
ROCK HARD
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Rock Hard
This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Published by
Loose Id LLC
870 Market St, Suite 1301
San Francisco CA 94103-2907
www.loose-id.com
Copyright © September 2008 by Bonnie Dee
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared in any form, including, but not limited to printing, photocopying, faxing, or emailing without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC.
ISBN 978-1-59632-777-1
Available in Adobe PDF, HTML, MobiPocket, and MS Reader
Printed in the United States of America
Editor: Barbara Marshall
Cover Artist: Marci Gass
The new bodyguard her father had insisted on assigning her looked like a block of hewn granite and had just about that much personality. He was a rock, with hard, black, almond eyes, a sharp blade of a nose, and cheekbones that appeared ready to break through his skin. His jaw could stop a truck, and his lips were so tight and straight you could use them as a ruler. If coal were shoved up his ass, he'd press out diamonds. Only his sleek black hair showed a hint of unruliness as random strands fell across his forehead.
"I'm sorry, miss. It's for your safety. The situation isn't stable right now."
Leelah glared at the man in the charcoal gray suit before slamming the door closed in his face. Retreating into the riotous garden of colors decorating her bedroom, she flopped on the bed and gazed at the star-spangled ceiling before turning on the comset implanted in her ear.
"Trianne Abet." She said her friend's name aloud and the comset connected them.
"Hey, babe, what's up?" It was a strain to hear Trianne's voice above the background noise of a party. "Where are you? You need to get your ass over here."
"Can't." Leelah picked at her purple bedcover. "Would you believe this shenje? Almost twenty-five years old and I'm basically grounded."
"What?"
"They're not letting me leave the compound. We're on high alert, so this new guy has me on lockdown. There's always a threat! I've spent my entire life with the fear of kidnapping. When will I be allowed to really start living my life and making some kind of difference in the world?"
"Stop it!" Trianne's shriek echoed in Leelah's head, and she dialed down the comset. "Sorry. Burdah's grabbing my boob. Listen, your dad's practically the ruler of the Free Worlds. You should know the drill by now. Remember when you were twelve? There was that uprising that never came to anything, but you got out and met me and we had a sanshi day together at the beach. Are you telling me as a grown woman you can't manage to shake your bodyguard and come have some fun?"
"This guy's different. He's like a hawk." She thought of Ja-hun's dark eyes, constantly in motion, watching everything at once. Taking in every detail, giving nothing back. A shiver of arousal peaked her nipples as she wondered what fucking such a cold man would be like ‑‑ enough to frost her pussy, no doubt. "Besides, this is not just about partying, although it sounds like you're having a helluva good time. I could actually be useful there, serving a diplomatic function."
"Oh, yeah, intergalactic relations. You're good at that. There's this guy from Anu, named Danje, who you've got to meet. He's gorgeous."
The mental picture of a golden Anuvian male wouldn't come into focus. It kept being supplanted by Ja-hun's granite face. "I've tried everything, but I can't get this bodyguard to bring me."
"Try harder." There was a loud laugh, then Trianne said, "Gotta go," before abruptly ending the transmission.
Leelah sighed. If her father weren't in the middle of a summit meeting, she'd call and get him to order Ja-hun to let her out of house arrest. Daddy understood parties really were about more than socializing. Because of the big event tomorrow evening, royals and dignitaries from worlds across the galaxy were on NewEarth. Many of the young people from those prominent families would be at Burdah Garan's party today. Building connections with them was important. She could influence policy, sway future decisions, and get them to open their pocketbooks to fund some of her father's new programs. If she happened to have some fun at the same time, that was icing on the cake.
She kicked her legs against the bed for a few moments, venting her frustration, then called up the vid screen only to find nothing interesting on. At her command, the screen disappeared, revealing the scarlet-draped wall behind it again. Staring at the wall, she wondered if it was time for a makeover on her room. The profusion of brilliant colors ‑‑ vermilion, indigo, ochre, sapphire, and iridescent green ‑‑ was exciting, but hardly restful. Maybe that was why she had so much trouble sleeping at night. Even the starry sky on her ceiling didn't lull her. She was always shifting and moving, too full of energy to relax.
A head-listener would probably find all sorts of interesting things in her psyche, but she refused to go to one. She didn't want some stranger poking around inside her. What she wanted right now was to be at the party with Trianne and her other friends. She wanted to help her father in his campaign of change and knew just how to lay out his plans so the younger set would really pay attention. She could be an invaluable tool for him, if he'd just give her free rein.
The only thing standing between her and what she wanted to accomplish was that wall of stone in the hallway outside her bedroom: Ja-hun, the rock-hard bodyguard. The thought of him infuriated her, but also made her incredibly horny. His broad shoulders, big hands, and stoic face had filled her sexual fantasies ever since he'd gotten here. Imagining how he'd look stripped of that somber suit, all chiseled muscle and sleek, tawny skin, made her pussy ache.
She squeezed her thighs together against the pulsing and cupped her breasts, squeezing the small, round globes and plucking at the nipples through the fabric of her shirt. She glanced down at the effect of erect buds pressing into the clinging material. What would happen if she opened the door and called Ja-hun into her room from his post in the hallway on some pretext? He was a man, not a rock ‑‑ maybe. Surely his gaze would slip down to her chest, and a light of interest would spark in those remote eyes. His dick might harden, another block of granite bulging in the front of his pants.
As Leelah pictured his arousal, she squeezed her legs together tighter and pulled her nipples harder. She'd been around the guy less than a week, and he intrigued her in a way men seldom did. As a rule, the male sex was pretty easy to figure out and very easy to manipulate. But Ja-hun was such an enigma, so emotionless and reserved that she kept jabbing him with verbal barbs to see if she could get him stirred up.
She'd never been a spoiled princess, dallying with the help. She'd always known that her bodyguards, as they came and went throughout the years, were there to provide a service of protection, not to be teased or toyed with ‑‑ although she had cajoled Drummond into playing endless games of jabarta when she was eight. But Ja-hun had invaded her mind. She found herself speculating about how he'd be in bed and reaching for her vibrator in the nightstand drawer.
Leelah raised her top over her breasts so she could stroke naked flesh while imagining Ja-hun's long-fingered, elegant hands fondling her tits. She flipped up the hem of her skirt and pulled off her panties, then began working her fingertip over her clit. Her pussy was already slippery wet from her daydreams of her bodyguard. She dipped a finger into her channel and spread the moisture over her labial lips.
When she'd tickled her clit until her hips lifted toward her hand and her pussy ached for fulfillment, Leelah finally turned her vibe on and inserted it into her entrance. Her inner muscles clenched around the softly pulsing penis. It was the best money could buy, with a texture and movement so similar to the real thing she could easily imagine it was Ja-hun's cock plunging into her depths. Hell, the vibe was probably better hung and certainly less trouble than most men. She should be glad to spend an afternoon with it ‑‑ even if it didn't give her a kiss or say thanks afterward.
As she pumped the sex toy in and out of her body, she again pictured her bodyguard out of his sober gray suit. Underneath the jacket she was sure there were muscles like iron bands. He had the kind of body that was solid but not bulky, and she imagined his skin would be golden-tan all over. If he was on top of her now, his hard chest crushing her breasts, their skin would glide together. His obsidian eyes would be alive with electric sparks instead of their usual flat calm as they gazed into hers.
The aching tension swirling inside her grew stronger as the images of her fantasy grew sharper and more detailed. The buzzing vibrator hit a spot deep inside that was just right and sent sparkles of delight through her. Leelah moaned. Hah, couldn't trust a real man to hit that sweet spot. But then, the vibrator didn't make those intoxicating grunts and groans that a man did.
A few more thrusts and she'd brought herself up to the peak. Letting go, she took the plunge down the other side, releasing all her tensions, irritations, and worries as she cried out her pleasure. More than cried ‑‑ Leelah actually shrieked, which explained why her bodyguard burst into the room a second later.
She froze with the faux cock buried deep between her legs, her body arching off the bed and her mouth still open. Ja-hun also froze, a zynpher half drawn from its holster beneath his jacket. He stared at her, glanced around the room as though there might be hidden intruders, then stared at her again. But he didn't blink once, and not a spark flickered in his black eyes. No expression disturbed his rocky countenance.
He put the zynpher back into its holster, and his jacket fell forward, concealing it again. "Pardon me." His voice was low and as smooth as glass. He dipped his head in apology and withdrew from the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Leelah's orgasmic high evaporated like scattered raindrops on hot pavement. She pulled the still-pulsing vibrator from her pussy and threw it across the room at the door. It clattered to the floor before it reached that far. Forget the granite comparison. The new bodyguard was a fucking block of ice.
Ja-hun stood outside his new charge's door breathing heavily, his heart pounding and the blood rushing in his veins ‑‑ right to his cock, as a matter of fact. It was ridiculous. He was like a boy when it came to that girl, losing control over his body's reactions and the discipline governing his mind.
This glorified babysitting position should have been the easiest job ever. He'd taken the position for a chance to breathe, regroup, and think about what he might do with the rest of his life. Instead, keeping Leelah safe was turning into a nightmare. Not because he thought she was in any imminent danger, but because his hormones burst like fireworks whenever he looked at her.
But then what man wouldn't be affected by the sight of a woman with a vibrator buried in her pussy and her naked breasts jutting into the air? Her sprawled legs, her tangled brown hair, her flushed cheeks, and pouting lips between which he could see just a flash of white teeth, her dark-lashed topaz eyes, and her round, perky, rose-tipped breasts... Erotic images flashed in his mind.
Her shirt pushed up above her breasts. Nipples erect. He'd wanted to dive right in and lick them. And her naked legs and bare feet spread far apart, affording him an explicit view of every part of her anatomy. The lips of her cunt stretched wide while her swollen labia and glistening lips gripped a fake cock ‑‑ one he would have been happy to replace with his real erection.
"Gnnh." He groaned and closed his eyes, but couldn't shut out the shifting images. When he'd stood staring at her, his cock had swelled to massive proportions, pressing hard against his fly. He prayed Leelah hadn't seen the fast-growing bulge in his pants or registered the surge of lust reflected in his face. He knew his eyes hadn't widened in shock, nor had his mouth gaped; Ja-hun was too well schooled in concealing his emotions for that, but he still felt like his desire must have been emblazoned on his features.
A job. She's just another job. He'd reminded himself of this every day since he'd begun working for President Rogent Blaine, but it didn't take. Only six days into the job and he was in turmoil over a headstrong, bad-tempered little bitch he usually wouldn't give a moment's thought to. What the hell was happening to him? "Sex-need-want" throbbed through him in an unending mantra, replacing his former credo, "discipline-calm-control."
Maybe his loss of perspective had something to do with the fact that his last job had been as protector to Crin-tai, the scum-of-the-earth little weasel who controlled two-thirds of the Jens Quadrant. He hadn't been around an attractive female in too long. That was the problem.
Ja-hun glanced down the empty hallway, grabbed his dick through his trousers, and rubbed its length roughly. He needed some relief and couldn't have it here where anyone might appear from one of the doorways or around the corner.
He activated the comset with his voice. "Stedman."
"Yes, sir." The "sir" was grudging and bordered on being a disrespectful slur. Nigeri Stedman hadn't been happy about Ja-hun's hiring, feeling that it belittled the job his safety team was already doing for the Blaines.
"I'm taking a break. Send someone to replace me." Just a few minutes to himself to do some deep breathing and get his head on straight again, that's all he needed. Please don't let the bitch come out here and confront me about what I walked in on ‑‑ or worse, parade around in her skimpy little outfit, flaunting her breasts and mocking me.
Stedman didn't deign to reply, but a young guard, Pratt, showed up to take Ja-hun's place a few minutes later.
"I'll be back in an hour." Ja-hun walked quickly down the hall toward the room that he'd been given for the duration of this assignment.
Closing the door behind him, he breathed in the cool, mashiki-scented air of the quiet room. It was a soothing haven decorated in shades of gray, which made entering the dimly lit interior somewhat like walking into a fogbank. Since Ja-hun liked solitary walks on misty, rainy days, the ambiance suited him perfectly.
Moving away from the door, he shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over a chair, kicked off his shoes while loosening his tie, then collapsed across the memofoam bed. It was the most comfortable mattress he'd ever slept on, conforming perfectly to his body, not overly soft like the bed in his room at Crin-tai's or hard like the cot in the prison cell on D'jeering.
A few moments' rest and a mental reminder of why he was here would center him. Rogent Blaine had heard about his work guarding one of the biggest businessmen in the galaxy, Crin-tai, and had hired Ja-hun as a special consultant to his regular safety staff. With increased threats from anonymous sources, possibly tied to the Insurgent Alliance, Blaine had wanted to ensure his daughter's safety. Since the threats had specifically targeted her, Ja-hun was hired to watch Leelah around the clock.
He couldn't really blame the girl for thinking his stationing himself in the hall outside her room was overkill. Maybe if someone had shared with her the intensity of those messages, she'd understand that the danger wasn't exaggerated. Venturing out of the compound simply to attend a friend's party was an unnecessary risk, but to a young woman as vivacious as Leelah, being sequestered must be excruciatingly boring.
Still, she'd found a way to pass the afternoon, hadn't she? Once more, the images of the young woman sprawled half naked across her bed, pleasuring herself, rose in his mind. His cock, which had flagged to half-staff, surged upright again. He pulled up his shirt and slid his hand down his stomach to open the fly of his trousers.
Freeing his cock from its cloth prison, he grasped his shaft at the base and pulled, a long, slow stroke all the way to the tip. The purple, swollen head was already leaking precum, white, pearly drops rolling from the slit down the soft curve. Up and down the length he moved his hand in hard, almost punishing strokes. His hips jerked in time to the rhythm, and his breathing was fast and shallow. He wanted it over quickly and took no pleasure in masturbating ‑‑ other than the obvious one of achieving orgasm. He'd come to view sex as simply a biological function he had to serve now and then with either a one-night encounter or his own hand.
Ja-hun had long ago weeded out useless emotions like lust from his character. They didn't help him accomplish the kinds of jobs for which he was usually hired ‑‑ jobs that made guarding the Blaine princess look like spun-sugar frosting. In his youth, he'd become skilled at wet work, killing for a negotiated fee. But as he'd grown older, he'd decided to offer himself as a protector rather than an assassin. With Crin-tai, there'd been a thin line between business and crime, and Ja-hun had still occasionally acted as a hired gun. This job with the Blaines was supposed to begin a new, cleaner phase of his life.
