Daggertail (7 page)

“Bah, I thought you gave up on childish dreams, Tavvy darling.”

She took in Heidi's beloved flyaway gray curls and plump frame. The intelligent brown eyes were filled with worry.

“I thought I had too, Heidi.”

“So why are you convinced that this man is different from the rest?”

“He gives me orgasms,” Tavish blurted without thinking.

Heidi chortled with laughter. “Is that all?”

Tavish blushed. “No, but I can't explain the rest.”

“Try.”

“When I'm with him”—Tavish swallowed—“I forget I'm nothing more than one of Louie's working girls.”

“Are you listening to me, Kovuchenko?” Warrick bellowed in Xave's ear.

“I'm here.”

“You asked for an invitation to the VIP sector of the Persian Maiden, and I delivered. You've got a fifteen-hour window of opportunity. I told you what Mendez has to offer us. Don't let this chance slip away just for a piece of ass.”

Xave grimaced at Warrick's blatant insinuation. He sure as hell hadn't set out to fall for the spunky, auburn-haired Tavish. But once he'd gotten a good look at the whole package, it'd been impossible not to. She'd not only survived a hellish upbringing, she'd thrived and managed to maintain a wicked sense of humor as well as an unhealthy dose of courage.

“I shouldn't need to remind you what we could do with the information we can extract from Mendez.”

Xave grimaced. “I know. We've got a plan to trap Mendez inside the casino.”

“Then stop thinking with your cock and get it done.”

Xave rested his head against the wall as the comm link terminated. Once upon a time, an asinine comment like that wouldn't have even applied to him. But now, just the thought of Tavish's soft pussy summoned a fierce desire to slide his cock into her wet heat and stay there until the worlds ended.

Of course, that desire would become irrelevant when she found out he was the bastard son of a renegade Generation 8 enhanced combat model. If she'd known from the start that the Alliance legal system considered him barely human, there would have never been anything between them at all. The Alliance had never admitted to the masses that they had abandoned cyborg technology to start trafficking bioengineered humans. To the general population, his father was nothing more than a souped-up cyborg, and Xave's existence constituted a crime against the natural order of things.

This was why he had signed on with Stone Cold Bondsmen, to help Warrick dig up the truth about the Alliance. Warrick had his own, private reasons for their mission, but Xave's purpose had never wavered. He'd grown tired of Alliance propaganda pointing the finger at him and his ancestry. He wanted to live in peace, and he wanted truth for those like Tavish who'd been destroyed by the lies they'd been told all their lives.

Xave straightened up and rolled his neck from side to side with a satisfying
crack
. He couldn't change what had happened to Tavish's home and family. The problem would be trying to help her distinguish between his bioengineered parentage and the cyborgs who had altered the course of her entire life.

It did no good to defend the cyborgs or try to explain their behavior. Nobody understood that they'd been used to commit atrocities on behalf of the Alliance. People in power were adept at distancing themselves from their dirty work. The populace saw what they were meant to see, cyborg soldiers destroying entire settlements with punitive precision. To date it had never been publicly implied that the cyborgs might have been acting on Alliance orders.

Not yet.

He sighed. Massaging his temples with his fingertips, he tried to quell the desire his body felt for Tavish. It would do no good to be overcome with lust for a woman who might well turn tail and run once she found out his background. He hadn't missed the fear and revulsion in her voice when the cyborg unit passed them by. What would it feel like when she turned that revulsion on him? Would it even matter that his father hadn't been a true cyborg? Would she give the truth a chance?

Shaking off his lingering doubts, he strode into Heidi's living room with renewed purpose. He had to get to Mendez. Tavish had come here with an eye toward that result. It was time for her to let him know exactly how she intended to accomplish that goal.

“We need to get a move on, Tavish. Warrick has opened a window for us at the Persian Maiden.”

