the mine when your guys attacked and rescued you. He’s been on a mission for almost a year. He’s the only one who was ever nice to me. He looked out for me and taught me how to defend myself and survive. He never believed in the Splinter cause, and I always thought he was planning to leave.”
“You think he was working with Devious?”
“Back at the safe house, when I was snooping,” she admitted sheepishly, “I saw photos of them together. I couldn’t make out the planet or city where they were meeting, but it looked clandestine.” She hesitated. “Did Pam mention anything?”
He shook his head. “We didn’t have time for a rundown of her station’s intel. She told me about Flint and the last flight off the planet. I wanted to get you out of there as quickly as possible.”
“What’s her deal?” Maisie asked bluntly. “Were you two together for a long time?”
“No.” He made sure she could see the truth in his face. “We were undercover for seven or eight months.”
“Undercover like...?”
He knew what she was asking and nodded. “Yes, we were undercover as a couple. We had sex. Frequently.”
She tried to hide her hurt, but he could read it easily. After a moment, she said, “I know you had a whole life before me. I’m trying not be jealous. I really am.”
“You don’t have to be jealous of anyone in my past,” he assured her. “You’re the only woman I have ever wanted like this.” He wasn’t ready to confess how much he cared for her yet. As brave as he was, even he had moments of fear and cowardice. “You’re it for me, Maisie.”
She seemed placated. “You’re it for me, too.”
“Good.” He bent down to kiss her and finished tidying up the space. When he was done, she had a pensive look on her face. “What?”
“Since when are women allowed to work in intelligence?”
“Pam was a poppy. The rules are different for those women.”
Maisie rolled her eyes. “That is so gross the way they’re exploited.”
He didn’t disagree with her. “It’s the law.”
“Your laws are dumb.”
“I know,” he said, thinking how laws written centuries ago prevented someone as smart and feisty as Maisie from being allowed to live a full life in his society.
“Someone should change them.”
“Someone should,” he agreed, but he wasn’t sure who that someone might be. He felt her stare and glanced up to see her looking at him expectantly. “Don’t look at me! I’m not a politician.”
“You probably have enough points to sit on the council,” she reasoned.
“I do.”
“So?”
“So, we are on the run. My chances of getting on the council are less than zero.”
She made a grumpy face. “My point still stands. The laws are dumb.”
“They are.” He leaned over and captured her mouth in a playful kiss. She pretended not to be receptive at first, but then she huffed a little and reached for him. He smiled triumphantly against her mouth. There was no shyness in her, not when it came to showing affection. Her enthusiasm and excitement filled him with the deepest sense of contentment. He had always been wary and hesitant when it came to women, never allowing himself to become vulnerable or to let them get too close. Maisie didn’t give him a choice. From their first kiss, she was all-in, ride-or-die.
He easily lifted her from the chair and hauled her onto his lap. She giggled as he settled her into place and wound her arms around his bare shoulders. They hadn’t opted for much clothing upon getting out of bed. He had on pants. She had on his extra shirt. There didn’t seem to be much reason to wear anything else.
His hands drifted under the shirt to cup her plump bottom. Earlier, he had taken care of the bruising his various spankings had left, carefully rubbing a healing cream on her buttocks. She had such soft skin and bruised easily. She swore it wasn’t painful, but he had decided to use a lighter hand with her. She enjoyed impact play, and he wanted to give her what she liked without leaving her black and blue.
He shivered when she began a trail of ticklish kisses along his jaw and down the side of his neck. He had always been the one who doled out sensual experiences, but Maisie didn’t seem to care much about the accepted rules of submission. Her hand slid down his chest and belly to the waist of his pants. She brushed her lips across