Daggertail (6 page)

Linking their names gave him a perverse sense of satisfaction. A dangerous thing in any situation, but damn near catastrophic when it came to relationships. He didn't do relationships. As he'd told Tavish, dating was next to impossible, but it had very little to do with his line of work. Sometimes biological incompatibility complicated matters beyond the normal scope.

“You're doing that thing again,” Tavish whispered.

“What thing?”

“That thing you do when you think.”

Xave sighed. He couldn't very well outline his thoughts for her. She'd ask him to define biological incompatibility, and he had no interest in doing that. “I'm thinking about possible places to pin down Mendez.”

Her hand trailed over his chest, fingers circling his nipple until it puckered into a hard point. The teasing touch alone could make his cock stir with life inside the warmth of her body.

He placed his hand over hers to still it.

“Mendez, hmm? You've got your cock inside a naked woman, and you're thinking about him? You've got serious problems.”

“Maybe so.”

“He shouldn't be hard to find.”

Xave glanced down in surprise. Her face was tilted down and hidden from view by a riot of wispy auburn hair spread across his chest.

“Mendez spends a lot of time with a guy named Aiello,” she said. “Do you know him?”

“He owns a string of casinos on Janus 5 and some factories in the Terran system.”

“Sounds like the same guy.”

“You think Mendez will try to hook up with Aiello?” He felt the delicate shrug of her shoulder against him.

“It's as good a guess as any. Aiello owns a couple of high-end casinos. After the way you shook him up, Mendez might feel safer there.”

“Nowhere is safe with that kind of bounty on your head.”

“Obviously.” She sat upright, naked breasts bobbing and a teasing grin on her face. “What possessed you to try and take him right out of Louie's? Nobody does that. It's insanity.”

He shot her a wicked grin. “I got sick and tired of waiting for him to walk outside.”

“Surveillance isn't your thing, huh?”

“Not really. I'm an action kind of guy.”

She wiggled her backside on his lap. “I sort of got that.”

He groaned. He cupped the soft flesh of her ass in his hands and squeezed. His reward was her cry and the flex of her vaginal muscles around him.

His cock sprang to full attention. Her pussy was slick and damp with his semen and her cream. Xave took a deep breath. The primitive perfection of that scent went far beyond science or technology. It triggered a primal response in his body on a cellular level he couldn't have explained had he wanted to.

“Ride me, Tav. Rub that sweet cunt all over me.”

Her green eyes widened, pupils dilating, and her nostrils flared. A soft pink flush crept over her body, tinting her cheeks and the fullness of her breasts. Her nipples hardened into points.

She rocked forward, grinding her pelvic bone against him. He tried to hang on to his composure as every ribbed muscle inside her cunt compressed his cock. The wet sounds of her body rocking against his filled the cabin of the
Daggertail.

She began to pant. Her full lips parted, the tip of her tongue flicking over their plump surface. He slipped one hand up over the curve of her ass, past the dip of her spine, and over one smooth shoulder, and then he cupped the back of her head.

Small hands settled on his shoulders and then linked behind his neck. He dragged her closer and covered her mouth with his. The heady kiss kept rhythm with the thrust and grind of their sweat-slick bodies.

He pulled back to watch the expressions on her face. “Come, Tav. I want your sweet pussy to explode.”

“I can't,” she panted. “Not like this.”

His hand left her ass, slipping across the damp skin of her thigh and finding the place where their bodies joined together. The position of her legs left her slit open to his touch. The sensitive tip of her engorged clit protruded past the plump edges of her labia.

He dipped two fingers into her creamy juices. The tip of his finger brushed against the root of his cock. He shuddered. To feel Tav taking every inch of his cock into her pussy from both the inside and the outside was beyond erotic.

Forcing himself back from the brink of climax, he slid his fingers against her swollen clit. She moaned, her head falling back to expose the column of her throat.

“Now
come
, Tav. Let my fingers push you over the edge.”

“
Xave
!”

He plucked at the sensitive nub. Delicate spasms made her shiver and tremble. Her hip movements became frenzied. Nails scored his shoulders, driving him insane with lust and a fierce desire to possess the woman in his arms.

Her hips ground against him. His testicles drew tight against his body. With a shout, he thrust upward, ejaculating in long, hot spurts. She cried out, her body melting around him, and then she collapsed against his chest.