She jumped up from the sofa. Her expression showed surprise at his abrupt manner, but this was no time to protect feelings. He hated this businesslike demeanor. He hated having to keep his needs and desires under tight rein. But if he let it all hang out, the only thing that would get done would be Tavish.

“Okay, I just need to borrow a dress from Heidi's stock.” She shifted her eyes to the plump old lady still sitting on the worn sofa.

“What kind of dress, Tavvy darling? And why ever would you go to the Persian Maiden?”

“I think Mendez would've gone to ground where Aiello could help him hide.”

Heidi sighed. “That is not a safe place for you, Tavish.”

“I know. But we have to get Mendez.”

“Who does? You? I think not! It's him that needs Mendez.”

Xave resisted the urge to shrink beneath the old lady's fierce glare.

“It's dangerous for Tavish to appear in any of these clubs. You should take her off world immediately! Don't you understand what Louie will do to her if she is returned to him for any reason?”

“I won't let that happen,” Xave assured her.

“Stupid man. No doubt thinking with his prick instead of his brain.” Heidi heaved herself to a standing position. “Come with me, Tavvy darling. I'll have you looking like some rich man's
wife
in no time.”

Tavish tossed an apologetic glance in his direction. “Thanks, Heidi. And don't worry, I promise I'll stay clear of Louie.”

Xave watched Heidi grumble her way out of the room, dragging Tavish behind. He considered sitting but discarded the idea. He was wound too tightly to stay still for long. He took to pacing back and forth before the faux hearth instead.

It'd been years since he'd had a hearth. They'd been all the rage when an influx of homesick Earth natives had settled on Janus 5 to set up shop. Not that you could actually have a fire. The lack of substantial water sources made fire a dangerous thing to treat so casually.

He mulled over the relationship between Heidi and Tavish. The woman seemed to have been a mother figure to Tavish during her formative years. A brief smile creased his lips when he compared Heidi to his own mother. Two more dissimilar creatures had never existed.

His memories of his mother were faded images from a distant past. But he could still recall the iron will that had forced him to hone his body beyond all limitations. It had been her warrior spirit that had attracted the attention of his father.

His father had wanted his mother on first sight. He was a Gen 8 traveling with a band of renegades fleeing their Alliance-orchestrated demise on Earth. Assigned the serial number XA85621V at birth, his father had already been calling himself Xave by the time he reached the city of Tyra on Tristan in the Helix system.

He knew very little of his mother's home, other than the stories she'd often told of fighting off the constant raids from Tristonian pirates. He didn't know if his father had forced himself on his mother. His parents had spent a scant two weeks together before the renegades left Tyra. His mother hadn't stayed long after that. She chose to wander the worlds, finding work on merchant ships headed to outlying planets. She'd drifted through two different systems, Xave at her side. Years later, when they entered the Lexicon system, she was murdered by a man who liked it a little rougher than she could handle.

Xave had killed her murderer and never looked back. Since then he'd been searching for the truth about his origins and for vindication for the lies that had been told about his father.

“You okay?”

Tavish's hand on his arm accompanied her soft words. Xave shuddered, drawing himself away from the dark memories and locking them away in a place he tried never to revisit.

“I'm fine.”

“I'm ready whenever you are.”

Xave blinked. He'd been too preoccupied to notice her appearance at first, but now his gaze was riveted. Her long gown was made from shimmering black material that hugged every curve of her voluptuous body. A slit up the side showed every inch of her left leg from her ankle to the swell of her creamy thigh. The plunging neckline dipped into the hollow of her full breasts and the narrow straps showed off her slender shoulders. Her silky back was left bare, and the cut of the bodice gave him a glimpse of the tantalizing flesh of her ribs.

“Do you like it?”

“I'll like it better when I take it off,” he growled.

She laughed, obviously delighted with his reaction. “That's what we were going for.”

“Seriously? Because I'm going to kill every man that looks at you.”

She stepped closer, wrapping him in her unique perfume. “Don't worry, Xave. My pussy has been too spoiled by your cock to purr for anyone else.”