He hadn't counted on Leelah's dynamic personality ruffling his calm sea like a stormy gale. Her lithe body, so taut and youthful, her sweet, round breasts, her laughing mouth and upturned nose, and those nearly golden eyes proclaiming her Anu heritage bored into him like a drill bit, seeming to shine a searchlight into his very soul.
He groaned deeply as his cock spurted onto his stomach. He came, not at the thought of her tits or pussy, but with those gleaming topaz eyes filling his vision.
With a sigh, he let his cock flop to his belly, grabbed the tail of his shirt, and wiped the sticky mess off his skin. He grimaced. He'd never enjoyed the earthiness of bodily fluids, which was pretty ironic, considering all the blood he'd dealt with in the course of his career.
Rising from the bed, he stripped and headed into the bathroom to shower, realizing belatedly a cold shower would have been a better choice than a hand job. After cleaning up and dressing in fresh clothes, Ja-hun watched the vid screen for a little while. The news clip about the Insurgent Alliance's increasingly violent demonstrations against the current government confirmed that Blaine and his cabinet were right to be worried. Whether one agreed with the I.A.'s principles or not ‑‑ and it so happened Ja-hun thought they made some good points ‑‑ they were a dangerous force.
Turning the vid off, he checked his appearance in the mirror, then headed back to resume his post at the princess's door. As he turned the corner to the short hall leading to her quarters, his heart jolted in his chest.
No one was stationed in front of her suite, and the door was ajar. Ja-hun raced down the corridor to the room and threw the door open. The layout of the room was open, so her living area and bedroom were one. He stared at the tumbled purple bedcovers on which she'd recently sprawled like a hologram fantasy.
"Leelah?" He checked her bathroom to make sure she was really missing. The entire suite was empty. Fuck! He'd had one simple task to fulfill, and he'd failed.
Ja-hun shouted into his comset for Pratt.
It was easy to give Pratt the slip. When she opened her door expecting to tease Ja-hun for the position he'd caught her in and found Pratt instead, she realized it was her chance to escape. He was part of the regular house security staff and didn't hesitate to allow her to go down to the kitchen on her own.
"Just hurry back, please. Ja-hun will have my head if he knows I let you go alone."
"Ja-hun is an overprotective idiot."
Although she felt guilty about the flak he'd catch, Leelah raced down the stairs, heading for the underground passage out of the mansion, a way she'd used as a teenager. Sometimes she'd made it back home before anyone had known she was missing. Other times, she'd been caught outside the compound walls and punished for putting herself in such danger. Of course, she'd always been able to talk her father into giving back her comset and vid privileges long before the grounding was supposed to end. And if she'd wanted Trianne to come over, all she'd had to do was let her eyes glisten with tears and tell Dad how lonely she was and that his job made her miserable.
In recent years with security being lighter, she'd gone to university classes and pretty much everywhere, so long as there was a bodyguard or two in attendance. She hadn't needed her secret route. But with Ja-hun's over-the-top protective measures, it was her only option. Poor Pratt. She'd make it up to him somehow.
Passing through the empty kitchen, she entered the vast storeroom beyond and descended the steps to the lower level. When she was a young child, her mother had shown her the escape route the pirate dynasty that built the house had once used. Of course, she hadn't intended Leelah to evade authority through it. But by the time Leelah had made use of the passage, her mother had been dead, and there was no one else who knew about her secret exit hidden behind a panel.
Emerging from the tunnel amid brambles and bushes on the other side of the compound wall, Leelah brushed cobwebs and dirt from her clothes, rubbed a bramble scratch on her arm, and called for a skycab on her comset.
A glow of victory swelled in her heart as the cab whisked her away from the estate and her zealous bodyguard. Take that, Ja-hun! I can manage my own life, and I don't need you or my father to make decisions for me.
\*
Burdah Garan's home was an elaborate structure with myriad flexglass plates that reflected the sun, turning the house into a sparkling gem perched above the sea. Leelah loved the panoramic view of the blue-green ocean from the vast wall of windows that overlooked it. People talking, laughing, drinking, playing games, or dancing crowded the rooms, and spilled out onto the patio and gardens. In the evening, when it wasn't so hot, they'd move the whole party down to the beach. She waved and smiled at friends, and grabbed a glass of pinje from a table as she passed. Taking a long, sweet drink, she let her hips sway with the music and her head bob with the beat, glad to be free at last and ready to network as well as have a good time.
When Trianne spotted Leelah across the room, she shrieked loud enough to make heads turn. She jumped up from her seat by her boyfriend, Burdah, to run toward her friend with open arms. "I knew you'd find a way to make it. Come on. There's somebody you've got to meet."
Leelah groaned. "I just got here, and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to get out. I just want to sit and get Blissed for a few minutes; then I'll be ready for some dancing."
"You got it." Trianne reached into a dish on the table where white Bliss tabs were piled like candy and handed her one.
Leelah popped the tab into her mouth and let it dissolve on her tongue. Almost instantly a melting feeling like warm butterscotch syrup fired through her synapses as the potent vitamin and mineral blend hit her system. Bliss heightened the senses, but with no letdown at the end of the ride, and the high wasn't addicting.
The bustle and noise of people having fun and the repetitive thumping bass of the music was usually a balm to Leelah's soul. She was generally a social person who loved parties and people. But as she sipped a smooth pinje and listened to Trianne and Burdah sell her on this guy she was about to meet, all she could think of was the furor her disappearance would cause. As usual, she'd let her own stubbornness guide her. Perhaps there really was a good reason for her confinement, and Ja-hun wasn't the stone-hearted bastard she'd cast him as. Was he really as cold and emotionless as he seemed?
He'd kept a perfectly blank face when he'd caught her masturbating, but she couldn't believe it hadn't affected him at least a little. It certainly had her. The memory of her embarrassment coupled with intense excitement sent a flash of heat through her that settled warmly in her crotch. Her Bliss-enhanced arousal had her craving to either fuck someone or dance. The latter seemed the more prudent choice.
"Enough with the sales pitch. I'm ready to meet your boy, but only if he knows how to shake it."
"Trust me, Danje can dance...or just about anything else you'd want him to do." Trianne laughed. "Here he comes."
Danje was a golden statue of a man, with the most beautiful, symmetrical face, flowing hair, and golden eyes that put Leelah's to shame. He was obviously a pureblooded Anuvian with the height, grace, and physical perfection of the race. Sometimes Leelah wondered what had drawn her Anuvian mother to leave her home planet with Rogent Blaine, a common man from OldEarth stock. It must have been true love between the pair of them. Too bad she'd never been able to ask her mother about such things, for Sun-shi Blaine had died when Leelah was still too young to be interested in hearing her parents' courtship story, and Daddy couldn't bear to talk about his lost love. He changed the subject whenever Leelah asked questions about her mother.
Trianne made introductions, and Leelah took Danje's warm hand. "Ja," she greeted him. "I hear you're quite the dancer."
"Come on and I'll show you." His smile was like sunlight shining on all of them. No wonder OldEarth primitives had thought the Anuvians were gods when they'd first visited the blue planet.
Leelah followed his lead onto the dance floor in the center of the room where most of the gyrating couples wore little more than their swimsuits.
Danje pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside, giving her an eyeful of sculpted chest muscles and biceps that made her pussy clench. Leelah followed his example, throwing her light sundress aside to dance in her bikini.
She'd always loved music and had considered majoring in dance at university until she'd realized she could contribute more to the Worlds by studying social issues. The rhythm quickly wrapped her in its embrace, and the melody carried her away. Her eyes half closed as she swayed to the tropical beat, thrusting her breasts forward, shaking her ass, sliding in harmony with Danje in a sultry bump and grind with her bottom pressed firmly against his thrusting pelvis. As promised, the boy was a great dancer, and together they burned up the floor.
She and Danje danced one song, two, three, before taking a break to gulp down a few more glasses of pinje. She learned her date for the day was still a student at the university, which made her feel a little old.
"I've been out two years and don't feel like I've accomplished anything," she confessed. "I wanted to really work with people, but my father's position makes it impossible for me to have a job in the public sector. Your mother's an ambassador, right? So you must know a little of what that overprotectiveness is like."
"Absolutely," Danje said. "I've only recently found my own way to bring about change. I'm just like you. I want to make the Worlds a better place."
Leelah used the opening to bring up the D'jeering issue. "Where do you stand on the bill for penal colony reform? I understand Anu is on the fence with factions on either side of the debate."
Danje gazed into his cup of pinje for a moment before answering. "My mother supports your father's bill. She believes the prison at D'jeering and others like it are an abomination, and there should be either severe reform or abolishment of the system."
"You don't agree?" She probed his seeming reluctance to give his own opinion.
He shrugged and glanced at her. "I think the dregs of society have to be housed somewhere. While some of us are focused on keeping order in the world, others seem bent on destroying it and need to be locked away."
"Perhaps. But do the conditions need to be so deplorable? Punishment shouldn't include enforced labor on starvation rations in cold, lightless cells, should it? Wouldn't efforts at rehabilitation be more useful in the long run?"
"I think...that this topic is way too heavy for a party." Danje shot her his sunshine grin and grabbed her hand. "Let's dance. And maybe, after a little while, we can find someplace more private to continue our conversation." His lowered eyelids let her know that more discussion was the last thing on his mind.
Having fun and pushing her father's diplomatic platform didn't have to be mutually exclusive. When the party quieted down and everyone was relaxed, she'd find opportunities to promote her father's agenda.
Leelah abandoned her lobbying and allowed Danje to pull her onto the dance floor, where they engaged in another hot and heavy faux fuck, their bodies writhing. She shimmied against him, her boobs grazing his chest. Her nipples were as hard as diamonds, threatening to poke holes through the material of her bikini top, and her pussy pulsed in time to the music. There would be sex tonight. Pretty boy Danje would be a great lay, she had no doubt. But as gorgeous as he was, she couldn't stop picturing Ja-hun's jet-black hair and eyes and raw-boned features. She turned her back on her partner to rub her ass against him, the better to imagine her bodyguard in Danje's place. Her eyes half closed as she twisted and thrust, getting into her fantasy of Ja-hun.
When she saw the man himself approaching across the dance floor, her eyes flew open. Was she imagining things? She blinked, but the large, dark figure didn't disappear. Nope. He was really there.
Ja-hun looked like an ominous black cloud against a rainbow, his monochromatic white shirt and dark suit a complete contrast to the butterfly colors and naked flesh of the party guests. They parted before him like he was a plague carrier, and Leelah's heart nearly stopped at the thunderous expression on his rock-hard face as he strode toward her.
"Oh, shenje!"
\*
The girl was practically fucking her partner right there on the dance floor. A surge of heated fury and extreme lust swept through Ja-hun as he crossed the room toward his errant charge. Leelah had stopped thrusting her ass toward her pretty-boy partner, and stood staring at Ja-hun, openmouthed. He stopped directly in front of her, schooling his expression to cool aloofness. "Miss Blaine."
"How'd you find me?"
Was she kidding? He'd tracked mech-killers and deadly assassins in the course of his career. Finding one runaway party girl who'd already made it clear she wanted to go to her friend's house wasn't a challenge.
"You're going to need to come with me." He kept his voice level and his eyes away from the tits that were practically spilling out of her tiny swimsuit top.
"Oh, come on! Do you honestly think something's going to happen to me here? Most of the people at this party are affiliated with politicians from one planet or another. There's enough security personnel floating around to fend off an entire army of assassins or kidnappers. You're supposed to be my bodyguard, so guard me, but don't cage me like some kind of animal in my father's house."
Again, Ja-hun wished her father had allowed him to share with her a few of the messages that had been transmitted to his comset. The tenor of the coms had made it clear that the person or organization had intimate knowledge of the Blaines' lives and would as soon kill Leelah as kidnap her to make the point that they could strike anywhere at any time. The girl was merely a card in their show of power. Ja-hun had a gut feeling a member of this group might be part of the president's household, and since he didn't really feel comfortable leaving Leelah alone in her own house, he certainly wasn't going to allow her to stay here.
At a party like this, something could be slipped into her drink so easily. She could be killed when she went to use the bathroom or even in the middle of the crowd with so many bodies pressed together. Ja-hun had used all three of these methods at one time or another to eliminate a target. And if the author of the threats wanted to take her, that could easily happen, too.
"I know this seems extreme, but you've enjoyed some free time, and now I want to get you back home." He hoped she wouldn't get stubborn and force him to manhandle her out to his waiting car. "I'm sorry," he added as an afterthought.
For a moment, he thought she was going to do exactly what he feared, throw a loud tantrum and literally dig her bare heels into the floor. Rather than toss her over his shoulder and carry her kicking and screaming from the house, he might have to consider backing down and actually spend some time at this noisy bacchanal. This girl was more trouble than Crin-tai at his worst. At least the mogul had listened when Ja-hun had warned him of danger.
"Fine!" Her arms folded just under her breasts, pushing her cleavage even more dangerously out of the bikini cups. Considering he'd seen her entire chest bared earlier that day, he didn't know why cleavage should seem just as provocative. "Let me get my things." She turned away, pausing to talk to her dance partner. "Sorry, Danje. I've got to go." She jerked her thumb at Ja-hun. "My bodyguard is having a meltdown."
After locating and slipping on her dress and sandals, Leelah walked stiffly past Ja-hun toward the door. She waved across the room at a dark-haired girl and activated her comset. "Trianne. Yeah. Sorry to leave so early. I know the party's just getting started, but as you can see, I'm being arrested. Talk later, okay?"
Trianne stared at Ja-hun as she waved back and her lips moved as though she was speaking into her comset.
Leelah laughed. "Yeah, I know. Scary, yet strangely sexy."
Ja-hun's heart leaped. She thinks I'm sexy. Almost immediately, he trampled the thought with a mental grind of a boot heel. Such a childish and unprofessional feeling didn't deserve to live.
Ja-hun gathered his focus and drew out his zynpher in case something happened between the house and the car. Of course, his weapon was useless against snipers, so he scanned the mid-and long-range distances for any sign of a scope as he walked Leelah to the relative safety of his vehicle.
He opened her door and watched her skirt ride up to reveal long, shapely legs as she slid into the seat. Damn, the sight of her dancing half naked, writhing against her partner's body had been nearly as erotic as walking in on her masturbating. At the same time, he'd felt an urge to slam his fist into the other man's face and drag Leelah away. Where were these animalistic urges coming from? He didn't recognize himself and didn't like the sex-addled, hormone-driven primitive he was turning into.
