All Wrapped Up: Price of Passage Read online

  With a soft, resigned sigh, she pulled her hand away and stepped just out of reach. Kade bit back a groan. Her hesitant touch had fired his blood with amazing speed. She obviously wanted him as badly as he wanted her, so why was she resisting? As long as he was on this ship he needed her protection. The realization chafed, but ignoring the fact was foolish. She’d only risk so much in response to the injustice he’d endured. He needed to make himself useful -- no, indispensable.

  His gaze swept over her curvaceous body and settled on her lovely face. She had spirit and intelligence, qualities Kalleto had lacked. Seducing Ivy would be pleasant indeed.

  “Kalleto’s clan learned of her execution and launched a major offensive the day I escaped,” he continued, eager to finish the tale and proceed with her seduction. “I have friends among the Palonti nobility. Chaya was told that I had been mutilated as he ordered and, unable to bear the humiliation, I took my own life. He might learn the truth once the conflict ends or he might live with the misconception for the rest of his miserable life. Frankly, I don’t care. I’ll be far beyond his reach in either case.”

  Her gaze darted to the bunk as she licked her full pink lips. “You said you could reimburse me for your passage. Where were you hoping to go?”

  Her straight brown hair had been streaked with gold and pulled back from her oval face. The style was obviously meant to minimize her appeal. Smooth and creamy, her flawless skin accented high cheekbones and a nearly pointed chin. With her hair loose around her shoulders and those bright green eyes warm and welcoming, she’d be lovely.

  “My monetary resources are limited. I would prefer to find a mutually beneficial arrangement.” He moved closer, breathing in her unique, faintly aroused scent. “How long has it been since you indulged your carnal nature and abandoned yourself completely to pleasure?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest as she’d done before. Did she honestly believe he hadn’t noticed her flushed face and hardened nipples?

  “I command this ship. I can’t allow the sort of distraction you’re offering.” She paused and searched his gaze, her expression fraught with conflict. “You don’t have to… do this. I’ll find another way for you to earn your passage.”

  Longing and determination drove him onward. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be aboard, but he would much rather spend the time sharing pleasure with this intoxicating female than performing whatever menial task she might assign. He grabbed her upper arms and drew her against his chest. “Maybe I want to do this.”

  Before she could reply, Kade covered her mouth with his. She tensed, while his lips brushed back and forth, teasing, enticing, and promising a far more intimate exchange. Her fingers splayed against his sides, firm, yet unmoving. She neither resisted nor responded. She allowed his kiss, but her passionate spirit was locked away, far removed from their embrace.

  He continued to coax and she remained passive. Grasping the back of her hair, he tilted her head to one side and ground his erection against her belly. A tremor immediately passed along the length of her body. Fear or excitement? He was about to ease his grip and gentle his touch, when her hands moved to his back, pulling him closer.

  Tangling his fingers in her hair, he nipped her bottom lip. “Offer me your mouth.” Her warm breath puffed out as she opened for him. She smelled faintly of coffee and something sweet. He traced her teeth and explored the silky underside of her lips before stroking his tongue over hers. She clung to him, her tongue curling around his.

  She must appear strong and authoritative for her men. Little wonder she craved a firm hand in the privacy of her bedchamber. He kissed her deeply as he pulled the elastic band from her hair and freed the thick strands to caress his fingers. Desire roared through his body, shocking him with the intensity of his need. He had always been so careful with Kalleto, knowing she held his life in the palm of her temperamental hand.

  He felt wild and ravenous, eager for his first taste of freedom. Ivy hadn’t wanted to exploit his desperation. There was no way she would intentionally endanger his life. He caught both her hands and drew them to the small of her back, holding them there with one fist. She squirmed and he pushed her shoulders against the wall, their clasped hands forcing her back to arch.

  “Your nipples have been hard since you first saw me. I say we find out why.” He released the closure at the top of her uniform and separated the seam. She kept her eyes tightly shut while he squeezed one breast and then the other. “This isn’t all you want though, is it? You want those nipples sucked.” He rolled one beaded crest between his fingers, watching her features tense and her lips tremble. “Say it.”

