Rebel (7 page)

Allowing himself to be alone with her in a cloaked speeder was a mistake. Having Jatki cowering away from him would have been better than this. No one could see them here. No witnesses. No protection.

“I believe you,” she whispered.

A heartbeat later, she hitched in her seat, leaning toward him until her lips touched his cheek. Strange new sensations flowed from the point of contact, weakening his resolve.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I wanted to.” Her curious gaze roamed over his face. “Your cheek is so smooth.” She traced the line of his jaw with a fingertip, setting off a renewed surge of astonishing tingles. “I never realized Zetithian men didn’t have facial hair. My father never grew a beard, but I didn’t know it was because he
couldn’t
.”

“None of us can.” Onca was surprised he could even speak. She was so close; the air was thick with her unique essence.

“But you have hair in…
other
places.”

She had obviously been paying attention to the pictures. “Yes.” Until he heard the vibration in his reply, he wasn’t aware he was purring.

I
have
to
stop
that.

Unfortunately, he had to hold his breath to do it.

“Ganyn seems very fond of you.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But it doesn’t mean anything. She’d have been just as fond of Jerden if he’d been there for her appointment.”

Kim sat back in her seat. With the increased distance between them, Onca breathed a little easier, but her scent was still incredibly powerful—mesmerizing, intoxicating.

“Would you kiss me?” she asked.

His eyes widened. “I shouldn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I—I’m too—” He managed to stop himself before he blurted out that he was too old for her, too used. She was young and fresh. She deserved a man like that—an untarnished youth closer to her own age. “I’m supposed to be protecting you from the bad guys and helping you find your friends. Stuff like that. Not kissing you.”

“Oh.” She glanced away, frowning. “Sorry. I just wanted to know what was so special about Zetithian guys.”

“You’ll find out someday. I have a friend whose sons are about your age.” He forced out a chuckle, pleased to find that he was no longer purring. “There are three of them. You can afford to be choosy.”

Pain seared his heart as he thought about how many times he had been passed over by “choosy” girls. Even after all this time and so many different women, the memory still hurt.

“You don’t like me, do you?”

He gaped at her. “What? Of course I like you. I mean, we only met this morning, but I—”

“Then it’s too soon for you to kiss me?”

“Well, no, it isn’t that.” Onca had kissed about a bajillion women after having only met them moments before. Granted, the circumstances were completely different, but—

“Then what is it?”

“Oh, hell, I don’t know…”

Seemingly of its own accord, his hand shot out and cupped the back of her neck, pulling her close, his lips parting when they met hers. Completely unprepared for the explosion of flavor and scent, his shocked mind barely registered her arms encircling his neck, the tentative swipe of her tongue over his lips, and the press of her body against his.

Sweet and intoxicating, her aroma curled its way through him until it reached his groin, pumping heat into his cock for an erection so swift and painful he nearly screamed. He knew how to suppress that reaction—he was one of the few males of any species who could—but Kim had somehow managed to strip away that control with one kiss. She might not have enjoyed her previous attempts at sex, but someone had definitely taught her how to kiss. Her tongue slipped past his lips and into his mouth, teasing him until he was nearly insane with the need to rip her clothes off with his fangs.

He was purring again, and he couldn’t stop that any more than he could suppress his erection.

I
will
not
fuck
her. I can’t do that. I can’t…

To his great relief and infinite disappointment, she drew away from him, her fingers pressed to her swollen lips. “Did I do that right?”

Onca was purring so hard he could scarcely draw a breath. All he could do was nod.

“That sound you’re making. Is that normal?”

He nodded again. “Zetithian males purr to entice females, and females purr—” He stopped as words deserted him. He couldn’t tell her that. He was supposed to be looking out for her, not corrupting her. She wasn’t a client. She was his… His
what
?

Mate.

The word pounded in his brain like a drum.

