“Why’d you say those things before? Why’d you make Winthrop and Ava think you were taking me up here to fuck me?”
His dick twitched. He liked hearing that word from her full lips. “Because that’s what I intend to do.”
She studied him, as if she could see to the heart of him. Which was impossible. He’d lost that particular organ a long time ago. “And the part about the pain?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “That might have been a slight exaggeration.” He tipped her chin to meet his hard stare. “But you’re mine now. Not his. And there’s not a fucking thing that Council-asshole can do about it laid out there on the ground so he better get used to it. You both better get used to it.”
“I don’t want to be with him. I didn’t, even before the crash.” She didn’t even hesitate.
Something inside him loosened. Something he hadn’t even realized had been squeezing his chest tight. “Good.”
“I know I have no real ground to ask given the terms of our deal,” her voice cracked, lashing at him like a whip, “but I–I would appreciate it if you didn’t purposely humiliate me.”
Shit. When he’d seen her hand clasped with that smug, blueblood scientist’s, he’d wanted to blot it out anyway he could. To make it clear as day that she wasn’t the bastard’s to touch anymore. And, maybe yes, to make her feel like shit—as low and dirty and shitty as he felt knowing he’d never measure up to a well-respected, well-paid Council scientist with a bunch of fancy degrees and no criminal record.
Which made him a grade-A asshole. And stupid, too.
Because the truth of the matter was, he didn’t want his fighter girl to feel badly about being with him. He didn’t want her to hate it. Or be desperate to get on that shuttle and travel light years away.
Because the fact was, he liked her.
He liked the way she smelled. The way she tasted. Like vanilla and woman and light and hope and goodness and all the things he hadn’t had in forever. He liked the curve of her waist and the fullness of her breasts. He liked the little sounds she made when he drove inside her. He liked her spirit. Her courage and the way she looked out for her colleagues and her siblings. He liked her toughness and her tenacity. Her resilience and her sense of fairness. Even her fierceness when he was being an ass.
Hell, she was damn near perfect. The kind of woman he’d never thought to find. Not only on Dragath25, but anywhere in the universe.
“I won’t do that again.” He tilted her chin so she could see the sincerity in his gaze.
She smiled. “And I shouldn’t have lashed out at you for telling me the truth about the rescue shuttle or the way things stand. I won’t do that again, either.”
“We’ll call it even.”
It was weird conversing like this. Holding her like this. Like a normal person.
Weird. And nice. And terrifying. Because he wasn’t a normal person anymore, and Dragath25 wasn’t a normal place.
“Even.” She repeated his wording. “I like that.” She looked pleased. Just as he knew she would. Then a shadow crossed her face. “Are we safe from this 225 and his pack?”
“No one’s safe on this planet, but I know how 225 and his pack operate and where they like to spend their time. As long as I don’t bother them, they don’t bother me. They know I could make more trouble for them than they want.”
“So they won’t come for us?”
He’d been asking himself the same question. “They know there were survivors at the crash. I did my best to hide your tracks, but those soldiers of yours weren’t so careful. Hopefully, your soldiers will keep 225’s pack busy enough and they’ll never realize there were additional survivors.”
If the pack discovered some of those still alive from the crash were women, there wouldn’t be anything that would keep them away. Which was why he’d been pushing so hard to get as far from the crash site as fast as he could.
“What if Pogue and the others tell?” she asked.
He doubted they’d even be given a chance to scream for mercy. 225 and his pack were more feral than tigos. But he also knew that, despite the way those soldier bastards had deserted her, she wouldn’t like to hear his answer. So he went with a distraction. “You trying to renege on our deal?”
“What? No.” She looked adorably confused,