Curiosity leaped inside me. Leave it to Shade to make punishment sound like something I might want to open my horizons to—you know, time permitting.
“I don’t have a bathing suit,” I hedged, suddenly nervous about how deep the pool might be. Clear water could be deceiving.
“Jungle swimming is always naked.”
I’d have to take his word for it. Shade was the expert. “Are therethingsin that water?”
“There shouldn’t be. It’s pretty hard to get to.”
Hmm. Not a hard no, but I’d accept it. “Can I stand?”
“It’ll come up to your shoulders.”
“What if there’s quicksand?” I’d read about that. It sounded awful. A bit like death by floating, only slower. And dirtier. Really, the only thing they might have in common was me ending up without air, which I wanted to avoid wherever.
“There’s not. Don’t worry about that. I know this place, and I won’t let you drown. I promise.”
“We don’t have towels.” I didn’t even want to avoid swimming. Excuses kept popping out anyway.
Shade set down the pack he’d brought. I’d only seen him put in water, but he pulled out two towels and a picnic lunch and turned back to me with a smile. “A good Space Rogue Phenom never goes anywhere without provisions and equipment.”
I grinned. He’d thought of everything.
Shade undressed in record time and jumped into the pool feet first at the deeper end. He reemerged and shook water from his head. Droplets sprayed around me. His wet shoulders glistened in the heavy tropical sunlight, a ripple of tanned skin, broad bones, and hard muscle. The water reached his pectorals, lapping at his chest in a way I wanted to follow with my lips and fingers.
Shade held out his hand to me. “Let’s teach you to swim while we can. We’ve only got a few hours until we have to deal with Bridgebane and all hell might break loose again.”
I tossed aside my clothing and reached for him. Shade eased me into the pool, our bodies touching and tangling under the pleasantly warm water. My heart soared in spite of the uncertain remainder of the day ahead of us. Right now, I was Tess-the-Fucking-Jungle-Queen, and I was ready for anything.
Chapter 6
SHADE
Tess was a natural at pretty much everything—except for swimming. By the end of our lesson, she could float—mostly—and blow bubbles underwater. That was already something, but throw in waves, cold temperatures, or anything stressful, and I had a feeling she’d sink like a meteor.
None of that mattered, though, because she hadfun. Seeing her smile was all I wanted. I doubted it would last long. Nathaniel Bridgebane could be on Reaginine right now, waiting for his clock to hit day ten after we’d struck this messed-up bargain with him. Technically, we had the entire day to make contact, but I knew he’d be there at hour one.
Good. The sooner we gave him Tess’s A1 blood in exchange for the safety of the Starway 8 women, the better. Then Tess could stop worrying about them, and we could go meet theEndeavoron time—and worry about a metric ton of other things.
We rounded the corner of Bungalow 39, our hair still wet from swimming. Tess’s damp shirt clung to her, teasing me with the long, lean lines of her torso and the subtle curves of her body. I slid my hand up her spine, palming the back of her neck and lightly gripping. Her lips parted, her eyelids grew heavy, and she leaned into my hand, her shoulders softening.
I smiled. Maybe we had a few minutes.
“What do you think about a hot show—” I stopped and swiveled my head from side to side, my eyes narrowing. Silence. But I’d just heard a click.
I pushed Tess into the hollow of the doorframe and stood in front of her.
“What?” she whispered.
“A gun just cocked.” Adrenaline pumped through me as I scanned the landing pad around the cruiser. Empty. And there was nothing along the visible side of the building. Whoever was out there had either skulked around the corner or was hiding in the bushes.
“Show yourself,” I demanded, shielding Tess with my body.
The greenery to our right rustled, and Solan’s glistening bald head appeared, black as midnight. Dark glasses on and muscled body easing forward with coiled menace, he stepped out from behind a tall fern that shaded one corner of the bungalow. Moving toward the open docking area, the bounty hunter lifted his arm and pointed a Redline at me.
My lips pulled back in a snarl. That same gun had sliced a shot through Tess’s side just ten days ago.
“What the fuck, Solan? How’d you find us?” I’d searched my cruiser inside and out for tracking bugs. I’d changed all my clothes before leaving to find Tess. I’d left nearly everything I owned behind. I’d ditched my cruiser’s small portable com unit somewhere in the Outer Zones and bought a new one in the Fold to replace it. My accounts were all coded. I was thorough and careful. There wasnothingto lead them here. So what the hell happened?