  She turned her face to the side, unconsciously rubbing her mound against his thigh. “Fuck you.” The curse sounded breathless and insincere, as if she felt obligated to protest.

  He chuckled. “You want to skip the preliminaries and get right down to business?” Pressing her nipple until she gasped, he bent his head to the other. “That seems like such a waste.” He drew firmly, letting the nub drag across his teeth with each deep pull. She gasped again, her chest heaving, pushing her breasts closer to his face.

  Continuing the tender assault with his mouth, he felt for the release in the waistband of her pants. The seam parted down the center, making room for his hand. Her skin was soft and warm, her mound hairless. He nudged her inner thighs with his knee and she moved her legs farther apart.

  He released her nipple as his middle finger parted her wet folds. “Oh, yes. So soft. So hot. So ready for my cock. Open your eyes.”

  She pressed her lips together, stilling their trembling, then opened her eyes. Passion bright and slightly muddled, her gaze sent lust spiraling through his body. His chest ached, his belly clenched, and his cock jerked against the snug material of his pants. Gods, he needed to be inside her, but he wanted to savor this moment. For the first time in his life he was touching a woman because he wanted to, not because his life hung in the balance.

  He released her wrists and pulled her arms up along the wall. “Clasp your hands behind your head.” She did and he pushed her top aside, exposing her breasts without removing the garment. Then he unfastened her pulse pistol and set it on the floor beside her feet. She looked as if she would protest, so he shook his head. “You can have it back as soon as I’m finished with you.” He tugged her pants down, bunching the material around her knees.

  Her breasts quivered with each ragged breath. He could smell her evocative musk and see the sheen of cream on her upper thighs. Parting her folds with one hand, he found her opening with the middle finger of his other. “Do you want me here?” He thrust inside her cunt as far as he could reach. Her inner muscles fluttered and she whimpered. “You will answer me when I speak to you.” With his finger still deep inside her, he lightly pinched her clit.

  “Yes! I want you inside me.”

  Adding a second finger, he drove into her over and over, circling her clit with his other hand. She rocked into his thrusts, beyond embarrassment or hesitation. “Come! I want to feel you come.”

  Ivy abandoned herself to the pleasure. Kade’s fingers thrust into her pussy with relentless speed, while he expertly caressed her throbbing clit. She shifted her hips, giving him a better angle as the tension coiled inside her belly. Tighter and hotter, the sensations built. She clenched her hands behind her head and cried out as pleasure burst within her. He thrust his fingers deep and carefully pulled on her clit until every last spasm had released.

  It had been years since she’d felt pleasure so intense. Sexbots and her trusty stimulator were a pathetic substitute for this sort of intimacy. He was strong and aggressive. He understood what she needed as only… She would not allow a ghost to ruin this. She would savor her time with Kade and think of nothing else.

  “On your knees.” The heat in his gaze tempered his terse command.

  She wanted his assertiveness, needed the freedom of submission. As gracefully as she could with her pants tangled around her calves, she sank to her
knees.

  “Take out my cock and put it in your mouth.”

  Her nipples tingled and her clit gave a spontaneous pulse as she unlaced his ridiculous pants. She’d felt the ridge of his shaft and the bulk of his balls through the plush material. He hadn’t been hard then and the transformation was staggering. Long and arched, tapered and heavily veined, his cock rose from the opening she’d created like a living marble column. Her mouth watered and her pussy ached.

  “You may use your hands, but I do not want to feel your teeth.” He braced his feet wide apart and watched her with obvious expectation.

  She licked her lips and curled her fingers around his shaft. Gods. Had it really been so long since she touched a real man? It had been imperative that she keep her interaction with the crew strictly business, which obliterated her sexual options. It wasn’t just her long period of abstinence. Like the rest of his body, Kade’s cock was magnificent.

  “What are you waiting for?” He grabbed the back of her hair and pulled her forward.

