Misled (Carnal Thirst #1)(5)
Author: Sylvia Day

He heard her snort derisively and he laughed.

“I don’t want your charity,” she grumbled.

“And I don’t want your bullshit. Sometimes we get what we don’t want.”

Sable came back to the doorway, a reluctant smile curving her lips. It was the first time Derek had seen anything close to a smile on her face and he was awed by how it transformed her features from beautiful to breathtaking.

“Really, Derek. I don’t need your money.”

He frowned. “You’d tell me if you did?”

She laughed then, an enchanting sound that made him swallow hard. “No. I wouldn’t tell you.”

Derek pushed out of the chair with a curse. “Why the hell not?”

“I didn’t f**k you for your money.”

His eyebrows rose at the blunt statement. “Glad to hear it.” Really glad, but then he’d never thought that anyway. Sable was too independent. He paused a moment and then asked the obvious question, damning himself for caring about the answer. “Why did you then?”

“For that massive c*ck of yours, of course.” Her sapphire eyes glittered with wicked amusement.

When he scowled, she threw her head back and laughed with delight. The laughter poured from her, light and musical and before he knew it he was chuckling too. He was about to reach for her and pull her into his arms, when the ship rocked hard to the side, throwing her into his embrace. Alarms sounded.

“What the hell?” she gasped as she steadied herself against him. Her eyes went wide as she looked at him and he knew she was wondering how he’d saved them from a puddle of tangled limbs. She glanced down, noticing they hovered just above the floor. Her gaze was accusatory. “Is there anything you’re not prepared for?”

He gave her a swift, hard kiss before moving to the captain’s chair. They’d been so wrapped up in talking to each other, they hadn’t noticed when the ship had fallen out of lightspeed.

“Shit! Hang on.” He grabbed the controls, shut off the autopilot and activated the shields, before tilting them hard right. A phaser shot barely missed them.

Sable took the copilot’s chair. “It’s a Federation ship,” she said in surprise after a quick glance at the console. She’d barely secured her harness before he was forced to make another evasive roll.

With grim resignation, Derek kept his eyes on the control panel in front of him and noted the second Federation ship approaching. “Now would be a good time to tell me what kind of trouble you’re in, Sable.”

“Me? Why does this have to be about me?”

He risked a side-glance at her. “Cut the shit. We’re on the far edges of the Delta Sector. Why did you decide to drop out of lightspeed here?”

Her eyes met his for an instant, then she flushed and looked away. “To avoid you. I figured you wouldn’t think to look for me here.”

She punched a few buttons on the armrest and a visor lowered from the ceiling. Within seconds, the chair spun silently around as she watched their enemy through the visor and returned fire.

Derek shook his head. Damned impossible woman. “We’re going to discuss your relationship issues later. Right now I want to know how two Federation fighter ships ended up deep in Council space at the exact remote location you decided to use.”

“I have no f**king idea. I reported my intention to travel to Rashier 6, but not the flight plan. No one knew I was coming out here.”

Derek watched as the second Federation ship flew over them, followed by a rapid volley of phasers from Sable. She was good. The second ship was already badly damaged.

“Maybe we stumbled onto something by accident.” She spun her chair to the left and fired on the first ship.

The Starwing shook with teeth-chattering force. “Yeah, a big accident. Shields are down to seventy-five percent.”

Sable fired back with even more ferocity. “Can you get us out of here?”

“No. That first hit knocked out the hyperdrive and the comm link. Whoever these guys are, they don’t like you at all.”

“They’ll have to take a number.” Her next round of fire destroyed one of the Federation ships. “Turn around so I can get the other one.”

He pulled up and over, coming in behind the remaining ship that continued to fire on them with enthusiasm. “Shields down to fifty percent and falling fast.”

Sable spun around and cursed. The remaining Federation ship was gone. “They jumped.”

“They timed that well,” Derek noted. “They arrived and left before the border probe made its rounds.”

She shook off the harness. The visor automatically rose out of her way. “Why didn’t they finish us?”

