Ricochet (7 page)

“Don’t go all introspective on me. I can only handle one set of issues per race, but I’m told a good toss in the sheets will clear a head.” He nudged a knee against the back of her thigh.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Of course, sex was his angle.

Get a hold of yourself, Willa! Snap out of the funk.
She knew she was a good pilot, an even better racer, a decent person. She didn’t need to prove it to anyone, but she sure as hell wanted to win just for the thrill of saying she’d done it—and to show the SOB she was partnered with that a female was good for more than just being a bed warmer.

Yet his horrid behavior belied his recent gentleness.

Turning away from the window, she chewed her bottom lip. In a dark part of her mind, she wondered if the racing boards deliberately paired beings together they knew were complete opposites. Was it strategy, or were competitors supposed to learn something from each other?

“You know what, screw it all. If you or my family don’t like who I am, you can all kiss my ass at the finish line. I’m proud of who I am.”

“At least you’ve got your head on straight finally.” His expression shifted to surprise. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve just had an epiphany.”

“Something like that. Thanks for being such an ass so I could find my way to this point.” The man made her crazy with his smirk and the knowing twinkle in his eye. He deserved to feel as off-balance as he made her. For the hell of it, she wanted to kiss Stratton. Before she could change her mind, she closed the distance between them, gripped his shoulders and brought her mouth to his.

Stubble rasped against her chin. She breathed in his clean soap scent and the earthier smell of man. His lips felt soft and firm, his jaw slack with shock—or so she’d like to imagine. Just as quickly, she broke their link and held his gaze. He gave nothing away. Damn the man. He tasted as sinful as he looked—exotic spices and the faint bite of alcohol he must have snagged after she’d left him.

Good thing this one kiss was an aberration, a thank-you gesture for his words of wisdom.

When she made to pull away, Stratton tugged her into a tight embrace and slanted his mouth over hers. Authoritative and certain, he walked them both forward until her back connected with the window glass. As the chill seeped into her skin, it fought with the liquid heat his kiss generated. Settling her arms around his neck, she leaned into his strength, meeting each pass of his lips, unwilling to let him take control.

He seemed to know exactly what she was about, since he pinned her against the window with his body, his hard length flush against her softer curves. Placing a large palm on either side of her head, fingers splayed into her hair, Stratton increased the pressure on her mouth, sweeping his tongue along the seam of her lips until she parted them. When his tongue touched hers, mating, demanding, ordering her compliance, Willa fought for dominance.

Stratton’s determination ultimately toppled her will, and she gave in, a tiny bit grateful to let someone take the lead and make the decisions.

Immediately, the kiss softened into long, drugging meetings of mouths and lips, kisses that stole her breath and sent her head spinning. Warmth coiled in her belly and lower. Her pussy came to life with faint throbs of need and prompted a primal moan to break from her throat. She wanted to lean on him, call upon his strength for a few moments, to give in and admit she didn’t always know best and be fine with that.

She wanted to be needed simply for herself. Stratton Sinnet could never do that.

Pushing against his chest, Willa ducked out of his embrace and put distance between them. Pieces of the shattered candy sculpture crunched beneath her feet. She didn’t spare a thought to the discomfort. She concentrated on keeping her breathing even. “Well, that was interesting, but I think we need to get to bed.”

Anticipation lit his face. “Sounds like a great idea.”

Heat seared her cheeks. “No. We’re never doing…
that
.” She glanced at the bed, the window, anywhere to keep her traitorous gaze off him. “That kiss was an accident and won’t be repeated.”

“Oh, I think it will, and often.”

She shivered and tried to put his statement from her mind. “Is being difficult something you learned in your past as well?” She edged toward the bed, careful not to come into his gravitational pull.

His grin widened to that of a predator. “Life left me orphaned, not celibate.”

As her body responded to the low rumble of his voice and her hardened nipples scraped against the soft robe, Willa dove onto the bed. In a flurry of linens, she burrowed beneath, pulling them up to her chin. “Good night.”

“Scoot over,
kita
. I need a fair amount of room.” He reached for the bedclothes, his brown eyes twinkling.