The
Daggertail's
control panel began to blip insistently.

“Don't answer it.” Her voice was muffled against his chest.

He smiled, trailing his fingers down her bare back. “We're getting close to Janus 5. The autopilot will disengage when we enter the atmosphere.”

“Can't the ship just land itself?”

“You're not tired, are you?”

She yawned. “No. But I'm comfortable.”

He had to agree with her. Their mingled juices dampened his thighs, and the entire cabin smelled of sex. But duty still called. A red light on the panel began to blink.

“That one's Warrick.”

She sighed, drumming her fingers on Xave's chest. “He's too pushy.”

“I'll let him know how you feel.”

“Fine with me, as long as I'm several systems away by then.”

He laughed, lifting her from his body. Despite reaching climax twice, his cock still stirred with life when it slid from her wet channel. Her responding shudder told him she felt the same desire.

Hopping a little, he hiked his pants over his hips and sank into the captain's chair. Still bare chested, he keyed a quick sequence of numbers into the comm system. Moments later Warrick's face appeared on the screen.

“The
Daggertail
isn't that big, Xavier,” Warrick said. “Don't take so long to answer next time, regardless of what—or who—you're doing.”

A string of unintelligible curses from Tavish ended with the discernible word
bastard.

Xave grinned.

“I heard that, Tavish,” Warrick growled.

“Good.”

“Have you changed your mind about the backup, Xavier?”

“I told you. I work alone.”

“Then remember to keep your comm link active at all times. I don't want to waste time recovering your corpse.”

“Wow, keep that up and I'll think you actually care.”

“Don't be ridiculous. I simply don't want you to get yourself killed before I can collect the information I need from Mendez. His bond didn't come cheap. I damn sure want to make my money back on this one.”

Xave grunted. He operated under no illusions about Warrick Stone. “I need an invitation to one of Aiello's casinos.”

Warrick arched one dark brow. “Any one in particular?”

“The Persian Maiden,” Tavish interjected from the back of the cabin.

“Thought you worked alone, Xavier,” Warrick said.

“You're the one who set me up with a partner.”

Warrick's deadpan mask slipped for one brief instant. He might've looked pleased, but that would've been ludicrous.

“Can you arrange it or what?” Xave demanded.

“Of course, but the two of you are rather underdressed for that kind of place.”

Xave grimaced in distaste. “I've got my IID.”

“And Tavish?”

“Can handle her own wardrobe.” She leaned over Xave's shoulder, sending Warrick's image an acidic smile. “But thanks so much for thinking of me. Really.”

A smirk twisted the corner of Warrick's mouth. “Remember, Xave, comm link on at all times. I want to know what's going on.”

“Yes, sir,” Xave grumbled. “
Daggertail
over and out.”

Xave didn't bother waiting for Warrick's face to blip out before spinning his chair to face Tavish. She hadn't bothered to dress. Her mons peeked out beneath the long tail of her green shirt. He didn't mind.

“So, what's the plan, Tav girl?”

She cocked her head to one side, her smile a mixture of uncertainty and amusement.

“What?”

“Sorry, Mr. Kovuchenko. For a second there you sounded playful.”

He reached out and captured her hips in his hands. Bracketing her body, he pressed his fingers against her thighs until she spread her legs. He cupped the short damp curls shielding her pussy.

“Xave. My name is Xave.”

She inhaled sharply. “Xave.”

He spread her labia with one hand and traced her folds. The pink flesh was still swollen and slick with the mingled essence of their sex. Her heady scent whispered over his senses.

Her hands settled on his shoulders, nails scoring his skin. “I can't stand up when you do that to my pussy.”

Tugging her closer, he urged her to straddle his lap. The new position spread her open even farther. He delved into her wetness. She was slick and hot and ready to come again for his pleasure. Blood rushed into her pussy. Her clit plumped until it throbbed beneath his fingers.

“You have the hottest cunt I've ever seen.”

“So you've seen a lot?”

“A few.”

“But you like mine?”

Was that insecurity in her voice?

Without knowing why, he wanted her to know that hers wasn't just the best. He wanted her to understand the depth of an infatuation he hadn't come to terms with yet himself.

