The Bond That Consumes Us (4 page)

And before she had a chance to think about what was happening, Donaldson followed Tony and Lance out the door leaving her alone with Taber.

Just great. Could this night get any worse?

Not wanting to look at him, Fallon found her gaze flick down to the holo of Nate.

The laser blast had cauterized the wound, so the blood was mostly beneath his body. A 19

small pool of it was still on the floor, the crimson shimmering because the light of the holo. Nate had been friendly to her. If it weren’t for the ship’s strict policy against dating co-workers, there may have been a chance something would have developed between them when she’d first come on board, but not in recent months.

“Were you close?”

Taber’s voice had changed. It was softer than when he was questioning her earlier, as if he recognized her discomfort. She shrugged before nodding.

“He was very kind to me. Showed me the ropes when I first came on board ship.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Looking up, Fallon wrapped her arms around her upper body. “Thanks. Could we do this somewhere else? This thing creeps me out.”

“Of course. One of the tables?”

“Okay.”

Leading the way, she skirted the tables that held the regulars, ignoring their questioning looks, and stopped at the far booth. Sliding along the cool seat cover, she waited for Taber to join her. When he stood at the side of the table rather than sit, she frowned.

“Aren’t you going to sit with me?”

“It’s not the custom of my people to do so.”

His hands were clasped behind his back and his legs were spread slightly as he stood. The posture seemed so natural she doubted he even thought about it, his body falling into the stance like a habit.

“I’m sorry, you’re probably going to think I’m stupid or living under a rock or something, but who are your people? You’re certainly not human.”

“My people are known as the Briel. There is a large group of us who have built the Eurus colony with the humans in this sector.”

Briel. Nate and Captain Zane had told her about the Briel one night when they were off duty and they’d asked her to mix drinks at an officer’s party. They were an odd race, fewer women than men if she remembered right, and only got turned on by their one and only mate. She’d always thought there was something sweet about that even when the men had laughed at the idea. A whole race who searched for their soul mates.

Unfortunately for her, it pretty much nixed her chances of getting him into bed.

Figures.

“Well, why is it not your custom? Can we do something so it is acceptable for you to sit?”

“I can arrest you.”

When her mouth opened to protest, she noticed his lips twitch into a small smile.

“Someone should have warned me Briel had a sense of humor.”

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Sitting so close to him, Fallon caught a hint of his scent. A light musk and something that could have been soap made her skin tingle. She couldn’t place the spice it reminded her of, but it was something she could become addicted to if she spent enough time with him.

“Did Mr. Keaton have any enemies?”

Taber’s low voice sent a shiver through her. She could picture him talking like that to her in bed after sex, his low rumbling bass vibrating through her body. Fallon let out a sigh and pushed herself a bit farther away from him.

“He was the head of security on the ship. Of course there were people who were pissed off at him, but I don’t think there was anyone who’d want to kill him. The most he ever did was throw someone in the brig if they had a bit too much to drink.”

“How often would that happen?”

Without meaning to do so, Fallon let her gaze traveled up his body once more. With Taber so close, his size was far more impressive. She had a hard time taking her eyes off his massive legs, and she couldn’t help but wish she’d been able to see his ass, wanting to catch another glimpse at its perfection.

“Ms. Reist?”

Her face heated again as her gaze snapped to his eyes. “Sorry. Umm, usually it would happen a couple of times a week. Lance and I had a pretty good handle on the people coming in, but there are always strangers showing up from passing cargo ships and we’d have a few issues.”

Tilting his head to the side, Taber kept his gaze fixed on her face, but she could tell he was curious about something. Her hair? Without thinking, she reached up and began to play with the end of her ponytail.

“Are there any of these strangers in the bar tonight? Any who were in earlier?”

“No. This crew is most of our regulars. They stop by every few weeks to spend all the money they earned. I can tell you most of their drink orders if you’d like.”

“Not necessary. Do you have a mate?”

Fallon straightened immediately, her mouth hanging open until she made a conscious effort to snap it shut.

“Excuse me?” her voice sounded like a twelve-year-old boy’s as it cracked.

“If Nate paid more attention to you than he should have, an angry mate might not appreciate it. Take action against him.”

“Why would you assume he was killed because of me?”

This time Taber’s gaze moved down her face lingering on her neck and breasts for a moment before returning back to her eyes. He made no effort to hide the fact he’d just checked her out, but for the life of her, Fallon couldn’t tell if he liked what he saw.

“You’re an attractive woman. It’s been my experience with humans that attractive women are not alone and typically have a mate. Human males can be possessive of their females. If yours perceived a threat, he may have acted upon it.”

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“I’m…”
What the hell to say to that?
“I’m single. I mean I don’t have a…a mate.”

“I find that unusual.”

Was he flirting with her?
Fallon bit the inside of her lower lip, needing the pain to yank her out of her lust-induced insanity. Maybe Zane and Nate were wrong about the Briel. Or maybe she was simply pathetic and seeing sexual attraction when there was nothing but a man doing his job. She really needed to get laid.

“Well, I haven’t had much of a chance to date. Crew members are limited in the contact we can have. Dating co-workers is strictly off limits and the types of customers we get in here aren’t really my type.”

For a moment, she thought he was going to say something else. With him standing in front of her, blocking out the view of the rest of the bar, she almost believed they were alone. Her curiosity tickled her insides and plucked up her courage.

You only live once, right?

“So do you have someone back on Eurus? A mate, I mean?”