His gaze still scanning the area and the sky for danger, Ja-hun slipped behind the console of his V-1 and engaged the screen. He dictated his course, and the intelchip kicked in. The car slid smoothly down the drive of the Garan estate, past the security post, which was lax as hell with this party going on, and onto the street. While skycabs flew overhead, privately owned vehicles were magnetic driven and land-bound. The V-1 ate up the miles, carrying them back to the Blaines' presidential compound.
"You didn't do anything to Pratt, did you?" Leelah asked after a moment. "It wasn't his fault that I got away. He's good at his job, but I'm even better at getting my way."
Ja-hun believed that. He hadn't reprimanded Pratt yet. He hadn't had time. But he imagined he'd cut the man some slack. Pratt couldn't have guessed Leelah would slip out of the house. "He should've followed orders. I told him to stay with you until I returned."
"Seriously, don't blame him." Her eyes widened and she looked alarmed. "I wouldn't want him to lose his job over this."
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you left the building." He focused his gaze on the road. They were passing the city center, where bright holo-signs clamored for attention.
"I'm sorry," she said in a contrite voice. "My will is stronger than my common sense sometimes. Don't take it out on him."
Ja-hun suppressed a smile. She was playing him even now, trying to buy his lenience with Pratt by acting apologetic.
Leelah gestured to a holo-sign advertising a restaurant. "Can we stop for something to eat? I haven't had anything all day."
Ja-hun thought of the Blaines' huge kitchen and the on-site cook always available and didn't feel any sympathy for her.
"Just a drive-through? Anything to stay away from that house a little longer. Goddess, I feel like a four-year-old. When will I finally be able to live my life instead of being overprotected and coddled?"
He wanted to tell her there were a lot worse things in life than being pampered, but he continued to keep his mouth shut.
She slid closer to him and rested her hand on his thigh. His dick responded automatically, stirring to life. "Please, Ja-hun." It was the first time she'd used his name. "I'm sorry I ran away. It was childish. And I'm not just saying that to get you to do what I want. I know sometimes I come across like a spoiled rich bitch, but that's not who I am." She paused. "Or at least not all I am. I have dreams and goals. I didn't get an education so I could sit around on my ass being catered to by servants like some OldEarth princess. I want to help people. But I can't escape who my father is and start working. It's very frustrating."
Ja-hun slid a sideways glance at her open face and earnest eyes. It didn't seem like she was playing him just to get more time away from the house. She appeared utterly truthful. It was also the most she'd said to him in the few days he'd been around her. Mostly she'd mocked, teased, complained, or begged. Sincerity was refreshing.
Her hand pressing his thigh had nothing to do with his decision. "All right. Where do you want to go?"
\*
They ended up at a restaurant, in a back corner booth where he could keep his eye on all of the entrances and the people at the tables and other booths. Since not even the security staff at the estate knew where he and Leelah were, it was probably relatively safe here. Ja-hun had checked in with Nigeri to say he had Leelah with him and they'd return shortly. He hadn't recommended Pratt's dismissal, even though he'd disobeyed orders to stay with Leelah at all times. How could the guy have guessed she'd sneak out of the house like some teenager meeting her boyfriend?
Leelah ordered a surf and turf platter, Mahene crab and Korat steak. Ja-hun chose greens and fruit.
"You don't eat meat?" she asked, closing her menu and handing it to the waitress.
"A little fish sometimes." He'd also eaten rat and beetles for protein when he was starving in a D'jeering prison, but he wasn't going to tell her that.
"Interesting. I wouldn't have pegged you as a vegetarian." She rested her chin on her hand and leaned against the table. "Actually, you do have that aesthetic monk vibe going, so it's not too surprising."
He didn't reply. He sipped his water and scanned the restaurant.
"You know, dinner conversation is more interesting when there are actually two people conversing." She cocked her head a little, and her gaze locked with his. "You already know everything there is to know about me. Tell me something about you. How did you get into the bodyguard business? What was Crin-tai like? Yes, I did my homework, and I know guarding him was your last job. But what did you do before that?"
You don't want to know. "Other jobs. Other clients."
"Mm. That's very illuminating. Thank you," she said dryly. "All right, let's try something less complicated. What's your favorite color?"
He paused. No one had ever asked him such an inane question. A favorite color? Who had time to think about such things? "Gray."
She burst out laughing. "Why am I not surprised?"
"What about you?" he asked in an effort to participate in her ritual of small talk.
"Oh, shenje, that's too hard. Any bold primary color. Royal blue and indigo are so satisfying and rich, but sometimes I'm more in a sexy scarlet mood, know what I mean? Then again, sunny yellow is a real spirit lifter, and a primeval forest green speaks to the soul." She rattled on for several seconds in a monologue about colors.
He'd never heard anyone sound so passionate about something so mundane, and he suppressed a smile.
"What? Are you smiling? You think colors don't matter?" She raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "They're colors."
"Color is life. Scents, too. Anything that touches our senses and stirs us to feel is important. And feeling is everything."
Ja-hun remained silent.
"Go ahead. Say something. Your mind isn't a complete blank, is it? You must be thinking something."
"Most people I've known are passionate about either money, power, or both. You're the first person I've ever met who could get excited about the qualities of colors or even suggest that colors have qualities."
"I guess you've led a sheltered life." She folded her arms on the table and leaned even farther across the tabletop toward him. "What about you? What are you passionate about?"
"Nothing." He paused then added, "Except doing my job so no one gets killed." A far cry from the days when doing his job meant someone definitely got killed.
"That's a noble thing, but what about your life outside your work? What stirs you?"
You, apparently. "I prefer to keep my private and professional life separate," he said, straightening the flatware on the table.
"I'm guessing your private life doesn't exist at all." Leelah's voice lowered and softened. "I think your life is your job, and you've forgotten how to do anything else."
He was saved from having to answer by the arrival of their food. As he picked at his fruit plate, he watched in amazement as Leelah packed away a trough full of food that would've choked a sumo wrestler. Where she put it in her slender frame, he had no idea, but her plate was empty and polished clean before he'd finished his salad.
"Guess you really were hungry," he commented.
"Did you doubt it? I burned off a lot of calories dancing."
"So I saw."
She smiled and her eyelids lowered. "You like the way I dance." It wasn't a question but a statement, and he didn't bother to deny it. "You should've danced with me before we left the party." Suddenly, she leaped up from her seat and reached for his hand. "We should dance right now."
"This is a restaurant," he protested as she pulled him from his seat.
"There's music, though." It was true. Innocuous background music for dining played softly. "Perfect for slow dancing."
Before Ja-hun could argue, her arms were around his neck and her body pressed up tight to his. The sweet scent of her shampoo drifted up from her hair to tease his nostrils. Her body was incredibly soft and light in his arms, which had slid naturally around her back. She swayed against him, encouraging him to do the same.
"Dancing works best if you move your body a little," she teased.
He glanced around the restaurant. Most other diners didn't even seem aware of them in the dark back corner. The few who'd noticed smiled a little then returned their attention to their meals. He shuffled his feet awkwardly back and forth. It was ridiculous. He was a man with lightning-quick reflexes in a hand-to-hand fight, yet he lumbered like a bear around the floor.
Ja-hun looked at the top of Leelah's head and noticed there were golden strands in her brown hair. Then she raised her face to look up at him from inches away ‑‑ so close he could see the dark outer ring of her topaz eyes and the brown striations of her irises. He felt the faint puff of her breath against his neck, and his gaze zeroed in on her lips, plump, pink, and slightly parted. His tongue swept over his own lips in anticipation of something he knew he couldn't resist.
He inclined his head, and his lips touched hers, a soft, polite meeting of mouths that nevertheless sent his heart rate rocketing. And then her tongue swept out to lick delicately over and between his lips. He tasted the salty tang of steak sauce and beneath it the essence of her.
His grip on Leelah's back tightened, and he stopped shuffling back and forth. His eyes drifted closed, and he forgot to look out for danger. Besides, he'd already found it. While every shred of his intellect warned him he was making a huge mistake, every fiber of his being yearned toward the woman in his arms.
He clasped her body even closer and kissed her hard and deep, surrendering his hard-won detachment to a glittering moment of passion.
Ja-hun was kissing her. Damn, he was kissing her with a masterful aggression that put her past lovers to shame. His tongue flicked lightly over her lips then plunged inside to coil around hers. One hand rested at the small of her back, and the other had slid up its length to cup her nape. He held her tight against him, and she could feel the hardness of his body beneath that ridiculous suit. How she'd love to have it off him so she could see the fine muscles underneath.
He smelled good, a clean, forest scent mingled with male musk that piqued her arousal. Her hands were hooked over his shoulders from behind, and she snaked one up into his hair to see if the glossy black really did feel like silk as she'd imagined. The strands slipped smoothly between her fingers. She moaned softly into his searching mouth. Arching against him, she pressed her tits more firmly to his chest and rubbed her crotch against his. Ah, yes, that's the stuff.
For a moment, he responded, groaning low in his throat and thrusting his erection against her belly. Then he came to his senses and pulled away, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back. "No." His voice was a harsh rasp. His almond eyes narrowed to slits. "Enough!"
There it was ‑‑ the passion he'd repressed when he walked in on her masturbating. Ja-hun was finally aroused, angry and aroused. His snapping black gaze was every bit as exciting and magnificent as she'd thought it would be. She wanted him to push her back on the restaurant table and fuck her right there. What did she have to do to goad him further?
In an instant, the shutters came down. His panting mouth closed to a tight line. The smoldering sparks in his eyes died, and they became cold and dead again. "It's time to get back now." He hailed a passing waitress and scanned his card on her quickpay, grabbed Leelah's wrist, and pulled her toward the door.
Back in the V-1 speeding toward home, Leelah made every effort to engage Ja-hun again, but he was steadfast as stone.
"Come on. You can't act like that didn't happen. I didn't just throw myself at you. You kissed me, too, and you liked it," she crowed.
"It was a mistake and won't happen again." That was all he'd say no matter how much she wheedled and teased. She felt like a wave beating against a seawall. She might erode it a little, but the structure had been built to withstand the battering sea.
Finally, even Leelah grew tired of hearing herself talk and fell silent.
At home, she jumped out of the sleek car and headed for her room, very aware of Ja-hun right behind her. Was he noticing her ass? She swayed it from side to side in case he was.
As she showered, she fantasized about Ja-hun attacking an intruder and saving her like some fairytale knight. A protection fantasy was so cliché yet sexy all the same. Soaping her body, she imagined falling into his arms after he'd killed the bad guys. Her hand slipped between her legs for a few moments of play, but she declined to climax again by her own hand. If she couldn't have a real fuck, she didn't want to come at all.
Her father was going to be home for a late dinner, back from the summit meeting on Anu. Leelah dressed up for the meal, even though she was still full from her late lunch. She'd just as soon eat pizza in her underwear, sitting cross-legged in front of the vid, but Rogent preferred a little old-school formality. It was a small thing she could do for him. Besides, she looked killer in her green and gold Tsymensi dress and wanted Ja-hun to see her in it.
But the stupid bodyguard showed no reaction when she swished past him on her way down to the dining room. He followed her like the good, faithful attendant he was. He made her think of a silent but deadly Doberman with his sleekness and all his points and angles.
"Ja, Daddy." She crossed the room to hug and kiss her father. "Missed you. How are things in the Free Worlds? Everybody managing not to kill each other?"
"Currently." He smiled and kissed her once more and then held her chair as she sat.
She knew no one had told him about her escape, or he would have been all over her and might have fired his new security specialist. Although her father may have supported her initial request to attend the party had she asked, he would not have been happy about her managing to give the slip to his entire security staff. And as much as Leelah had wanted to be rid of Ja-hun when he first arrived, she now wanted to keep him around, so she was glad he hadn't felt the need to report the incident.
She chatted with her father about politics for a while. The Insurgent Alliance was demanding better working conditions for the very poor on planets like Bat and OldEarth, and there was the upcoming penal reform bill that would affect D'jeering and other prison planets. An increasingly large segment of Anu's population threatened to separate from the Free Worlds to resume self-government. The latter situation required some tricky maneuvering on her father's part as he strove to keep one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Worlds content, yet not appear to be caving to their every demand.
"Enough political talk. I've had it up to here with working out solutions to impossible situations. Tell me what you've been up to."
"Hm. Imprisoned at home mostly, as you know, Dad. But last week when I still had a life, I went to a Kingset concert with Trianne. They were great. I mean, the music alone is sanshi, but combined with the vid screen show and the acting, it was amazing."
"Good. I'm glad you enjoyed it, although their music doesn't much appeal to me."
"Oh, please, you still like OldEarth music from the turn of the century. That rock beat is about as intricate and challenging as a child's puzzle."
They finished their meal and moved to the living room where they sat and debated Leelah's right to her freedom for a while. As usual, neither of them would budge on the topic.
"You can't wrap me in cotton forever," she told him for what felt like the millionth time. "I understand the dangers, the possibility for someone to use me as a tool to get to you, and I'm willing to have bodyguards, but this house arrest is ridiculous. I have to get out into the world. Why did I bother to study social work if I'm not going to practice it?"
"There are programs you could operate from an administrative position. That would be a useful and safe way to use your education, and you'd probably be doing more good than working on a case-by-case basis."
"But, Daddy, working directly with people is what I want to do. Shenje! I don't know why I bother. I'm going to bed now."
Ja-hun remained behind to discuss security matters with her father, allowing Leelah to go alone to her room.
She took off her dress and sat in her living room in her underwear watching the vid. Her mind was awhirl with the events of the day, and she barely registered what was on. Memories of Ja-hun walking in on her private moment, their brief conversation at the restaurant, and most importantly, his kiss played over and over in her mind.
Gray? Who chose gray as a favorite color? She wanted to know more about what made this mysterious man tick, about his past, his opinions on things, and if he really was as bland as he pretended to be. Also, she wanted more of that stellar kissing and all the things kissing led to.
But now he was locked down tight again. He'd refuse to respond to her advances, she was sure, even if she pranced around him in her underwear. How could she get him to come into her suite so she could spend some time with him? She hated to play at female helplessness, but whatever it took.
Jumping up off the sofa, she went to her window and reached up to break off the device that operated the blinds. When she gave the "close" command, they no longer functioned.
