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Therak hesitated for a moment. “I’m no longer in the killing business.”
Oh. “Does your retirement have anything to do with those mercenaries trying to kill you?” she found herself asking. She knew she should mind her own business, but… “The boss not ready to accept your resignation or something?”
Instead of an answer, he put Miya down on the top of the dune he had just climbed. Her feet had barely touched the sand when he grabbed her by the nape of the neck like a misbehaving kitten and pulled her toward him. He stopped only once her face was right under his.
She gulped.
“You ask some very particular questions, Earthling,” Therak said firmly, eyes locked with hers. “Why is that?”
“I…” Those stunning eyes of his made it hard to think. His grip, which wasn’t painful but was secure enough to keep her in place, was not helping her thought process either. “I was just asking… I’m simply trying to understand you better, you know? Us being stuck here together and stuff–”
“All you need to know is that your life is in my hands. Better not ask questions that make me more suspicious of you, Earthling.”
“You’re suspicious ofme?”Great, Miya, go and piss the claw-happy assassin with some additional stupid questions.
A dangerous smile split his face inches from hers. Those fangs looked even sharper from up close. “I’m no fool. Of course I’m suspicious of the person who first tried to delay our departure, and then delayed us some more with those repairs. The mercs wouldn’t have caught up with us otherwise.”
“Ha!” Freaking unbelievable. “Should I remind you I’m also the reason you’re not lying in that cage with a laser hole in the head? If I was helping the mercenaries, why bother getting you out, hm?”
“The mercs did not simply want to eliminate me, or they would have destroyed the ship from afar. They either needed my head as evidence of the job done or they planned to torture information out of me before putting me down.” Therak leaned further down until their noses were all but touching. “Perhaps your mission is to peacefully extract the info I have on Corcoraba.”
“That’s absurd! I don’t even know what Corco-whatever is, let alone how to extract information about it. You’re being paranoid, Therak.”
“Using a voluptuous female to gather intel is a by-the-book technique someone might foolishly think would work on me.” His gaze lowered to her cleavage before he looked into her eyes once more, his ears twitching like earlier on the beach.
Miya gave him a wry smile. “That someone is foolish, indeed, to think you can be seduced into spilling the beans. They’ll have better luck seducing a piece of meteorite.” She poked his rock-hard abs with a finger to stress that last bit. “Let me go, Therak.”
He lowered his nose to the side of her neck instead. And sniffed her.
While her mind was suddenly considering the possibility that his kind might be carnivores who had ‘voluptuous females’ for breakfast, Miya’s body responded to his closeness. To his hot breath right over one of her erogenous zones.
Heat spread through her veins. Her nipples turned into hard little peaks against his chest. She went weak at the knees too. Go figure.
He drew back and released her so abruptly that she nearly fell backward. “Excellent. We can resume our journey now.”
“What?”
“Climb on, Miya.” He turned his back to her and knelt in wait for her to piggyback-ride him again.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, so it’s Miya again, huh? You manhandle me, try to intimidate me, sniff me like some juicy snack and now it’s suddenly ‘excellent, let’s go’?”
Therak gave her a look over his shoulder. “I had to test you one last time before entering the settlement. I can’t focus on outside threats while also keeping an eye on potential internal ones.” He turned away again before adding, “Now I know I don’t have to watch my back around you.”
Miya huffed. What a pile of bull. She being a threat tohim? She being a seductress? Yeah, sure. Therak was more paranoid than the soldiers, may their souls rest in peace.
Or perhaps he was like her, always expecting the worst and preparing for it just in case.
And maybe she should take his suspicions as a compliment. He had to find her attractive to call her voluptuous and imagine her capable of loosening one’s tongue with her female charms alone. Right?
“Miya.”
“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” Just not in the way her body was craving.
Galaxies, she should really get her mind out of the gutter and focus on the important stuff. Like getting to water, food, and a ship off Xera. The sooner she and Therak made it to the colonists’ base, the sooner Miya would be done with the crazy assassin.
And her body’s insane reaction to him.
“Was it my stench that told you I won’t stab you in the back?” Miya asked as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. Yes, she was back to asking questions, but she really needed a distraction from how good it felt to have his powerful body between her thighs.
