“And what about this?” he asked splaying his arm to showcase the limping forms, and in some cases, corpses, that littered their path.
She snorted. “We’re in a den of iniquity. Attacks are to be expected. Self-defense is not a crime, so don’t feel bad.”
Her words made his face twist from disbelief, to humor, to smoking intensity. A hand shot out and he grabbed a hold of her, yanking her toward him until she reeled against his chest. “Silly female. Don’t’ you realize I am the most dangerous thing you will encounter?” he whispered before hoisting her up for a kiss that stole her breath.
Megan forgot they stood in the middle of an alien marketplace. Forgot the violence trailing them. Forgot even her own name as his lips slanted over hers in a possessive embrace that turned her knees to jelly and sent moist heat to pool in her cleft. She curled her arms around his neck and tugged him closer. Sliding her tongue between his lips, she shuddered as he sucked it and then grazed it with his teeth.
Kissing him just never grew old. No matter how many times they touched, she could never get enough. Arousal flushed her body and made her wish for a more intimate setting, especially when a sarcastic voice intruded.
“Well, well. Isn’t this cozy?”
Tren kept one arm wrapped around Megan as he pulled and aimed a pistol at the only other male in the universe who could hope to sneak up on him. His damned brother who also doubled as his worst enemy.
The cold gaze of his only sibling didn’t flinch even though Tren kept his gun level with his smirk.
“What do you want, Jaro?” Tren’s voice came out low and tight. Megan, for once, said nothing, but she did turn in his grasp, her back plastered to his front. He bit back a grin as he felt her hand move to grip the end of the eating prong. She certainly didn’t lack courage.
“Want? Does a brother need a reason to exchange pleasantries? It’s been a long time, Tren. Forgive me if I find myself curious as to how you’ve been.”
“I am fine. Now leave and get on with your business.” Tren muttered the words through gritted teeth. Jaro just smiled at him coolly.
“Do you always hold family members hostage?” Megan’s voice pierced their impasse and he held back a groan as she drew Jaro’s attention.
“And who might you be?” Jaro asked with a sneer.
“On Earth, I’m called Megan, but according to Tren, I’m probably known as a new pair of shoes. Or maybe a shirt depending on the price he can get for me when he sells me. Apparently, I’m annoying, so I might not fetch a good price.”
Her outspoken declaration, which Jaro unfortunately understood given he also wore a translator, was almost worth the dropped jaw and wide eyes on his brother. But it didn’t last and Jaro’s gaze quickly narrowed. “I didn’t know you’d taken to slave trading, brother.”
Tren would have answered with a scathing remark, but Megan was on a roll.
“Oh, he didn’t intend to. He accidentally abducted me when he was fishing on my planet. See, my boyfriend decided to kill me and tossed me into the ocean. Lucky me, I got kidnapped by a pirate and now I get to look forward to being auctioned off as a sex slave, or an appetizer depending, I guess, on the buyer’s taste.”
“Megan!” Tren growled her name and she turned in his arms to smile up at him with false innocence.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” With a smirk, she turned back to face his nemesis.
“Nothing wrong at all, dear Megan,” Jaro interjected smoothly, drawing her attention. “I apologize for my brother. Personally, had I discovered a gem like yourself in my hold, I would have dressed you in fine fabrics and wooed you as obviously befits someone of your beauty.”
Tren growled. He couldn’t help himself as his brother flirted with Megan, and she seemed to soak it up even though the touch of his kiss surely still lingered on her lips. It angered him, rousing a possessive jealousy he’d never known before.
Megan tittered and Tren gritted his teeth.
“What a load of crap,” Megan crowed. Her laughter turned derisive and Tren watched in satisfaction as Jaro’s face tightened in anger. “You didn’t seriously think I’d believe that load of drivel, did you?” She snorted. “I might be considered a barbarian, but even I’m not that gullible.”
“You should watch your tongue, else you might find yourself without it,” Jaro growled.
Tren didn’t like his menacing tone, but apparently Megan liked it even less. In what he was coming to realize was her signature move, she kneed his brother between the legs. As Jaro gasped, she smiled at him sweetly. “That’s for being a dick to your brother. And this-” She kneed Jaro again in the stomach. “Is for being an asshole in general.” Megan turned to face Tren and stood on tiptoe to brush her lips over his. “I’ll see you back on the ship for my
“I will kill-”
Jaro never finished his sentence because Tren grabbed him around the throat and slammed him up against a wall. “I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you, else I might just forget the promise made to our mother and end you right now.”
Jaro’s eyes widened, incredulity blatant in his expression. “Don’t tell me you care for that crass, barbaric female?”
“Of course not,” Tren scoffed. “She is a female, and one slated for sale once I find the right market for her.”
“I look forward to bidding on her then. I think she’d look splendid spread eagle on my bed-naked. She won’t be able to say much with my cock stuffed down her throat.”
“Oh no, you won’t.” A jealous rage gripped him. Tren knew it was foolish even as he drew his fist back and knocked his brother out. In that one act, he’d let his sibling know Megan meant more to him than he let on. More than he even wanted to admit to himself.
Looking at his brother’s slumped form, a part of him regretted the past that had brought them both to this point. But, a man could only apologize so many times. It was time Jaro got over it.
Tren banged on the counter of the hiding shopkeeper who peered at him with frightened eyes. “You recognize me I assume?” The peeking head nodded. “Good. I expect you to ensure he comes to no harm, or I’ll come back and show you in violent detail why you don’t piss me off.” Tren turned to walk away, but stopped and pivoted back. “Oh, but feel free to compensate yourself for the trouble by taking anything he has on him.”
Tren chuckled as he imagined Jaro’s reaction when he regained consciousness, nude as the day of his birth. He might have promised his mother he wouldn’t kill his brother, but he’d never said anything about humiliation.
Concerned that Megan might have encountered trouble on her way back to the ship-or caused it-he stepped over Jaro’s prone form and headed in her direction.
He discovered only one miscreant in need of dispatching on his way, his guilt evidenced by the silver prong pinning his hand to the wall beside the opening leading to his ship. He dispatched him quickly and stalked in after her, angry even if he didn’t understand why.
Chapter Nine
Megan paced in front of the opening for the ship, unable to get in not matter how much she whacked the wall, but unwilling to go back out looking for Tren. It didn’t help she’d left her only weapon stuck in some alien who’d grabbed her ass.
What unsettled her wasn’t her sudden propensity for violence, or the odd encounter with his brother, but the scalding kiss. The one he’d given her in public and with that strange look in his eye. Brain muddling, knee melting, panty wetting, he’d embraced her and she forgot everything except how it felt to be in his arms. She wondered if she would have even protested had he decided to take her in full view of everyone. Probably not, given how hot her
