Stark Pleasure; the Space Magnate's Mistress (The LodeStar Series) (34 page)

She gave him a look. “No trouble? I watch the news holovids, Stark.” She wasn’t calling him Logan, ever again.

He shrugged. “Those incidents were all caused by a business rival attempting to sabotage my flagship. He is now dead, and his company under the close supervision of the IGSF.”

She managed a nod. Keep the conversation going, anything but him watching her in silence.

“It’s just … deep space, you know? So, I thought I’d drop by Taara’s and visit for an hour or so. Take my mind off the trip.”

She resisted the urge to fidget as he studied her. “All packed?”

“Yup. Got everything ready. Thank you for the luggage. It’s beautiful.” She’d thrown things into the cases willy-nilly, more for something to do while she waited to leave than anything else.

He nodded, continuing to watch her, a line between his brows. “You’re sure that’s all that’s bothering you? You can tell me if you’ve a problem, you know.”

Hurt roiled along with anger, a hot ball of pressure behind her eyes. Oh, quark, she was not going to cry over a few kind words from him. Not like he really meant them. She stared back at him, only her long years of practice keeping her expression stony.
 

“Yeah, thanks. That’s ... so sweet.”
 

The change in his expression was minute, but she smirked. “Not liking sweet? How about, ‘That’s very businesslike of you, Stark. Glad you’re looking out for your latest acquisition.’”

He put down his napkin. “Yes, I am. See to it that you do the same tonight. Stay at your friend’s place until Rak picks you up, hmm?”

She rose and he caught her with an arm around her waist, leaning down to brush a kiss on her temple. “I know you’re nervous, kitten,” he said. “It will be all right.”

For an instant, unable to resist his pull, Kiri leaned into him. His fingers under her chin, he tipped her head back, holding her there as he plundered her mouth with his. She clung to him, part of her wanting nothing more than to stay there. Instead she broke the kiss. It would never be all right again.

“See you later.”

“You could stay here,” he said, his eyes slumberous as he stroked her ass. “I’ve several new toys I haven’t shown you.”

She stiffened and he smiled wickedly.
 

“Yeah, I just bet you do,” she said, her voice cracking. “Um, maybe you could bring one or two on the ship. I’m gonna need distracting from all that deep space.” If she boarded the ship.

She pulled free of his arms. She could feel him watching her as she walked away. But now it felt as if he was viewing an acquisition, not a person he valued.
 

He’d soon find this acquisition had a mind of her own.

Chapter 29

Rak ferried her to the landing for Taara’s apartment building and walked her to the door. Kiri stiffened her spine against the guilt eating at her. She was lying not only to Stark but this man, who’d befriended her. If Rak found out, he’d be so disappointed in her.
 

If Stark found out … he’d throw her ass out on the street.

For her strongbox, she reminded herself. She couldn’t believe it still existed, wouldn’t believe it if Tal hadn’t shown it to her. And the memories it held were at least true, unlike the starry bubble in which she’d existed for the last weeks.

Taara opened her door with a wide smile, bouncing on her toes with excitement. “Hi,” she greeted Kiri. “Are you ready to party?”

“Right here, right now,” Kiri agreed, holding up the bottle of Cremarté Natan had given her. When she asked him for a bottle of something to give a friend, he’d assured her the sweet, powerful liqueur was a favorite of Serpentians.

“Perfect,” Taara squealed. “Come on in. Are you coming in, Rak?”

The pilot shook his head, already backing away. “Link me when you’re ready to go,” he told Kiri.

Taara gave Kiri a broad wink and whisked her into her apartment. “He didn’t suspect a thing,” she crowed, waving the bottle as she led the way into her tiny galley. “Come on, let’s have a drink to celebrate before we head out. This is gonna be so starry. And I promise I won’t take off with any guys tonight. I felt kinda bad about that last time.”

“No problem,” Kiri assured her. She took the tiny glass Taara offered her.