“I don’t know but I think they probably weren’t expecting a fight and ran out of time.”

She stood, her short robe twisted by the movement of the chair and the five-point harness until he could almost see her p**sy.

He got hard instantly.

Shit. He shouldn’t be thinking about that now. Frustrated, he bolted out of his chair.

“We have to repair the ship and get out of here before they decide to come back,” he growled, raking a hand through his hair.

She shot him a quizzical glance. “Grumpy, aren’t we?”

“Horny,” he corrected and choked off a laugh at the grimace she made. She beat a hasty retreat.

“I’m going down to fix the hyperdrive,” she shouted as she went below deck. “You work on the shields.”

He could smell the arousal coming from her satiny skin. One word from him and her body was eager for his. Instead, she ran away.

Damned impossible woman.

* * * * *

Sable pushed her hair out of her face, and crawled on her hands and knees back into the maintenance shaft of the hyperdrive. She was eternally grateful that the repairs were almost done. The shaft was not designed for occupation, so the space lacked environmental controls, making it hot and uncomfortable. Only the upper half of her torso fit in the small space, leaving her h*ps bent at an odd angle.

She briefly wondered how much headway Derek was making on the shields. She trusted him to work on her ship, which spoke volumes about how much she respected and believed in him. A control freak, she preferred to see to everything herself so she knew a task was done to her satisfaction. She wasn’t worried about that with Derek. He never did anything in half measure. Sable was relieved he’d been with her today. Without him, things could have been much worse. In fact, she might even be dead.

Derek was right. Those ships had been lying in wait for her. They’d disabled her hyperdrive, crippling her, but in the end had left her alive. Perhaps they’d meant only to delay her? But why? No one knew she was tracking down Agent Leroy besides IAB and that database was so secure not even the President of the Interstellar Security Council had access to it.

So who could have known where she would drop out of lightspeed when she hadn’t even known herself until she’d punched the coordinates? It didn’t make sense. Why not kill her and get rid of the threat she presented all together?

Yes! Derek’s triumphant voice filled her mind. I fixed the shields. How are you doing down there?

“Almost done,” she muttered as she reattached the ground.

Need a hand?

“No, thanks. You’re familiar with the layout of these ships. The maintenance shaft is tiny. I’m ass-up in here as it is and cramped as hell.”

Okay, baby.

The voice in her mind fell silent and strangely she felt lonely without it. She was getting far too used to having him around and the realization pissed her off to no end. Her foolish heart was determined to be crushed into dust.

She finished and slowly started backing out of the maintenance shaft.

“Look what I found,” came Derek’s voice in a hot puff of breath against her inner thigh just before his tongue delved into her p**sy.

Startled, Sable jumped, banging her head. “Oww, damn it! What the hell are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he growled softly. Parting her folds with gentle fingers, he continued to lick her with sinuous laps, stroking across her cl*t until it swelled and peeped out. “You said you were ass-up. I had to come and see for myself.”

He plunged his hot tongue deep inside her cunt and groaned, keeping her h*ps still when she tried to move. “And what do I find? You, bent at the waist, waving a prized piece of heaven at me.” He tongued her cl*t with rapid flicks. “How could I resist a little taste?”

Sable’s entire body had begun to burn with the first swipe of his wicked tongue. Now she was on fire. “Derek…” she moaned, throwing her h*ps back at him, needed more than his teasing torment.

His answering chuckle was filled with masculine satisfaction as he buried his mouth between her thighs with flattering enthusiasm. A moment before she’d been grumpy and frustrated. Now she was achingly, breathlessly aroused, her cunt creamy with lust and softening in eager anticipation of another wondrous orgasm. Derek lapped up her desire with deep licks and then dipped inside her, f**king her with the slow, steady plunges he knew she adored.

Sable dropped her head onto her crossed arms, tilting her h*ps upward to give him greater access to her drenched cleft. The man was unbelievably talented with his tongue, knowing just where to lick and when to slip deep. He lifted her higher, holding her h*ps aloft with effortless vampire strength. Openmouthed, he surrounded her cl*t and stroked it slowly with his tongue, back and forth in a wet glide, making sexy little groaning noises.

