Page 105 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“I think we should discuss this with the others. Vaughn’s probably close to getting Level 3 status and may not want to live a life on the run, and Sersie—”
His lips thinned. “Not them. Just you.”
“What do you mean? We’re a unit now, Ren. This affects all of us.”
“You can’t tell them, or anyone. I’m trusting you, Hannah. Tell no one.”
She stepped back.
“You don’t want to go with me,” he concluded. “It’s because of Ky’Li. You’ll always choose him over me.”
“I. . . I didn’t think I’d have to choose. We’re a unit. But I guess you don’t see it that way. We mean nothing to you.”
His brow furrowed. “How can you say that? I’m offering to take you with me. I want you, Hannah, in every sense of the word.”
She stared at his shoulder as she lay her hand on his shirt, feeling the hard muscles beneath.
“Gods, Hannah. You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to take you here to see my ship, to ask you to come with me.”
“You planned to ask me to come for a while now?”
“Weeks.” He blew out a deep breath. “I wasn’t sure what you’d say.”
“I thought you hated me, I mean really hated me, blamed me for everything.”
“Oh, I did, for the first few days. Then I saw how you were with Sersie when he was recovering from Flight. Calm, patient, non-judgmental.” He pressed his body to hers as he stroked a finger down her cheek to her neck and over her collar bone. “It’s hard listening to you and Ky’Li.”
She lowered her head. “The walls are thin. I’m sor—” She caught herself and glanced up at him.
He grinned. “You’re learning, Princess.
“Yes, I guess I am, about a lot, including how you aren’t the hard-ass you seem.”
“I can assure you, my ass is quite hard, as is the rest of me.Allof me, Princess.”
He pressed his hips against her. He wasn’t lying.
“He’s lucky. Ky’Li, I mean.”
“Just Ky’Li? Not Vaughn and Sersie?”
“You’re different with Ky’Li. He has your heart.”
“I care as much for Vaughn and Sersie.”
“Maybe. But you chose us for your unit. You chose Ky’Li long before you arrived on Narkos.” His hand traced over the side of her breast.
“There’s room for more than one in my heart,” she said, slowly raising her eyes to meet his. “There’s room for you.
Blue eyes flared. She loved that fierceness in his eyes, how his raw determination to take what he wanted was tempered only by his overriding need to leave Narkos.
Renneededto leave here.
He was a good man who’d gotten screwed by The Company at a much younger age than any of them. Except maybe Sersie. But Ren had already been here beyond the ten-year sentence, and the way Dresden kept adding to his term, Ren wouldn’t leave Narkos, not via Dresden and The Company. This colony was destroying him—she could see that now.
Her hand glided over his bi-ceps through the gray t-shirt. Ren was drop-dead handsome and his muscles were hard, thick, and lick-a-licious as she imagined all of him would be. Despite all that sex appeal, Ren had what no one else in her unit had. A dream.
“You really need this, don’t you, at any cost?”
