Not the Man She Thought (21 page)

She shook her head.  “No, but they could come in handy
later.  The Federation probably uses the same set of codes for all their
ships.  I thought I’d memorize them.”

“We don’t have time for that. Let’s go.”

“Let me just look at a few more.”

He swore under his breath.  “Now, Laken!”

This time, Rade didn’t give her a chance to argue, but
grabbed her arm and ran for the shuttle, giving her no choice but to
follow. 

The shuttle was smaller than the one on Rade’s ship, and
Laken hurriedly slid into one of the seats while he took the other.  She
watched in fascination as his long fingers manipulated the controls, feeling
herself relax as the small craft hummed to life.  They were going to make
it.

But when they lifted off and flew out of the ship, it was to
find themselves in the middle of a skirmish between the Federation cruiser and
several other smaller spacecrafts.  Laser fire flew back and forth all
around them as dozens of Federation fighters zipped all over the place. 
Laken’s stomach clenched.  There was no way they were going to escape
now.  The Federation fighters would shoot them down, and if they didn’t,
one of the other ships would surely get them.

“Rade...?” she began, but her voice trailed off as he pulled
the shuttle to the right to avoid a cluster of fighters heading their way.

Laken grabbed the edge of the seat, her heart hammering in
her chest.  At first, she’d thought the Federation ships were the only
ones shooting at them, but as Rade maneuvered the tiny shuttle in and out of
danger, she realized the resistance vessels were shooting at them, too.

Suddenly, the shuttle shuddered violently.

“Shit!” Rade swore.

She turned wide eyes on him.  “What is it?”

“We’ve been hit.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked even as the shuttle
started to buck and make alarming noises.

“Land.”

Laken stared at him in disbelief. “Where?”

“Marlon Prime,” he told her.  “It’s closest.”

Laken said nothing.  She didn’t care how close Marlon
Prime was, there was no way they were going make it, she was sure of it. 
Not with the way the shuttle was acting.  In fact, she didn’t think it was
going to hold together for another minute.

But to her amazement, Rade somehow managed to get them
safely down to Marlon Prime.  It wasn’t the smoothest landing she’d ever
seen, but they were alive and that was all that mattered.

“Are you all right?” Rade asked.

She nodded, turning to look at him in concern.  “What
about you?”

“All in one piece.”  He leaned forward in his seat to
look outside at their surroundings.  Though night had already fallen,
there was sufficient light coming from Marlon Prime’s moons to see well enough,
and what he saw made him frown.  “We need to get out of here.”

She automatically got to her feet when he did. 
“Why?  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. But we’ve made a mess out of this field.”  He
moved to unlatch the shuttle door.  “Come morning, someone is bound to
want to investigate, and I don’t want us to be here when they do.”

Though she could see his point, her brow still furrowed as
he pushed open the door.  “Where are we going to go?”

He stepped outside, then turned to offer her his hand. 
“Somewhere we can hide out until I can figure out how to get in touch with my
ship.”

Taking his hand, Laken stepped out of the shuttle and looked
around.  They had landed in what she’d first thought was a simple
clearing, but after taking in the organized rows of plants, she realized it was
some sort of farmer’s field.

“Will the Federation come after us?” she asked, quickening
her step to match his as they walked along the neatly planted rows.

Rade gave her a sidelong glance.  “Since they’re under
attack, it’ll take them a while to figure out we’ve escaped, but once they do,
then yes.”

She gave a little shiver at that.  “What if we can’t
contact your ship?  I mean, what if your crew thought we were dead? 
Wouldn’t they leave the Tobagee System?”

In the darkness, she saw the corner of his mouth edge
up.  “They won’t give up on us that easily.  Right now, they’re doing
everything they can to find us.”

Laken couldn’t help but smile at that; he was probably
right. “How much farther until we get to a town, do you think?”

“We can’t go into a town,” Rade said.  “Not with me
wearing this uniform.  The Federation isn’t too popular among the locals.”

She hadn’t thought about that.  “How are we going to
get in touch with your ship then?”

“I’m not really sure about that myself right now.  I’m
just hoping an opportunity presents itself...” he stopped in his tracks, his
voice trailing off.  “But until then, this will work just fine.”

Laken stopped, too.  “What is it?”

Rade jerked his head toward a shape in the darkness. 
“A barn. We can hide out there until morning.  Come on.”

Taking her hand, he led her through the field toward the
building.

Having lived in the city all of her life, Laken had never
been in a barn before, but it was a lot like she’d imagined one would be. 
It was a just a big square building with a loft, stalls and a lot of big farm
animals.  It was roomier than she’d thought one would be, though, and it
smelled, too.  It wasn’t an altogether unpleasant odor, she supposed, just
one she wasn’t used to.  But it was the horses that fascinated her. 
She had seen them on holo-vids, but never in person, and she had to admit they
were beautiful animals.  Unable to resist, she walked over to one of the
stalls and gently caressed the nose of a big bay.  At her touch, he
snorted and leaned into her hand.

“Do you ride?” Rade asked.

She shook her head.  “No.  Do you?”

His eyes clouded for a moment before he looked away. 
“When I was younger.”

Before the Federation murdered his family. She longed to
tell him how sorry she was for what had happened, but she didn’t want to bring
up any more painful memories.  Deciding to change the subject instead, she
gave the horse’s nose another pat, then walked across the barn to where Rade
stood.

She hugged herself. “Do you think we’ll be safe here?”

“For tonight, at least.”  He reached out to gently cup
her cheek.  “I’ll keep you safe, Laken.  I promise.”

Laken’s breath caught at the tenderness in his voice. 
“I know.”

