He had to find another way. Had to make her see that what sparked between them was more than adrenaline and proximity. Had to convince her to stay long enough to discover what they could be together.
His dragon rumbled with determination. She was his mate. That was immutable, written in fire and blood and the way she'd commanded his flame. But she was also an independent human pilot who'd survived on her own terms.
He just had to figure out how to make her stay.
11
Mercy needed space. And time.
And about a thousand shots of liquor.
Saffron Court was about as far from her life as she could imagine. The decadence pressed against her skin like an ill-fitting suit, making her hyperaware of every scuff on her boots, every burn on her fingers. Sure, she'd taken vacations before. She'd even dropped passengers at places like this a time or two. But staying at a place like this as a guest?
She felt like someone was going to figure out she didn't belong and throw her out if she held her drink the wrong way.
Zane didn't have that problem. He'd set himself up by one of the luxury pools, fruity drink in hand, and let himself soak up the sun like this was a vacation and they weren't on the run from a horde of angry pirates.
Her skin was vibrating with worry, and she needed to move.
She wasn't sure if they were in the desert or at the beach. Possibly both. The resort had transformed the landscape into something otherworldly, where sand dunes met clear blue water in defiance of natural geography. Water lapped at the edge of the resort, and Mercy walked along, letting the sand squish between her toes.
If she could just live here for about a thousand years, she might be able to relax.
But how much did this place cost? Zane was on a first-name basis with Myles Judd, who was the head of security of all things. He'd been little more than hired muscle for a freight hauler when she'd known him a decade ago. But he didn't cheat at cards, and he'd had her back in more than one shady situation.
But it was hard to imagine him in charge of things. He'd been more of a shooter than a thinker when she knew him, with a pile of debt to their shared captain unlikely to ever be paid off.
If this was the kind of place that a dragon lord went to frequently, it had to be so far out of her price range that she wouldn't even look at it as a joke.
As far as she could tell, Saffron Court owned a large chunk of this planet, maybe the entire thing. There weren't many people around, and those she saw were clearly either guests or staff. All the buildings seemed to be part of the resort, and there wasn't much air traffic.
Under regular circumstances, she couldn't even afford a night.
How could she let Zane pay for this?
Her lips tingled in memory of that kiss. The ghost of his mouth on hers made her stumble slightly in the sand. She could still taste him, could still feel the desperate press of his body against hers in that cramped shuttle cockpit. The sounds he'd made when she'd nipped at his lip, low and rumbling like distant thunder.
She'd wanted to climb into his lap, to forget about pirates and danger and destroyed ships in the most basic way possible. Had wanted it so badly she'd ached with it, every nerve ending screaming for more contact, more heat, more of him.
But she'd pulled back. Because that's what she did. That's what kept her safe.
Except nothing about Zane felt safe. He burned through her defenses like dragon fire through wood, leaving her exposed and wanting things she couldn't afford to want.
Wanting a client had never been an issue before. Usually she hauled cargo, but the few passengers she took on had always remained respectfully professional.
Zane blew past all that without even trying.
And she had no idea who he really was.
Spoiled lord?
Dangerous dragon?
Commitment-phobe?
Maybe all of that. His plan to avoid an unwanted engagement sounded ridiculous, and she had no idea why he couldn't just talk to his family about his wants and needs.
Then again, she was walking away from the resort as far and fast as she could to avoid speaking to him, so who was she to say anything?
