Gambit by Kim Knox Page A

you prefer my being selective?”
    He blew warm air over her mons before his tongue curled against her flesh. Chae couldn’t help the groan that escaped her. She wouldn’t question why he wanted her. Not when he could do this. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
    “Good.”
    It was insane, but already heat tightened low in her belly, and each unerring flick of his tongue against her clit forced harsh gasps. She wouldn’t last long, didn’t want to. Daned was hers and she intended to enjoy him in every way she could before they burst out of rift lock. Which didn’t leave her long…
    His hands gripped her thighs, spreading her, holding her, his thumbs hard against sensitive flesh. He kissed his lips to her pussy, his tongue a constant pressure against her clit…and then he started to hum.
    Chae tried to arch her spine, twist and turn to escape him, but he held her firm. She panted and cursed, the sudden, intense rise of need in her flesh driving her closer to her release. His humming vibrated through her flesh and she couldn’t…couldn’t—
    Orgasm smashed into her, tightening her body, making her cry out his name and clutch at the thin sheet stretched over the bunk. She flopped back to the hard mattress. Her body still shook, the little aftershocks heightened by Daned’s open-mouthed kisses over her hip, her ribs, until he found her breast again.
    “Almost there, Chae.” His grin was wickedly smug. “I’m almost stuck with you.”
    Chae lifted a hand and slapped his shoulder. She grimaced as she hit hard muscle that stung her more than it hurt him. “For that I might make you wait.” She huffed her hair from her face and glared at him. “And then wait some more.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    Chae lifted her brows, still enjoying her post-orgasmic haze, the floating joy that had been denied her earlier. “Really?” He licked her nipple and her eyes slid shut. A little happy sigh escaped her. Yes, a Ladaian man was definitely better than Aleph’s grown creatures. “You’re so—”
    Daned pressed a finger to her lips and hushed her. His body tensed, and his expression fixed to stone. Hard. Implacable.
    Chae froze, the languid ease gone from her body. She’d been mired in enough shit to know when to stay still and shut the hell up. She strained to listen, hearing only the dull roar of the engines and the straining thunk of tech somewhere in the bowels of the tau. Nothing that would tax her brain. She narrowed her eyes on Daned, questioning his tension, the thin line of his mouth.
    He pointed a finger downward and eased back from her. Another point indicated for her to get into the far corner and crouch down. What the hell had he heard? And how had he heard it through the din and vibrations of the bucket of a ship? But she did as he asked, pressing her bare, damp spine into the cold metal of the bulkhead. She wrapped her arms tight around her knees and watched him scan the room. He’d been trained since he was a small child, she could see it in his confidence, how he searched the room. He was lithe, strong, a honed killing machine.
    A smile curved across her mouth, breaking through the panicked beat of her heart. He was her killing machine. He stopped and her pulse ramped. Daned pointed to the bed. Chae followed his gaze to the solid bunk. Something clinked against its metal sides. Shit.
    She clamped her hand to her mouth before she cursed out loud. Her boots. The one with the sliver of black crystal had a gash through the thick leather. As had the secret inner pocket. Now she had no fucking payment.
    Chae gritted her teeth. What was it with her and poverty? Why the hell did it love her so much?
    Daned backed away from the bed and she remembered that, yes, she was in danger. Being poor didn’t matter right then. Still, it was bloody annoying.
    He gripped her Sel-9. The weapon primed, its faint hum lost in the noise of the ship. “Come out. Now.”
    Anger burned under his words and she wondered how much of it was