Break Out - By Nina Croft Page 0,43
coward’s way, and she’d never been a coward.
He was beautiful, with the lean, masculine grace of a predator, and she wanted him more than she had ever wanted anything in her life. And she’d had a long life.
But it was more than mere lust. She’d been alone since Daniel had died. She could have taken lovers, but she’d chosen not to, and now the need to connect physically with another being rose inside her. Something about Rico called to her as no one else had done over the years. She wanted to hold him, to make love, but she also wanted to lie with him afterwards, feel him close to her.
Why not? Just the once.
There were lots of reasons why not. The main one being, she needed to get the prisoner and deliver him back to the Collective. If she did that, she might just avoid demotion, though she doubted it. The colonel had to be really pissed off at her right about now. They would probably toss her out of the Corps. At the least, she had put her career back a good many years.
But right now, her brain couldn’t seem to concentrate on that. All she could think of was how good it had felt to give in to him. She remembered the taste of him and licked her lips. He’d been so big and hard and…. She shifted from one foot to the other.
She knew that if he could tell all about her from the taste of her blood, then afterwards she’d have no option but to kill him. Her gaze shifted to the cabinet where she’d hidden the wooden stakes. She realized she’d prepared for this, that all along she had known she would give in. The thought made her stomach churn.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Rico murmured. “You’re giving me a headache with all this thinking.” He rose to his feet, never taking his eyes from her. “Both you and I know this is going to happen.”
He took a step toward her, and she held up a hand. He stopped.
“Just one thing,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. “As long as it’s a quick ‘one thing’.”
“The whole bloodsucking thing is spooking me out.” She bit her lip. “I’m not trying to back out, but will you make love to me first?”
Rico considered her for a moment. Finally, he nodded once. The tension oozed out of her, and she pushed the last of her doubts to the back of her mind. At least she would have this.
His hand went to his waist, and he flicked the fastener of his weapons belt. Then to his thigh. He flicked the second, and the belt clashed to the floor. He took another step towards her. She swallowed.
“I love that dress, but take it off,” he ordered softly.
A fire roared into life in the pit of her stomach. She unfastened her own weapons and dropped them to the floor at her feet. Hooking her fingers in the top of the silver tube dress, she peeled the clinging material down and stepped out of it, to stand before him in nothing but a silver thong and the silver platform shoes. She made to kick them off.
He shook his head. “Leave them on.”
His eyes burned over her skin, lingered on her breasts until her nipples tightened to hard little points that ached for his touch. Then lower, so a fire coiled in her belly, and moist heat welled up between her clenched thighs.
She watched as Rico studied the cabin of the shuttle. There weren’t a lot of options; the shuttle was small. His gaze finally settled on the pilot’s chair. He slid his palm into hers, led her across, and pushed her down gently. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed back, staring up as he perused her, his head tilted to one side, dark eyes gleaming with hunger and need. And the realization that he needed her as much as she did him soothed away any doubts that still lingered.
Reaching down, his fingers slid between her thighs. He lifted first one leg, then the other and placed them over the arms of the chair.
She sprawled, quiescent, her body throbbing with arousal, her breath coming in short, sharp pants, waiting for his next move. He trailed his hand over her breast, across the flat plane of her belly, then hooked a finger in the silver thong and ripped it away.
“Dios, but you’re pretty.”
He sank to his knees between her thighs and breathed in deeply. His cool