“Here’s to a starry night,” Taara said, and tipped back her glass, swallowing the creamy liqueur in one gulp.
 

Kiri followed suit. She swallowed and then gasped. The liqueur was liquid cinnamon fire, with only the cream to keep it from burning a hole in her insides.

“Sorry,” Taara was already pouring another glass for each of them. “Forgot to warn you. Serpentians are a little tougher when it comes to hot stuff.”

Kiri nodded, but she took the second drink. She needed some liquid courage for what lay ahead.
 

Taara cocked her head, a slight frown on her face. “Are you okay?” she asked. “We can just stay in, y’know. Talk.”

“I’m fine,” Kiri protested. “Just nervous about the flight. Let’s go.”

Taara nodded, accepting this explanation.

The two of them scurried down the back stairway and then took the elevator from two floors down, just in case Rak was watching the elevator on Taara’s floor. From the street, dark and wet and dirty, they climbed to the landing platform for the local airbus and rode it across the city.

Crowds of young people hung out on the street outside The Flash. On the short walk from the airbus landing, Taara and Kiri were importuned for credit, sex and the dubious shelter of a religious cult. Kiri paid the entrance fee for both of them and the huge bouncer let them in through the single front door.

“Is Tal Darkrunner here?” Kiri asked.

The Mau looked them over with insulting thoroughness and smirked at Kiri. “Tal’s table is in the back.”

Her stomach jumping, Kiri led the way into the club, which was filled with an eerie purple twilight and the sharp lance of laser flashes through the air above the crowd. Techno-barb music thumped and screeched from the band on the floating stage. Smaller cages swerved through the air, with nude dancers writhing inside. The air was full of smoke, sweat and perfume, the scent of sex in every dark corner.

“You’re meeting Tal?” Taara shrieked in Kiri’s ear, her eyes wide. “Why?”

Kiri nodded. “He has something I need.”

Taara recoiled. “Not drugs?”

Kiri shook her head vehemently. “No, I don’t do that crap. It’s a—a memento.”

“Ooh, a love token?”
 

“No,” Kiri said, although her cheeks burned. “More like something Tal stole. Or his gangers did.”

“But what about Stark?” her friend asked. “Won’t he be angry? Kiri, I think this is a bad idea.”

“What about him?” Kiri shot back. “This has nothing to do with Stark. Tal has something very important to me. Let’s leave it at that.”

Taara looked troubled, but she followed Kiri through the knots of people drinking and laughing, the laser flashes illuminating them in weird detail. A flash of orange hair, a face picked out in glitter, a smile rimmed with metal, and clothing from the bizarre to the barely there. A lower class of partier than Le Tigre, the laughter here tinged with despair and distorted by drugs.

There were small tables with people standing around them, but finally they reached the back, where larger tables were surrounded by chairs, all of them full.
 

Tal’s table was the farthest back, and he lounged with his back against the wall, a woman on either side of him. The rest of the table was full of his gang. Every man had a scantily clad woman on his lap. Kiri stopped on the far side of the table, Taara at her shoulder. Tal said something, and both his hangers-on pouted but rose from their chairs to move away.

Kiri expected Tal to beckon to her, but instead he rose, a lean dangerous figure in his black leathers. He prowled around the table to them. “You stay here,” he said to Taara. “Drinks on me.”

He slid his arm around Kiri, his hand on her hip. She wanted to slap it away, but that wouldn’t get her what she wanted.
 

“I’ll be right back,” she mouthed to Taara. Her friend’s eyes were big.
 

Kiri frowned up at Tal. “You tell one of your guys to look after her.”

He simply pointed at one of the younger men leaning against the wall. The blond man nodded and beckoned to Taara. He smiled at her as he motioned her to one of the empty chairs. Taara sat, but she didn’t smile back.
 

“She’ll be fine.” Tal propelled her through the crowd toward the shadows of the rear. The crowd parted for them, wary gazes on Tal.

