Authors: Michelle M. Pillow
“With Doc Aleksander gone,” Dr. Ellington said, “we’ve been left with a big opening that needs to be filled. I’m not offering you the position--yet. But, well, let’s just see, shall we? Congratulations on the baby. I think it wise decision--for your career with us.”
Doc Aleksander? Jasmine froze. Doc Aleksander was a Medical Mafia boss. The galactic news had just reported that his spaceship crashed. Doc. Dr. Ellington had said Doc Francis. He must have been another mob boss. Chad was working with the Medical Mafia and now he was joining them full force? Suddenly, many things in her married life made sense. In the past, she’d not understood Chad’s decisions, now it was clear. He wanted to join the Medical Mafia.
“Come on, let’s go to the party. We can discuss this later,” Dr. Ellington said.
“Let me just check on my wife,” Chad answered.
Hearing his
footfall, Jasmine jumped up and ran for the bed, not bothering to strip from her robe. She pulled the covers up just as the bedroom door opened. Closing her eyes, she pretended to sleep.
“Jasmine, honey?” Chad said. The door closed and she felt more than heard him crossing over to her. “Jasmine?”
She didn’t answer, focusing on keeping her breath even.
“Jasmine?” he said, a little louder.
She mumbled softly, as if sleeping.
“Hm,” Chad said. After a brief pause, she heard the bedroom door open and close.
Jasmine waited, not moving as several seconds passed. The door opened and closed a second time and she knew this time Chad had really left. He’d tested her like that before, seeing if she really slept. She waited until she heard the muffled voices leaving before opening her eyes.
Sitting up in the bed, she looked around the dim bedroom. The time had come. She needed to leave her marriage.
“Goodbye, Chadwick,” she whispered.
Chapter Three
Reid stretched his hands over his head and yawned. His personal quarters aboard
The Conqueror
were nice. Rectangular in design and constructed of mostly metal, they had a comfortable bed and plenty of space to move around and relax in. There was a dresser built into a wall. A small decontaminator, which used lasers to cleanse the skin, was built adjoining the room. Reid much preferred the use of water baths, but the decontaminator was fast and efficient, more than doing its intended job.
They’d taken off the night before and he was happy to get away from the planet of Nozando. For some reason, Jasmine St. Claire was in his dreams. She really wasn’t doing anything special, at least nothing he’d have done with her had she really been in his home back on Qurilixen. In fact, she’d been sitting on his couch, talking to him. What was stranger was he’d been talking back, without trying to seduce her to his bed, or his couch, his floor, his balcony, his....
Reid groaned at the thought. He’d never invited a woman into his home, unless it was one of the farmers’ wives come to clean for him. He couldn’t remember the dream conversation, but he remembered that he’d been interested in what Jasmine had to say.
Reid frowned and thought of her lush lips. He’d much prefer to have a sex dream about them, not a talk dream. The Galaxy Playmates probably drained him of sexual appetites more than he thought. Feeling a familiar pull between his thighs, he glanced down his naked body. His shaft was full and very painfully erect.
No. That wasn’t it.
“Computer,” Reid mumbled, his voice sleepy. He didn’t really feel like taking care of his own problem. A cyber girl would be agreeable this morning, especially if he could get one that looked like Jasmine. “Is the VR free?”
“No, sir,” the computer’s monotone answered. “The virtual reality room is currently being used by crew members Dev and Jackson in battle simulation.”
“Already?” Reid grimaced. “What time is it?”
“Eleven, sir,” the computer answered, the voice emotionless.
“Hmm.” Reid knew that in space travel, calculated time was all but useless. Outside was almost always dark, unless they were flying too close to a sun. They merely kept track of the hours so they could have a sense of normalcy. Jarek and the others were used to it. Reid was still adjusting, as he was the least experienced crewman.
“Would you like me to inform you when they are finished?”
“No, thank you, computer.” Reid scratched his stomach. “Computer, give me a personal viewing screen above my bed.”
A nearly transparent screen flashed before him. It was completely blue, sending a soft glow over the metal room.
“Computer, play preset channel,” Reid ordered. He grinned slightly as Viktor’s Earth porn flashed before him. The Var Prince could really appreciate the thoroughness of primitive Earth’s self documentation. It was such a great idea to train men and women in how to enjoy sex with visual tutorials. Every time he turned the shows on, the strange background music made him want to laugh. However, it didn’t stop him from watching and enjoying. Humans were very inventive and some of their positioning even gave him new ideas.