No. It can’t be. Not now. Not like this…

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He barely trusted himself to look at her. She gazed at him with eyes that were even more beautiful than they’d been mere moments before. Although her scent had undergone a subtle change, the fragrance of her desire lingered.

And she was still absolutely adorable.

“Not really.”

The kiss had affected Kim in ways she had never expected, leaving her with the most peculiar urge to bite him. Then there was the desire to see him naked—for real this time rather than a picture. Unfortunately, the fact that kissing him had made him look sort of sick made her hesitant to try it again.

Still, there was that purring thing he did, and that part about doing it to entice females. He’d said it was normal, but did he have control over it? Was he trying to entice her? She racked her brain trying to recall how her parents had acted toward one another. Maybe once a Zetithian couple was married, purring became less important—either that or they only did it in private. Onca had stopped before telling her why a female would purr. The fact that she never had must mean it involved something she’d never done.

A heavy ache settled in the juncture of her thighs along with a strange, slippery wetness—something that had been noticeably lacking during her two previous sexual encounters. The first boy had actually stopped when he realized how much pain he was inflicting. He’d never made another attempt, implying that there was something wrong with her. The other had withdrawn prior to his climax—to prevent pregnancy, he said, although she suspected he was as uncomfortable as she had been.

Her mouth was watering so much she had to swallow before she spoke. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sick.” She swallowed again, but for a different reason this time. Sitting back in her seat, she stared out the window. A tiny
sereta
crept out from under one of the flowering shrubs planted by the rear door of the nearby building, its long ears and droopy eyes reflecting her own dismal mood.

Kissing Ganyn hadn’t made Onca sick. Not like
her
kiss had done. Maybe he didn’t like kissing. Maybe he never kissed his clients. It was, after all, an excellent means of transmitting disease.

Or
maybe
it’s
me
that
makes
him
sick.

That was certainly a lowering thought. She’d kissed those other boys. They’d seemed okay afterward, even if sex had been a total failure.

“I’m not sick,” he finally said. “I’m just…tired.”

She’d forgotten he had been up all night. He should have been in bed hours ago. But, of course, that was her fault too.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I won’t ask you to kiss me again.” She glanced behind them, then nodded at the alley up ahead. “You can probably uncloak us now. I don’t think we’re being followed.”

He sat staring at her for a long moment, his expression somewhere between bewilderment and regret. “Uh, yeah. Might be best if we take the scenic route, though.”

Without another word, Onca retracted the parking struts and took off down the alley, uncloaking the speeder just prior to reaching the main street. Turning right, he merged with the traffic, flying past places Kim had never seen before. Beautiful, intricate designs adorned the polished surfaces of the buildings—each one constructed in a different style. Beings from all over the galaxy mingled on the sidewalks, some dressed in outrageous clothing while others wore nothing at all. Vines covered with vivid blossoms climbed up the lampposts, and the pavement styles changed with each block they encountered—some paved with simple stone bricks while others were done in colorful mosaics.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Upscale restaurant district,” Onca replied. “Some of these places charge you fifty credits just to walk through the door.” He shrugged. “It’s pretty ridiculous, really. The food isn’t
that
good.”

“So you’ve been in some of them?”

“A few. But like I said, it really isn’t worth the money.”

Kim wasn’t so sure about that. Opportunities to feast her eyes on such beauty were rare.

“This area is dazzling at night.” He pointed at a street lamp. “Those lights are docked on posts during the day, but at night, they detach and hover.” Slowing down, he nodded toward a large open space to the right. “Speeders aren’t allowed in those squares. The restaurants and bars there never close, and they have live bands playing music all the time. Some are paved, but others are more like parks, with trees and plants from all over the galaxy.”

Kim could only nod and stare. She’d never dreamed Damenk was this big—or this beautiful.

“Ever been through the government district?”

She shook her head. “We try to stay away from those places.”

“I can understand that,” he said. “The buildings there aren’t as pretty as these, but some of them are huge.”