Using two long fingers, he brushed her wet slit. She convulsed, her empty pussy clenching. He did it again, this time continuing the sweet torment until she trembled on his lap.

“Your pussy is incredible. I've never continually wanted something so badly before in my life. Feel your sweet juices? No one could be this wet for me. Your pussy wants to come for me.”

“I-I can't.”

He glanced up to see her teeth clenched against the intense waves of pleasure. Slipping one hand around her narrow waist, he delved into the cleft of her ass. She stiffened until he slid one cream-covered finger into her anus and three into her pussy. Pressing his thumb against the engorged hood of her clitoris, he forced her to the edge.

“Now, Tav. Come for me.”

Her green eyes glazed over and slid shut as she came on a groan and a sigh. Her entire body clenched in satisfaction. He rode out the undulating waves of her orgasm, content to watch her come until he felt a spurt of hot fluid in his palm.

He could have never predicted what the sight of her feminine ejaculate would do to him. Xave growled, and the sound echoed around the
Daggertail
until his ears rang. Ripping open the fly of his pants, he pulled his cock free and wrapped his wet palm around his shaft.

The heat of her ejaculate drew his testicles hard and tight against his body. Xave groaned in desperation. He'd never been so close to climax before in his life.

“Yes, Xave,” she whispered into his ear. “Don't let me come alone.”

Her voice doubled his ecstasy. His hand pistoned up and down his shaft, his speed increasing until he couldn't take any more. Straining forward, he pressed his forehead to hers and shot a stream of hot semen over his hand.

Still pulsing with his own hot ejaculate, he opened his eyes when she slithered down his body. Her tongue lapped at the creamy white fluid. Eyes locked, he watched her swallow every last drop of his cum.

I think I love this woman.

The jarring thought came unbidden as she finished with a beguiling smile and rose to her feet in one fluid motion. Xave froze in place, unable to react, still floored by the possibility of a long-term attachment with a woman like Tavish.

Face it, Kovuchenko. There is no other woman like Tavish.

“You should dock somewhere near the border of the Bravo sector near the red-light district, Xave.”

He gave a curt nod, uncanny eyes darting over the readouts on the
Daggertail
control panel as they sped through Janus 5's atmosphere.

She studied his rugged profile in the low light. If someone had told her two days ago that she'd be willingly reentering Janus 5 airspace, she'd have laughed outright. Of course, if someone had described Xave and told her he would come and turn her life upside down for good, she wouldn't have believed that either.

“Where is it we're going, Tav?”

Tav? When had he started calling her Tav? Why did she feel all mushy inside just because he had shortened her name to Tav?

“Destination?” he prodded.

“Dame Heidi's. It's a women's clothing outlet on the border between the red-light district and the shopping district.”

“There's a shopping district on Janus 5?”

She rolled her eyes. “How do you think the rich guys keep their wives busy while they sample the goods in the red-light district?”

“Guess I'd never considered it.”

“I'm glad.”

“Why?”

“Because I really don't want to get into it with some bitchy wife.”

He glanced over at her, his expression indiscernible. “You'd cause a scene with my wife?”

“Only if she tried to keep me from fucking that wonderful cock of yours.”

He chuckled.

The crackling voice of the Janus 5 control tower filled the cabin. “Approaching craft, please identify yourself.”

“This is the
Daggertail
, registration number Alpha Charlie four niner niner seven two from Hyperion 4 on approach. Request permission to land.”

There was a brief pause. Tavish wondered if control knew the
Daggertail
for a bondsman's vehicle. Her pulse quickened. She couldn't help but think there might be a possibility that he would have to declare her as a passenger.

“
Daggertail
, you are cleared for landing in the Bravo sector.”

He flicked a switch on the board and then tapped his comm link. “Xavier to Warrick, we've been cleared to land, over.” He waited until the comm gave two short blips to signal Warrick's acknowledgment.

Tavish picked at the bar code stamped behind her ear. Would Louie somehow be notified of her reentry? Would security send her back to him?

A large, warm hand settled on her leg where it bounced against the copilot's chair. A soft expression melted some of the ice in his blue eyes. “They'll have to kill me to get to you, and that isn't an easy job.”

Something warm, fuzzy, and foreign took up residence in her heart.

“Do you know how to get to Dame Heidi's from this dock?”

