Silver Tongued Devils (15 page)

She hesitated.

He tried for levity. “Hey, this is the
only time to ask me whatever you want without Na’varr giving me
shit for sharing too much info, right?”

Raesa nodded.

“Good.” He wanted to kiss her, but her
fuck toy comment made him pause.

***

Raesa curled up in the too-large
captain’s chair and ignored how much she missed one of the hard
male bodies who usually accompanied her on shift. Her pussy was
pleasantly tender from the intense up-against-the-wall sex they had
enjoyed.

While Brom played around outside, she
had her hands full with diagnostic error codes. While it continued
spitting out complaints, she’d started downloading the information
they’d stolen. It was taking forever. She fiddled with the earpiece
and mic. “Anything exciting out there?”

“Easy fixes. We’re lucky the miners
are more used to shattering the broad side of a rock face than a
small transport shuttle like ours.” Brom sounded amused. A much
better place than where he’d been an hour ago.

Maybe now would be the time to talk to
him. “Can I start asking you questions?”

“Go ahead.” To his credit, he didn’t
sigh or complain.

“Why did you
really
knock Na’varr
out?”

“If he knew we were taking on repairs,
he’d suit up and come out here with me. I-we-need him
healed.”

“Right. And the foreman?”

“Foreman Yates is always looking out
for number one. It was just a matter of time before he
turned.”

“How did you know it was going to
happen on that visit?”

Brom stayed silent for a few
heartbeats. “I didn’t know, honestly. Every time we’ve met the
foreman, I’ve taken an eagle eye position because I don’t trust
him.”

Relief warred with irritation. “So you
didn’t know he would turn.”

“Nope.” He sounded too fucking pleased
with himself.

“And you pretended to be wise beyond
your years to what, annoy me?”

His laugh echoed in her earpiece.
“Something like that.”

“I would hate to be you when Na’varr
wakes up, kitty cat.”

He chuckled. “Why do you think I’m out
here?”

To avoid my
emotions.
She recognized his discomfort at
her reactions to their isolation. It was the same edge of pain that
asking him about his past, his age, or anything at all that didn’t
involve the here and now brought on. Brom’s reactions were much
more honest than Na’varr’s false cheer about their
situation.

“Brom, there’s one other thing about
today that really bothered me.”

He gave a half laugh. “One
thing?”

Her lips twitched in response. “Okay,
a lot of things, actually, but...” She felt like she was betraying
Na’varr with her thoughts.

“Go ahead, Raesa. Whatever you’re
thinking has probably already crossed my mind.”

“This plan was reckless, but it’s not
the first time he’s taken risks like this.” Actually, his jobs had
grown more and more so in the past two months. She waited for
Brom’s chastisement.

Her lover sighed over the channel.
“You’re right.”

Surprised, she sat forward. “That’s
it?”

“What did you expect? An argument?”
Movement on the viewing window drew her attention and she saw Brom
peek his head over the edge to grin at her through the space suit
face shield. Even in the clunky uniform, he still looked
ridiculously adorable. She stood and walked to the
window.

“I had counter arguments ready for you
and everything.” She tried not to smile as he climbed down the
plexglass toward her. She put her palm out against the chilled
surface and he followed suit, his gloved hand twice the size of
hers.

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

Was it her imagination or did he mean
something far deeper than their surface conversation?

“Was I too rough with you,
kitten?”

Raesa shook her head. She ached all
over, but in a delicious way. “Not at all.” Her bruised hip was
starting to throb, but there’s no way in hell she’d tell him
that.

Her datapad gave a loud feline growl
and she looked down at the screen. The download and translation was
complete. She pulled her hand away from the glass and brought up
the information.

“Was that my voice?” Brom’s question
made her jump.

Shit. He heard
that?
She ignored his inquiry. It wasn’t
his business if she’d recorded his voice during an argument with
Na’varr. His growls were too adorable.

“Raesa.”

She glanced up at him and held up the
datapad. “I’ve got everything we need from the mining job. Now what
did you want me to look for?”

Brom sighed. “Duty calls.” He pulled
himself across the window. Even in a space suit, the man moved like
a cat. “Cross reference shipping dates with deliveries to Kirtok
Prime.”

She focused on the data. “Why Kirtok
Prime?”

“It’s a shipping front for the
Andovian war effort. The ore produced at Deadgate is used to create
jump drives. Andovian forces have started gathering supplies for a
massive invasion.”

She stared at Brom. “Jump drives are
regulated for a reason. If it’s not calibrated to the micro, a ship
will shatter in transit, or land in the middle of a moon. Do they
even have the capability of creating them?” Not to mention the
danger to the surrounding ships.

“I wouldn’t have you look this up if
they weren’t already doing it.”

Raesa focused on her work. It took
only a moment for the dark details to emerge. “Son of a bitch, you
were right, Brom. Foreman Yates and the Deadgate miners have been
sitting in the Andovian regime’s back pocket for
months.”

“Experience talking sweetheart. I can
smell Na’varr’s cousin’s stench from a sector away. You’ll learn,
hellcat. Their corruption leaks into everything.”

She looked up at him and stuck out her
tongue. “You can stop talking down to me any second
now.”

Brom moved so that his gaze was even
with hers. Despite the tinting on his suit’s visor, she could make
out the annoyed expression on his face.

“I’m not talking down to you. It’s
just nice to hear you tell me I’m right.”

Men, cats, hybrids, captains. She was
about done with the lot of them. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Say it again and I’ll make you purr
my name, sweetheart.”