With a smile, she went to her door and opened it. Ja-hun waited outside, seated on a chair in just his shirtsleeves, his jacket hanging on the back of the chair and his tie missing. He was looking at data on a palm-sized vid screen. He glanced up at her, eyes flicking briefly over her bra and panties before settling on her face. Hey, the underwear covered more than her bikini and certainly more than the bare tits and pussy she'd flashed him earlier.
"Could you help me a minute? My window blind is stuck or something."
He rose without a word and accompanied her into the suite. "Close," he ordered the blinds. Nothing happened.
"See." She stood close to his side so her arm brushed against his.
He glanced at her then back at the window. "It's broken."
"Yes. Can you fix it?"
"I'm not a repairman. Have someone look at it tomorrow."
"What am I supposed to do meanwhile? Can you hang a sheet over it or something?"
He turned to stare at her. The windows were darkglass, the view from inside as clear as if there was nothing in the frame, while those trying to look in would only see flat, black glass. The blinds were a formality left over from earlier times to give a sense of privacy already inherent in the windows themselves.
She smiled. "I know it's silly and no one can see inside, but it makes me feel safer." She rested her hand on his arm and gazed into his face with wide eyes. "Please."
The clenched muscle in his jaw twitched.
"Wait here. I'll get a sheet." She whipped the top one from her bed and handed it to him, folding her arms and watching as he stretched to hang it over her window. It wasn't going to take long. She had to think of something to say to delay his leaving.
"My father was talking about the conditions in the Bat mines and reforms for the D'jeering prison colonies. These are the insurgents' major issues, and we may be able to strike an accord if Dad can find solutions to the problems. Have you ever been to D'jeering?"
Ja-hun froze in the middle of tying the sheet around the rod. "Briefly."
Jackpot! She'd found a sore point and recognized a touch of bitterness in that one word. "You were a prisoner there," she guessed. "Was it as awful as they say? How did you get out?"
"I was there in an undercover capacity." He began knotting the other side of the sheet, which hung crookedly over the window in a peacock blue fall of silk. "When that job was finished, I was hired by Crin-tai."
It was more information than she'd expected him to reveal. Leelah was thrilled. "What was it like, working for someone like that?" The tycoon's reputation was legendary. Everyone knew his legitimate businesses masked the illegal activities that had built his financial empire.
"That job was just like this one. I kept him safe."
"Bet he didn't look as good as me in his underwear though," she teased, hoping to lighten him up a little. In the viewable sliver of his profile, she caught the glimmer of a smile.
Ja-hun stepped away from the window, but kept his back turned to her for another second. When he faced her, his expression was schooled to blankness again.
"You are one tough nut to crack." She blocked his way, standing right in front of him. "Come on. Stay and play a game of jabarta with me. Just one or two and I'll leave you alone, I promise."
"I don't want to play a board game." His black gaze pierced hers, and suddenly his words seemed to have another meaning.
"What do you want to play?" she murmured, pressing her hands lightly to his chest.
"Nothing." He grabbed her wrists as though to push her away, but stopped with his fingers encircling her slender wrists, thumbs rubbing lightly over her pulse points. "I don't want anything from you." His voice was hoarse.
"Your eyes say something different." She rose up on her toes, bringing herself even closer to him, her lips near enough to kiss if he wanted to. "It's all right. I want it too, and no one has to know."
His fingers clenched her wrists like manacles, tight enough to hurt. "No."
"Is it rape if a girl forces herself on a guy?" She leaned into him, pressing her body full length against his and covering his mouth with hers. His lips were still tight, resistant. She licked them until they were soft, pliant, and open beneath hers. "Better," she whispered against his mouth before kissing him again.
He released her wrists, and his hands slid all the way up her arms and around her back at the same time she slipped her arms around his neck. She tilted her head to kiss him more deeply, her tongue teasing between his warm lips and touching the tip of his.
For another moment he passively accepted her kiss, then, with a soft groan, he came alive, grasping her back to pull her even tighter to him and attacking her mouth with his. His fierce hunger was like a jolt of pure adrenaline to her, and she yielded to the force of his assault, opening her mouth wide and letting him plunder it. As much as she loved to boss a man and wind him around her finger, she also loved to surrender control. Ja-hun's powerful embrace and desperate kisses set her on fire, and her body melted and molded to his.
Her head spun at the speed with which things had escalated from discussing window dressing to her bodyguard sweeping her off her feet and carrying her to bed. He tossed her on it and in the same movement unbuttoned his shirt just enough to pull it over his head. Then he peeled off his undershirt so she could at last see the hard muscles she'd felt twice today.
Oh, Goddess, they were worth the wait.
His body was smooth and hairless and an even golden-tan all over. The plane of his chest was flat, and his nipples were little brown buttons just begging to be tweaked and pinched. His shoulders and arms had nicely delineated muscles that flexed with each movement as he unfastened his pants. She could use that flat, hard stomach as a tabletop, and imagined the delicacies she could eat off it if he gave her the chance.
Her gaze followed the thin trail of hair leading from his navel down to the waistband of his trousers just as he opened the fly and pulled his trousers and underwear down his hips. His erect cock sprang forth from the tangle of black hair at the juncture of his thighs. It angled toward her, the head flushed a deep reddish purple and the shaft ridged with veins and vibrating with life.
Leelah caught her breath and licked her suddenly dry lips. His penis was thick, big, long, and, most importantly, alive. This was going to be so much better than her vibrator. She lay quietly on the bed, watching him wrestle his way out of his clothes so fast it made him clumsy. He almost fell as he dragged his trousers down his legs while shedding his shoes and socks at the same time. She smiled.
When he was completely naked, Ja-hun stood beside the bed for one long moment, staring at her body and her face with hungry eyes as if he might devour her. Mm, she wanted to be devoured.
She stretched her arms above her head, making her breasts thrust provocatively, and lowered her eyelids halfway. A smile still curved her lips. "What are you waiting for?"
What am I waiting for? For my brain to turn back on and pull me away from the edge of madness.
But he really didn't want to be interrupted from what his body had every intention of doing, so he kept the forward momentum going, climbing on the bed and straddling her soft, fragrant body, so cushioning yet solid beneath his. He lowered his face and kissed her soft, willing lips. Once more, their tongues darted in and out of one another's mouths in a game of tag before settling into a lingering exploration: slow, sinuous, sultry.
When finally he drew away, they were both breathless. He pressed a tiny kiss to the corner of her mouth where a curve creased her cheek then moved down to her throat, brushing his lips over the smooth column. Her heart beat in the hollow between her collarbones, and he paused for a moment with his lips pressed against it, savoring the frenzied pulse that told him how turned on she was.
He licked the line of her collarbones, then moved down her chest to the round swells of her breasts. The flesh was so soft and sweet scented he wanted to bury his face in her cleavage and stay there. Peeling back the cups of her bra, he revealed the erect nipples he'd admired and did what he'd dreamed of doing since he first saw them. He gripped one carefully between his teeth and nipped.
Leelah let out a gasp and arched her chest toward him, her hand slipping into his hair to hold his head to her.
His cock throbbed and ached from brushing against her velvety thighs. He was fully aroused and ready to thrust inside her. Willing his erection to subside at least a little, Ja-hun sucked her nipple into his mouth and rolled his tongue over it. He gripped her other breast, testing the weight and texture in his palm before tweaking the rosy bud between his thumb and forefinger. The sound of her throaty moans sent a renewed wave of desire through him, and he thrust against her leg.
Switching sides, he sucked the hard bead of her other nipple into his mouth while his hand slipped down her taut stomach and beneath the elastic of her panties. Her pussy was smooth. The petal folds of her vagina parted at the pressure of his fingers. Oh, she was so ready for him. When he inserted a gently probing finger inside her pussy, her inner muscles clamped around it, enveloping it in heat and wetness.
She moaned louder and arched her pelvis toward his touch. When he glanced up, her eyes were closed and her mouth open in a perfectly round "O" that made him want to kiss her again. She managed to look sweet and wild at the same time, young and innocent, but with an adult woman's assuredness in her sexuality.
He concentrated on thrusting his fingers in and out of her body, then moved them up to her clit to tease and torture it until she was writhing. At the same time, Ja-hun thrust steadily against her thigh. His body felt like the gas-burning engines in old vids of auto races, revving and revving before the flag dropped and they flew down the track with a thunderous roar that was somehow more satisfying than today's silent vehicles. He had to let loose soon or he'd explode before he crossed the starting line.
Abandoning her tit, he reached for her panties and pulled them down her legs.
Leelah popped the clasp on the front of her bra and slipped it down her arms. She lay back, completely nude and as beautiful as a sun goddess. Her brown and gold hair fanned around her head on the pillow, and her topaz eyes gleamed as she gazed up at him. Her lips were parted, pink tongue darting out to wet them. She spread her legs wide apart and reached for his body.
Ja-hun nestled between her legs, his weight braced on his arms, and reached down to guide his cock to her opening. As he pushed inside, her body swallowed him up, the tight channel engulfing him. He groaned loudly and rammed deep. It had been a long time since he'd been with a woman, two years or maybe more ‑‑ before his stint in D'jeering, back when he was still a killer. Back when he was a robot. Eliminating a man, eating a meal, or fucking a woman had all been simply objectives to accomplish. As for taking emotional pleasure in a female, it had been even more years than he could remember since he'd felt that. But this...this was close to heaven.
"Hey." Her soft whisper caused him to open his eyes. "Look at me. I want you to see me while we do it." The intensity of her gaze captured his. He couldn't have looked away if he tried. She held him prisoner in those golden depths like she'd cast some magic spell on him, and down below he slowly withdrew his length, paused, then pushed back into her velvet warmth.
"Mm." Her moan caressed him. Her hands slid down his back and gripped his ass, pulling him even deeper as she raised her knees and wrapped her legs around his. "Right there."
In and out, he stroked in slow, easy glides. Although he longed to buck and plunge, he needed to make it last because he knew this could never happen again. But for these few minutes, he could submerge in the pool of her eyes and relax. Pretend he belonged somewhere for the first time in his life.
Inside, her muscles clenched around him, gripping him tight, and she lifted her hips to meet his every thrust. Her eyes became unfocused, and she exhaled a soft "Hnh."
He moved faster, unable to contain himself any longer. The tension that had grown in him since the first moment he'd looked at Leelah coiled tighter. He grunted as he rammed into her hard, and the whimpering sound of pleasure she made spurred him on.
"Ahhh, Ja-hun."
The sound pushed him over the edge. His balls drew up, and his cock swelled within the confines of her heat until it spilled over. Bursts of pleasure shuddered through him. His low, protracted groan contained all the frustration he'd held inside, not just a release of sexual strain, but of emotions he'd repressed for far too long.
His thrusting slowed and stilled, but he was fairly certain Leelah had come the moment she gasped his name. His eyes were closed now; he'd lost contact with her at the moment he came, and he bowed his head to her shoulder and pressed his face into her skin.
Her hands stroked up and down his back, and she made soft, murmuring sounds in her throat. He never wanted to leave her embrace. Had she felt something, too, something beyond a bodily function, or was the shining moment of connection between them only in his imagination?
He came back to reality with a thud. Goddess, what was he thinking? Of course it was only a fantasy. He was her protector, and she was a young woman with a crush and a healthy libido. He didn't mean anything to her. She didn't know him at all, and if she did, she'd probably kick him out of her bed.
Ja-hun pulled away from her and got up. He reached for his pants and began to put them on.
"What? Can't you stay and cuddle for a little bit?" Her hand fell on his shoulder.
He shrugged it off. Her cajoling voice was dangerous, likely to pull him right back into the rumpled sheets beside her.
He wouldn't turn around and look at her as he put on his shirt and picked up his shoes. "This was very wrong. I apologize."
"No, it wasn't. How can you say that?"
"I'll send Nigeri or one of the others to guard you. Please don't run away again before they get here." With that, he closed the door behind him.
She couldn't believe he'd run out on her, especially after that intense moment, that flash of...something that had passed between them right there in the middle. Or maybe it had only been in her mind. She'd imagined a connection while he'd felt nothing special at all. Leelah swallowed down the pain that thought brought her.
But even if it had only been sex to him, it was so wrong to just finish up and run. No one had ever treated her so rudely. She jerked her top over her head and tugged it into place, zipped up her skirt, and searched for her favorite pair of sandals.
It was morning, actually nearly noon, and she was still fuming about Ja-hun's behavior the previous night. Before she opened the door to go out into the hall, she paused a moment with a hand pressed against it. Would he be out there, or was he still hiding, leaving another guard in his place? If he was there, how was she going to play this? Light and breezy, strident and shrewish, or dry and sarcastic?
"Open," she ordered the door then walked into the hall. Ja-hun was there and rose from his chair on her arrival. "Well, good morning."
He didn't say anything and barely nodded. His gaze was pinned somewhere above her left shoulder.
"So that's how it's going to be? Back to being the rock-man?"
"I can't become involved with a client and do my job effectively. I would end my employment with your father, but I still believe you may be in danger, and I want to do what I can to help."
"Well, that's sweet." She folded her arms and tried to keep her voice lightly ironic rather than heavy with bitterness. "I'm touched."
He cleared his throat. "For the rest of the time I'm on this assignment, I will maintain a professional distance. I'm here to guard you, not ‑‑"
"Not fuck me? Let me just say you did a very thorough job of keeping a very close, personal eye on me, so thanks."
"I'm sorry." His voice was low, and his gaze focused on the floor. "I appreciated those minutes more than you know. Thank you." He sounded so sincere it actually made her chest tighten even harder, and her eyes betrayed her by welling with tears.
"Whatever." She moved past him quickly and brushed a hand over her eyes. I'm not done with you yet, mister. I can hear it in your voice. There is something between us, but you're afraid to admit it.
"Hey, Nin," she greeted the cook when she reached the kitchen. "Don't bother getting anything for me. I can make my own breakfast."
"I wasn't going to." The older woman shot her the same evil-eyed glare she did every morning Leelah cruised into her kitchen closer to lunchtime than breakfast. "I'm no short-order cook."
Leelah grinned. The byplay with Nin was a part of her morning, like a daily cup of chamti. Despite the cook's complaints, she always kept a pot of chamti warm until whatever time Leelah arrived for her morning meal. There was a basket of muffins and a bowl of fruit on the counter. After choosing grapes and a muffin, she carried her plate and cup out to the garden, Ja-hun trailing behind her.
The weather was cooler than yesterday, but still sunny. She walked the stony path between glowing flowerbeds and past copses of decorative trees to her favorite bench under the arching rose arbor. She settled herself on the seat and set her plate beside her.