She watched the blazing neon lights surrounding the dock as he eased the
Daggertail
to the waiting tarmac. Robotic arms extended, jarring the hull as they clamped into place. It seemed to Tavish as if the planet intended to reel them in.

“Tavish?” Xave's voice softened. “Look at me.”

She swallowed, her breath coming in shallow pants. Why was she so nervous? Hadn't he just said he wouldn't send her back?

Xave forced her chin up with his thumb. His dark hair was tousled from the hours of sexual fulfillment they'd enjoyed on the trip. Powerless to resist the urge, she reached out and tucked an errant strand behind one of his ears. Her fingers brushed the rough stubble on his cheek, caressed the strength of his jaw, and traced the soft line of his lower lip.

He grinned. “Look at yourself, Tav. Despite the fact that you are in possession of the sweetest pussy this side of the Lexicon system, you look nothing like a working girl. Nobody will know that you're not just another bondsman sent to help me pick up Mendez.”

His words brought a smile to her face. In the nondescript black pants and baggy green shirt with her comfy boots, she looked about as fuckable as a service droid.

He stood and reached for his gear. Settling the pack over his broad shoulders, he adjusted the folds of his duster and prepared to lower the ramp.

“What's in that thing, anyway?” she asked.

“A little bit of everything.”

“You got any food?”

He leveled a devastating grin at her. “I thought you already ate.”

She blushed. The pleasant taste of his cum still lingered in her mouth. “I mean the kind of nourishment that will keep me physically alive.”

“I carry some field rations, but I don't think you'd like them.”

Tavish sighed. “Guess I'll have to wait for Heidi's, then. She's always looking for an excuse to show off her latest food-processing unit.”

The air lock hissed as the ramp lowered. Taking a deep breath, she followed him down to the tarmac. He paused at the bottom, letting her take the lead. Glancing around, she chose a narrow alley that wound between the tall, tightly packed buildings.

“I didn't think Louie let you guys roam the planet very often,” Xave said when they'd put some distance between them and the
Daggertail.

“We didn't get to roam. He packed us all into a huge public-transit unit and took us to Dame Heidi's every few months for new clothes. Since she still makes a lot of her own merchandise in house, it's cheaper than the imported stuff the other stores sell to the tourists.”

“And you remember how to get to her place?”

She shrugged. “When you only get out a few times a year, you devour the scenery. We always took the same path, and I think I memorized every holo-sign, bench, and building between Louie's and Heidi's.”

“Do you remember anything from before Louie's?”

“I thought we already went over this.”

“And I thought you might've come up with something new.”

“You didn't fuck me that hard, Xave.”

His laugh ricocheted off the surrounding buildings and enveloped them. She found a smile and chuckled along, but deep down she wondered what all-consuming truths lay in his past that made him so determined to pry into hers.

“What about you? Where did you grow up?”

He didn't answer. In fact, he'd stopped walking. Concerned, she took a breath in order to ask what was wrong. He placed a gentle finger against her lips before she had the chance, then cocked his head. He seemed to be listening to something in the surrounding area.

His comm link hadn't blipped to signal a message from Warrick, and the streets seemed quiet. So what was he doing?

His hand clamped around her arm, and he dragged her into the sheltering shadows behind a stack of crates.

“What's going on?” she whispered.

“There's a unit of Janus 5 security headed in our direction. They're sweeping this district.”

She stiffened, her palms sweating as they pressed against the coarse fabric of her pants. He didn't have to tell her whom they were sweeping for. Louie must be looking for her.

Xave shifted position, forcing her behind his broad back. Concealed by the long folds of his coat, they blended into the shadows like a couple of wraiths.

Seconds later a group of terse security cyborgs trotted into view. Their heads turned methodically, scanning for any telltale sounds. Dressed in black fatigues not unlike the ones she and Xave wore, they were all blond haired and blue eyed with lean, muscular bodies built for cruelty.

She closed her eyes, but their images remained. Creatures like these had decimated her home, murdered her parents and her brothers, and sold her into a life of slavery. It was impossible to separate the unit of six cyborg security officers marching through the present from the ones in her past. All cyborgs served the Alliance for the span of their lives. What if this unit had been part of the larger force that took her from everything she knew? What if they were the same beings who had shattered her life?

“They've gone,” Xave murmured.