“Children.” Na’varr snapped from
behind her.

She spun around and saw a very pale
captain braced against the doorway to the bridge. “Na’varr,” her
voice was breathless.

“Well, that’s my cue.” Brom’s chuckle
came through the speakers.

“Brom…” she ground his name through
her teeth.

“Take care of this for me, won’t you,
kitten? I’ve got repairs to handle.”

A thin smile touched Na’varr’s lips.
“He knows better than to be in my sight right now. Can you two stop
bickering long enough to tell me what the fuck is going on
here?”

She clutched the datapad to her chest.
“We’re almost finished with diagnostics. I’ve repaired most of the
onboard issues, but we’ll need to land somewhere soon. Brom is
performing maintenance on the hull of the ship. The blasters took
out a few minor systems, but we should be good to go
soon.”

He closed the distance between them in
careful steps that showed him favoring his side. She moved forward,
as if to help him, and he held up his hand. “Get me my star maps,
Raesa. I need a moment before I lose my temper over you both
ignoring the issue at hand.”

Namely, his forced sleep in the
MEDbay.

She brought him the star map case and
set it next to the navigator console. He unrolled each map with
precise movements.

“Show me where we are.”

She pulled up the information on her
datapad. “Here.”

He glanced at the screen and mumbled
something incoherent.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Brom, what’s our status?”

“Captain, we’ve got minor damage in
the landing platform. I didn’t get the gear stowed away before the
first shot hit our belly.”

Na’varr ran a hand over his stubble. A
full day’s growth.

It was just long enough to tickle, but
rough enough to elicit some pretty incredible reactions from her
body.

She wanted to reach for him, but guilt
ate at her for the hot sex she’d had with Brom while he
slept.

Na’varr’s gaze sharpened for just a
moment. “We’re close to Renegade Falls. Can we make the
jump?”

Brom’s heavy sigh echoed in the room.
“We’ll need a coil soon, but yeah, once I finish this patch, she’ll
be jump-worthy.”

“Good. Make it happen.”

“Roger that.”

Na’varr pierced her with a glare. Her
heart froze in her chest. Surely he didn’t think she had anything
to with putting him under?

“Brom.” Na’varr’s tone barely
concealed his displeasure.

“Sir?”

“I will take your insubordination out
of your hide one way or the other.”

“As expected, Captain.”

Brom’s mic disconnected and Na’varr
pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell me why.” His voice trembled
with anger.

Raesa’s heart slammed in her chest. By
now he was usually yelling. The quiet anger was somehow really
scary. Sweat trickled between her breasts. She moistened her lips
with her tongue. “He said even with broken ribs, you’d take the
walk about because of the dangers to us. Rest was needed for the
tube to accelerate your healing, right?”

His dry chuckle surprised her. So did
the tension draining from his body. “He said that, huh?”

Confusion froze Raesa in her
tracks.

He held out his hand and she stared at
it for a long beat.

“I won’t hurt you, little thief. My
job is to protect you.”

She shook her head and placed her fist
between her breasts, wanting him to understand her heart. “No sir.”
His eyebrows raised at her formal tone. “I was brought up to
protect you. Brom and I are here to watch your back. If you keep
throwing yourself in harm’s way, we’ll go down with
you.”

“You too?” He let his hand fall away
and cursed in several languages.

The more creative ones raised her
eyebrows. One or two were ones she didn’t know, but wanted to learn
as soon as possible. You could tell a lot about a culture based on
the way they insulted one another. So what did it say about the
pirate captain?

A snort slipped free. Mortified she
tried to stifle it, but the past several hours of insanity and
sleep deprivation hit her full force.

Na’varr’s lips twitched. “Plot a
course. I’ll call out the numbers.”

Raesa nodded and brought up the
program. She ran most of the ship from her personal system. For a
vessel this large, it had become a necessity with a three-man crew.
Na’varr called out the coordinates and she planned their
trajectory.

When it was like this, they were a
well-oiled machine. Why couldn’t it always be this way?

“I’m finished out here.” Brom’s voice
jerked her attention back to the present. “Boarding now. I’ll be in
the workout room.”

She glanced at Na’varr and noticed the
captain’s jaw clench. His eyes hardened and if she wasn’t mistaken,
the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

What would it take to fix their
situation? Maybe they needed a break from each other. She hated
that thought. Being away from either man for too long was like
losing part of her heart.

“We’ll plan for the next jump in ten
minutes. Raesa, please join me in the captain’s chair.”

Every time she shifted her legs, her
pussy pulsed with the after affects of Brom’s wicked lust fest, but
she didn’t know how to tell him that.

“Relax, beautiful. I’m in no shape to
take on more than a quiet moment with the woman I love. Let me take
this time with just you and me.”

A tinge of sadness touched his voice
and Raesa wondered if he didn’t want to share. The thought of not
having Brom touch her sat heavily in her stomach. Both men had
curled up in her heart and more than satisfied her body on a
regular basis.

Na’varr sat and tugged her into his
lap. The giant captain’s chair easily accommodated his bulk and her
body.

He tucked her head beneath his chin
and cuddled her close. She was careful not to lean against his side
because of his injuries.

“I was with Brom while you were
sleeping,” she blurted.

He ran his hand down her hair in a
soothing caress. “Do you love him, Raesa?”

“Of course. I love you
both.”

“Love doesn’t mean we have to be with
each other every hour of the day. Brom and I will occasionally go
off and do our thing. You two will also need time
alone.”