I missed this too, the taste of you.

She felt the smooth edges of his fangs against her labia and knew he was fully erect. The thought of his c*ck and the way it felt inside her made her whimper and drench his mouth. And still his tongue worked its magic, drifting back and forth across her exposed clit. Out and in. He was so skilled and he already knew her so well. Her short nails clawed futilely at the smooth metal beneath her.

“Derek…please…”

She screamed when she came, her voice echoing in the small confines of the maintenance shaft.

There was no time to catch her breath before Derek pulled back and then plunged his pulsing erection inside her, stretching her impossibly tight in her bent over position. He stroked his c*ck quickly, riding out her orgasm, making it last as long as possible.

I love being inside you.

“Yes…”

I love it when you scream and come for me. Do it again.

“Derek,” she gasped, her entire body quaking with the force of his thrusts. He lowered her knees to the floor and pumped deeper, the heavy weight of his balls slapping against her cl*t with every downward stroke. “You’re going to kill me.”

He reached around her waist and between her legs, finding the spot where she stretched wide to accommodate him. Come for me, he ordered.

Sable couldn’t even whimper when she came again. Her throat closed like a fist, as did her cunt, which clamped down on the massive c*ck riding her in an endless convulsion of pleasure.

Sable! Derek’s stunned cry filled her mind, as he came hard and furious, his hands at her waist shaking, his breath heaving in great bellows, his shaft jerking violently inside her.

He collapsed against her back and her legs slid out from under them, shaking too much to support their weight. He pulled her from the hyperdrive shaft and rolled, spooning behind her as they both struggled to breathe.

Sable could have fallen asleep there on the floor, if Derek hadn’t picked her up and carried her to the shower. Sated and tired, she leaned her body against his as he soaped her down and washed her hair. As his large hands glided over her skin, kneading in a way meant to soothe rather than arouse, she admitted she could get used to this kind of pampering.

“Does a good f**k always put you in such a generous mood?” she asked, as he rinsed her hair.

His lips curved in a sexy grin, but it was the tenderness in his gaze that stopped her heart. “Just good?”

“Okay, great,” she amended.

“Just great?” he teased, as he began to soap his muscled chest.

Damn. Damn. Damn. He was so hot with his soapy hands caressing those beautiful muscles and water dripping from his raven hair. She really wanted to keep him.

“Fantastic, stupendous, mind-blowing,” she said through suddenly dry lips. It was ridiculous how badly she craved him.

“Best sex you’ve ever had?” His silvery gaze probed too deeply for the question to be frivolous.

She shifted uncomfortably under the piercing silver stare and tried for levity. “With your libidinous reputation, I wouldn’t think your ego would need any more stroking.”

Derek’s hands stilled and he frowned. “I don’t mind telling you how much I enjoy making love to you.”

Making love. Sable looked down, fighting the feeling of joy that wanted to well up within her. “You know I enjoy it,” she said softly.

“Enough to be with only me? No one else?”

Her gaze flew to his in surprise. Was he serious? Suddenly very nervous, she leaned her back against the cool shower wall trying to create some distance between them. “What exactly are you asking me?”

“I want to try and make this work, Sable.” Derek stepped under the spray to rinse off. “You and me. No one else.”

Her eyes slid shut. He was serious. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She knew what she should say, what her job demanded that she say. But she just couldn’t do it.

“I’d like that,” she whispered. Then she cried out in surprise as Derek pulled her against his chest and rewarded her with a quick, hard kiss.

“Thank God,” he muttered with touching relief.

“I’m not finished.”

He stiffened and pulled back to eye her warily.

Reaching up, she brushed his wet hair off his forehead with an affectionate caress. He had such strong features with his aquiline nose, stubborn jaw and firm lips. She felt safe with him, knowing how prepared he was for everything. Her life had always been chaotic and she often faced ramifications for her rash choices long after they were made. “I don’t want anyone else, Derek. But I can’t become involved with you right now. There are some things I have to take care of first.”