Glancing up, she saw Ja-hun had taken a position several yards away, his back to her, his posture erect and ready to spring into action. Good Goddess, did he think kidnappers were going to spring out of the bushes in her own garden? The sun shone on his smooth black hair, glossy as a raven's wing. It had slipped so cool and silky between her fingers last night. How she longed to touch it and tug on it again. She sighed and turned her attention to her cherry muffin.
But right away her focus drifted back to Ja-hun, picturing him without that suit coat on ‑‑ the broad shoulders, narrow waist, tight ass, and muscular legs. Actually, she'd only viewed him from the front. She needed to see him naked again so she could take a long gander at his rear.
"This is ridiculous!" she burst out. "At least come over here and talk to me. Have a grape. They're delicious."
He glanced over his shoulder, his sharp profile outlined against dark foliage. The strong nose and chin and those gorgeous cheekbones seemed more statue than man. She wanted to close her eyes and study his features with her fingers, as if she could learn more about him that way.
"Come on," she wheedled as he hesitated. "You don't even have to sit by me. Just come over here."
Like a fish on the line of her voice, she reeled him in. He walked closer and stopped a few feet in front of her. She held out a hand with a few Kachiri grapes, and he shook his head. "No, thank you."
With a shrug, she put them into her own mouth, the rich sweetness popping on her tongue as she chewed and swallowed. "You'll be escorting Father and me to the ball tonight?"
"Yes."
"So, let me get this straight. I'm confined to the house on a daily basis. You think shopping or my friends' beach party is too dangerous, and yet we're going to the biggest social event of the year with hundreds of people in attendance. That doesn't seem unsafe to you?" What was she saying? She was going to talk him right out of allowing her to attend the NewEarth Ball.
"Your father has made it clear this is an important event for both of you, politically as well as socially. Besides, the security at the Gravatz is irreproachable. You aren't the only important dignitaries who will be there."
She fluttered her eyelashes at him and put on a breathless baby-doll voice. "Will you be right by me all the time to protect me?"
He gave her a hard "don't fuck with me" look then stared away across the garden.
Leelah sipped her chamti, the jolt of caffeine finishing the job of waking her up. She ate another grape and breathed in a lungful of the fresh morning air as she considered her next move. "Look, Ja-hun. This standing while I sit makes me feel like some kind of princess. Please, sit down on the bench. I swear I won't flirt any more or touch you at all. Just sit. Please."
Again, reluctantly, as though his feet were beyond his control, he walked to the bench and sat. She felt the warmth of his body and smelled the woodsy cologne he wore. "What is that scent?" she asked.
"What scent?"
"That you're wearing."
"I don't have anything on." He paused. "The air of my room is infused with mashiki."
"That's it." Her own room was infused with sandalwood, an OldEarth fragrance she particularly liked. Maybe she'd have to switch to mashiki for a while. "I like it."
"No flirting," he reminded her, and there was a ghost of a smile on his hard mouth.
She smiled back. "Not flirting, just making an observation. Tell me more about you, about where you're from and what brought you here."
"You don't want to know." The ghost-smile disappeared.
"Yes, I do or I wouldn't ask. Trust me, you can't shock me. I already suspect the worst. I imagine you haven't always been a bodyguard. I imagine you've been hired to kill people in the past. Maybe you're trying to leave that life behind now." She laughed. "Or maybe you've been sent to kill me, although I think you would have accomplished it by now."
There wasn't a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he stared back at her.
"You don't have much of a sense of humor, do you? I don't think you've laughed since I met you."
He remained silent.
"Okay, so you don't want to talk about your work history. I get that. How about family history? Where do you come from originally?"
He paused so long she thought he wasn't going to answer that question either; then he suddenly spoke. "OldEarth."
Her eyes widened. "No shenje? Like directly from OldEarth? My father's ancestors came from there. They were among the first to colonize NewEarth, but that was so many generations ago I can't count them. I've never met anyone who was actually from OldEarth. What's it really like? The vids show it as a wasteland."
"The vids are right," he answered quietly.
"Go on. Tell me more." Goddess, she was getting tired of having to prod every word from his mouth.
"I come from a place on OldEarth called Japan. An island and one of the few places people still exist. They live crowded together in all the safe zones across the planet. There's not enough work, not enough food or water, not enough anything."
"Why don't they leave?" Leelah couldn't imagine staying in such conditions.
"Can't afford to fly out. Those who stayed behind when the migrations began were the very poorest, and life didn't get any better for them over the next generations. Residents of OldEarth are the forgotten people." His tone was level and emotionless. The shutters had drawn over his eyes again.
She'd heard this about OldEarth, but never firsthand. "How did you get off-planet?"
"Stowed away on a carrier that dropped care supplies from the Free Worlds. By the time I was discovered, we were nearly to NewEarth. For a few moments, I was sure the captain was going to jettison me with the garbage, but he decided to let the authorities deal with me when we got to port. I managed to get away before I could be arrested." He smiled. "NewEarth was a shock, to say the least. I'd never imagined anything like it ‑‑ so much of everything anyone needed."
Leelah felt a wave of guilt at the awe in his voice. She took everything she had for granted, but realized Ja-hun still carried inside him a kernel of that half-starved boy, amazed at the riches around him.
"Without an ID card, I couldn't get work, not legal work anyway, which was how I stumbled into my first profession ‑‑ taking care of problems for criminal types."
Hired killer. She'd been half kidding when she'd said it, but now knew she was sitting next to a man who had murdered people. Actually killed other humanoid beings. A little chill went through her at the realization.
"I finally decided I'd had enough of that life and went to work for Crin-tai, but guarding him entailed some of the same tasks I was trying to avoid. Now I'm here."
"Guarding me and my father. He must really think we're in danger to hire..." She left the words "a killer" unsaid.
"Someone like me," he finished. "Yes. The threats he's received suggest this organization or person knows details about your lives only a member of your household or someone who's been doing intensive surveillance could know."
A chill went through her. A spy in her own home! Someone's been watching me. "No one told me this."
"Your father didn't want you to be frightened."
"Well, I am now! Goddess, I would've been nicer to you if I'd known this." She flashed him a smile. "Or maybe not. You're kind of fun to harass."
His lips curved slightly. She wanted to turn it into a full smile. "You're kind of fun to do a lot of things with." She set her breakfast plate and cup on the ground and leaned toward Ja-hun, placing a hand on his thigh. The action didn't make his smile grow wider. Instead it disappeared. He started to rise.
"Oh, come on. I like you. You like me. We're both adults. Why can't we indulge ourselves a little? Besides, if I'm with you, I'm completely safe, right? So you'll still be doing your job."
He grabbed her hand, but instead of thrusting it away, he held it. "Leelah..."
"I know you think I'm a bored, spoiled rich girl, who just wants to have a fling with the hired help, but that's not what this is." She grasped his strong, hard hand, pressing it with her fingers, and gazed directly into his eyes, willing him to listen. "I swear to you, I've never come on to one of my bodyguards before, never imagined doing that, but with you... There's something between us, and you know it, too. Can't you feel it?"
Ja-hun paused before nodding once. "Which is all the more reason I need to keep my distance."
"You're afraid of falling in love?" There! She'd said the word, put it out there for his examination and hers. Was love even possible when they'd only known each other a few days and had, apparently, absolutely nothing in common besides a healthy sex drive?
He pulled his hand away. "I'm afraid of you developing a crush on a man who's totally inappropriate for you." He rose from the bench.
Leelah did, too, blocking his getaway. "Why don't you let me worry about that?" She moved in close to him, chest to chest, her head tilted back so she could look into his eyes. Her hands slid around his lower back and rested there. "If my heart gets broken later, I'll deal. I'm a strong woman. But for now, come with me. I want to show you an even more private place in my garden."
"Ah, Leelah." The sound of her name was a soft caress falling from his lips, and she knew she'd won this round. He allowed her to take his hand and lead him along the stone path to the small gazebo in the cool shade of the Baalong tree's branches.
In the shelter of the building, Leelah threw her arms around Ja-hun's neck. "I'm irresistible, aren't I?"
"You know you are." He held her tightly, his hands cupping her bottom. "And I'm weaker than I ever knew."
"I admire weakness in a man when it works in my favor," she teased, rising up on her toes to reach his mouth. She kissed him and didn't have to work at getting him to respond this time. His mouth meshed with hers, as hot and hungry as it had been last night. Already, his movements and the taste and feel of his mouth were familiar to her. She loved the way he kissed, long, slow strokes of his tongue that made her think about what else he could do with it.
Relaxing against him, she gave herself up to the pleasure of his mouth and the strength of his arms. If they did nothing but stand here, kissing all day, it would be fine with her. But she felt his cock pressing against her and wanted to examine it as she hadn't done last night. She pushed him back toward one of the wicker chairs in the gazebo. "Sit."
He obeyed without protest, dropping into the rattan chair and pulling her onto his lap at the same time. She played with his hair and kissed his forehead, eyelids, cheekbones, and jaw. She kissed all over his face and then his neck as she loosened his tie. "You really need to stop wearing these things."
She would've taken off his shirt, but he stopped her unbuttoning hands. "This isn't the place for that."
"Is it the place for this?" Slipping off his lap to kneel before him, she reached for his waistband. Before he could stop her, she had his cock out.
He sucked in a breath. "Shenje! You can't do that here."
"Yes, I think I can." She pushed his knees farther apart and moved between them. "You're the guard. Keep a lookout for people, and I'll tend to this." His erection was thick and hard in her encircling fist. It slid smoothly against her palm as she stroked it. She bent her head and licked across the soft head, sampling the salty, musky flavor before engulfing it in her mouth.
"Shenje," he cursed again under his breath, but sure as hell didn't push her away.
Her pussy felt swollen and tender; the lips ached and clenched with desire. Leelah enjoyed giving blowjobs. She liked the power it gave her over a man, watching him go helpless with pleasure from her touch. She loved the groans and gasps men made when she brought them off with her mouth, the same yet somehow different from the sounds they made during intercourse.
She sucked hard while pumping the lower part of his shaft. Then she pulled her mouth off, releasing his glistening, wet length. She looked up into his face and extended her tongue to lick with a broad, flat stroke all the way up his cock. Ja-hun's eyes were darker than ever. They were mere slits as he gazed at her. His lips parted, and a harsh breath blew from between them. He reached out his hand and touched the side of her head. "You're so beautiful," he murmured.
His softly spoken words made a fresh gush of juice well from inside her. She smiled at him, then resumed sucking, taking all of him into her mouth again and swallowing as deeply as she could. While pumping up and down, she reached between his thighs with her other hand and fondled his sac, rolling his balls lightly between her fingers.
His hips lifted as he thrust into her mouth, and his fingers tangled in her hair, holding her head more firmly. He groaned, and his cock swelled even larger, if that was possible. She recognized the signs of a man about to come and stroked him faster, sucked harder for several moments.
"Be-na-jay," he choked, gripping her head and bucking his hips. He froze and she felt spurts of cum on the back of her tongue. She swallowed and pumped a few more strokes until she was sure he was finished and then let his depleted cock slip from her mouth.
Ja-hun's head fell back against the top of the chair. His chest rose and fell with his panting breaths, and he mumbled another quiet curse she didn't recognize.
She grinned as she tucked his softening member into his pants and zipped him up. Straddling his lap again, her knees pressed between his hips and the wicker, she took his face between her hands and looked down at him. His eyes opened and gazed into hers.
"I just knew you weren't as cold as you act. In fact, you're quite the firecracker," she teased. She kissed his lips lightly. "Isn't this a whole lot better than keeping your distance? Better for your mental health, too."
He sighed and hugged his arms around her back. "What am I going to do with you?"
"You really want to know? I have some ideas." She wiggled against him. "Maybe you can return the favor."
He glanced past her at the sunny garden beyond the shade of the tree and the sheltered gazebo. "In your room."
She pictured his resolve firming and him pulling away from her again by the time they got into the house. "No. Right here. I think it's sexier. It feels a little dangerous and adds an edge, knowing someone might catch us. Do me here."
"Then you have to keep an eye out."
"Like you did?" she scoffed, knowing he'd completely lost himself in the blowjob and hadn't once checked for interlopers.
Rising from the chair with her in his arms, he set her on her feet. "If I'm going to do this, I want you to stand over here, reach over your head, and hold onto that column." He positioned her against one of the supports of the hexagonal gazebo with her arms above her head. It elongated her body and thrust her chest out.
He stepped back for a moment and just looked at her. "Yeah, like that." Then he crouched before her and moved her legs shoulder width apart. "And like that." He sat back and regarded the effect.
She felt like a prisoner tied to a post, but in a sexy, good way. She arched her back a little more, making her tits jut further.
With a quick glance at the garden, Ja-hun lifted the hem of her skirt and tucked it into the waistband, revealing the scrap of emerald green underwear covering her crotch. He pulled them down her legs, and she stepped out, first one leg then the other, before resuming her spread position.
Her pussy had been pulsing steadily throughout the blowjob and now, exposed to his view, it ached even more. Her body begged to be filled, clenching and releasing until wetness rolled down her inner thigh. The sight of Ja-hun kneeling before her, his gaze fixed on her sex sent a fresh wave of lust through her. The anticipation of being touched and licked made her thighs tremble, and the helpless feeling of having her arms pinned above her head added to the excitement.
Her hips thrust forward invitingly. Ever so slowly, Ja-hun leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her cleft. She sucked in a breath and resisted the urge to thrust against his mouth. Holding perfectly still, she waited to see what he would do next.
He took his mouth away from her pussy and licked the inside of one thigh then the other. His finger traced around her vagina, then brushed over her labia and in between with teasing delicacy until her body quivered.
"Lick me. Please!" Her eyes were nearly closed. She gripped the post hard and pressed her back against it, thrusting her hips toward him while still keeping her feet planted.
A smile glimmered across his mouth, and then he leaned toward her again. He framed her cunt between his hands and licked up her seam and over her clit. He tickled it with the tip of his tongue, then licked it with broad strokes until her thighs trembled and she could barely keep her stance. He gripped her thighs, holding her steady, and burrowed his face deeper between them, probing his tongue into her opening as far as he could reach.
For a moment, he pulled away from her, licking his lips, his avid eyes still trained on her sex. She loved the way he looked almost feral in his intensity, like a ravening beast that might devour her.