She wouldn’t have thought she’d caught him off guard with her question if it wasn’t for the slight widening of his eyes. The rest of his body stood completely still until he straightened, bringing his large hands to the front to clasp them there.

“Ms. Reist—”

“Fallon. Please call me Fallon.”
Oh please say my name.

“My status as a mate is not relevant to the case.”

“But it’s relevant to me.”

The words were out before she had time to consider what their impact might be.

Not that she could take them back now. What she didn’t expect was for Taber to lean forward, bracing one hand on the table and the other on the back of the booth. His body was opened wide to her, the massive expanse of his chest spread before her, begging for her to reach out and caress it. Fallon shoved her hands under her thighs to stop her from doing anything stupid.

Taber leaned forward until his face was close to hers. She could see faint lines beginning to deepen around the corners of his eyes and others framing his mouth.

Having him this close was almost more than she could handle, her body reacting with a wave of desire stoking her from the inside out.

“What do you know of my people?” His voice was a low whisper, meant for her ears only.

“You only have one mate and that it’s biology or something. I’d never seen a Briel before today.”

His steady, deep breathing tickled her face but told her he wasn’t affected by her the same way she was by him.

“I have no mate.”

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Something in the way he said the word
mate
told her all she needed to know. He wasn’t in the market and sounded like he had no interest in being there. Fallon pushed away the disappointment that threatened to overwhelm her and instead put on her well-practiced smile.

“No problem. I do know that your people don’t screw around with anyone other than your mate. I’ve just been on ship too long.” Lord, she needed some space. “If you want to interview the patrons, I can send them over here one at a time for you.”

She should have asked if she could just go back to her quarters so she could rest.

She was tired enough from working a double shift. But a part of her wanted to stay and watch, see how Taber interrogated the others.

Hell, she just wanted an opportunity to watch him some more, even if she didn’t stand a hope in hell of fucking him.

Taber only hesitated for a moment before pulling back, straightening to his full height. Fallon instantly missed the heat from his body and couldn’t prevent a sudden chill from going through her.

“Thank you.”

Those two simple words were all the dismissal she got from him. Taber moved to the side so she could slide out from the booth seat. Taking a deep breath to calm her overheated body, she pulled herself out, stood as straight as she could and began to walk away. A large hand lightly gripped her elbow, causing Fallon to gasp, snapping her head around to look at him.

“Please send them over one by one, and don’t say anything to them about what we discussed.”

Taber’s grip was gentle, as his hand totally engulfed her arm. She normally wore a sleeveless shirt because of the heat that usually kicked out from behind the bar. Now she was thankful because she got to revel in the feeling of his hand against her bare skin. When she nodded her head, he released her arm, but not before rubbing his thumb across her skin. The touch was so quick, so gentle, for a moment she thought she’d imagined it.

“Thank you,” his voice was steady as he dropped her arm.

“Can I get you anything?”
Blowjob? Mind-blowing orgasm?

“Just the first suspect.”

Fallon spent the next hour shuttling her customers from their tables to Taber, and then out of the bar once he cleared them. Most of the men were scared shitless of Taber and the few women who’d been there seemed just as infatuated with him as she was.

Not that he responded.

She learned a lot about him in the hour it took for him to question everyone. She watched from behind the bar, fascinated by his every gesture and what it said about him. When he got annoyed, usually when one of the drunks tried to joke around with him, Taber would let out a single deep breath and clasp his hands behind his back.

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When he was trying to discourage one of the amorous women, he would cross his arms across his chest and raise his eyebrow. A small part of her was pleased that he hadn’t done that with her.

Soon there was no one left in the bar but the two of them. Lance had called earlier to tell her that Donaldson had cleared him and he had returned to his quarters to sleep off his fast-approaching hangover. The bar would be closed until they finished their investigation, so that meant she’d have at least a few days off to rest.

But what the hell was she going to do with a murder on board and her unexpected fascination for a man she couldn’t have?

A fascination that was quickly becoming an obsession.

“It seems you’ve run out of suspects,” she said and smiled at him after the last person left. “Not a very productive night for you.”

“You’re wrong with that assumption. I’ve eliminated all people at the site of the crime and have gathered information on both Mr. Keaton and several parties of interest.”

Something in the way he said the last part made Fallon put the glass down she’d been cleaning and look at him. Taber was standing as he had when they’d first met, hands behind his back, legs spread wide. But something was different. He seemed more relaxed somehow. Fallon tilted her head toward the bar.

“It’s really late on ship. I doubt you’ll find anyone else to question until the morning. Would you like a drink?”

When he didn’t answer right away, she took that as silent permission to go ahead.

Grabbing a glass, she flipped it up in the air, spinning it high before she caught it easily in her other hand. She grinned and set it down lightly on the bar.

“As this is your first time in The Cockpit, you get our house special—The Afterburner.”

Fallon had learned how to tend bar from her uncle back on Earth. She’d spent years as a kid flipping bottles of water in the air until she learned how to do it with style and accuracy. She enjoyed the fun and challenge, the showmanship of the activity. Grabbing each bottle in turn, she put on her practiced flying bottle routine for her one and only customer. Occasionally, she would look up at him and smile but found the eye contact to be a distraction. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin the show with a stupid accident.

When she was done, Fallon slid the half-full glass across the bar toward Taber and place her hands on her hips, waiting.

“Impressive.” The single word rolled off his lips like a seductive caress.

“But you haven’t tried it yet. And you’ll break my heart if you don’t take at least a sip.”