  Taking the wide, flared tip between her lips, she caressed the thick length with her hand. She circled his cock head with her tongue, then sucked with a slow, deep rhythm. Salty, musky, male, how she’d missed this taste.

  “More.” He growled out the word. “Take more of me.”

  She slid him deeper into her mouth, caressing his soft skin and tightening her lips around his hard thickness. The saltiness became more pronounced as he pulled back. He was far more affected by this than his calm façade indicated.

  Tilting her head, she let him push further and faster. She moved her hand to his balls, gently pulling the tight orbs away from his body. He gasped and shook. She did it again. “Fuck.” He groaned. “Oh, fuck!”

  A thrill ran through her at his eagerness. He grasped her face between his hands and thrust to the back of her mouth. She cupped his clenched ass cheeks as his hot cum spurted down her throat. He shuddered again and again, each spasm releasing another jet of his slick essence. Swallowing repeatedly, she managed to take it all.

  He pulled out of her mouth and swept her up into his arms. “What are you…” Before she could finish the question, he dropped her onto her bunk and ducked beneath her bunched pants, so her legs rested on his shoulders.

  “My turn.” His mouth opened over her slit, his tongue thrusting boldly. He was beyond finesse, consumed by raw hunger. He licked and sucked, nibbled and lapped. She laced her fingers into his hair, unsure if she wanted to push him away or press him closer.

  A beeping drew her attention to the communications console. Bluz had said he would see that she wasn’t disturbed.

  “Captain Slane to the bridge. We’ve got serious trouble!” It was Bluz. There was no way he would have interrupted unless this was an emergency. She pushed against Kade’s face and he growled, pulling her hips up off the bunk as he thrust his tongue into her core.

  “Stop!” She jerked on his hair. “Something’s wrong.”

  Panting and dazed, he released her. She lifted her legs over his head and off his shoulders, while he tried to catch his breath. She scrambled off the side of the bunk and pulled up her pants. Her body throbbed in protest and her fingers shook as she resealed her uniform’s seams.

  “Ivy!” Bluz snapped out her name, the urgency in his tone taking him beyond formalities. “Do you read me?”

  She tapped the implant behind her ear, reactivating the tiny communication device. “I’m on my way.”

  “What’s the nature of the emergency?” Kade asked as he righted his clothing.

  “I don’t know. Stay here.” She didn’t spare him a glance as she rushed from the cabin.

  Silence enveloped Ivy when she stepped onto the bridge. The tension was palpable and unnerving. Jazz stood next to his brother, their attention focused on the scanner console. The two other bridge officers were equally focused.

  Bluz noticed her first. “We’ve got company.”

  “The Palonti?” Dread gripped her belly, replacing the ache of unsatisfied desire.

  “Nope,” Jazz answered without looking up. “The Palonti have no reason to disguise their appearance and our shadow is using some sort of footprint modulator. They randomly morph from one ship to another. I don’t know what the hell we’re dealing with.”

  “They mirror every move we make, but the distance between us remains constant,” Bluz added.

  Bluz had already called the crew to battle stations. Guilt rolled in, compounding her trepidation. She should have been doing her job instead of enjoying their stowaway. “How long have they been following us?”

  “I’m not sure,” Bluz told her. “The ship just appeared on my scanner. No warning, no approach. They could have been there since we left Palonti. We haven’t attempted to hail them. I wasn’t sure what you’d want to do.”

  “I don’t like being toyed with.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and moved to the center of the bridge, standing behind her chair. “Open an audio channel. Let’s find out what this shadow wants.”

  “Audio only,” Bluz confirmed. “Go ahead.”

  Her voice would be deepened and distorted before it reached the other crew. Kade wasn’t the only one who thought females had no business commanding men. “This is Captain Slane of the Chrysalis. Identify yourself and state your purpose for following this ship.”

  A long pause followed and then a synthesized voice responded, “I’m debating whether or not you’re worth my time.” The voice was pitched low and contained a masculine growl, the exact same qualities she programmed into her transmissions.

