CHAPTER ONE
She had him this time!
Captain Nissa Sander stood on the bridge of her Patrol ship, hands crossed at the small of her back, and watched the small runnership come into view.
“Lieutenant Allard, confirm her engines are powered down?” Nissa asked.
Ever efficient, the experienced Gavin Allard tapped at the console in front of him. “Affirmative, Captain.”
“Got you this time, Phoenix,” Nissa muttered. “Ensign Gat’nar, open a comm line to theMercury.”
“Open, Captain,” Bella Gat’nar replied. The young, female Modian’s tail swished behind her.
“Mercury, this is Captain Sander of the Patrol ship,Resolute Freedom. Prepare to be boarded.”
The viewscreen flared to life and the cockpit of theMercurycame into view. It was far smaller than the bridge of theFreedom,with only two seats—one for the captain and one for the co-pilot.
In the co-pilot’s chair sat a grizzled old man with a head of wild, gray hair. His eyes were two different colors: one blue and one green. He had a faint smile on his weathered face.
But it was the big man lounging in the captain’s chair who caught Nissa’s complete attention.
Justyn Phoenix.
Deep-space explorer. Smuggler. Handsome scoundrel.
Her heart gave a traitorous kick in her chest, like it always did when she saw him. Damn thing never listened to her.
Didn’t mean she had to let its reaction show.
“Captain Smooth.” His voice was deep, with the tiniest hint of a laugh under it. “A pleasure to see you, as always.”
The ridiculous nickname grated, but Nissa summoned her self-control and let it slide.
He smiled. “You can board me any time you please.”
Nissa heard someone on her bridge snicker. Eyes narrowed, she turned and scanned her crew. Under her infamous “you don’t want to piss me off” glare, the snicker died. As one, her crew straightened in their seats and stared straight ahead. Except for her first officer, Commander Drayna Tellis. Nissa’s friend made no attempt to hide her smile.
Nissa turned back to the viewscreen and eyed the man she’d been trying for three years to arrest for smuggling. Ever since she’d been assigned to the ass end of nowhere out at the edge of the galaxy.
Life was just a big game to Phoenix. He was gorgeous, and he knew it. He had a big, tough, muscled body that even in his deceptively lazy sprawl, she knew could move like lightning. His hair had gone well beyond being in desperate need of a cut. It was a rich, thick brown with the slightest glint of gold running through it. Probably from sunning himself on some uncharted, fair-weather planet when he ran deep-space convoys with his brothers.
His face was on the rugged side of handsome with bright-silver eyes and a scar that cut through his left eyebrow and disappeared into his hairline. Every time he explained how hegot it, the story changed and became wilder, more dramatic, and more incredulous.
Damn him for being everything Nissa found attractive in a man.
Well, except the criminal part.
She stiffened her spine. “Cut the crap, Phoenix.”
“Can I ask why an esteemed Patrol captain feels the need to board an honest freighter just going about its business?”
She barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Cut the good-ol’-boy routine as well. We intercepted intel that said you just picked up a shipment of Ryssian tobacco from uncharted space.” She smiled her best bitchy smile. “As you know, that tobacco is illegal.”
Phoenix leaned back in his chair. “You gonna search me?”
“Yes.”
“Then come aboard, Captain Smooth.” He opened his arms. It looked like he was gesturing at his lap. “I’m all yours.”
