“How long?” He was being pushy, but that seemed to put her at ease. She probably figured a person who was a danger to her wouldn’t just outright ask questions like this. They’d use tactics and finesse. Or else brute force.
Shade tried to ignore the sickening fact that Tess seemed to trust him. He was to blame for that.
She bent her knees and tucked her legs up under her. The movement brought them closer together. “You know when it’s do or die, Shade?”
Her eyes drew him in, and the sound of his name on her lips was like a drug. He inched closer, letting the 12-perfect diction of every word she said wash over him, even though it was toxic to them both.
“And you do things anyway,” she continued. “Maybe mess up your whole life, because youknowit’s the right thing to do. You just know what you have to do, or you could never live with yourself again.”
He nodded. He’d never had that feeling himself, but he was mesmerized by her conviction. And a little ill. Even as he listened to her, he was still thinking about taking her in. She was weak and alone, sitting right here in his basement with him. In mere seconds, he could have her tied up and completely at his mercy. Two hundred million. Maybe more. His money. His new life—or the life he should have been living already. Scarabin White—paid off and out of his future for good.
Tess was obviously a resistance fighter to the core. He’d already brought in dozens. He could bring in dozens more. But she’d just said they wanted her dead, and the problem was that he didn’t want anyone touching a hair on her head.
“Shade?”
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, baby?”
She glanced down. When she looked back up, her lips were slightly parted, and a pretty flush colored her cheeks.
Shit.He was so fucked.
“Do you give nicknames to everyone?” she asked.
He forced a smile. “Ah, you likesugar, do you?”
Her mouth twitched. “No, actually. I don’t.”
“Princess, then?”
She shook her head. “Not really.”
“Starshine?”
She blushed again. So that one worked.
“What do you like, baby?” he asked in a voice that unintentionally dropped.
She bit her lip, looking shy and uncertain, even though he knew she could lose her inhibitions quickly and kiss like a wildcat. “The last two are all right.”
“Noted,” Shade said with enough seriousness to make her smile again.
They fell into a silence that wasn’t awkward but wasn’t exactly comfortable, either. There was too much tension between them for that—tension he was dying to release if the pressure inside him was any indication.
As they sat there on his bed in the dimly lit room, in the quiet, Shade finally truly understood what a huge problem he had. He’d already known, but yeah… Every second he spent with Tess made it a thousand times worse. It was do or die, just like she’d said. Or more like do or don’t.
He had to make a choice.
Her hand crept onto his leg. “I’m feeling a lot stronger now.” She stroked up his thigh. “Much better,” she said.
Every nerve inside him jumped to attention, and heat billowed through his chest. He wanted her more than he could remember wanting anyone. Hell, he could hardly remember anyone else at all with Tess looking at him the way she did, with that weird mix of hesitancy and up-for-anythingness on her face. She was a fucking dream, and arousal roared through his blood.
Shade grabbed her hand, stopping her increasingly bold explorations just before she hit where it would really count. He curled his fingers around hers. He knew he could be a selfish asshole sometimes, but there was no way in hell he’d sleep with a woman and then turn her over to the Dark Watch for a reward.
Tess froze, waiting. It was his move.
He hated his options. Even if he did what they both wanted and then let her fly away, she’d still be hunted by the others, and they were a bunch of vicious fucks. And if he satisfied this craving, she’d take off when her ship was done, leaving him, and then he’d be stuck facing another ten years of doing other people’s dirty work just to get back the property he’d so stupidly lost.
If he turned her in, he could buy back every single docking tower on Albion 5 and its neighbor tomorrow. He’d run this place, just like his family always had. Just like he would have all along if he hadn’t fucked up that one night.
