Chapter 54

Galton inhaled, shaking with desire. “Dain?”

“Nine gods, Galton,” Dain screamed at him, “what’s the matter with you? Come on!” Her deep eyes were glazed with desire.

At Dain’s aching approval, his first mate spat on him. The drug-heavy saliva seared his skin, driving his desires wild. This was lust in its purest form, never to be slaked with something as simple as orgasm. He would do anything, anything, for this to continue. And continue it would. Until they were all sated, the hours would blend into days.

“I am a terrible bounty-hunter,” he said. “Because damn me, I can’t bring myself to turn you in.”

Dain twisted again, once more, her slick entrance embracing his cock. Inside her, Is-aret’s appendage slid, eager, across the head, both sensations at once driving him into a madness of wanting.

His last thought before his mind seared itself blank was that he would, indeed, go down with his ship.Autumn Leaf by Elizabeth L. Brooks

He knelt on the floor, panting. “What are you doing to me?” he asked hoarsely. “What is it that you wantfrom me?”

Slowly, like approaching a wild animal, I crouched beside him. Lightly, barely making contact at all, I touched his cheek, lifted a lock of hair from his eyes. “I want you to fall in love with me,” I said.

“Why?” he asked. There was a spark of anger, of challenge in his eyes, though he still would not look at me.

That spark must have ignited some kindred annoyance in me, or I would not have answered the way I did. “So that I can hold your soul in my hands and then crush it like a dry autumn leaf.”

He stared at me directly, finally meeting my gaze. The moment stretched, thin and unbearable. I was on the verge of saying something—I don’t know what—when he nodded once. “All right.”

It was my turn to stare. “What?”

He let out a shaky breath, the sort one releases after one knows the worst is over. “Thank you for being honest,” he rasped.

“If you think that’s what I’ll do, why would you accept it?” I demanded, frightened by his sudden calm grace, a death row inmate whose final appeal has been refused.

“What else can I do?” he asked. “I’ve been in love with you for months, dreading what you would say when you knew. At least this way, I know you’ll take what I have to give.” He reached across the space between us, cupping my face in his palms.

I raised my own hands to cover his. “I love you, too, you know.”

“I know,” he said, and kissed me. “That’s what will make it all worth it when you destroy me.”

“Idiot,” I rasped harshly. “I’m not going to destroy you.”

His smile was beatific. “Yes, you will,” he corrected gently. “Eventually, you will. But it’s all right.”In Her Head by Lynn Townsend

“No, Tim, I can’t work overtime this weekend, especially not on late notice like this,” I prompted, hopeful. “I have a date.”

“Sure, absolutely,” Laurel said. “I know that inventory’s got everyone crazy. No, no, I didn’t have anything to do. Just hanging out, reading a book and grazing around in the ‘fridge.”

“You are a fucking liar!” I screamed. “Date! Remember that? Tall, brown eyes, great ass? You know if you call Sean and back out of a second date, he’s not likely to ask you for a third. Weren’t you planning on getting laid tonight?”

“Yep. Give me an hour, I’ll be in. Want me to bring you a coffee?” Laurel paused, listened. “Oh, no, I understand. Family first. Sure. Give my love to Carole.”

“Family first? You believe that shit? He’s making you work so he doesn’t have to. More like fuck over the single girl. When are you ever going to have a chance to have a family with this job? When are you going to learn to say no, stand up for yourself? Look at yourself, you look hot. And you were going to go out, go dancing, and hopefully end up face down in Sean’s pillows.”

“Shut up,” Laurel muttered, still looking at her reflection in the hallway mirror. She sighed. “I really do look good tonight.”

“Huzzah, she heard me,” I said. “Just call him back. Tell him your tire got a flat. Please? You can’t bail Tim out every single time he screws up.”

Laurel glanced down at the cellphone, her thumbs working the small screen. The phone rang, once, twice. She held it out flat in that stupid manner—speaker phone then. Obviously, she didn’t want to get her extensive makeup job all over the screen.