He sounded more normal now; that strange, purring note had vanished from his voice. She stole a glance at him, only to realize that the most beautiful thing she had ever seen was sitting right next to her.

And
I
make
him
sick.

“Maybe we should go back to your house now,” she said. “You need to get some sleep.”

He nodded. “What about you?”

“Me? I haven’t slept since…” She paused, trying to recall the last time she’d curled up in a quiet corner for a few hours. “Night before last.”

“Then we’d better cut the tour short.” He banked the speeder into a turn. “We’ll both think more clearly after a nap.”

“Yeah. It’s funny, but anytime I feel bad, I go to sleep and wake up feeling fine. I’m hardly ever sick, and my cuts and bruises usually heal overnight. Weird, huh?”

“Not for a Zetithian. Those are some of our more useful characteristics. Good thing, seeing as how half the galaxy seems to want to bump us off.”

And
the
other
half
wants
to
have
sex
with
our
men.
He didn’t say that, although he was probably thinking it. Strange how he was willing to fuck a Darconian but had such an aversion to kissing
her
. He said he wasn’t sick, but it sure took him long enough to say it.

That kiss certainly hadn’t made her feel bad—strange, perhaps, but not bad. In fact, she wanted to do it again.

Yet
another
thing
in
this
life
I
can’t have. Crap.
She felt like crying, and she never cried. Well…hardly ever. She’d cried a lot when she was younger, especially during those first few nights on the street when she was terrified and starving. She was a lot tougher now and tried not to think about those times. Something about Onca made her think back to when she was a child and part of a family—back when she’d had parents and sisters. Onca had been a baby when he was rescued from Zetith. He wouldn’t have known his family at all.

She turned toward him but quickly averted her gaze. That one glimpse made tears sting her eyes—and not only because she wanted to kiss him. He’d said she and Jatki could stay with him. Maybe he wanted a family as much as she did. She had already decided she would stay with him and accept his help. However, she had no intention of becoming his adopted daughter. Not when kissing him only made her want to kiss him again.

“We’ll take a loop through the commerce district and then back to my house,” Onca said. “Ahoy, Captain. How are things on the home front?”

“All is quiet,” the computer replied.

“Any sign of Jatki and Roncas?”

“I believe they are arriving at this very moment,” Captain said.

“Alone?”

“They do not appear to have been followed.”

“Good. Let them in and then lock the place down tight. We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

“I shall comply. Captain out.”

He hadn’t tapped the comlink. Apparently the link was also voice activated. Did that mean Captain could have eavesdropped on their conversation, including the part where she’d asked for a kiss? Kim sank into her seat, wishing she could disappear. Sure, Captain was only a computer, but he’d claimed to be sentient and definitely had a personality. She could only imagine what it would be like to have the house controlled by an entity that was privy to her secrets.

Creepy.

Kim had done a lot of things she wasn’t proud of, and she had secrets she’d never shared with anyone. She would have to keep those thoughts to herself—no audible soul-searching, even in the middle of the night.

“Um…can he still hear us?”

“Not unless I call him, specifically.”

“But he could listen to us if he wanted to, couldn’t he? I mean, how would you know whether he did or not?”

He pointed at the linkpad. “That lights up when he’s online.”

She was somewhat reassured until she remembered simply talking to Captain while she was in the shower. She hadn’t noticed any linkpads there. “How can you tell if he’s on when you’re in the house?”

“He hears and sees everything in the house,” Onca replied. “Unless you give him a direct order for privacy. Not that I’ve ever needed to do that. Although there’ve been plenty of times when I had to tell him to shut up.”

“Oh.”
Even
creepier.
She hadn’t thought about a computer being able to see. He was probably still laughing at how skinny she was. Then again, there would always be someone to talk to. “Do you ever talk to him simply because you’re lonely?”

“Who says I’m lonely?” He sounded defensive, almost angry.