“I wish they'd stayed. I wish I could blow them apart,” she said, voice shaking. “Then I'd burn the pieces and piss on the ashes to pay them back for all they've done.”

He tilted his head to see her over his shoulder, an expression of scrutiny on his stoic face. “Those were Generation 5 cyborgs, the foot-soldier models. They don't have the cognitive abilities developed for the later models. In fact, the Gen 5s aren't much more intelligent than service droids.”

She swallowed back her anger, trying to bring her emotions back under control. “So those weren't the ones that rebelled against the Alliance and attacked all those people?

“Cyborgs don't have the mental drive for rebellion.” He paused, something else hovering on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to say but wouldn't. “Don't believe the Alliance propaganda splashed all over the news. There's always more than one side to a story.”

“My story had one side. The one that ended in cyborgs murdering everyone I knew.”

“I'm just telling you that things aren't always what they seem.”

She wondered in silence at his words. She didn't doubt that he knew more than he would say. But the unsaid fervency behind his words left her with a sense of foreboding about his own truths. What would she eventually discover about this man who had offered his protection and so much more?

He waited several more minutes before standing and pulling her with him. She lingered against his warm, muscular body, thankful for the protection he'd been so willing to give and letting his closeness push the demons away.

“I told you they're not taking you from me,” he rumbled into her ear.

A shiver of delight chased up her spine. It seemed ridiculous to allow herself to be excited by his possessive nature. But she couldn't stop her mind and body from reacting.

“We should hurry. They might come back this way for another sweep.”

“Heidi's isn't much farther.” Gripping his hand, she started down the last alley toward Dame Heidi's shop at an energetic pace.

When they reached the dark alcove protecting Heidi's rear door from prying eyes, Tavish lifted her hand to knock.

“Wait,” Xave ordered. He stepped forward, standing straight and rigid, sniffing the air around them, and seeming for all the world as if he listened to things impossible to hear. “Okay, but do it quietly, Tav girl.”

“You're going to rue the day you told me to be quiet, Xave.” She teased in low undertones as she rapped four times in quick succession on the heavy door.

The door swung open with a creak. A short, round woman in a tentlike dress stood silhouetted in the doorway only seconds before she grabbed Tavish and yanked her into a huge hug.

“Tavvy, darling! I was so
worried
!”

“We shouldn't stand out here,” Xave growled, crowding against them.

“Oh! Of course, of course. Come in!”

Soft yellow lighting revealed Damn Heidi's living quarters at the rear of her shop. Tavish had grown up visiting these comfortable rooms every few months for the only mothering she could remember.

Xave disappeared, no doubt to check the entire building for safety.

Dame Heidi pulled her farther into the room and urged her onto the worn sofa. The cozy living room boasted a faux hearth flanked by two wingback chairs Heidi had inherited from an ancestor on Earth. The artwork hanging around the room showed the woman's love of twenty-second-century fashion, shoes in particular.

A tiny kitchen unit took up one corner of the main room, its late-model food-processing unit a testament to Heidi's successful clothing shop. A common lavatory and one tiny bedroom opened to the left of the kitchen. The master suite with its own private powder room sat on the other side. Tavish had been inside once, but it warmed her that her old friend had splurged on niceties for her decadent boudoir. When she'd been a little girl, Tavish had often dreamed of running away to live with Heidi.

Of course, if she had left Louie's, she wouldn't have met Xave. And even the few hours she'd had with him were enough to make up for the lifetime of hell at Louie's. That, if nothing else, made her a stupid, stupid woman.

“I was so very worried, Tavish darling. Where have you been?”

Tavish nibbled her lip in worry. “Did Louie give you trouble?”

Heidi waved one chubby hand. “I do not much care what Louie thinks. He came to my shop an hour after you'd gone, demanding that I release his property. I would have had my security droids roll his fat bottom out the door had I not been numb with shock over the news of your disappearance.”

“It all happened so fast.”

“And now?”

“And now Xave and I are back to find Vincent Mendez.”

“That space trash?” Heidi scoffed. “What do you want with him?”

She shrugged. “There's a price on his head. Xave is a bondsman, it's his job.”

“And you? What happens when this bondsman's finished doing his job?”

Tavish had nothing to say. She couldn't deny that the thought had crossed her mind.