She expected Rade to pull away, to drop his hand and say
something about finding them a place to sleep for the night, but he
didn’t.  Instead, he stood gazing down at her with those soulful, dark
eyes of his.  He’d had that same look the other night. Her pulse quickened
even as her lips parted in invitation.

Very slowly, Rade bent his head and kissed her.  His
mouth was gentle, but deliciously demanding at the same time, and she melted
against him with a little sigh. At her surrender, Rade deepened the kiss, his
tongue claiming hers as its willing captive.  Breathless, Laken clutched
at his shoulders, afraid if she didn’t she would slide right down to the floor.

There was no chance of that, of course, not when Rade’s arm
went around her to pull her close.  A moment later, she felt the fingers
of his other hand taking the pins from hair.  Free from its confines, it
tumbled down her back, and she moaned against his mouth as he slid his hair in
the long tresses.

Dragging his mouth away from hers, Rade took both of her
hands in his and walking backward, led her into one of the unoccupied
stalls.  Without a word, he pulled her close and kissed her again.

This time, his hands went to the buttons of her shirt. 
He fumbled with them for a moment before finally managing to get them
undone.  Once he did, he pushed the garment off her shoulders and down her
arms.  As it fell to the floor, he took a step back to look at her.

Laken felt herself blush under the heat of his gaze as Rade
slowly caressed her with his eyes.  Without a word, he reached out to run
a finger along the edge of her lacy bra.  Her skin tingled where he
touched her, and she inhaled sharply as his thumb teased her nipple through the
silky material.  She couldn’t believe the way he could make her feel with
just a single touch.  The bud immediately hardened beneath his touch, and
she closed her eyes as Rade’s hands went to the clasp of her bra.  It came
away easily, her breasts spilling eagerly into his hands, and she arched
against him as he gave her nipples a gentle squeeze.

“Do you like that?” he asked softly.

“Mmm,” she breathed.

Chuckling, Rade lowered his head and closed his lips over
one of her nipples. Laken gasped, her hands automatically gripping the front of
his shirt to steady herself as he slowly suckled on first one nipple, then the
other. She could have him do that all night.

Rade must have had other plans because lifted his
head. She started to protest, but the word came out as a moan when she
realized he was undoing the buttons on her breeches. Her pussy tingled with
anticipation. Obviously that part of her body wanted some attention, too.

Hooking his thumbs in the waistband her breeches, Rade
slowly pushed them down over her hips.  A moment later, she was standing
before him naked except for a skimpy pair of panties.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed.

Laken blushed as he reached out to take her
hand. Instead of pulling her into his arms like she’d expected him to do,
though, Rade surprised her by leading her over to the stack of hay bales along
the back wall.  He picked up the blanket that was there and tossed it on
the floor.  Brow furrowing, she gave him a curious look as he sat down on
the bale, only to blink in surprise when he gently guided her over his knee.
Too startled to resist, she went willingly, but once draped over his knee, she
automatically tried to push herself upright.  A firm hand on the small of
her back held her in place.

 
She craned her
neck to look over her shoulder at him. “What are you doing?”

The corner of his mouth edged up.  “Giving you that
spanking you agreed to.”

Laken blinked, confused.  “Spanking? What spanking?”

“You told me that if I got us away from the Federation, then
you would let me spank you.”

Had she really said that?  Laken thought a moment,
trying to remember.  Maybe she had.  “Do you have to do it now?”

Rade gave her a shrug.  “Why not? I can’t think of a
better time or place to warm your bottom.”

She blushed at his words.  “But someone could hear.”

He chuckled.  “I don’t plan on spanking you that hard.
In fact, I think you might actually enjoy this one.”

Enjoy getting spanked? Not likely. But any further
protest disappeared on her lips as Rade gently began to caress her
panty-covered bottom.  Almost against her will, Laken felt herself
relax.  Well, maybe this part was okay, she admitted grudgingly. 
Actually, she decided as he gave her cheeks a gentle squeeze, it was more than
okay.  It was delicious. Soon enough, however, her bottom would feel
like it was on fire, she was sure.

To her surprise, though, when the first smack came, it was
barely more than a love pat.  Laken held her breath as she waited for the
next smack, but it wasn’t any harder than the first.  Rather than follow
with another, Rade stopped to caress her bottom again.

Laken let out a little sigh, only to gasp when Rade suddenly
gave her right cheek a firm smack.  It was quickly followed by several
more, each a little harder than the one before.  But though she let out
tiny yelps of protest after each and every smack as he worked back and forth
from one cheek to the other, she had to admit this spanking wasn’t nearly as
hard as the others he’d given her.  He’d certainly never stopped to rub
her stinging ass cheeks, either. She moaned softly as he gave them a gentle
squeeze.

Between her thighs, her pussy purred. Embarrassed and more
than a little shocked that she might be enjoying having her ass reddened, she
squirmed on Rade’s lap, and was surprised when she felt his hard cock press
against her hip.  He was as turned on as she was by the spanking. 
Had he gotten aroused all the other times he’d spanked her? The thought made
her blush, and she was glad he couldn’t see her face.

But then Rade was sliding her panties down, and Laken forgot
all about her embarrassment as he caressed her bare bottom.  She closed
her eyes and let out another little moan.  The sound quickly turned into a
startled yelp, however, as he brought his had it down with a resounding smack
on her upturned cheeks. Another quickly followed, then another and another
until her entire ass was stinging.

Then abruptly, Rade stopped to give her throbbing ass cheeks
a squeeze.  Laken gasped, but it quickly turned into a sigh of pleasure as
he slipped his hand between her legs to finger her pussy. He ran his finger
along her slick folds, then slowly slid it deep inside her wetness. “Do you
know how wet you are?” he asked huskily.

Laken could only moan in reply and wiggle against him.