Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress #3)(45)
Author: Gena Showalter

“They don’t have to be your enemies.” He pushed to his feet, his still-healing muscles burning and protesting. Using the wall as a crutch, he worked his way to the dresser. There, he withdrew a white shirt and a pair of white panties. Slowly he limped back to the bed.

When he reached the edge, he didn’t move. Couldn’t. He could barely breathe as he drank her in.

Her strawberry blonde hair was splayed over the pillows, a silky, decadent frame of femininity. Rose stained her cheeks, bright and sensual. The sheet did little to hide her curves, the outline of her ni**les beseeching him to touch, to lick.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped.

His eyes lifted to hers. He saw anger mixed with arousal. “Like what?”

“Like I’m the only reason you’re breathing.” Her lids fluttered shut, blocking her emotions from his view. Blocking him from her view.

She’s exaggerating. He had a million things to live for, but she wasn’t—couldn’t be—one of them. For all the reasons he’d considered earlier and a million more.

I do what I have to do to survive, she’d once told him. He was pretty sure she’d kill him if ordered and damn afraid she’d sleep with another man if ordered, too. Even as a toddler, he hadn’t liked sharing his toys. While he wanted desperately to save her, that didn’t change the here and now.

“Don’t just stand there! Scratch my neck. It itches,” she said, cutting into his thoughts.

He obeyed, careful not to scratch too hard and leave a mark. Her skin was hot, as if lava flowed through her veins. From anger? Or the thought of his touch? “Better?”

“Yes. Thank you,” she said reluctantly.

“Welcome.” Silent now, he tugged the shirt over her head and through her arms. His knuckles accidentally grazed the side of her breast. Both he and Mishka moaned, reminded of what they’d been doing only a few hours ago.

The panties, well, he hooked them over her ankles and pulled them up her legs without ever dislodging the sheet. One glance at his new favorite place and he might forget the two men waiting for him.

“That bastard Devyn better free me or I will hunt him down.”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“But you’ll talk business with him first, won’t you? Business you don’t want me to overhear.”

Jaxon didn’t deny her words, but he didn’t confirm them either. “Need anything else before I leave you?”

Her gaze pierced him like twin laser beams, glinting with panic and fury. “Leave me?”

“The room,” he assured her. “Only the room.”

Slowly the panic faded so that only the fury remained. “Leave the compound if you want. It’s not like I care.”

Oh, she cared. But she was probably as confused as he was about the link between them and the likelihood of successfully being together.

Leaning over, he flattened his palms against the mattress. He nuzzled the tip of his nose against hers. “I won’t be long.”

She licked her lips, as though imagining a kiss. “Carry me in there with you.”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“You’ll tell your boss what you hear.” That wasn’t the real reason, but he doubted she’d like hearing he didn’t yet want to make a choice between his friends and his woman.

“You’re lying,” she bit out.

“I’m not.”

“And I won’t tell,” she vowed.

“You won’t be able to help yourself. You told me that.”

Several seconds ticked by, each more tension-filled than the next.

“I won’t forget this,” she said softly, fiercely.

He sighed. “I know.” He kissed her neck, exactly where he’d scratched her, and then he limped from the bedroom.

He knew the betrayal in her eyes would haunt him for eternity.

Alone, still frozen in place, Le’Ace silently fumed. Jaxon had truly abandoned her. Had let his friends basically chain her, rendering her helpless. He knew her past, knew she despised being controlled, but he hadn’t fought for her rights.

Did you expect him to? You were a piece of ass to him, nothing more. That’s all she was good enough to be, and she knew it. All she would ever be. A nonentity, a piece of garbage to be tossed aside at will.

After the tender way Jaxon had held her, she’d thought—hoped?—he saw her as something more. When will you learn? Her stomach clenched painfully. He’d lied to her and left her. Why couldn’t he have been different? Why couldn’t he have seen some kind of worth in her?

Better this way, she assured herself. Made things easier. When Estap’s men came for her, she would happily leave. Mad as she was at Jaxon, she wouldn’t dream of him, wouldn’t fantasize about him, wouldn’t crave him every second of every day to come. Yeah, right.

Just do your job. That’s all you have. All you can ever have.

Her eyes narrowed as determination coursed through her. She’d recognized Dallas from the A.I.R. files she’d read. The other, the alien, she hadn’t been able to place. But she would.

Magnify hearing, she commanded the chip.

CHAPTER 14

You should kill her,” Dallas said, lounging on the dark brown sofa. Cold words from a man who usually loved cold women.

“She is not up for discussion,” Jaxon said darkly, pacing in front of his friend to work the stiffness from his ankle. “Now who’s the otherworlder and how does he fit into the equation?”

Dallas ignored him. “Mia hates Le’Ace. That is Le’Ace, isn’t it? And if Mia discovers you’re sleeping with the woman, Mia will kill you.”

“Mia hates everyone. Besides, isn’t she out of town?”

“Not anymore. She left the training camp. For you.”

Jaxon scrubbed a hand down his face, only then realizing how often he’d done so in the last few days.

“Well, Eden hates Le’Ace, too,” Devyn supplied helpfully.

Jaxon stopped and glared at him. The alien had one shoulder propped against the far white wall, his skin so pale it nearly blended in. “Who the hell is Eden? And seriously, who the hell are you?”

“Two hells.” Scowling, Dallas slapped his hands against his thighs. “What’s gotten into you? I’ve known you a long damn time, and you’ve never cussed. Not that hell is a cuss word, but you’ve never said it before.”

Devyn arched a black brow, his amber eyes glowing with even more amusement. Did nothing anger the man? “Eden is a freelance assassin, and I’m her friend. Sometimes I aid her with cases.”