The shirt tugged higher. High enough for him to catch a glimpse between her thighs, pretty and pink.
He stared down at her soft flesh, and she stared up at him, breathing furiously behind the gag.
He spun on his heel and stalked toward the door, too angry to even look at her again.
What would he say to Syena? Your husband is dead, and I let his corpse get eaten by blood-sucking birds.
And what the hell was he going to do with this manic woman? As much as she pissed him off, he’d be goddamned if he’d turn her over to the Alliance and their torture doctors. He couldn’t kill her. But he damned well could chain her up until he got to a peace planet so he could let her father deal with her.
Vaniiya, if he let this woman bring him this low, he’d make a piss-poor regio indeed.
The ship had a brig, but it was dark. No bed. Just four walls and a toilet. Besides, he’d dismantled the cams when Spiro’s charming brother had locked him in there. She’d be scared shitless.
He lowered himself into the bathing pool, the skin of his back burning where the birds had raked into him.
The hot water helped relax his stiff shoulders and back, but it did nothing to help his cock. Nor did seeing the flimsy dress hanging, wet and sheer, over a cabinet door. It reminded him of her tits. Her tits that had touched this water.
He scowled at the briganti sponge that skulked in the corner of the pool. It spread a tentacle toward him. The thing kept the water in the pool filtered, eating impurities. It had probably been hungry in his absence. He shoved some bloody water its way.
His idiot mind kept on calling up the sight of her, tied to his bed. Arms up high, back arched as she tossed and turned fighting him, hard nipples poking against the too-thin fabric, his shirt riding up high between her legs with every twist of her perfect body.
He dropped his head back and stroked his hand over his cock.
She was upsetting his entire life. His entire existence. She was driving him crazy. And Tamminiaand the regioship sat there mocking him, an oppressive weight in the back of his mind.
Something had to give.
He stroked his hand higher, tugging on his balls with his other hand. His breath came faster. Images flashed through his mind of all the things he’d like to do to her. Turn her over on the bed, hold her down, spank her until she cried out for him.
He grunted.
He could practically see the wet lust in her wide gray eyes, feel the press of her, hot against him as she writhed and panted, begging for him. Anyone who’d kick a man like him, and lock him out of his own ship, would be fire in bed.
He stroked faster, hips moving, pretending the heat of the water was her body spasming around him. With a final grunt, he pumped out his release and dropped his head to rest against the sides of the pool.
It was a release, but it wasn’t enough. His cock stayed hard, and he stayed frustrated.
A FEW HOURS LATER, he brought her dinner and a big glass of water.
She’d been crying. Hard. Her face was red and blotchy. Cheeks streaked with tears she couldn’t wipe away with her hands tied over her head. She’d still not managed to lower the shirt. It now snuggled around the small of her waist, leaving the entire flare of her hips on display. Her legs clenched when he entered the cabin. She had, however, managed to spit out his sock. It lay, innocuous, on her left breast.
“I’m going to untie you now. For five minutes. You can eat. Use the bathing chamber. And then your ass is coming back here, where I will retie you.”
“I’m sorry about that man’s body.”
He looked away, hating the image that came to mind of one of the black birds landing on Jasto’s body, tearing through the vacubag, coming away with a reddened beak. He’d need to move Jasto to a new vacubag for the rest of the trip, or the smell would become a problem.
Her lip wobbled. “I didn’t know. She shifted in her bonds like she wanted to reach for him. “He was your friend?”
“Family.”
She didn’t speak, but the look in her eyes told him she knew about loss, and since she came from Argentus, he imagined she did.
“You ready to eat?”
She was quiet for a moment. “A-am I to sleep here?”
“Like I said, I don’t trust you. Fuck knows what you might do while I sleep.”
She sucked in her lower lip. “Where will you sleep?”
He flashed her a grin. “Right here, amiera. My bed. You’ll sleep on the floor.”
Her brows flicked up ever so slightly.
“Did you think I’m the guy who sleeps on the floor? I’m not.”
She didn’t answer. Just finished her rations in silence, and followed him dutifully down the hall to the comm.
He tied her back to his bed, letting her lay on it until he was ready for sleep.
______
KLYM WOKE IN THE night when her throbbing feet bumped against each other. She winced and tried to shift them to a more comfortable position. She must have fallen asleep in his bed, and apparently, he’d left her there.
It took a long moment, breathing in the dark, for the haze of sleep to slide away. Even in the near total darkness, she’d recognize the smell of him anywhere. Dark and spicy.
She rubbed her face against the pillow, curling her toes, tucking the blanket up around her chin with her bound hands. Her bottom bumped into something. What in the world?
She rolled over, reached out her hands, sliding them across the bed until she hit something warm and solid and... Torum.
In bed with her.
Snatching her hands back, she sat bolt upright. Or, rather, she tried to sit bolt upright. The bindings dug into her wrists, and