Leelah remembered then to take a quick glance at the meandering path, which led past their Baalong tree. No one was coming, but she thought she heard footsteps on the path around the bend. "Hurry. Finish me off," she whispered. "Now!" The fear of discovery had her adrenaline pumping, heightening all her senses. When Ja-hun licked her this time, it took only a few strokes of his tongue to bring her to orgasm.
Bucking wildly, she stifled the yell that rose to her lips, and then, before she was even finished, she let go of the post and reached down to push Ja-hun's head away from her crotch, almost knocking him off his knees. Leelah dropped to a crouch beside him as the crunch of footsteps on gravel grew louder and a flash of color showed between the green leaves of the Baalong. She grabbed her panties from the floor and threw them underneath a shrub growing beside the gazebo before smoothing her skirt into place.
"Wipe off your mouth," she said to Ja-hun, indicating his shining lips and chin. "There it is," she said loudly for the benefit of the person on the path.
She stood up as her father approached the gazebo. "Ja, Daddy. Found my earring that's been missing." She indicated her dangling hoop.
Ja-hun rose to his feet, his tie still askew, but his pants fastened. "Good afternoon, sir. Beautiful gardens."
"Yes. I love to walk here whenever I'm able." He mounted the steps to join them. "Being in nature calms me. It reminds me of how many of mankind's problems are self-created and ultimately unimportant. It's too bad everyone can't see that so they'd quit inflicting harm on others."
"Nicely put, Dad. I knew there was a reason you were leader of the Free Worlds." Leelah wrapped an arm around his waist and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder and hoping he couldn't smell sex on her.
"Well, until we all agree to leave each other alone, somebody has to juggle things. Ja-hun, I'd like to talk to you about security at tonight's event. Leelah, I'll talk to you later about some of the people I need you to dazzle tonight. You're the best at it."
"I know." She accepted her dismissal with equanimity, although she'd like to have Ja-hun to herself a little longer. "Okay, I'll go make sure I'm ready for tonight."
As she walked the path to the house, she laughed aloud over the close call. She had no doubt Ja-hun was going to snap right back into his shell like a turtle over this with his mantra of "We shouldn't. We mustn't. I can't. It's wrong."
But now she knew she had a sway over him that was almost magical. He wouldn't be able to refuse her entreaties for long, especially not when he saw her in the dress she had picked out for tonight's gala.
Ja-hun was busy the rest of the day, going to the venue and checking out the tight security measures, as well as making mental notes about the building, the exits, and the possible places a sniper could be concealed and still hit a target like Leelah before she entered the building.
He returned to the Blaine estate at dusk with just enough time to shower and dress before the event. During all this time, he'd almost managed not to dwell on Leelah and how exciting and wrong their encounter in the garden had been. That is if "almost" meant thinking about her every other minute instead of every single one. But when he beheld her in the splendor of her ball gown, his heart nearly stopped. She was a goddess. The shimmering gold gown brought out the highlights in her high-piled hair. Her flesh even seemed to shine, although he didn't know if that was an effect of the dress or of a sprayed on body shimmer. When she saw Ja-hun, her eyes, rimmed in dark liner, lit and glowed like miniature suns.
Her happy pleasure at seeing him touched him deeply. He'd never seen that look in a woman's eyes directed at him, and it frightened him. This developing thing between them couldn't possibly end well. Someone would be hurt. Probably him.
He crossed the room to her and took her arm. "Ready?"
"Always," she murmured with a saucy quirk of her brow that gave the word a salacious meaning.
Once the father and daughter were escorted to their vehicle, escort cars closed in around a sham limo to mislead any who might try to attack the president en route to the ball. Ja-hun rode with the Blaines in their car, which exited the grounds after the caravan was gone.
The point he was most worried about was the damn red carpet stroll from the car to the entrance of the Gravatz where the ball was taking place. If Ja-hun had his way, he'd have hustled his clients in a back door, but as the president, it was important for Rogent to make an appearance.
Ja-hun's nerves tingled, and his eyes moved constantly as he escorted Leelah to the building with the press and gawkers crowding the carpet on either side. Rogent had his own security detail with him, also sharp-eyed and on edge.
They made it safely inside, and he breathed easier. The guest list for this event had been carefully screened and contained dignitaries and diplomats from all eight of the Federated Worlds. He was fairly confident that the rest of the evening would be free of any possible danger for Leelah or her father.
Ja-hun took a moment to gaze at the woman by his side, her hand curved around the sleeve of his black tuxedo. She smiled up at him, and again he was reminded of the sun. Sun princess, the fanciful title occurred to him. He could almost pretend that he belonged here beside her, that a series of flukes hadn't brought him, a boy from a poverty-stricken OldEarth slum, to attend a glittering gala of the social elite.
Then her father whisked her away to introduce her to various notables he needed to impress ‑‑ there was always a bill to pass, a vote to sway, or a policy to promote. Ja-hun's arm was cold where her warm hand had been.
He retreated into a corner of the room, but kept his gaze fixed on her as she moved through the crowd, smiling, nodding, and graciously shaking one hand after another. There wasn't a trace of the childish, rich bitch left in her manner. She was gracious and elegant, every inch a diplomat adept at working a crowd.
Ja-hun managed to drag his gaze away from her long enough to scan the room now and then. Everything seemed completely normal, everyone having a good time. The colorful ball gowns glowing against the black tuxes reminded him of Leelah's discourse about colors, each one with a quality of its own and the ability to affect a person's mood, according to her. Maybe she was right. The riot of color in Leelah's room directly reflected her vivacious personality and had an energizing effect on him. The woman had infused his life with metaphoric color, and it would leach back to gray when he had to leave her at the end of this assignment. He didn't think he could be satisfied with soothing gray any longer.
It appeared the meet and greet portion of the evening was winding to a close. Leelah's father had let her go, and she was chatting with her friends Trianne and Burdah...as well as that Anuvian boy from the party, Danje. There was a sharp tightening in Ja-hun's chest as he watched her laugh at something he said. They made a beautiful pair: both young, golden, and privileged. It made him feel ancient. He wasn't sure exactly how much older than Leelah he was, since he didn't know his age when he left OldEarth, but he was eons ahead of her in life experience. She was a bright butterfly and he, a crusty old barnacle.
Danje led her onto the dance floor where they coiled together with sensual grace to a tribal rhythm. Ja-hun shook his head and snorted. Why would she even give him a moment's notice when she had a partner like the Anuvian attending her? It was fine, though, and the way it should be. Better to have the blinders torn from his eyes before he allowed his foolish heart to engage any further.
But it was torture watching them dance together, so Ja-hun grabbed a glass of pinje from a passing waiter and carried it with him toward the doors leading out to the patio. He stood, inhaling fresh air, but listening to the sounds in the ballroom behind him, ready to dive in if something happened. A sudden attack by armed insurgents wasn't out of the realm of possibility, and he must always be vigilant ‑‑ that's what he was here for.
Ja-hun was so observant he nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand fell on his arm. "Hey. How are you?"
He turned to face Leelah.
She laughed and squeezed his arm. "You didn't hear me coming? What the hell kind of bodyguard are you?"
"A useless one, apparently."
"That's okay. I don't think I really need one tonight, but I do need a new dance partner. Will you?"
"I think we've established I don't dance."
"Sure you do. Just hold onto me and move a little. Come on." She grabbed his hand and towed him along behind her to the dance floor. Turning to face him, she placed one of his hands on her waist and held the other. Her free hand rested on his shoulder, and her face tilted up toward his. "Now sway back and forth."
He did, shifting his weight from foot to foot in time with the beat. The dancing wasn't hard, but his cock was. Her proximity, the scent of her perfume, and the warmth of her body had his erection swelling.
"See, I knew you could dance."
"Not like your friend." He nodded at the Anuvian gyrating with a black-haired, olive-skinned Sythe.
"Who? Danje? He's not really my friend. We just met at Burdah's party." She turned her attention back to Ja-hun, and her eyes suddenly widened. "You're jealous! That's so adorable." And she began to laugh.
"I'm not jealous," he growled. "That would mean I had some claim over you, which I don't. We just met, too."
"Doesn't feel like it." Her laughter died, but her smile remained. "I feel like I've known you for years."
"But you haven't. You don't really know me at all. Any more than I know you."
"You like gray. That's a start. What else do we need in order to have a relationship?"
"Perhaps something in common. You and I share no interests. You like loud music and dancing. I prefer silence and reading. I'm a vegetarian. You're not. You want to charge out into the world and do things. I'm tired of the world and just want to be left alone. Besides, I'm leaving. You're staying."
Her body swayed close to his, and he wondered if she could feel his erection. "You forgot another important difference. I'm a 'glass half full' kind of girl. You're definitely a 'glass half empty.'" She sighed and rubbed against his crotch. "With so much keeping us apart, it's simply amazing how well we fit together. If you want to do something about that poker in your pants, there are a lot of little private spaces we can slip off to."
His cock swelled harder at her words. "Not again, Leelah. It's not a good idea."
"Of course not, but that's what makes it fun." Cocking her head, she gazed at him. "You must think I'm a sex addict, but I swear I'm not always like this. It's just what you do to me and the feeling that we have to seize every bit of time together we can." She stopped dancing and took hold of his hand. "Come with me."
Once more, as in the garden, he allowed himself to be dragged where she willed. This time it was a storage room down a hallway from the ballroom. She pulled him inside and shut the door behind them. The place was filled with random pieces of furniture, outdated equipment like microphones and projection screens, a broken chandelier that matched those in the ballroom, and sealed boxes that probably contained more junk. There was barely room to stand in the confined space.
Turned out that was all the space they needed.
Ja-hun did what he'd longed to do all evening: pulled the gold-draped vixen into his arms and planted a kiss on Leelah intended to leave her gasping. Her lips were soft and yielding beneath his, and she tasted of pinje, sweet yet with a bite. His hands bunched the shimmering fabric of her dress where it draped over her buttocks. It would be hard to fuck her fast and dirty with this long gown covering her.
As though realizing the same thing, Leelah broke off their kiss, her lips wet and shining, and turned to brace her hands against the closed door. She gave him a seductive glance over her shoulder and wiggled her bottom.
Ja-hun didn't need to be told twice. He lifted the heavy, rich material in both hands, pushing it up until her ass and legs were framed in the flowing gold of her gown. Naked! Not even a scrap of thong rode in the shadowed cleft between her cheeks. They were round, smooth and completely nude. The knowledge that she'd been like this all evening, anticipating a private moment with him set his heart racing. He swallowed hard as he swatted her soft cheek.
"Ooh, spank me again, mister. I'm such a bad girl."
Instead, he slipped a finger into that sexy groove in her ass all the way down between her legs where it got so wet he felt like he'd entered a steaming jungle.
"Feel how ready for you I am," she whispered. "Go ahead."
He was already unzipping his trousers and pulling out his cock. He took one more moment to gaze at the erotic sight of her uplifted ass, shockingly displayed in the golden folds of her gown. Pulling her cheeks slightly apart, he examined the small, puckered aperture of her anus. He teased the tip of his juice-soaked finger into it, and she groaned, pushing back onto it.
His cock ached so badly it felt like it might explode. It strained toward her body, the tip brushing her soft cheek. But he didn't give in to the urge to ram into her. He continued to work his finger gently in and out of her sphincter, which squeezed around him tightly. His tongue swept over his dry lips as he considered filling her there.
Leelah whimpered and pushed harder against him.
No. This wasn't the place or time with no lubricant at hand. He removed his finger, grasped his cock, and guided it to her larger entrance, soaking wet and waiting for him. He grabbed her hips and drove deep inside her with one strong thrust.
"Unh," she grunted. "Oh, yeah. Do it hard."
He needed no more encouragement. Her choked words and the atmosphere of the storeroom, a place perfect for unexpected, hurried trysts, spurred him on. With no finesse and the randy eagerness of a youth, he slammed into her again and again. His grunts, her moans, and the slap of naked flesh were the only sounds in the tiny room.
"Susura," she murmured the endearment followed by a loud exclamation. "Fuck!"
He leaned over the bare expanse of her bent back and pressed his lips to it. He rested his forehead against the ridge of her spine, feeling her shuddering breaths as he pumped into her and she pushed back onto him. Curved around her body like this, it was as if they were joined into one being. The swirling fragments of need coalesced into a strong whirlwind right at his center. He was going to be sucked into the vortex and disappear.
"Oh, baby, now. Now!" She gasped and let out a small cry that she buried against the flesh of her forearm.
The word "now" unleashed Ja-hun, and he fell into the spinning cloud that spread from his groin and filled his body. His essence spilled from him deep within her body, and he collapsed against her back as ecstasy surged through him.
When he came back to himself, he realized he was probably crushing her. Leelah's hands braced against the door and her feet planted on the floor were supporting both their weight. He straightened and pulled her around to face him, drawing her to his chest and kissing the top of her head. The long skirt of the ball gown slid off the ledge of her buttocks and fell back into place, covering her legs and hiding the residue of their lovemaking. There was something very sexy to him about the idea of his cum rolling down her inner thighs and drying there, marking her as his, at least for the evening. "Don't clean up," he whispered into her hair.
"Perv." She pulled her face away from his chest and looked at him with a grin. "All right. I won't." She tapped his chest with her index finger. "And you...don't wash your fingers." A wink and a waggle of her eyebrows let him know she was kidding. Maybe.
"I suppose we should get back. Your father might worry." He tilted her chin up with his finger and kissed her lips.
"My father's in the middle of schmoozing with the elite of the Federation. He's not thinking about what I'm up to." Nevertheless, she adjusted her dress and smoothed her hair. "My 'do is probably wrecked."
He resisted the urge to plunge his hands into the artfully arranged curls and let her hair spill down around her shoulders. "It looks perfect. You look perfect." He bent and kissed her once more, tasting pinje and strawberry lipshine.
Ja-hun left the storage room first, opening the door a crack and peering into the hallway before emerging. As he walked with Leelah down the hall, he put a hand on her waist, wanting to touch her for just a bit longer before he had to resume a professional distance once again.
Back in the ballroom, she headed toward the restroom, and he made another scan of the room and checked in with the Gravatz security as well as the Blaines' team. No one had anything interesting to report.
Across the room, Leelah was back and talking to Danje. Ja-hun experienced only a little twist of jealousy. After their encounter in the storeroom, it was clear she was interested in him rather than the Anuvian for whatever reason. The diplomat's son said something, Leelah nodded, and they both headed toward the patio. The tiny kernel of jealousy inside him burned a little hotter.
