Page 8 of Taken By the Convicts
She stepped in close to him again, pocketed the sharp tool she’d left next to him, and then did the unthinkable. She leaned in and kissed him.
Warm and tender, her lips captured his. Though her tongue seemed hesitant, inexperienced, she didn’t pull away when his tongue pressed past her lips, exploring her, tasting her. Like sweet hekka drops, her flavor burst on his tongue. He’d never get enough of her. He’d walked into a trap of his own making by letting her touch him, kiss him.
He’d leave the med-center soon and be able to focus on nothing else but her sweet taste. He couldn’t afford distractions out there among the hundreds of prisoners waiting for him to slip up. Hunting detail was a coveted position. This female, this woman, would get him killed if he didn’t pull away and forget about her.
Her hand sifted through his hair and cupped his cheek as she ended the kiss. “I still don’t know your name. And yet you killed to save me. I owe you, soldier.”
He lifted a brow.
“I’m amending my earlier guess. You’re built like a soldier.” She glanced at the body on the floor. “And you snapped his neck. That’s not easy unless you know what you’re doing. Unless you’re trained to kill.”
Trained was putting it mildly. Letting her think he’d been a soldier? Well, that was taking the easy route. She didn’t need the truth, which was a rare commodity on Veenith, like self-respect and fresh fruit. Right now, he wasn’t sure which he’d like to have more. Both seemed out of his reach. But then again, he never thought he’d touch a woman again, let alone kiss one.
She placed her lips against his. “I need to stop doing that. I’ll get us both in trouble.”
Herself maybe. Him, no. He already had a target on his back. Men who didn’t belong to units were more easily picked off, but he and Zev hadn’t found anyone worthy of a unit, anyone they would trust their lives to, let alone want to risk their lives for.
“I’m sorry to ask you this. . . Damn, I still don’t know what to call you.” She looked for the datapad, spotted it on the floor, and picked it up. “Do you know how to write your name?”
He nodded. He’d memorized the letters. Zev had insisted on that much.
Her eyebrows knitted together as she noticed the cracked screen and tried to power up the device. “Damn it, it’s dead.”
Not easily deterred—he’d noticed that about her when she faced off against Thorne—she scrambled and found a bottle of blue solution. She dipped a swab in the liquid. “Write your name on my arm.”
Ooh, that felt almost like ringing a mate. Reece’s cock stirred at the idea even as he dipped a finger into the solution and wrote his name on her arm.
“Reece,” she read the letters. A smile as wide as the day was long filled her face. “It’s nice to meet you, Reece.” She tossed the swab into a waste bin and wiped the solution off her arm. “Now the hard part.”
Quickly, she slathered the topical on his back. The solution burned at first, then cooled, providing relief until finally, his entire back felt numb. He rocked slightly, not pleased that the topical was dulling his mind. He needed to stay sharp at all times. She should have warned him.
“You should lie down, let the medicine sink in,” she said as she helped him lay back, taking extra care to ease his head onto the table. He might have to find more reasons to visit the med-center. Get into a fight or two, end up with a few cuts maybe, something that would convince the guards to bring him in.
“You’ll be released in a few hours, Reece. Take care out there, okay?”
What? She was leaving? Of course, she was. She had other patients.
She took a deep breath, opened the isolation doors, and called for the guards.
One guard raced in and spotted the body on the floor. He glared at Reece, who glared right back.
“Collins attacked me,” Melina said.
“Doesn’t matter. Callahan’s going in the hole for this.”
Fuck, he’d forgotten about the hole. Reece sat up, despite how woozy he felt.
“What hole?” she asked.
“Isolation. Lockup. For five days.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s barbaric! You can’t do that!”
“Protocol. We need to keep the prisoners from killing each other here. The hole is a damn good deterrent.”
Understatement. The last man they pulled from the hole had died. Probably the second day in given how low the temperature had dropped that night.
The guard called down the hall for backup. Two guards rushed in. Elgin and Sedgewick aimed a sonic blaster at Reece, while Davies fished the key out of his pocket.