He grunted. “Damn right.”

She rolled her eyes and turned. “Is the transit unit here, Heidi?”

“In a minute. Are you sure you had enough to eat?”

“Couldn't manage another bite.”

“Heidi hired a private transit unit, Xave.”

“Good idea.” He shifted, trying not to show that Heidi's frank perusal irritated him.

“You'd better take care of my Tavvy. You got that, you big lummox?”

Xave lifted his eyebrows.

“And no dumping her at the nearest brothel just because you got your man. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” Xave said.

“Heidi, please stop giving him hell.”

“Don't you backtalk me, Tavish! I'll tan your backside just like I used to.”

It amused Xave to see Tavish blush.

“And you! Don't think I won't tan yours, just because you're a big man.”

Xave chuckled. “Calm down, woman. I've got it under control, all right? I will get a message to you as soon as Tavish is settled off world.”

“You had better.”

A
chirrup
outside alerted them to the transit unit's approach.

“Good luck out there, Tavvy. Take care of yourself.”

“Thanks, Heidi.”

He tugged Tav's arm as she squeezed Heidi close. It was past time for them to move. They would miss their window of opportunity if they dawdled much longer.

Xave opened Heidi's back door and stepped outside. He drew in a deep breath, ears, nose, and eyes searching the perimeter for threats. When he was certain of their safety, he motioned to Tavish. She exited, placing each high-heeled foot with care on her way to the transit unit. Watching her climb inside, he marveled that she could stay upright in the dainty shoes.

It was warm and comfy inside the vehicle. Plush carpeting covered the floor, posh seats rimmed the perimeter, and the driving droid had closed the partition for privacy. He settled into a seat and put his pack beside him.

Her lips bowed into a teasing smile. “Is there something in your bag of tricks to make you look a little more presentable?”

Xave didn't bother answering. He sorted through various items in his pack before choosing a thick silver ring and setting it aside. He had been given the image interrupter device when Warrick first hired him. The IID was part of Warrick's own arsenal of special-ops gear. Once on Xave's finger, it could disguise his appearance any way he wanted by pressing a button and projecting an image from his mind.

“You're awful quiet, Xave.”

He lifted his gaze from his pack and watched her settle her supple body on a seat, snuggle back against the soft cushions, and kick off her shoes. She propped one bare foot on the seat and lifted her knee while letting the other relax. Her dress created a curtain, shielding her crotch from his view.

“What kind of underwear goes with a dress like that?”

Her grin turned mischievous. “What would make you think a girl like me wears underwear?”

He stifled a groan as his cock began to stir. “Show me your pussy.”

She drew back the drape of her skirt until Xave could see the pale juncture of her thighs and her hot cunt.

“So fucking beautiful,” he murmured, sliding forward onto his knees.

The vehicle was filled with the scent of her arousal and the fragrance of her juice. Her short curls hid nothing from his eyes. She spread her knees farther apart, and her plump lips drew away from her inner folds.

“Touch me, Xave,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “Make me come again.”

“What would you like me to touch you with?”

Her breath hitched, and her pupils dilated with apprehension when she realized what he intended to do.

He reached out and spread her folds. The plump hood of her clit stood up, begging for the attention it deserved. He leaned forward and ran his tongue from her anus to her clit in one long, agonizing sweep.

She whimpered, her hands fisting in his hair and pushing his face into her pussy. His chuckle vibrated across her aroused flesh, bringing another gasp and sending her hips bucking against his face.

Sucking her clitoris into his mouth, he nipped at the taut bud. She gasped before her slick flesh melted around him. Her clean, sweet taste carried a hint of his essence in it. A shot of male satisfaction caught him by surprise, and he realized that he'd already marked her as his own.

“Xave!”

She came unraveled beneath his mouth as he suckled and stabbed his tongue into her moist, hot center. Holding her folds apart, he slid two long fingers into her cunt and reveled at the feel of her pussy muscles gripping his flesh.