By the time Ja-hun had threaded his way across the crowded ballroom, the pair was no longer anywhere on the patio. Had he somehow managed to miss them when they returned inside? No. It was impossible. The only other place they might have gone was around the side of the building to the lot where the valets had parked all the vehicles. Danje might have wanted to show Leelah something. Ja-hun didn't want to guess what that might be.
As he walked down the steps from the patio and along the path leading around the side of the building, he passed several guards. The grounds were well secured. Leelah was as safe as if she was walking the garden of her father's estate, and yet Ja-hun felt a growing sense of unease. The hair at his nape prickled, and adrenaline pumped through his veins. Was it simple suspicion because he wondered what "his girl" was doing in the dark with another man, or was it his natural instinct kicking in, the gut feeling that had kept him alive on several occasions?
He rounded the corner of the building and was confronted by a shiny sea of cars. Halfway across the lot, Danje was just opening the door of his Jet 150 and sliding inside. Leelah was nowhere in sight, which meant she was already seated in the passenger seat. What the fuck was going on here?
Ja-hun raced across the lot, dodging between the cars as he pulled his zynpher from its holster beneath his jacket. He didn't shout at Danje. It wouldn't have done any good since the car door was already closed and the vehicle was gliding toward the front of the lot. Besides, his intuition told him it would be better to follow than to alert the Anuvian that he was being pursued. Unfortunately, Ja-hun's car was back at the Baines' estate, but boosting vehicles was one of his many skills from the old days.
He located a V-1 not blocked by any other cars and slipped behind the control panel. Even without a fingerprint ID, he knew how to get it started, and soon he was speeding after the Jet 150 while keeping his distance and holding his emotions in check. His heart clamored that there was something wrong, but he could only help Leelah by keeping his cool. He shoved his emotions deep down inside as he trailed his quarry.
Her hands were stuck together. Why were her hands stuck together? Leelah tugged on whatever was restraining them as she opened her bleary eyes. She fought to lift her lids. It felt like someone had glued them together. As for her hands, when she finally looked down, her wrists were secured with some kind of tape, which also bound her ankles. She pulled on the binding with both hands and also tested her bound feet, but there was no give to it. In addition, her wrists and ankles were linked together by another piece of the sticky tape so she couldn't even raise her arms.
She was lying on a bed in a room she didn't recognize, and as she looked around, taking in her surroundings, she realized she was in serious trouble. Kidnapped! It had been a threat and fear shrouding most of her life. As the daughter of the most important man in the Free Worlds, it had always been acknowledged, although seldom stated aloud, that she might be taken and held hostage in an attempt to influence her father's policies.
But Leelah knew her father well and had talked with him at length about the importance of the single versus the many. He would sacrifice her for the good of the Worlds if he had to. It was what she expected and wanted him to do. So whatever was happening here, she'd have to get herself out of the situation.
First, she had to establish where "here" was and who exactly was holding her prisoner. The last thing she remembered was going with Danje to his car. He'd said he had a bootleg copy of a rare early performance by Kingset, performed in the club where they'd gotten their start. For one second as they descended the stairs from the patio, it occurred to her that she should tell Ja-hun first, but she'd figured they could be back by the time she found him and explained everything.
She cursed herself for that pivotal moment when everything could have been different if only she'd listened to the cautionary voice inside. But, no, she'd gone off with her usual impulsiveness and look where it had landed her. Tied up on a bed in a poorly decorated hovel.
How could she have ever imagined Danje wasn't what he claimed, a university student from a similar background to her own, who loved to dance and wanted to change the world?
"Comset on," she said to activate the device. "Ja-hun." Nothing happened.
"You're awake." Danje's voice startled her. She'd thought she was alone in the room, but he moved into her field of vision from wherever he'd been standing. He crouched down by the bedside so they were nearly on eye level. "Don't be afraid. This is temporary. Your comset has been deactivated, of course."
"Wha...?" Her voice cracked, and she swallowed hard, trying to work up some saliva.
"This isn't really about you. But a point needed to be made. Your father has to understand how we feel, and that change doesn't come about without some suffering, you see?"
"I.A.?" she croaked. Insurgent Alliance. Blinking, she cleared her vision so she could focus on his face.
"No. A.R. 'Anu Reborn.'" He cocked his head. "You've heard of the movement?"
She started to shake her head, but it hurt like hell so she stopped. Leelah groaned.
"Sorry. I put a Dartex patch on you. The narcotic is pretty primitive and has some side effects ‑‑ dry mouth, dizziness, headache."
"Hnh," she grunted. "What do you want?"
"A.R. is nothing like the collection of barbaric lowlifes who make up the Insurgent Alliance. Those cretins squawk about equality for all. We want quite the opposite. Anu needs to take its rightful place as the center of the known universe, the light at the heart of the Free Worlds." His smile was so white and pretty in his handsome face it was almost impossible to take him seriously. If she hadn't been trussed up on a bed, they might have been having this discussion over a cup of chamti on a college campus.
"The older generation on Anu has been happy to be part of the Free Worlds alliance. But there are many of us who recognize the need for Anu to assume its rightful position of authority in this universe. While men like your father try to accommodate everyone and end up pleasing nobody, simply treading in place and getting nowhere, Anu would control the other planets as they need to be controlled."
"I see." I see you're a fucking loony. Again, she tested the strength of her bonds, wiggling her fingers and picking at the tape as best she could.
"Don't bother." He glanced down at her hands. "Even if you freed yourself, you couldn't get out of the room."
"Where am I?"
He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face, sending a chill down her spine. "You don't really want to know that. On the chance that your father complies with our demands, we will let you go, but only if you don't know where you are right now."
But I know who you are. You'll never let me live. For the first time, the extent of the danger she was in hit her like a meteor in the gut. She realized she might have very little time left. Oh, Goddess, help me find a way out of this. Ja-hun, find me.
"What are your demands?" Keeping him talking seemed the right thing to do. That way if she did manage to escape, she'd have useful information to share.
"To start with, Anu must become the seat of the government instead of NewEarth. We understand the transition must take place over time to prepare people for the new order of things. Once that's established and Rogent has become a mouthpiece for our policies, eventually he can step aside and an Anuvian leader will take charge." He waved a hand. "Chandre's plan is much more detailed than that, of course, but that's the general idea."
Leelah could only assume Chandre was the leader of the movement. She wondered how many members they had. Was it a prevalent organization on Anu or only a few extremists?
She felt terribly guilty. She'd fallen right into their trap, allowed Danje to walk off with her right from under the tightest security in the universe. But how could she have known that a guy she met at Burdah's party, the son of a diplomat, would be part of a terrorist cell? Burdah had introduced her to Danje. Was he a part of this?
"Burdah said he met you in a college class. Is he a part of your organization?"
Danje laughed, the sound as musical as wind chimes. "Of course not! Only pureblood Anuvians are recruited."
"Of course." Her lips stretched into a strained smile. "Uh, does your mother know about this?"
He scowled and still managed to look gorgeous, which was really creepy. "She's part of the problem, not the cure. She insists on working with your father and the rest of the Worlds in the Federation. No, Mother is definitely not a part of this."
He rose from his crouch and stretched. "Can I get you something to drink?"
She nodded.
Danje walked to a coldchest in the wall and withdrew a bottle of water. He tossed it up and down in his hand as he crossed the room toward her. "You know, I was this close to having you at Burdah's party, but I figured I'd wait until the party moved to the beach. It would be easier to slip away then. But your skan-ji bodyguard fucked up my plan."
The slur he'd applied to Ja-hun was the most derogatory epithet for humanoids considered racially inferior. Leelah had rarely heard anyone use the term. Her friends didn't think that way. She bit her tongue and kept silent. Defending Ja-hun was the least of her worries right now.
When Danje offered the water bottle to her, she spread her fingers indicating her helplessness. She couldn't lift her hands far enough to reach her mouth ‑‑ not with them tied to her feet. He started to unscrew the cap, and she knew he was going to hold her head and feed her the water.
"Please, can't you at least separate my hands from my feet? It's so uncomfortable, and as you said, I'm not going anywhere."
Danje paused a moment then nodded. "I guess it won't hurt." As he pulled out a knife and sliced through the industrial strength tape connecting her wrists to her ankles, he added, "You know, I'm not a violent person at heart, and I hope we can get through this with you unharmed."
Okay, Mr. Naïve. If you think your buddies will let that happen, you're a bigger idiot than I imagined.
He helped her to sit and offered her the water again. Her wrists were still bound, but she could take the bottle between her hands. Leelah guzzled water, spilling some down her chin in her haste to quench her deep thirst. When she was finished, she held the bottle back toward him. "So, I guess this means you don't really have that Kingset vid."
"Actually, I do." Again that creepy smile. "I happen to have it on me, too. Do you want to watch it?"
"Sure."
While Danje took the chip from his vidlib and popped it into the old-fashioned vid machine, she scanned the room for any possibility of escape. The place appeared to be a motel rather than a room in someone's house. All the furnishings were outdated, including the ancient vid screen. Danje was puzzling over the knobs and buttons, trying to figure out how to make the machine run.
Leelah swung her legs off the edge of the bed onto the floor. She probably couldn't run past him and make it out the door without being caught, but there was an antique halo-lamp she could pick up and bash him over the head with if she got a chance. She calculated the distance as the Kingest vid finally appeared on the patchy screen.
A wave of sound blasted through the small room, and Danje instinctively yelled, "Sound down" at the vid. Of course, the old machine didn't respond to a vocal command. He bent over, fiddling with the controls.
Leelah rose on shaky legs and hobbled a few steps toward the lamp. Danje was completely concentrated on the machine and with Kingset blaring, didn't appear to hear her. Inch by inch, she moved toward the halo-lamp. Her body was drenched with sweat, and she wiped her palms against her dress so they'd be dry enough not to slip on the lamp ‑‑ if she ever reached the damn thing, and if she could wrap her hands around it with her wrists still bound together. She didn't even want to think about how she'd manage to cross and attack Danje with her ankles tied together and a full-length gown further hobbling her.
Danje got the sound adjusted to a moderate level just as Leelah reached the table with the lamp on top. Simultaneously, the door of the room burst open, and Ja-hun lunged inside, firing his zynpher at Danje. A flash of light, quicker than lightning, pulsed from the weapon to Danje. For a moment, he was illuminated in blue as the force field surrounded him, eyes open wide, one hand clutching an old-fashioned remote device for operating the vid screen. Then he dropped like a stone, falling to the floor with a soft thud.
Leelah froze with her hand reaching for the halo-lamp.
Ja-hun crossed to Danje's stunned body, crouching beside him. He checked his pulse and searched him for weapons before rising and turning toward Leelah. His dark, almond eyes were hard and the set of his face stony as he walked toward her. "Are you all right?"
She nodded, but remained frozen in place. "You're here!"
"Yes." He moved close, eyes scanning her from head to toe. "He didn't hurt you?"
"No. I'm a hostage. He's part of some crazy group that wants Anuvian dominion over the universe." Finally breaking from her spell, she reached toward Ja-hun, showing him her bound wrists.
He made a sound in his throat that sounded like a growl and pulled a knife from an inside pocket. As he sliced through her bonds, he muttered, "Damn zynphers. I should cut his throat." For just a second, he was scarier than Danje. Leelah had no doubt Ja-hun would kill Danje without hesitation if he wasn't a vital link to the Anuvian terrorist group.
The moment her hands were free, she started to throw her arms around Ja-hun's neck, but he seized her wrists, stopping her. "No. Letting myself get distracted from my job is what brought us here."
"Ja-hun ‑‑"
"Come on." He pulled on her wrist, and she stumbled and fell toward him.
"My ankles, too." She lifted the hem of her skirt to show him.
He crouched at her feet to cut through the tape around her ankles. The cold blade of the knife pressed against her skin and his warm hand gripped her calf. "Don't be angry," she pleaded, but he didn't answer.
Leelah caught the shadow of movement at the door a fraction of a second before a man entered. The Kingset vid covered the sound of his footsteps or Ja-hun probably would have heard him. "Hey!" was all she had time to say, before another zynpher flash flared through the room directly at Ja-hun's back.
He fell over sideways, sprawling at her feet. "Don't shoot!" She held her hands up in the air at the same time as she dropped to her knees. The man in the doorway was followed by a woman. Both were Anuvian. They glided into the room as gracefully as dancers.
The woman called out Danje's name and ran to him, dropping down by his side and cradling his face in her hands. In the brief moment that the man watched this scene, Leelah reached down and grabbed the knife Ja-hun had dropped.
She had less than a moment to decide whether to try to conceal the weapon and bide her time or act immediately. Instinct told her that playing for time was not going to help Ja-hun. The bodyguard was expendable, while she, the hostage, was not. Likely the man would kill Ja-hun and move Leelah to a new location.
All this passed through her mind in a nanosecond before she launched herself to her feet and across the room toward the man with the zynpher. She tripped on the folds of her gown but regained her balance and raised her arm with the small knife in her hand.
He saw her from the corner of his eye and raised his arm to deflect the blow, but it was too late. Her aim was true, and she drove the blade into his arm as deeply as she could. Blood gushed in a red fountain from the wound and splashed over her hand still gripping the handle.
The force of her blow made him drop his weapon, and he grabbed for the knife with his other hand. Leelah let him have it, falling to her knees to gain the zynpher instead. The gun was more lightweight than she'd expected as she lifted and pointed it at the terrorist. Now, how the hell to trigger it? She'd never fired a zynpher in her life.
The woman by Danje's body entered the action, raising her weapon and sending a flash in Leelah's direction. Luckily, her aim was off, and the magnetic field encompassed the wall where the vid screen still played, freezing the molecules of the electronic device and making the screen go black.
Shenje, why couldn't she have ever learned anything useful in life, like how to shoot a damn weapon? Leelah's searching fingers finally found the trigger on the smooth handle of the zynpher and pressed. She shot a bolt at the male Anuvian standing directly in front of her, who had just pulled the little knife blade from his arm. He fell down and lay still. There was no residual twitching after being hit by a bolt from a zynpher.
Still on her knees, Leelah dropped to her stomach and rolled to shield herself behind the man's sprawled body. She fired again. The bitch shot back at her, and this time the two magnetic fields met in midair, making a mini light show before canceling each other out.
Leelah held her finger down on the trigger, firing bolt after bolt of energy at her opponent. Surely, one of them would find its mark. She wondered if a person could die from too many zynpher hits at once.
Finally, she released the trigger and took a look around her.
