Page 56 of The Interstellar Rake's Irresistible Kiss
He grunted. “First thing Blackworm did when he took control of the ship was change all the access codes. But the first thing I did when I bought theGrandywas add backdoors around the access codes. He might be a pompous nobleman who thinks he can take whatever he wants, but I’m a pirate who takes whatever the nobleman wants.”
On the exhalation of that last word, his breath hung in the air until they raced through it. The temperature in the access corridor had dropped. With a shiver, she realized how close they were to the death of space.
And this was whereNor had been a child, living against the cold metal skin of a pirate ship.
A large humanoid lump loomed in the shadows right before the auto lights flicked on, and she couldn’t quite swallow back a scream.
“Easy,” Nor said. “It’s the suit.”
The bulky mechanized and reinforced suit slumped like a robot ogre had shed its skin. It was huge, but so was Nor, and though she knew the high-tech smartfabric could adjust to fit a variety of shapes—she’d been wearing Nor’s castoff fatigues this whole time—she couldn’t believe it would fit both of them at once.
But they were this close. By each and every one of those many-named Thorkon gods, they would make it.
Nor unlatched the mask of his stolen armor and flipped back the faceplate.
He grabbed her and hauled her close.
“Hey,” she murmuredeven as she melted against the hard immensity of his body. “We gotta get out of here.”
“I gotta kiss you,” he countered. “With tongue.”
And he did.
But whatever he plundered, she gave up enthusiastically and took back in equal measure, her hands framed around his face, half blocked by the cold armored helmet, half against his warm skin. She didn’t even need a single mech suit and double rocketboosters to get close to him, longing to meld her body to his, their desire a single, spiraling need.
“You taste like candy,” he murmured. “My favorite.”
The comm device on his armor beeped.
“Uh-oh.” She slid down his chest. “Don’t answer that.”
He grimaced, and a strident clacking rattled the device. Nor snapped back, not in English, and she held her breath. A few more lines and Nor’s expressionhardened in a way she’d never seen, not when she’d shot at him outside her bedroom, not when he’d actually been bleeding out in the space station hangar. His last reply was more clipped than the mantid’s insectile tongue.
Though the thick outer hull of theGrandiloquenceheld the worst of the deadly cold of space at bay, she felt hope and life draining away. “What?” she whispered. “Did they findus?”
He shook his head. “They noticed they don’t have interior sensors but they think it’s because of the maintenance being done while the ship was docked. They want to know why I haven’t brought you to the launch bay yet.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That you’re fighting me.”
She bit her lips, hard, but the words escaped. “If you need to take me to them—”
“No,” he snarled.
“If they sendme in the pod, you can come around in the mech suit and get me,” she said over him. She swallowed back a sob. “I know you’d come—”
His mouth crashed down on hers again, silencing her, and she tasted the desperation like a bittersweet candy sealing their lips.
When he lifted his head, he stared down at her with a pure blue intensity that seared her to the soul. “You meant it, when you told Blackwormyou knew I was coming.”
“Of course,” she said simply. “I know you.”
He ducked down to press his forehead to hers, and those simmering eyes closed. “You may be the only one who ever has.”
“Maybe if you took off some of these masks: the privateeer, the perv”—she touched his cheek—“the poor, unhappy little boy.”
“How about the pants? Can I take those off?” He lifted his head to look down ather, his lips curved gently.
“You’re incorrigible.”
“You’re just irresistible.” He let out a shuddering breath. “But I have to go back. After they take the scenic and homicidal tour along the event horizon, they’re going to swing around and return to Azthronos.”
She slid her hand down to his armored hand, holding fast. “I assume they aren’t planning to turn themselves in to transgalactic authorities.”
“Blackworm might say he wants his beloved, but he sounds more bent on revenge. He’s going to empty theGrandy’s guns into the ducal estate.”
