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Of course she was waiting for you—she thinks she ordered you from some damn online catalogue. That stopped him cold. He was already beginning to regret lying to Leita, but there was no way he could tell her the truth now. Not after the hot, tender sex they’d shared. She’d be twice as likely at this point to freak out and throw him out in the cold and Pierce simply couldn’t risk that—not now. Not with Shie-lu and who knew how many other hard cases on his ass.
He sighed and rinsed the synthetic soap substitute from his hair. He should’ve known the box of platinum extensor chips he’d been moving for Dal were duds. The slimy little bastard who passed them to him had a shifty, untrustworthy look in his slitted black eyes that gave Pierce an itch. He should have tested one or two, just to be sure. But Dal was such a damn stickler for having his goods intact Pierce hadn’t opened the box. For once he’d ignored his instincts and brought the box unopened straight to the crime lord who made his home on Centauri Prime, as specified. Dal, a fat ET with vestigial gills and tentacles—both literal and figurative—all over the galaxy, had assumed Pierce had given him crap chips on purpose and kept the box of good chips for himself. Hence the huge bounty currently riding on Pierce’s head that made him a hot commodity to every lowlife in the galaxy.
Pierce had tried to explain, had even offered to pay the cost of the chips himself, a sum of credit he could ill afford to part with. But Dal was a Pteregoid, a race that took personal honor to the outermost limits. He considered that Pierce had paid him a personal insult and refused to be mollified with anything less than his head on a stick. If there was some way to prove to Dal he had been duped and had passed the bad chips in good faith, Pierce knew the Pteregoid crime boss would withdraw the bounty. But the slimly little bastard with shifty eyes that had passed him the chips in the first place was nowhere to be found. It was like he’d fallen off the edge of the galaxy. So the heat wasn’t going to die down anytime soon. Hell, Pierce reflected, he might have to stay here six months or more.
He frowned to himself as he contemplated his fate. Strangely, the idea of spending the next six months of his life buried on a remote rock at the far end of the system with Leita didn’t bother him. But the very fact that the idea didn’t bother him bothered him. He was a mover and a shaker, a get-things-done kind of guy. True, he’d been thinking about settling down to a quieter lifestyle right before he got shipped here, but he’d had the same thought a thousand times before—usually when he was in a tight spot. He’d never actually expected to follow through on it.
And you’re not gonna follow through on it now, either, he reminded himself sternly. He had to remember he was only here for a little while and not let himself get attached to Leita. And if possible, he didn’t want to let her get too attached to him either. She seemed like a sweet, trusting girl and he didn’t want to break her heart. Not that there was much chance of that—as long as she thought he was a robot or a cyborg or whatever the hell those man-whore-things from Osiris were, she’d have to be crazy to let herself fall for him. Almost as crazy as Pierce would have to be to let himself fall for her.
Never gonna happen. He put the thought out of his mind as he stepped from the shower and began toweling off. Still, the memory of Leita, all pink and flushed and pretty, straddling him and panting his name wouldn’t quite leave his mind.
Chapter 4
“Well, I hope you’re happy.” Schneider was curled on the waist-high counter, his lashing tail telegraphing his disapproval when Leita walked into the kitchen unit.
“Actually, I am.” She hummed lightly to herself, looking at the directions on the back of the purple nutrient powder to be sure she got the ratios right. She was wearing an old red flannel robe that was soft and thin from many trips through the auto-fresher and a smile that just wouldn’t quit. What was it about good sex that made you feel on top of the world? The rush of endorphins from the orgasm, she supposed. But she didn’t walk around wearing that cat that got the cream smile after a session with her vibrator—no, it was Pierce who had made the difference.
“So the oversized dildo satisfied your every sexual need?” Schneider’s tone was pure acid but Leita felt too happy to let it get to her.
