Three
Baird’s smile flashed white against his darkly tanned face. He took Alina’s hand. “My hotel?”
His hotel. His bed. “Sounds good.” He probably rated better accommodations than she did. Kasi House always booked cheap lodgings for her, which usually meant a spacer’s hostel in the worst section of whatever port city she landed in. The theory was that she could look out for herself. Which she could, but she’d frankly gotten very tired of sleeping in vermin-infested sackracks.
As Alina watched, Baird turned his gaze skyward, his handsome profile outlined against the stars, and sent out a call for a zipcab through his communications implant. Automatically, she looked up, too.
“Alina,” he said suddenly.
She half-turned, and he stepped against her, all dark male strength, his hands big and warm as they came to rest on her waist. Then his mouth lowered to hers, and she forgot all her worry and bitterness. Hot, wet, flavored with some delicious alien spice, his lips moved over hers. They were much more skillful than they’d been when he was a pretty young warrior just coming to his power. This was the kiss of a man who knew exactly what he was doing and the best way to go about doing it. She found herself sinking against him with a low moan of need.
God, she wanted him. On her, in her, however she could get him. Now. She wasn’t even all that sure she could wait for a bed.
A burst of musical notes played, jerking them from each other’s arms as the zipcab descended. It came to a hovering halt, announcing its rates in a purring female voice. Shaped roughly like a curving wedge, it wore a brilliant paint-job advertising some local bar. Its forward passenger door slid open in invitation.
Baird looked down at Alina, a warm gleam of anticipation in his eyes. “Shall we?”
“Goddess, yes.”
They scooted inside to sink into deep blue upholstery. Alina sat back with a sigh, her tired body enjoying the luxury. The seats adjusted as they settled in, cupping around backs and butts. In the event of a crash, they’d also surround the cab’s occupants with soft, protective cocoons.
The cab had no driver, though it did have a triangular yoke that thrust from its dash—part of its manual emergency controls in case the navigation computer went down. Baird murmured the address of his hotel, and the cab took off, soaring straight up to merge with the traffic overhead.
Alina barely had time to glimpse the lights of the city receding below before he pulled her out of her seat and into his lap. His mouth claimed hers, demanding and hot. She moaned and kissed him back.
For long, sweet moments, she simply forgot herself in the kiss, in the heat of his mouth, so familiar and yet so different. She wrapped one arm around his shoulder and the other in his long hair as he cuddled her in his lap. It was a pose they’d assumed a thousand times all those years before, but it felt very different now. He was hard and strong and broad in a way he hadn’t been then, making her feel almost delicate. She found the differences deliciously arousing.
And so were his big, clever hands.
He found his way beneath the hem of her tunic to the skin that lay beneath, stroking gently across her waist and belly, then up to the curves of her breasts. “You’re bigger than you used to be,” he said softly, cupping her in long, warm fingers.
Alina smiled against his mouth. “So are you.”
“You have that effect on me.” He rolled his hips against her backside. The bulge of his erection was thick and long, making her shudder in longing greed.
She drew back to bite tenderly at his lower lip. “Taller. I meant you’ve grown taller.”
He looked into her eyes. There was regret in his. “I was a boy then.”
“Well, you’re definitely not anymore.” Alina wrapped her fingers in the thick black silk of his hair. Lowering her head, she took his mouth in a slow, sliding kiss.
He groaned, the sound vibrating deep and rough, and kissed her back.
Fear and bitterness spun away.
Despite Baird’s suspicions, despite everything he knew about her, the taste of Alina was magic. In her arms, he felt a boy again, trembling with need and hunger for his first lover. Finally he had to draw back, gasping, to look into her face. The regenator’s mist had cleaned the blood away, and the bruises and swelling were gone. He could see her now.
Alina looked even lovelier than she had twenty years ago. She’d lost the haunted look of partial starvation, flesh filling in the stark hollows under her high cheekbones. Her body felt solid with healthy muscle, and her breasts filled his hands with their soft weight.
But her pretty mouth had the same sweet curve, and those eyes were just as big and violet as they’d always been. Even the beads in her blond hair were the same. That probably galled her; she should have a collection of promotion and campaign honors as impressive as his. That bitch Rajin had refused to let her serve.
She’d evidently had other plans for Alina.
Hate stirred in his heart, chill and bitter. If his lover had violated her oath, it was because of the Femmat.
Yet Alina could have walked away at any time. The girl he’d known would have, rather than be involved in Rajin’s crimes. Why hadn’t she? What hold did the Femmat have on her?
“Baird?” Alina lifted her head, frowning. “Is something wrong?”
He forced a smile and raked his thumb over a tight nipple. “Nothing, sweet. Nothing at all.”
They were still caressing each other when the cab chimed, announcing their arrival at their destination. With a groan of frustrated reluctance, Alina drew back from Baird’s deliciously tempting mouth.
