Love Without Boundaries (28 page)

Ellie could actually feel him sniffing her. The heavy inhales followed by the soft exhales created light wisps of air against her skin.

More of his weight pressed into her. Every inch of his skin touched Ellie. Against her will, her hands reached up and caressed the truly amazing chest on display before her. He gasped when her fingers made contact with his male nipples.

“Yessss,” he hissed. “Touch me.” The subtle scrape of his teeth grazed her collar bone.

Heat exploded in her middle. Ellie’s hands stroked upward and delved into the thick strands of his hair. Thoughts of Palo and escape drifted away in the face of the luscious aroma emanating from his wet skin. What kind of soap did he use that gave off the citrus scent?

His nose glided up her neck and nudged her ear. She willingly tipped her head to the side only to feel him nip her earlobe. Ellie jumped and he chuckled. His warm laughter pebbled the flesh at her nape.

“It’s been so long,” he whispered, lips trailing back down the curve of her shoulder. “I need. I hurt.”

His words said fervently against her skin caused desire to bloom in her center. The urge to rub herself all over him pulled Ellie from the haze of sensual delight he weaved with his very touch.

She released her grip on his hair and arched away from the soft lips nibbling on her neck. “Listen…uh, there’s been a mistake.”
Had to be.
“I don’t think I’m who you’re waiting for.” She wished she was.

“Mmmm,” he moaned and thrust against her. “Not waiting for anyone. Just want you.”

Ellie sighed. How wonderful to hear a man say those words though this wasn’t the context in which she’d dreamed of. She still waited for the special man who’d come into her life and want her. Love her. Ellie wanted to share a bond with a partner like her parents and fill her home with laughter and happiness.

But Palo stopped her from meeting anyone. He kept her locked in their home like a prisoner for fear someone else would get the inheritance her mother left. One million credits. The amount was staggering. Palo badgered and badgered Ellie to let him manage it but her grief over her mother’s death kept her too saddened to think on it. After weeks of his attempts to convince her to sign the funds over, Ellie had finally pulled herself from her depression and tried to deal with matters.

Instead, she’d discovered Palo’s guilt behind her mother’s accident and his future plans regarding Ellie when he realized she wouldn’t be swayed to give him control.

The man leaning his full weight into her body purred. Ellie glanced down and realized her hands had gone back to stroking his bare shoulders and playing with the ends of his hair. A firm bulge beneath the towel at his waist prodded her middle.
 

“Feels good.
Don’t stop.” His whisper brushed her ear and he purred again.

Pointed ears peeked from beneath the dark strands of his hair close enough that her fingers touched the lobes with each stroke of her fingertips. Sharp fangs stabbed into his lower lip. Heat singed her cheeks. She needed to end this and find another place to hide on the large ship.

Ellie dropped her hands but their position didn’t leave her enough room to move. Every inch of him was flush along her front. “Look, I’m s-sorry for whatever confusion is going on.” Ellie hoped her next lie didn’t tip him off. “I thought this was my client’s room.”

The haze in his jeweled stare cleared.
Slightly.

“Client?”

He’d stopped purring. Ellie missed the warm sound already.

“Yes…um sure.” She struck what she hoped was a sexy pose and deepened her voice in an attempt to sound like a seductive sex worker. “I’m meeting someone for a good time. Time is money.”

Ellie held her breath, heart racing and fluttered her lashes.

His nostrils flared. The man put his face right up to hers, their foreheads touching. “You’re here for another?”

Not exactly.
She didn’t know anyone on the ship.

Not waiting for her response, he pulled away. At least a good foot separated them.

Passion glazed eyes cleared and his shoulders tensed. “Who the hell are you?”

The woman froze and crossed her arms over her chest. “My name’s not important. I must have gotten the rooms wrong.”

And the shift in her pretty blue eyes told Aran she
lied
. His skin buzzed from the lack of contact with the woman in front of him. His inner cat snarled at the loss as well. He’d fallen into full blown muata in the shower. Coming out to a strange woman in his room had thrown him.

Her scent called forth his mating urge further. He’d tried to warn her but she didn’t have access to disengage his security locks. At the time, Aran brushed the tidbit to the side. Need and desire rushed through him until he’d cornered her by the door. The smell of her arousal and crème as he touched her had not been faked.

Now she claimed to be on the ship to see someone. As head of security, Aran knew every guest approved and rejected for entrance on one of the top battle cruisers in the fleet. None of the crew had requested a special visitor pass for a sex worker, which is what she would have needed if she told the truth.

Her access into his quarters was another matter. No one but the Commander and Dar could override his locks. Unless…Aran paused, would Jax have sent her to him?

Aran immediately dismissed the thought. That wasn’t how the man operated and he understood Aran’s desire to use the sedative instead of spending his muata with a woman. Aran inhaled deeply. Fuck. And she was definitely fertile.

“What’s your name?” Aran asked the question casually.

“Ellie.”
She relaxed with a smile and straightened from the wall.

“Who’s your client? I can get him on the comm since you’re in the wrong room.” Aran had every intention on contacting Dar, his second, to have her removed.

Her smile quivered in the corners and Aran had to bite back a smirk as he searched the floor for his discarded uniform.

“T-that’s personal. I mean confidential.”

The pink slashes on her cheeks only served to enhance her feminine beauty.
Human, not Argoran but attractive to him nonetheless.
Aran adored all women. Perhaps she wasn’t a career criminal but she was absolutely a stowaway.

“Hmmm.”
He hoped to allay her suspicion. Aran kneeled when he spotted his pants and withdrew his portable comm from the pocket.

“What are you doing?”

