No one answered my call for a partner who would be willing to chip into the repairs except Garrett. And I had taken one long, hard look at the seasoned pilot, heard about his connections to the private sector, which meant higher-paying contracts, to know that I’d found the perfect business partner.
In hindsight, I should have wondered why he thought I would be a good partner for him. He had money, a reputation as a badass and, as I later found out, friends in high places.
I was broke, had no connections to speak of and was always a little less articulate when I was around him. But he’d said he wanted a break from high-risk jobs, wanted a steadier life, so I hadn’t questioned my stroke of luck. And, true to his word, he got us easy but lucrative contracts.
And after three months and one hot night, he’d left me, only to turn up ten weeks later here on Dezra.
“Can you read my thoughts?”
He shook his head.
I was relieved. It was unsettling that he might be able to spy how much I still loved him. Slyte would know, I thought, but it didn’t seem as if he’d rat me out any time soon.
“Untie me please,” I said. “I’m feeling much better.”
“We’ll see for how long,” Garrett answered, but surprising me, he began to untie me. When he was done, I rolled to my side as Slyte pulled me close.
“Want me to leave you alone with him?” Garrett asked. “I’ll leave if you ask me to because it tears me apart that you are in his arms and I can only watch.”
I looked at him, not trusting my voice. “No,” I said finally, “please stay.”
He nodded, opened his belt, stripped naked in front of my eyes and, foolishly, it made me blush. He slipped onto the bed with me, as I had wished for him to do.
I stared straight into his eyes, so familiar with their small flecks of gold inside the dark irises. Slyte moved behind me, his arms firmly wrapped around my middle, reminding me that I was trapped between two men. One spooned behind me, the other in front of me. Emotions rushed over me so fast I had no chance to catch or study any of them.
“Hey,” Garrett said, his lips moving against mine in a whisper-soft kiss. The slightest smile crossed his face, as if afraid he would spook me if he expressed too much interest. “So you’re feeling better?”
“A bit,” I answered with the truth. “But there’s still that urge within me to jump you. And that’s the drink messing with me.”
“You sure?” There was a twinkle in his eyes, the daredevil smile I’d loved so much.
And still loved, who was I kidding?
“Why, Garrett?” The question I’d longed to ask him every day for the last ten weeks. I’d pictured myself screaming this question, throwing my hurt feelings at his feet. I never imagined I’d ask while lying nose to nose in bed with him as another man was holding one of my breasts cradled in his palm. My heart was so full of pain and longing, I could hardly breathe.
“Tell me. I need to know now.”
Chapter Five
My body was stirring again, demanding attention, sex and release. But I fought my need, didn’t want to give in, turning over and over what Garrett had told me.
“I don’t expect you to believe me,” Garrett said softly, his breath tickling my lips, his words little kisses on my mouth. “But it’s the truth.” He cupped my jaw and feathered a kiss down my neck. He skimmed his fingertips along my throat, pausing when I turned in to his touch.
“I want to believe you,” I said, but doubt lingered, why, I couldn’t say. Maybe I’d been burnt one time too many. “When you agreed to be my partner, you only wanted to keep a low profile, right?”
“Yes,” he said. “That was the plan.”
“You used me.”
“I fell for you, sweetheart.”
I hrumpfed but brought my face closer to him, loving the scrape of his beard stubble against my chin. And greedy me, I curled tighter against the hard, hot cock pressing against my butt cheeks. Garrett carressed my front—throat, breasts, my belly—while Slyte took care of my back, tracing my spine with a single finger, his hand slick with oil.
I sensed that Garrett avoided touching Slyte while it was apparent that the Dezrian couldn’t care less about the other naked male in the bed. But it made me feel as if there were an invisible line drawn along the side of my body. Still, line or no line, the feeling of two pairs of hands traveling along my body was intensely satisfying.
Slyte’s hand settled around my breasts from behind to tease my nipples into hard buds and his knuckles rasped across Garrett’s chest. Oh, oh, I thought with a smile, he’d just crossed the border.
Garrett backed slightly away from me, or rather, from Slyte’s hand, proving that my assumption had been right.
“Show me the thing on your chest once more,” I said to distract him before he changed his mind about sharing the bed with Slyte and me.
He raised his brow and gave me a look, as if he guessed my intentions, and I traced my finger across the scars on his chest. There, above his heart, was something spiky like barbed wire beneath the scar tissue.
“And you can’t remove it by yourself?” I asked.
“As archaic as it is to put it in place, it’s a sophisticated device.”
I was silent, closing my eyes, partly because Slyte’s caressing touch made me shiver, partly because I was sick to my stomach. “If only you had told me—”
“And have you come after me? You wouldn’t have stood a chance. I’d rather have you hate me than risk your life. And I was sorry,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t a lie.”
“You should have told me when you entered our partnership that you had unfinished business with this guy.” And not any guy, no, it had to be someone so high up and with a reputation so clean you knew he was bone rotten.
“When I got wind of his illegal activities, I wanted out of my pilot contract. You could say a long-time friendship was over. I offered to pay a penalty for the outstanding time, which he didn’t accept. I left anyway, threatening that I’d report him to the confederation.”
“Now that wasn’t smart,” I said. “He probably has half of the officials in his pocket.”
“I know,” Garrett said. “It wasn’t smart and it backfired. His thugs came looking for me when he couldn’t find someone stupid enough to replace me. But I wasn’t easy to find. Until we checked into that motel. The kid who showed us the room, he must have recognized me, knew that there was reward on my head.”
I’d heard of slaves being imprisoned by explosives beneath their skin. But I hadn’t seen it before. “What triggers it?” I asked, my throat tight.
“If they don’t replace it every three days, it starts releasing poison into my blood. They made damn sure that I stick around this time. I had to fly missions under the radar, violating confederation regulations left and right. But, hey, in his own twisted way, he has honor. My contract with him is now up, so I’m soon free again.”
“Just like that?”
He nodded. “I was on my way to debrief when my ship crashed. After the debrief, they’ll take out the device and my life is my own again.”
“You’re not letting them get away with what they did to you, right?”
“I might know a thing or two to bring him down, but that needs planning,” he said quietly. “And right now, I don’t want to think about it. Not when I have you finally back in my arms.”
I was still trying to come to terms with his story. Something else nudged at my brain, but I couldn’t pinpoint what was bothering me. But I knew better than to expect that the confederation would come to the rescue of an independent pilot who’d gotten himself into trouble. By the time the paperwork with the complaint was filed, he’d have been dead.