Page 28 of Darkest Desire

Cupping her face in his hands, Sirex leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. It wasn’t something he would normally do, but he had to find some outlet for the possessive protectiveness that was building up inside him and threatening to overflow.

“Thank you for your trust in me,” he murmured, his voice coming out slightly hoarse. “I swear to be worthy of it.”

“Oh, Sir…” She looked up at him with her heart in her eyes and for a moment Sirex was sure she was going to stand on her tiptoes and kiss him. Which would have been completely inappropriate contact between two agents, of course. Still, he was prepared to let her do it—and kiss her back too…but just then the jewelry stall owner came back around the corner.

“Well? Are you ready for a fitting now? I have my measuring apparatus.” He had something cupped in his palm as he spoke.

Sirex straightened up.

“Yes, we’re ready.”

“Very well, then if you could please remove your female’s top?” The shop keeper raised his eyebrows impatiently.

“Of course.” Taking Phoebe by the shoulders, Sirex turned her around and found the magno tabs that were fastening the bright green band of her top together. He opened them and pulled the top with its long trailing strands away from her body.

Phoebe instinctively covered her breasts with her arms at first. Then, with a visible effort, she lowered her arms and stood there stiffly, with her full breasts on display.

Sirex tried not to look…but couldn’t quite stop himself. He had always thought her large breasts were beautiful—he loved her curvy Elite figure. Her dark nipples were utterly gorgeous and completely desirable. For a moment he allowed himself to imagine cupping them in his hands and sucking those tight tips…then he pushed the thought away. It was improper to think that way about another agent—unprofessional. He shouldn’t?—

His thoughts were interrupted by a frightened gasp from Phoebe.

Sirex was instantly on the alert.

“What is it—what’s wrong?” he demanded.

“He…he’s got a…it’s a spider.”

She pointed at the shop keeper who had opened his cupped palm. On it was a creature that seemed to be made of gold. It had many long, jointed legs and a cluster of ruby red eyes that glowed with some internal light. It did, indeed look remarkably like the Earth arachnid called a spider—albeit a mechanical one.

“What is that thing?” he demanded, instantly protective of his protégé. He put out an arm and drew Phoebe close to his side as he spoke.

“Why, it’s just my measure-bug.” The shop keeper looked surprised at their reaction. “It crawls over the customer’s body and makes exact measurements so I can get the fit of the harness just right.” He held out the mechanical spider to Phoebe. “So if you’ll just hold still?—”

“It’s supposed to crawl on me?” Phoebe’s eyes widened even further and she was already shaking her head. “Hell, no!”

The shop keeper looked positively astonished.

“You allow her to act in this way?” he demanded, turning to Sirex. “You allow her to refuse the orders of a male?”

“Phoebe has a phobia about bugs,” he explained smoothly. “Don’t you have another way to measure her?”

“Well…I do have an old pair of measurement gloves, but they’re not nearly as quick or accurate as the measure-bug…” the shop keeper said.

“Get them,” Sirex ordered. “We’ll stay here.”

“Fine.” The shop keeper walked around the corner again, muttering something under his breath about “irrational females.”

As soon as he was gone, Sirex looked down at Phoebe, who was still pressed against his side.

“Are you all right?”

“Fine.” She took a deep breath and straightened up, looking ashamed of herself. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to freak out, but the idea of that thing crawling on me?—”

“Don’t worry about it—I wouldn’t want it crawling on me either,” Sirex assured her, though to be honest, he had no fear of any kind of insects or arachnids.

He was about to add something else when the shop keeper reappeared. He was pulling on a pair of gloves that seemed to leave most of his hands and fingers bare—they were basically a few long metal wires with jeweled nodes at the fignertips. The wires joined together in a kind of metal cuff around his wrists.

“Now then, if you’ll just hold still so I can measure you,” he began, reaching for Phoebe’s bare breasts.

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