She stepped in his direction, bringing the alluring scent of peaches and her wet crème.

Spikes of desire tore through his abdomen and he fell forward barely getting one arm out to catch his weight before he hit the floor. “Stay back!”

If she didn’t, he’d be all over her again. As it was it took all of his concentration to keep from taking her in his arms and laying her in his bed while he sated his lust for the darker parts of his mating urge.

“Are you okay?”

Aran flinched when her hand touched his back lightly. He let loose a wry chuckle as moisture beaded his upper lip from the strain of holding back. “You don’t listen well do you, Ellie?”

“Not if someone needs help.”

Her answer had a sharp snap to it.

He added easily annoyed and stubborn to the list he mentally began to compile on her traits. Aran palmed the comm in his fist and forced himself to his feet. He swayed and her arm immediately came around his waist.

“Take it easy.”

His skin sizzled. Desire surged and his length throbbed to the point it became a physical ache. The towel was in danger of losing the battle with gravity.

“I think you’re sick, Mister. Can you get to the medical bay?”

“Not sick. And it’s Aran, not mister.”

His lungs labored under the arousal coursing through his veins. He wanted to hear his name on her plump lips. Just the thought had his lids lowering to half-mast.

“Right.
How about I help you to lie down.”

Her voice had taken on a soft tone.
One that his mother often used to corral his father when she thought he was being particularly hardheaded.

Aran reluctant moved away from her. He didn’t need to lie down. “I’ll be fine. I just need an injection and I’ll be better.”

He remembered dropping it after ending his call with his father.

She twisted her fingers together in the material of the bright orange dress she wore. “Maybe you should take it now.”

His control faltered. Was that true worry in her eyes? What kind of criminal was she? Maybe she had a legitimate reason to be here after all.

“Why are you here again?”

Her eyes shifted and she spoke to the floor when she answered. “My client requested my services.”

Same lie. Aran sighed and opened his comm to page Dar.

“What are you doing?”

Aran did what he did best when doing his job. He stretched the truth a bit.
“Calling a friend to get my medicine.”

Her shoulders eased and the pinched creases between her brows faded.

Dar’s message link came on. Aran kept it brief, asking his friend to stop by his room. Now to stall his little visitor until his friend could take her to a detainment cell. They wouldn’t be able to hand her over to the authorities until the Zanian docked in Urala or stopped on Argora.

***

Nervous didn’t cover the skittish anxiety pricking at Ellie’s skin. Nothing was going as she planned. Why hadn’t she stumbled into an empty room instead of one with a handsome man who brought out more interest in Ellie than any other man in her recent years?

Ellie turned to leave and almost reached the door when something large thumped behind her. She glanced back at the man, Aran, leaning against the opposite wall. The natural bronze hue of his skin paled to a light gold. She ran back to his side unsure what illness ailed him.

“You’re not alright.” Her hands fluttered in the air as she debated what to do. Survival instincts said this was a perfect time to get away from him but compassion prevented her from leaving anyone in this condition.

She touched his arm and gasped at the heat emanating from his skin. He’d been hot before but now it was as if a fire burned beneath his flesh. Her touch changed to a gentle stroke in an attempt to soothe. His hand grabbed onto hers.

“Stop.”
A moan followed. “Please.”

He released her
abruptly,
head tilted back on the wall those amazing eyes closed.

“Aran?
Let me help you.”

His lids
lifted,
a hoarse laugh escaping. “Help me? Believe me, Ellie. You don’t want to help me.”

Aran heaved his weight away from the wall and staggered passed her. Every step lacked the coordination his sculpted muscles hinted at. She bet when illness didn’t have him thrown for a loop, he made for a deadly enemy to face. Ellie hurried behind him, scared his weaving steps would send him to the floor.

A moment later, her fear came true as he bent over at the waist and roared.

Actually roared.
The hair at the nape of her neck curled, setting her pulse to pound in an uneven rhythm. She reached for him as he arched backward impossibly far before he fell forward and dropped to one knee. The towel parted and Ellie glimpsed the sleek, smooth flex of a thigh. Her gaze drifted down to the ripples of hair, dusted calf muscles and the arch of a foot braced on the floor.

Low panting growls emitted from his mouth. The rough and snarling sounds should have sent her fleeing from the room. Instead, she knelt in front of his drooping head and placed her hands on his shoulders. Her fingers whisked the long tumble of hair from his forehead. Sweat dampened her palm.

“Alright, mister.
You’re seriously ill and it’s worrying me.”

He tipped his face up. Their gazes caught. His tortured and pained, hers filled with concern. “You need to leave, Ellie. Now, before I hurt you.”

“Experience has shown me that if a person is more worried about hurting you, odds are they won’t.”

Aran snorted.
“Naïve and foolish.”

“What?”

His mouth twisted in a wry smile.
“Just adding to my list.”

She couldn’t make sense of that statement and chose to ignore it. “Let’s get you to the bed.”

Her breasts brushed against his arms when she attempted to help him to his feet. They hardened to tight points. She was horrible for lusting after a sick man.

“No, Ellie.
Let’s not.”

His green eyes took on an eerie glow that sent a shot of lust surging to her loins. Deep growls rumbled from his chest and poured from his mouth. Fangs elongated as he licked his lips. Breath burst from Ellie’s lungs as she knelt rooted to the spot unable to speak. Reasoning stated she should make some attempt to escape but her body remained locked in place.

He crawled over her on all fours, causing Ellie to lose her balance and fall back. She lay sprawled on the floor but he continued until his body hovered above hers as her heart hammered out a rapid tattoo.

“You should have run, Ellie. I warned you. Now, you’re mine.”