  “We’re a research vessel.” It was a well rehearsed lie and she even had documentation to prove it. “The equipment we carry would be extremely hard to liquidate.”

  “Sure you are, Ivy.” The shadow captain chuckled. “And Chaya is funding your research expeditions.”

  Shocked by his use of her name as well as his understanding of her operation, she debated what to say. Had this ship simply followed them from Palonti or was the attack personal? The Chrysalis was registered to Iain Slane, so how had the shadow captain learned her identity?

  “If you know what we are, then you know how it works. The bays are empty. You’re wasting your time.”

  “Your bays are never empty. Chaya pays in wrestilian ore, which is untraceable and simple to liquidate.”

  Ivy motioned for Bluz to mute the link, then looked at Jazz. “Can you get a sensor lock on this bastard?”

  He shook his head. His eyes had darkened so much they no longer looked blue. “We’re seeing what he wants us to see.”

  “Damn it,” she muttered, raking her fingers through her hair. “Any chance we can outrun him?”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Bluz said.

  It was all the warning she got. He abruptly changed course and blasted the thrusters, sending the ship into a sharp, banked turn. She grasped the back of her chair, watching the shadow ship on the main vidscreen. It followed so smoothly it might as well be tethered to the Chrysalis.

  “He’s hailing us,” Bluz told her. “Audio only.”

  “Open the channel.”

  “You don’t seriously think you can outrun me, do you?”

  The amusement in his tone infuriated her. “You can’t blame me for trying.”

  “And you can’t blame me for losing interest in this game. You have thirty seconds to surrender or I’ll blast you out of the sky.”

  Chapter Three

  Ivy dug her fingers into the back of her chair as anger washed over her in waves. “Arm everything we’ve got. We’re not going down without a fight.”

  “You’re seriously outclassed,” Kade said as he stepped through the security hatch.

  “How did you get in here?”

  He flashed a beguiling smile as he moved up beside her. “I told one of your men you had summoned me.”

  “I told you to stay in my cabin.”

  “He didn’t know that.”

  “How do you know we’re outcla
ssed?” Jazz asked impatiently. “That could be a two-man shuttle for all we know.”

  “He calls himself Chameleon.” Kade glanced over his shoulder at the other man. “He’s been preying on Chaya’s ships for years. He’s fast and deadly. Give him what he wants. You can’t win.”

  “Every person on this ship would rather die in battle than surrender to a pirate.” Ivy turned her attention back to the vidscreen.

  “Time’s up.” The Chameleon’s voice echoed ominously. “Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded.”

  “Fuck off and die!”

  Jazz punctuated her curse with a blast from the forward cannons. The other ship immediately retaliated, rocking the Chrysalis.

  “This is foolish.” Kade grabbed her upper arm, but she twisted away.

  “Again!” She could hardly hear past the rush of blood through her ears. Her crew was fierce and loyal. They deserved better than this. “Take out that damn modulator. We need to see behind his mask.”

  “I have no idea what to target.” Despite his protest, Jazz fired in quick succession.

  The Chrysalis shuddered and pitched as each new volley found strategic marks. Ivy rushed to the master console, franticly rerouted power. Sparks erupted all over the bridge. Acrid smoke stung her nose and alarms blared.

  “We just lost our forward shields. Another blast will tear us apart,” Bluz informed her in a disbelieving rush.

  “Come about!”

  “Is your pride sufficiently appeased?” the Chameleon asked.

  For just a moment, the undulating image stilled and a sleek frigate loomed before them. “Holy shit,” Ivy muttered. Outclassed was the understatement of the year. A beam of light slashed across the bridge and understanding tore through her. The Chameleon had to lower his shields for ship to ship transportation.

  Jazz shouldered Kade aside and took up a position at her flank. She reached for her pistol and found the bracket empty. Humiliation joined her rioting emotions. Kade had set the gun on the floor as he pulled down her pants. This couldn’t be happening!