The on screen woman’s moans were soft and panting as her partner pumped into her from behind. Reid ran his hand down his stomach, intent on beginning his morning ritual of self pleasuring. Really, there was no better way to start a day.
The memory of Jasmine’s face drifted through his mind. Not being one to waste such a good fantasy, especially when it served to turn him on more, he closed his eyes and focused on remembering her lips and solid dark eyes. The womanly moans filled his head as he imagined it was her mouth on his shaft as he fisted himself, the sound of her voice panting, “Oh, oh, yeah, give it to me. Give it all to me, stud!”
The fantasy was so pleasurable, so much better than anything he’d had in a long time that he began to squirm. His knees lifted up, his heels pressing into the mattress as he really got into it. A low moan sounded and he was surprised to find it was his voice that produced it, not the viewing screen. He squeezed harder, imagining Jasmine biting down on him, sucking, licking. His stomach tensed, the pleasure built until it was almost painful. Then, with a gasp of pure astonishment, he exploded, heavily spilling his seed all over his stomach.
Reid lay still for several minutes afterward, his body numb from the intense release. The on screen woman kept going, moaning for more. The fact that her voice sounded nothing like Jasmine annoyed him and he called to the computer to turn the porn off.
“Sacred Cats!” Reid whispered, a little awestruck by how good his climax felt. Just fantasizing about Jasmine was better than a lot of the sex he had in the past. He wondered what it was about her, besides her obvious beauty. Maybe it was the fact that she’d wanted him, but had backed out. That had to be it. It was because he hadn’t had time to seduce her before leaving Nozando that made him want her so badly.
Reid sighed. It had been a very long time since a woman played hard to get with him. The natural hunter in him missed the chase, the thrill of overcoming the prey, the glorious feeling of conquest. Usually with just a few charming phrases and a couple of smiles the women were wet and ready for him.
Jasmine St. Claire was just a delectable itch he’d not been able to scratch. If he ever ran into her again, and that was a big
if
, he’d make sure to give everything he had to get her out of his system. If he ever saw her, he’d charm her out of her dress, into his bed, and right out the door. Then he’d just chalk her up to another pleasant memory.
Not, Reid again assured himself, that he expected to ever see her again.
* * * *
Jasmine’s whole body ached. It didn’t help matters that her wrist was sore from Chad’s hold to begin with, or that she now was cramped into a cargo hold with her one piece of luggage, unable to move around or stretch. A metal seam in the container was along her spine, poking her. She’d been curled in the cargo hold all night and was still too scared to crawl out of it. The ship could have motion detectors in it and she didn’t want to risk setting them off--at least not yet.
Jasmine wanted to make sure she was far away from her husband before she made her presence known. She’d snuck on board the Var ship while a couple of the crewmen fussed over the price of fuel. They’d left their loading plank down and it had been a lot easier than she thought to get by them.
Jasmine had no idea where the Var Ambassadors were going, or what would happen to her when they got there. It didn’t matter. She was on her way to being completely free. And, come what may, she was never going to be prisoner to a man again.
* * * *
“Where’s the woman?” Rick asked, as Reid came into the dining hall.
Reid stopped in the entryway frowning, looking around. Rick sat with a steamy pile of scrambled eggs in front of him, complete with thick strips of meat and a fluffy pastry he didn’t recognize. Next to Rick, Lucien and Viktor were arguing over a communicator. The piece of equipment was obviously broken and Reid got the quick impression that Viktor had taken it apart and Lucien wasn’t too happy about it.
The room was small, set up with a long metal table and a food simulator. Going to the wall, Reid stated, “Sloken.”
The unit beeped and Reid took out a dark green liquid, perfect for a morning pick me up. Evan had tried to convince him to drink something called coffee instead, but the brown stuff he procured had smelled horribly bitter. Reid thought it was a prank until Evan shrugged and drank the coffee for himself.
“Yeah, we didn’t think you’d be out of your quarters for about a week,” Viktor added with a knowing grin. Only problem was, Reid had no idea what the man thought he knew. The man glanced up from his project, only to reach over and slap Lucien’s hand when he reached for it.