“Perfect, then you’ll have no problems finding all the room you need on the floor.” Laughing at his surprise, she threw two pillows in his direction, followed by an extra blanket that had lain folded at the foot of the bed. “Early morning tomorrow. Better rest up.” Before he could respond, she switched off the lamp and grinned into the inky darkness.

That would teach him to play with her emotions. What an idiot she’d been to think he actually cared about her state of mind. If he thought she’d fall for another ploy to get her into his bed and play the pliant female, he was a bigger idiot than she thought. Starting tomorrow, she’d be calling the shots, and if they ever ended up in bed, it would be her choice.

Stratton rubbed the small of his back, working out the various kinks and knots that passing the night on the floor had brought him. Sometime after Willa’s soft breathing had proclaimed her deep in blissful sleep, he’d gotten up and made a meal with the leftover stone-cold food. Then, finding nothing else to occupy him, he’d tried to make the best of the pallet, cursing that he’d allowed her the upper hand. The woman had left him with a shaft as hard as steel, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to take care of the call for relief. The only way he wanted to deal with the issue was to shove deep inside her.

Not likely at the moment. She was as closed off as a prison planet.

Time to use the race for what he’d intended—catching Chaf. Once he’d ordered Willa into their room, he and Chaf had briefly tussled. That had ended once Chaf’s partner had hit the scene, and Stratton’s fear of the Caringa had kicked in. Annoyed and embarrassed, he’d conceded defeat but had promised victory by the next checkpoint.

He hoped.

Willa had risen early and dressed with hardly a word to him, with her hair pulled back in that ponytail that screamed “back off”. No problem. They were race partners, not crusaders for galactic peace. Harmony wasn’t necessary for racing.

He and Willa exited the hotel in silence. Breathing in the clear Aga air, he clambered into the passenger seat of the quad rover without protest, never uttering a word on the trip back to the moon base where the
Anomaly
was housed. Sleep deprivation stole his energy, frustration at his inability to capture Chaf mocked his intelligence, and lust temporarily waylaid the rest of his attitude.

That kiss last night had blindsided him. Willa had approached their embrace with the same sass and bravado she’d shown in all their other clashes, yet there had been a distinct moment when she’d surrendered, ever so briefly. That moment had hit him hard and had played havoc with everything he’d thought he wanted from life. Oh, he still meant to bed the woman. How could he not when every glance at her curves set his body on fire? Nothing else could come of their liaison.

And yet he had a job to do, damn it, one that he loved. Domestication had never been part of the plan. Not once in his entire life had he envisioned himself tied to a woman or toeing a line that began and ended in a quaint house on some pleasant moon. And now…now nothing. One kiss didn’t change his mind. One kiss didn’t promise him a lifetime of love and belonging. After he took Chaf’s lying ass to the Alliance headquarters at the first opportunity, he’d tell Willa good-bye at whatever point they were in the racecourse. He’d find his next assignment, and life would go on.

She’s a means to an end and bedtime entertainment, Sin. Don’t make it complicated.

Easier said than done. He rubbed a hand over his head, determined to move past this rough patch. The quickest way to do that was to keep Willa on the defensive, make sure she went back to being pissed off at him so that they both focused on getting to the next waypoint—she for the glory and he to nab Chaf.

The towers of the moon base rose in the distance, their red lights a startling contrast to the complete darkness of the early morning. Since he and Willa had arrived around four in the afternoon the day before, their departure time today was just after four this morning. Much too early to be awake unless there was the possibility of a sexual tumble. Stratton clenched his jaw. And his thoughts had come full circle, back to Willa.

Unacceptable.

With a growl, he twisted in his seat and bit out, “Did you receive instructions for the next leg?”

She kept her gaze on the shadowy road, but her brows hit her hairline. “Oh, now you decide to talk to me? You must not be much of a morning person.”

“If there’s something that holds my interest, I’m alert.” He gripped the metal bar on the dash with one hand while he braced the other on the headrest of her seat. “So, will you tell me, or is it a surprise? I’d kinda like to know, seeing as how Chaf and the others will be on our tail before long.”

“I’m not helping you if you continue to be crabby. If you’re so curious, look it up.” She maneuvered the quad rover smoothly into the moon base, weaving through the bustling staging area and attached hangar.