“No one. I just wondered.” He would be telling her to shut up before long, and he was probably regretting half the stuff he’d offered her. Still, she’d already asked a lot of questions, and as touchy as he was, keeping quiet might be a good idea.

Unfortunately, her brain was buzzing with queries—most of them about being Zetithian. Here she was, sitting next to one of her own kind for the first time in twelve years, and he didn’t seem to want to talk to her.

I
should
never
have
asked
him
to
kiss
me.
He’d been okay before that. Considering what he used to do for a living, she wouldn’t have thought it was too much to ask. Then again, perhaps it was. Maybe he had to be paid to kiss people.

Too
bad
I
don’t have any money.

***

Onca toyed with the idea of engaging the navigator function—with the cloaking device off, it would work now—but decided it was best to keep his eyes on the road. Inhaling Kim’s scent already had him primed; if he looked at her again, he would be purring in no time.

Since he and Kim obviously needed a chaperone, he hoped he could convince Roncas to stay at his house while the girls were there. Not that he would ever tell her the real reason. He would never hear the end of it, and after that discussion about Captain, he didn’t want the computer to know why Roncas was there, either.

Roncas might see the need and choose to stick around herself. As jumpy as Jatki was, she might be begging the Zuteran to do just that. He could only hope.

Kim was right about one thing; he
was
lonely. Or at least he would be once he was home by himself all the time. He’d thought about planning a real vacation, getting Dax to take him from planet to planet, but he was looking forward to doing nothing for a while. He had never allowed himself to just
be,
and he wasn’t sure why that was. The closest he’d come to it was hanging out at the ranch after Jerden’s wedding. Terra Minor hadn’t appealed to him in the beginning—it was too tame a place for a bunch of guys who’d been cooped up on a starship all their lives. It wasn’t until he was lying on a chaise lounge by the lake that he truly began to appreciate the quiet, peaceful nature of that world.

Rhylos was a busy, heavily populated planet. There were areas devoted to food production, but they weren’t anything like the wide-open spaces on Terra Minor. That brief respite proved how much he needed some down time, and the pleasant feeling he’d had while sitting around the campfire had been the primary reason he’d stopped booking appointments.

But he had a mission now. A purpose. He would help Kim find her friends, then he would take her to Terra Minor to claim her portion of the trust fund. When she no longer needed his help, he could relax and enjoy his retirement.

Until he got bored and lonely.

No.
He would fill up the days somehow. He could go for walks on the beach, swim in the ocean, stop by and see the guys in the brothel district now and then. Invite them to lunch. Talk over old times.

And live in the past.

Was that really what he’d thought about doing the whole time he was growing up on that starship?
Again, no.
He’d wanted to go places, do things, be…adventurous.

Okay. So he also wanted to find a mate.

Onca had kidded himself for years.
Women
don’t want me, so I don’t need them
had been his mantra for the longest time. Every girl he’d ever taken an interest in had ignored him. He had even gone into the sex business to keep from getting attached to one woman in particular.

Was working at the brothel his revenge? He couldn’t give it away, so he made them pay for it? And what was the “it” he was referring to?

Sex?

Love?

Him?

Maybe all three. He glanced at Kim before he remembered his determination not to look at her. She wasn’t crying, but he had obviously hurt her feelings.

And
I
promised
never
to
do
that.
Poor kid. He knew exactly how it felt to be rejected. Sure, she acted tough—she wasn’t defenseless by any means—but she was so tiny, so thin. Even Roncas’s silky tunic and slacks were too big for her.

He had to make it up to her somehow. With any other woman, one good fuck would be enough to make her forgive him. This time, he had to come up with something else—and he’d better do it quick. They were almost home. If she walked in with that hurt look on her face, Roncas would have his hide. He didn’t have time to buy her a new dress, and all he had in his pockets were a few credits, a comlink, and a pulse pistol. She would probably appreciate any one of those things, but—