He spun and smiled. Black boots slicked up slim calves and the brown jodhpurs clung to her curves. The white shirt was a tad tight and she couldn’t do the top two buttons, showcasing the lovely swells of her breasts. “I hear Vanosian jockeys like to take charge in bed too. They even bring the whip.”
“Shut up or I might just take one of these whips with me.” She nodded at the closet.
He opened the window and held out a hand. “Come on, Doc. How about we get to Star’s End before anyone else tries to sell you?”
CHAPTER NINE
When the shuttle docked with theInfinitas, Eos finally took a deep breath.
But she knew they weren’t safe yet.
She followed Dathan into the main part of the ship.
“Thank God.” Niklas gave her a quick hug. So did Zayn.
“Let’s get away from here,” Dathan suggested. “Quickly.”
“Far, far away,” she added.
Zayn broke orbit and soon they were flying through the red mist of the nebula. There was a tense silence in the cockpit. Eos wondered if the Countess had discovered she’d been duped yet.
TheInfinitasshuddered under her feet. The ship pitched to the left, sending her stumbling. Zayn’s ripe curses filled the air. The ship lurched forward, and Eos skidded into the wall.
Dathan grabbed her and tugged her into a seat.
“Is it the slavers?” She hated the fear in her voice.
“No. Strap in.”
“You’re sure?”
His hand gripped her shoulder, squeezed. “Positive. Take a look.” He nodded at the cockpit window.
The red gases of the nebula looked deeper here. And beyond it, she saw normal space and released a breath. “We’re at the nebula’s edge.”
“Yep. Almost home free.”
“Except for the funky space,” Zayn said.
She frowned. “Funky space?”
“The laws of physics kind of go out the airlock.” Zayn didn’t look their way. “You get all kinds of strange anomalies. Gravity wells, micro singularities, Hubble vortices.”
Dathan leaned closer. “This one time, we were hunting in an outer rim system and got stuck in a gravity well…for three days.”
“That wasn’t the worst part of it,” Niklas added.
“I dunno, being stuck with you two in a small space for three days was pretty bad.”
Nik rolled his eyes. “A micro singularity tore through the starboard engine. Made a huge mess. We barely managed to limp back to Khan. Luckily Zayn is the best pilot in the galaxy.”
The ship shuddered again and Zayn swore. A few taps of the command screen and they veered right. The shuddering stopped.
“The anomalies make flying hard?” she guessed.
Zayn snorted. “Understatement. At best, they slow us down.”
“And worst?” She watched Dathan and Niklas trade a heavy glance.