Stratton mentally counted to ten and fumbled for the datapad. A few screens and two misdirects later, he frowned at the coordinates. “The next checkpoint is Megaris-8 in the Sybaris Belt. Does the Universal Racing Association know how dangerous that area is?”

That field of asteroids was a frequent hideout for thieves and murderers, not to mention the Belt itself was almost impossible to navigate. Many a man had taken his craft into the Belt only to be destroyed in the constantly moving field of rock. If the asteroids themselves didn’t destroy a ship, then the thieves and murderers would.

Willa laughed as she glanced over her shoulder in preparation for backing the rover up to the
Anomaly
. “I guess they’re not concerned if they assigned it as a checkpoint.” Finally, she transferred her gaze to him. “Don’t worry, Ace, I’ll get you through in one piece. The Sybaris Belt is child’s play. I learned my way through it before puberty.”

Her personal history piqued his curiosity, made him want to whisk her away from everything in order to concentrate only on her, to find out how she became the woman she was now. But running his yap didn’t pay the bills or fill the coffers. Hunting a bounty did. “I don’t think you understand.” His stomach knotted with anxiety. “I know a guy who landed on one of those asteroids, and he was beaten so severely he couldn’t use his left arm afterwards. I can’t allow us to land anywhere within the Belt.” Inwardly, he cursed himself to the farthest reaches of the galaxy for being a fraud and an idiot. After one brief kiss, why did he feel the compulsion to protect this woman who treated him with no respect?

“Aww, poor Stratton. Are you afraid the ship will get dinged?” She parked the rover at the rear of the ship and nodded at one of the dock monkeys.

Forget the ship; his pride just took a hit. “Actually, I’d like to keep my hide intact, thank you. Some of us need to work for a living.” He knew it was the wrong thing to say when her expression closed and darkened and those lush lips pressed into a thin line. Then he went in for the kill, the ultimate motivation that would keep Willa focused on the race. “Don’t worry. I’m sure your father will love to take care of you until some poor guy decides he wants to marry you.”

She gave him a hand gesture that universally meant he should go pleasure himself. “Get your bald-headed ass into the ship. We leave in ten minutes.” As she climbed out of the rover, she leveled an icy glare at him. “We’re going to Megaris-8, we’re going to hit the next marker and damn it all, we will finish in the top three. I dare you to see if we don’t.”

Once she’d stormed onto the
Anomaly
, Stratton grinned.
That’s my girl.
Flipping a switch on the dash of the rover, he watched as the back door to the ship slid noiselessly open; then, after crawling into the driver’s seat, he drove the rover into the hold. Yet the unease in the pit of his stomach wouldn’t dissolve. Megaris-8 had always been a hotbed of criminal activity, and as much as Willa could kick some serious tail if she had to, he didn’t know how she’d react if attacked by a band of thugs.

Hell, even his considerable knowledge of the criminal network wouldn’t be a help. Hardened thieves that hung out in the Belt weren’t exactly inclined to negotiation.

Once he’d eased out of the rover, he closed the cargo door. Afterward, he moved to a cabinet and pulled out two HEPPs. Better make sure they were fully charged. He couldn’t collect his bounty as a dead man.

Stratton’s feet slid off the console where he’d propped them, and the subsequent crash jolted him fully awake. They’d been traveling for the better part of two days. Most of that time, Willa had chosen to withdraw into herself, not predisposed to talking, not even when he’d done his best to tease her. That had made for an extremely boring trip he’d spent in fitful dozes.

“Welcome back, Ace.” Willa nudged his leg with her foot. Barbs of energy shot straight into his groin. “Hope you got enough beauty sleep— we’re about to enter the Sybaris Belt.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Stratton rubbed his eyes, dashing the last of the sleep away, then repositioned himself in his seat.

“Not my problem. You’re the navigator, remember?” Her eyes sparkled like sunlight on the river back where he’d grown up. “Time to employ your HUD.”

“My what? I haven’t heard that term before.” It was damned annoying that she knew more about the ship than he did. Of course, this kind of stuff was her whole life, whereas he’d actually lived his.