Resting his forehead against hers, he said huskily, “Patience, love. I want to take you in a bed, not a zipcab.” He drew back and rested his palm on the cab’s payment screen, authorizing it to charge his credit account. The fare paid, the cab popped its door and let them out on the pedwalk.
Straightening the hem of her tunic with a jerk, Alina looked up at the hotel towering over their heads. She’d been right—this was no sackrack, though not an aristocrat’s lodgings either. It was the sort of inexpensive, decent place that catered to travelers of Baird’s rank and class. She should be able to get a good night’s sleep here, uninterrupted by sexual groans penetrating inadequate soundproofing.
Though she strongly suspected she’d be too busy making pleasure noises of her own to notice anyone else’s. She really didn’t anticipate getting all that much sleep, not judging from the hot male hunger in Baird’s eyes.
Though there’d been a moment when she’d seen something else, something that looked a lot like rage. Something fresher than two-decade-old anger over their breakup.
But when he reached for her hand, she gave it, threading her fingers gratefully between his long, strong ones. Even that chaste contact made her body hum.
They walked into the building together, past the trids advertising exotic liquors, restaurants, clothing, and sex entertainers. The lobby itself was bright and well lit, decorated in bright colors, with a soaring, transparent ceiling. A massive central mobile constructed of flowing shapes dominated the vast space, chiming softly.
Alina and Baird didn’t linger to sightsee, instead heading straight for the glass-enclosed antigrav lift. It opened at their approach, and they stepped inside. The double doors closed with a musical trill, sealing them in the tube as it slid smoothly upward. Through the glass, she noticed a pair of grav-dancers soaring around one another in the center of the lobby, their bodies nude except for swirls of glittering paint. No sooner did they come together than one or the other swooped away, so that they dove and soared like birds. Watching them, Alina felt her heart ache.
“They’re a pretty good metaphor for us, aren’t they?” Baird asked softly, watching her face.
“You always were far too good at reading my mind.” She turned away from the dancers and forced a smile. “I don’t want to think about that now.”
His face hardened. “No, I don’t suppose you do.” The doors opened. “And neither do I.”
Before she could move, he bent and swept her up into his arms, startling a laugh out of her as he carried her out into the hall. Alina wasn’t used to feeling delicate, yet cradled in those powerful arms, she did—and she loved it.
Baird strode down the corridor with her, surefooted and powerful. Alina stared up into his tight profile, wondering at the hint of danger she felt from him, the edge of anger.
Yes, this was more than the old grudge. But what?
His room responded to his biological signature at their approach, and its door slid open in welcome. He carried her inside without breaking step.
The room was a simple enough affair. Its only furniture was a small table in the corner flanked by a couple of chairs, and a huge oval bed covered in dark blue slick-sheets that matched the carpet.
Baird tossed her lightly on the bed. Alina landed with an unwarrior-like gasp and giggle.
“Strip,” he growled.
She’d have told another man exactly what he could do with his commands, but this was Baird. Smiling wickedly, she rolled onto hands and knees and stared at him through the curtain of her blond braids. “Do I look like one of your recruits, Captain?”
“You look like a Warfem who’s about to get fucked.” He grabbed the seal of his unisuit and dragged it down in one ruthless motion. As she watched, breath caught, he stripped the suit off to stand boldly naked. His cock bobbed free, flushed and thick.
Alina swallowed, her hungry gaze fixed on his broad, sculpted chest. It was furred in a dark ruff of chest hair that narrowed to a trail leading straight to that impressive cock. His legs were long, the thighs and calves thick and round with brawn. As she stared at him, dry-mouthed with desire, he strode to the wall. A panel slid open at his approach, and he reached inside to pull out a length of flexible forcecable.
She raised a brow, interested but not shocked. Warlords tended to be fairly inventive when it came to sex. “We never did bondage before.”
Baird shrugged, braids swinging beside one high cheekbone. “It seems to suit my mood. You’re still not naked.” His eyes were glowing red, a Warlord’s indicator of stark lust. He was on the verge of losing control.
Heart pounding, Alina reached for the hem of her tunic and pulled it over her head. He went still, watching as she flicked open the closure of her breastband. The band fell away, freeing her breasts. His eyes widened and flared bright red.
Deliberately taunting, she rolled onto her back and slid her boots and trousers off, taking her time, letting him get a good look. Smoothly, easily, she lifted one leg and pointed the toes at the ceiling. He licked his lips and dropped his gaze between her thighs, and she hid a smile. “Is this naked enough for you, Captain?”
“Perhaps a little too naked,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I think you need to accessorize.”
Baird moved so fast even Alina was taken by surprise. One minute he was across the room, staring hot-eyed at her nudity. The next, he was on the bed and spinning her around so she was on her knees with her back to him. He pulled one of her wrists behind her back and wrapped it in the forcecable, then bound the other wrist, too.
Alina inhaled at the wild arousal that exploded low in her belly. She twisted around to grin at him. “You taking me captive, Baird?”
For just a moment, she thought she glimpsed bitterness in his golden eyes. “It seems to be the only way I can keep you.”