“She still in your room?” Rick asked. “I have to confess, I was really jealous.”
“What are you babbling about?” Reid grumbled, looking at the men. He frowned. Were they referring to his morning pleasuring session? That was the only thing that had happened in his room.
“Well, the woman,” Lucien said. “She did stay with you, didn’t she?”
“Who? What woman?” Reid asked, sipping the sloken. “What are you talking about?”
“Um, Dr. Miss. St….” Rick tried.
“Mrs. Dr. St. Claire,” Viktor corrected.
“That’s it!” Rick exclaimed, pointing a fork at Viktor before stabbing one of the strips of meat. “You’re one lucky man, prince. She’s a fine piece of ass.”
“Don’t call women a piece of ass,” Lucien said. “You’re the ass, fly boy.”
“Jasmine?” Reid asked.
“There. Something you can pronounce, space cadet,” Viktor told Rick. Rick made a face but kept eating.
“Jasmine wasn’t in my room last night,” Reid said. His stomach tightened. Why did they think Jasmine was with him? His hand gripped the cup of sloken. He tried to remain calm.
“Well, we just thought…. She did get on board yesterday before we left,” Lucien said, looking at Rick for confirmation.
Rick nodded. “Yep. She sure did.”
“You talked to her?” Reid demanded, wondering why he suddenly felt excited or why his heart leapt in his chest at the mere thought of her being on the ship.
“Well, no, not really,” Rick said. “We pretended not to notice her. Poor woman looked embarrassed and, well, we sort of left the loading plank down so she could sneak on board. We just assumed she was going to your room to … well, you know.”
“Do you think…?” Lucien began.
“…that she found Jarek instead?” Viktor finished. Lucien tired to grab a metal coil. Viktor slapped his hand back.
“Ow!” Lucien grumbled.
Reid’s heart stopped beating. His hand tightened on the mug, crushing it. Hot liquid poured over his hand. He jumped up to grab a towel. “Sacred Cats!”
The three men watched him, laughing.
“Smooth,” Rick said, continuing to shovel large forkfuls of eggs into his mouth.
“I think somebody’s jealous,” Viktor added, his voice soft and teasing.
“Where’s Jarek?” Reid demanded.
“You can’t blame the poor woman,” Rick said. “You two do look alike.”
“Where is Jarek?” Reid repeated, his tone darkening with a growl. He felt the beast within him arise with his irritated words. If he wasn’t careful, he’d start to shift in his irritation.
“Yeah, she probably thought you didn’t want her so she went after your brother,” Lucien said.
“Where is he?” Reid asked, his voice rising. He was breathing hard and he felt anger inside him. It was irrational, but he couldn’t stop it. He didn’t know Jasmine, had no claim on her besides a night of dreams and a morning fantasy, but that didn’t stop him from shaking.
Rick motioned to the door with his fork. “Cockpit.”
Reid stormed out of the dining hall.
The three men looked at each other for a brief second before jumping up. They ran after Reid, eager to watch the show.
* * * *
“Jarek,” Reid stated, stepping into the cockpit. His brother was seated in the pilot seat, typing in coordinates into the controls. Reid had managed to get himself under control during the short walk over, well aware that Rick, Lucien, and Viktor could be teasing him about Jasmine even being on board the ship. “Is Jasmine St. Clair on this ship?”
“St. Claire? You mean that woman who wanted a ride? Not that I know of,” Jarek answered. He stood, flipped a switch, and sat back down. “Not unless you changed your mind and smuggled her on board. Please tell me you didn’t smuggle her on board. Reid, we don’t have time for this--”
“No, I didn’t,” Reid said flatly. He turned to Rick. “You say you saw her come on board?”
“Uh, yeah.” It was Rick’s turn to look confused. He turned to Lucien. “Didn’t she? I mean, we were getting fuel, but she was heading right for the docking plank.”
“I’m pretty sure,” Lucien answered. “I mean, we were looking the other way, but she was there one second, gone the next.”
“Do you think…?” Lucien began.
“…Lochlann or Jackson?” Viktor finished.
“No, I’ve spoken to both this morning,” Jarek answered. “They would’ve said something to me. I’m sure of it.”
Rick, Lucien, and Viktor exchanged funny looks. Lucien’s voice was disbelieving, as he said, “Surely not … I mean, she wouldn’t have gone to … to…?”