Kiri avoided the curious gazes turned her way. She was the envy of many of these women, and some of the men, but her muscles were tight with dread. Tal was taking her somewhere, which probably meant he expected sex. She didn’t want him touching her. She didn’t want any man who wasn’t Stark touching her and that was just wrong because he didn’t really want
her
, just her body.
 

She shivered, chilled despite the heat of the room and the weight of Tal’s arm. The chill grew worse when the doors ahead groaned open, and Tal propelled her outside onto a landing pad. Rain was pelting down on the awning overhead. The air stank of old metal and pavement, and things she didn’t want to know about.

“Where’s my box?” she demanded, digging in her heels.

A slider whispered to a stop before them. Gleaming ebony with faint gold tracings. The near hatch hissed open, and Tal pushed her forward. “Get in.”

Inside, Kiri perched on the leather seat. There was no one else in the cab. She could see the driver in the cockpit. Tal slid in beside her, and the hatch closed. She felt the jolt as they glided forward. The slider smelled of the spicy cologne he wore, and of leather and the night.
 

Tal looked down at her in the soft gold light of the small, ornate glowlamps. His face gleamed like molded cerametal, his tattoos mysterious shadows with his light eyes glowing in their midst. He reached out and touched her face, tracing a finger down her cheek. “You are a starry one, Kiri te Nawa. A man would do a lot to have you for his own.”

“Cut it out, Tal. I just want my box.”

As if she hadn’t spoken, Tal rubbed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, pressing it slightly inside. She could taste the salt on his skin. He inhaled and hooked his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her toward him. He was all bone and muscle and leather, hard and tensile against her.

“Come to me, Kiri,” he crooned, his breath warm and scented with licorice. “Be my lady. No one else can touch you. I’ll give you everything you ask for—everything you can dream of.”

Kiri pressed her hand against the smooth leather of his coat, trembling with the effort not to shove at him. “I told you, I’m with Stark now.” Not for much longer, but Tal needn’t know that.

His hands tightened. “He’s out whoring and you’ll stay with him anyway? I thought you had more spine than that?”

“I have plenty of spine,” she said coldly. “I don’t have to share my reasons with you, Tal.”

“He’s cheating on you. I wouldn’t,” he ground out, almost unwillingly.
 

She laughed, a cynical burst of humor. “Yes, you would, Tal. You’re just like him, on to the next woman that catches your eye, using your credit to get what you want. You’d be faithful for about five secs.”

For one terrified moment, she feared he was going to strike her or even strangle her. His crystal eyes blazed into hers. “I could make you beg.”

The slider swayed and turned under them. The glowlamps flickered across the hard plains of his face and on the ebony gloss of his braids, on the metal studs on his jacket.
 

Kiri forced her voice through dry lips, her heart pounding. “Yeah, but we both know you don’t need to. Women are all over you. Beautiful women.”

He glowered at her for a long moment. But then he laughed his strange, whispering laugh, and his grip relaxed. “You’re right, starry girl, on both counts. I can have as many as I want at one time. Hooray for me.”

He stroked her cheek again, something like regret in his gaze. “So, if you’re not gonna be my lady, gonna have to do something else with you. Not safe.”

Kiri jerked against his grip, terror slicing through her. “What are you talking about? Not safe? Tal, what have you done?”

His heavy brows drew together. “Somebody’s angry with you, girl. Angry enough to want you gone ... for good.”

“What?
No
,” she choked, fighting him now in earnest. He hadn’t brought her here to seduce her at all—like Stark, he’d only been toying with her.

She clawed at his face, struck warm skin and dug her nails in before he grabbed her wrist. With her other hand she scrabbled in her jacket pocket for the shocker, but as her fingers closed around it, something pricked the side of her throat. Ice spread, sheeting across her vision, so she was stared at him through it, unable to reach him, or move.

“I’m sorry, star baby.” Tal cradled her close. She guessed he couldn’t feel the chill. “So quarking sorry. You should’ve chosen me. I would’ve kept you safe.”