim-class attack vessel, from what little she knew about the ships that were used for hit and run attacks on Fleet borders. She then looked down to see that she was half covered by a light sheet.