The woman lay half across Danje's body, unconscious or maybe dead. Leelah wasn't going to go and find out. She stood up on legs trembling so badly they could hardly support her weight. She crossed to the woman and plucked her weapon from the floor near her hand. Leelah gazed around the quiet motel room ‑‑ four bodies and her.
She went to Ja-hun. His dark lashes rested in two lush crescents on his cheekbones. His black hair fell across his forehead. She knew he was merely unconscious, could see his chest slowly rising and falling, but his stillness frightened her. Squatting, she pressed her fingers to his neck and let the strong, steady pulse reassure her.
Once more, she tried to activate her comset with her voice, but it was dead. Whatever Danje had done to it had knocked it out of service.
Comsets were programmed to the voice of their owner, so she couldn't use Ja-hun's or one of the terrorists' devices to call for help. Leelah didn't feel she was out of danger yet. More of the Anuvians might be coming. She wouldn't leave Ja-hun while she went for help, and she couldn't drag him with her.
For one moment, she crouched there, shivering and undecided. After the series of instant decisions she'd just made, this little problem felt like one thing too many. She couldn't think what to do. Then she saw a comset on the table by the halo-lamp ‑‑ an old-fashioned set, not an implant. She'd rarely seen one and wasn't certain how to use it. Picking up the device, she said, "Comset on." There was no response. But when she saw and pushed a small button, a ridiculous robotic voice asked how it might help her.
"Nigeri Stedman." It would do no good to give her father's name since his comset connection wouldn't be available on a public set. Leelah brushed her hand idly through Ja-hun's hair as she waited for the slow connection to go through. A moment later, she heard the familiar voice of her family's security director. A rush of relief swept through her, and her eyes stung with tears. "Nigeri? It's Leelah. I'm in big trouble. Can you come get me?"
Ja-hun sat staring at the jabarta pieces laid out in front of him. "I can move this piece laterally but not straight?" he confirmed with Leelah.
"That's right." She sighed and rested her chin on her hand, gazing across the board at him. "You know, you're making this more complicated than it has to be. Jabarta is so simple children play it."
He frowned and considered his options. "I don't want to make the wrong move and lose. It is a game of logic, not chance."
"You're leeching the fun out of it by the second," she whined, flopping back into her chair and rolling her head against the back. "Make a move already!"
"Excuse me if I'm a little slow for you. Try and remember I've never played this game in my life, and I was recently zapped by a zynpher, which tends to scramble one's thinking for a while."
"Ooh, poor baby. I'm too hard on you." She leaned forward again and reached across the game board to stroke the side of his face. "You're supposed to be resting, and I'm making you strain your brain."
Her hand felt good and cool against the side of his face. For some reason the zap with a molecular field had heightened all his senses so that every touch, smell, sound, and sight seemed magnified and fresh. It was very strange, like finding out he'd been blind all his life and was only now seeing clearly. The medic had assured him the effect couldn't possibly be caused by a zynpher and suggested he might be having some emotional reactions to being shot.
Ja-hun thought the idea was ridiculous. There was nothing emotional in his entire makeup, which was why he was able to pull Leelah's hand away from his face and push it back toward her. "I told you, none of that. I agreed to play your silly game, but there will be no other interaction between us. It's over."
"You mean the sex?" She dropped her voice to a stage whisper, although they were alone in his bedroom. "Because you think you can't be my bodyguard and keep me safe while you're involved with me?"
"Yes."
"Good thing you're fired then, isn't it?" Her mischievous smile made her eyes sparkle. "That's right. Daddy says you're no longer in his employ. So you can feel free to fuck me all you want."
"What?"
"You heard me. Fired. After the fiasco at the ball, did you think he'd keep you on?"
He felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. Whether killer or guardian, he'd never been fired from a job in his life. He drew a deep breath and set down the playing piece he'd been hesitating over for several minutes. "That's it then. I may as well pack."
"No. I don't think so." Her smile widened, and she wiggled a little in her chair like a kid with a secret to tell. "Because you're being hired in a different capacity. By me. I'm hiring you to be my personal gigolo-slash-bodyguard. Which means you basically have to hang around here and satisfy my every sexual whim and keep me safe by sticking close to me at all times. That's right. I'm hiring you to be my gigo-guard." She laughed as if she'd actually said something funny and only stopped when she realized Ja-hun wasn't smiling with her. "What?"
"You know I'm not going to work for you."
"Why not?" She sat up straight, staring at him. "It's perfect. You'll have a job and we'll be together constantly. I'm not even fussing about being watched all the time. See how I've changed?"
He shook his head. "You can't keep me like...some kind of pet."
"Oh, hell. I was just kidding about the gigolo thing. Seriously, Ja-hun, I do want your security expertise, as well as some time to find out if we fit together." Her expression was more serious than he'd ever seen it. "I think we could really have something. But if you leave, we'll never know."
"You're talking about a relationship. Me and you."
"I know you think I'm not your type and that I don't fit into your...metaphorical color scheme." She indicated the gray room around them. "But I have layers, too. I like the cool and quiet and woodsy mashiki scent of your room. It's a haven. I'm willing to learn to enjoy the things you like, if you'll do the same for me."
Ja-hun picked up the jabarta piece and turned its rounded surface over and over in his hand.
She leaned forward and reached out to touch his hand. "Go ahead. Tell me something you like."
He couldn't remember a time in his entire life when someone had asked him that. And since no one had asked, he'd rarely considered the question. "I like..." He thought hard, then spoke the words quietly, feeling embarrassed to say them aloud. "I like walking on forest paths on misty mornings. I like the way everything is gray and the leaves glisten with moisture."
"Good. This is easy, 'cause I like that, too. I especially like spider webs when they have drops of dew spread like diamonds over them. And when the fog is so thick around your feet you can't see them. Seems as if you're walking on clouds."
He looked at her sharply, checking to see if she was teasing him again, but her topaz eyes were sincere and her smile genuine.
"I like sitting on the beach under a blazing sun, watching the swimmers in the water and little kids building sand castles, people sunbathing on the sand, the blue sky overhead and the blue-green water below, maybe a boat or two sailing across the horizon. I really love the sea," she said.
Ja-hun couldn't think of anything he liked less than being at a crowded beach under a burning hot sun, but when he imagined her golden-tan body lying on the beach beside him he nodded. "I could learn to like that."
"So, you see, you've got to stick around a while. Be my bodyguard."
"You still want me after what happened? You were the one to rescue both of us. Maybe I should be hiring you to be my bodyguard."
She grinned. "I did kick ass, didn't I?"
Ja-hun set his jabarta piece down on the board and pushed it diagonally four spaces. "All right. We'll give this a try."
"Great!" She captured his piece, setting herself up to take the gold lokosh on her next turn. "You realize I've won this game, right?"
"Yeah. I know." He handed her the lokosh then rose from his chair, swept the board free of playing pieces, braced his hands on top of it, and leaned across the table to cover her mouth with his.
"Morning." The bass rumble near her ear woke her from a sound sleep.
Leelah batted at the hand toying with her boob. "Stop it. I'm sleeping," she grumbled, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
"Not any more. You have to wake up for work. You wanted a job. You got it, and now you have to show up on time every day."
She growled. Did he have to remind her of that? The man started his days entirely too early and with too chipper an attitude.
Soft lips on her shoulder and the brush of a wet tongue between her shoulder blades made her smile. Ja-hun's fingers stopped teasing her nipple, and he cupped her entire breast in the snug, warm cradle of his palm. "Want me to wake you up the easy way or the hard way?"
"The easy way, please." She sighed as his hand slid from her tit all the way down her belly to her pussy. Still kissing her shoulders and back, he teased his finger between the folds of her labia to wet it with the sudden gush of juices. He circled her clit with light touches designed to ease her slowly into a sexy frame of mind.
"Like that?"
His husky voice sent a chill up her spine and made her nipples peak. "Oh, yeah. Just like that." She snuggled into his embrace, enjoying the feel of his hard chest against her back, the weight of his arm wrapped around her hip, and his morning erection resting in the groove of her ass. His cock was so thick and solid her pussy was already opening and aching to feel his girth stretching and filling it.
Leelah relaxed and enjoyed his tender manipulation of her clit in a semidrowsy state, but after a bit, Ja-hun pulled his hand away. He moved from behind her, flipped her on her back, and burrowed under the blankets to spend more quality time with her pussy. His firm licking and probing fingers woke her right up. She whined softly and lifted her hips toward him.
When he had her thrusting steadily, her juices flowing and her inner muscles pulsing around his fingers, he crawled up her body and emerged from beneath the covers. She laughed at his tousled black hair and smoothed it down, her fingers lingering in the silky strands. Leelah loved his hair longer like this. She'd forbidden him to cut it in the two months they'd been together, and now it fell over his forehead in floppy bangs and curved where it ended at his shoulders. Ja-hun had threatened several times to crop it to his old style, but she'd only had to murmur how sexy he looked with it long and he left it alone, although he grumbled.
He propped himself on his hands and looked down into her eyes for a moment. "Good morning." Then he slowly lowered his face to kiss her. The tang of mint and her juices on his tongue blended with the sweet honey res in her mouth. Res implants, which secreted flavorful juices and prevented tooth decay, were one of the best inventions in recent years in her opinion. Waking with fresh breath was priceless, especially if you intended to indulge in early morning lovemaking ‑‑ as she and Ja-hun did nearly every day.
He slid his tongue over, under, and around hers then kissed her with small presses of his lips to the corners of her mouth. He kissed her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her jaw, and her neck until she squealed and pulled away, clamping her cheek to her shoulder.
"Cut it out!"
Ja-hun chuckled, a warm, rich sound that filled her senses like the taste of a morning cup of chamti. Goddess, it was good to hear him happy. It had taken so long for him to graduate from a small smile to a broad grin and then to a soft chortle. A hearty belly laugh was still a prize to savor from a man who'd had such a hard, lonely life that he'd never learned to laugh.
Leelah was more than ready for him to be inside her now, and she could feel from the poking hardness against her leg that he was ready, too. She reached between their bodies, parted her lips, and guided him to her open channel. A sigh escaped her as he glided slowly inside. The sensation of fullness, not only in her body but in her heart and her life, suffused her with a feeling of well-being. Oh, yes, this was so much better than a morning cup of chamti.
Ja-hun seated himself deeply inside her, then withdrew almost his entire length before plunging in again. The head of his cock hit her sweet spot, sending delicious waves of pleasure through her. She groaned and arched her pelvis toward him.
In and out, he thrust in a smooth, easy rhythm, the new rhythm of her mornings. She thought she might be becoming addicted to Ja-hun and didn't know if she could get up out of bed anymore without this kick start to her day. His sharp-boned face, so broad from one cheekbone to the other, his eyes heavy-lidded and a glistening jet-black were the sun in her morning.
"Harder, susura," she urged, gripping his buttocks. "Wake me up the hard way."
He smiled, and his eyes narrowed even further, creasing at the corners with happiness. "All right." With no further preamble, he plunged into her deep, jolting her so that she grunted from the force. Again and again he filled her, driving in with such intensity it pushed her body up the mattress until her head hit the headboard.
With every stroke, he continued to hit that perfect spot inside her until the vague, swirling hints of bliss drew together into a strong surge of ecstasy. Leelah bucked hard beneath him as her orgasm exploded through her. She cried out and dug her fingers into his ass, hauling him even more deeply inside her.
His excitement at her pleasure moved him to follow her lead. A few more grunting thrusts and Ja-hun froze, his body trembling with the force of his climax as he released. His eyebrows knitted in a deep frown, and his mouth opened as though he might burst into song in his rapture. Leelah smiled at her fancy, imagining Ja-hun singing from happiness. She'd heard him muttering a tune in the shower before. It wasn't a pleasurable experience.
His eyes opened, and he caught her grinning. "What are you smiling about?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just enjoying my wake-up fuck. You're very good at it."
"I've been getting a lot of practice." He smiled back at her, then disengaged and rolled off her to lie by her side. "You're a demanding woman. You're going to wear me out."
Leelah raised her arms above her head and stretched hard enough to crack her back. "I suppose I'd better get showered and dressed. Who knew being part of the workforce would be so exhausting? If I'd known, I might have kept my mouth shut and lived off my dad for the rest of my life."
He turned on his side and rested his head on his hand, gazing down at her as he drummed a pattern on her taut stomach. "But now you're stuck helping the poor and disenfranchised. Life's so unfair."
"And you're stuck making sure nothing bad happens to me and keeping me satisfied sexually. That's a rough gig."
"I may have to quit and go back to work for Crin-tai." He leaned over to draw the tip of her breast into his mouth, sucking and tugging before letting it go with a wet pop.
"Mm. Life's so hard." She stretched again and smiled. Twitching back the covers, she sat up. "Come on. We're going to be late. Hurry up," she said, as if he was the one who'd been malingering in bed.
She actually loved her job at the Center and knew Ja-hun enjoyed his, too. He was a lot more than her bodyguard, having gotten sucked into working at the Center when they discovered how many languages he knew. With his calm temperament, he was a natural at helping upset clients get their forms filled out while he listened to their problems.
Leelah paused a moment before heading to the shower, to watch her contented lover rise from the bed. He'd definitely been striking when he was stone faced and mysterious, but now, he was even more attractive with a sweet smile curving his lips and his eyes sparkling. And a naked Ja-hun was better than Ja-hun in a suit anytime.
"Hey. Don't forget we have Trianne and Burdah's party tonight," she reminded him. "And don't grimace. You know we have to schmooze with the rich to keep donations high." Her friends had turned out to be a tremendous asset to the Center with their flair for hosting events everyone wanted to attend.
"I didn't grimace. I'll be there." He never complained about the socials she dragged him to, but Leelah knew sometimes he craved the quiet solitude that was his natural bent.
"Want to go to the mountains this weekend?" she asked. "I can almost guarantee you a misty morning walk on a forest path."
The smile returned to his face and the sparkling glint to his eyes. "Can we play kidnapper and victim at an isolated mountain cabin?"
"Absolutely. You bring the handcuffs. I'll bring the gag."
"Shenje, you're on!" Ja-hun gave another of his satisfied chuckles. His black eyes glowed with warmth and life.
THE END
Bonnie Dee
Whether you're a fan of contemporary, paranormal or historical romance, you'll find something to enjoy among my books. My style is down to earth and my characters feel like well-known friends by the time you've finished reading. I'm interested in flawed, often damaged, people who find the fulfillment they seek in one another.
For more information on my back list of books go to http://bonniedee.com

