Enslave Me Sweetly (Alien Huntress #2)(12)
Author: Gena Showalter

I decided to challenge him by turning his own question against him. “What areyou thinking about?”

He arched his pierced brow again. “Do you want the honest answer or the same shit you gave me when I asked?” He didn’t give me time to reply, but finished with, “I’ll give you the honest answer.” He leaned forward, his mouth twisting upward, his eyes darkening. “I’m thinking how hot and wet and eager your lips will be when I win our bet.”

“You don’t even like me.”

“I don’t have to like you to want you.”

How like a man. Thankfully the landing gear moaned as it disengaged, saving me from slicing that smug grin off his face with the three-pronged razor strapped to my ankle. Never mind that I didn’t like him and wanted him myself.

The self-driving ITS glided smoothly into its programmed location, a private airstrip in New Dallas. Lucius and I hustled outside. A step behind him, I found myself watching the way his butt moved. Nice. Damn him.

The sun glared directly overhead, causing midday heat to wrap around me. My gold skin burned easily, more easily than a human’s. When possible, I wore long-sleeved shirts (with accessible slits for weapon handling) and tight black pants (also with accessible slits). I slid my dark sunglasses into place. Because I belonged to a hunted race, I also shoved my golden hair under a black ball cap.

A fine sheen of sweat formed, and a dirt-laden breeze kicked up. I hurried into the air-conditioned back seat of a bullet- and laserproof black Hummer. Two of Michael’s employees waited in the front. Both were physically fit humans in their mid-thirties. I recognized them and nodded. Ren, the muscled brute in the passenger seat, had asked me out on numerous occasions. I’d always turned him down. His wandering eye irritated me.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said.

“No problem, baby,” Ren said, giving me a welcoming smile. “Anything for you.” As he spoke, he sent me a wink. He even skimmed his gaze over my body, and I wouldn’t have doubted if he mentally willed my legs apart.

Any reply I offered would have encouraged him. I knew that from experience. So I kept my mouth closed.

The easy atmosphere changed when Lucius entered the vehicle and folded his big frame beside me. Ren avoided looking directly at him, but his lips pressed together in disdain. The driver, Marko, whipped around, facing us. His olive complexion and dark eyes were rosy with…fury?

“You guys have met before, I take it,” I muttered.

“He broke my f**king nose,” Marko snarled.

Lucius remained unperturbed. “I’ll break it again if you don’t turn your ass around and get us where we need to be.”

There was a sizzling pause, a suspended moment between the escalating tension where I was one hundred percent confident the three men were going to kill each other. Wait. Let me rephrase. I was one hundred percent confident Lucius would kill Marko and Ren. I doubted anyone or anything could hurt Lucius Adaire.

And wasn’t that a funny realization? When I’d first meet the man, I’d accused him of being all brawn and no brains, too pretty to actually fight. He’d proven himself capable during our training session. I’d give him that much.

I adjusted the sunglasses on my nose. Obviously, Lucius had served time in the military. Special forces, black ops maybe. Perhaps he’d even worked for A.I.R. at one time. He moved silently, fluidly, with the patent stillness of a predator. He didn’t balk at the thought of violence; he embraced it.

I still didn’t want him as my partner, though. How could I prove myself? How could I prove my worth and my capabilities with this tough man at my side? Despite his threats to let me die if I got in his way, he just might jump in front of me if gunshots erupted. Agents were protectors by nature, and he wouldn’t be able to help himself.

“I’m not paid by the hour, ladies, so let’s get this job done,” Lucius added.

I watched as Marko’s flush turned ruddy, his eyes narrowed to dark slits. He slowly turned away from us. His back and shoulders were stiff, and an aura of fury radiated from him. Ren was slower to turn around. He glanced from Lucius to me, from me to Lucius. He’d never seen me with another agent before, so undoubtedly he wondered what the hell I was doing with this one. I offered no explanation, and switched my attention to the window.

Trees were dry and yellow from lack of water. Tumbleweed rolled up the fenced enclosure and along the runway, and men rushed to remove them. Seconds later our coordinates were programmed into the car and we were speeding down winding back roads. No one spoke. In the silence, my awareness of Lucius became electric, a spark begging to burst into flame. The hard length of his thigh pressed against the firmness of mine. Where our clothes met, my nerve endings sizzled. He smelled good. Too good. Like soap and man and a hint of Michael’s woodsy cigars.

To preserve my sanity, I forced my mind from such dangerous territory and concentrated on the coming confrontation with Sahara Rose. Such a gentle, fragile creature, and that fragility made her a weak link in EenLi’s chain. I’d always wondered why the slaver had used the girl. Stupidity? Or desire? The latter was most likely the answer. Desire could make the sanest of people do foolish things. Wasn’t I becoming proof of that?

Soon the Hummer eased to a stop in front of an old, dilapidated farmhouse on the verge of collapse. Appearances were often deceiving, and I knew this was one of those times. Inside, those splintery walls were solid and impenetrable. Trip wires and land mines littered the surrounding property. Computers and other equipment protected the “home” from invasion—as well as keeping prisoners inside.

“Ten minutes,” I reminded Lucius as I jumped outside. I didn’t want anyone opening my door and helping me out. Femininity and delicacy were two things I didn’t want to project right now. I slammed the door closed with more force than necessary. “I’ll be watching the clock.”

The heat hit me instantly, once again wrapping around me like a thick blanket. Bright rays of sunlight baked everything in their path. The barren ground. The twigs and rocks. Lucius strode to my side, his long, muscled legs making short work of the distance. He radiated heat of his own, but it left a far different feeling inside me than the sun did.

“Don’t be surprised,” he said briskly, “when I win after only five.”

I secretly smiled. So cocky, yet so doomed for failure. I hadn’t had this much fun in years. If ever. But I gave no outward reaction to his words. Instead I turned and marched forward. He stayed close to my side.