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Chapter 7
“It was only when shestarted kissing me and straddled me on the desk that I discovered she’d reported me to station security.” Karn paced backward and forward in the holding cell he’d been put in.
He’d spent the whole night there. The whole time, he’d been debating about what had happened. He was explaining the situation to his drunken cellmate, a lively Mehab who broke into song from time to time to accompany Karn’s conversation.
“She sounds like she’s into you.” The Mehab, Strande, rested his furry head against the cell wall.
“I thought she was. It was just a con.”
“Like you were conning her?”
“I never conned her. I was doing a job, and Ivy interfered. I provided her with an acceptable distraction. That’s not a con.” Karn sank onto the hard bench in the holding cell. The provisions in the cell were horribly basic. He’d asked for a cushion three times.
After a human guard had processed him, Karn had been locked away with his drunken, furry, singing friend. There had been no mention of release or trial or even if he’d get to remain on the station.
This didn’t sit well with Karn. He wanted a few words with Ivy. The fact they’d been matched wouldn’t leave his thoughts, even though he knew how wrong that match would be.
Was it wrong? The way she’d stroked him, he’d almost blacked out from lust. Few females had that effect on him. He could usually control himself and stop from tipping over the edge into a lust coma. It was a Forka thing and hard to pull off unless you were an expert. It seemed Ivy was just that expert he’d been looking for.
“She’s gotten under your skin,” Strande said. “Hot chicks do that to you.”
“She is not a hot chick.”
“She’s unattractive?”
“No. I mean, Ivy is great to look at. She’s got smooth, pale skin and dark hair. She wears these jumpsuits that fit her in all the right places, showing off everything but not giving too much away.”
“Like I said, the super-hot chicks always mess with you the worst. They make your fur stand on end and your skin itch.”
Karn shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. That super-hot chick is the reason I’m here.”
“The best ones are the females who get you in the most trouble.”
“Ivy is intriguing.” Intriguing enough to be Karn’s perfect match?
“You should ask her out.”
Karn blew out a breath. “We’ve been out before. Ivy’s intriguing but trouble. I don’t need that in my life.”
“I bet when she relaxes, she can be fun.”
Karn grunted. He’d had the same thought. Beneath Ivy’s spiky veneer, there was someone he’d love to get to know better. Not just in the way they had in the office with all the hot kissing and touching. He wanted to know everything about her and figure out what made her tick.
“I still think you should ask her out. Any female who lingers in your mind for this long has got something special about her. She’s all we’ve talked about.”
“That’s not true.”
“Why am I here?”
Karn glanced at the messy fur of the Mehab. “You’re drunk.”
Strande chuckled. “Sober enough to see something you can’t. We’ve been here more than twelve hours. This Ivy is the only topic of conversation we’ve focused on. If I were you, I’d ask her out. If nothing else, it will get her out of your system. If she’s as much trouble as you think she is, you’ll soon know it. Then you can move on to a tamer target. Someone who doesn’t challenge the balls off you. How are your fellas doing, anyway? Have you got any feeling back in them yet?”
Karn carefully adjusted himself. He might have mentioned Ivy’s impressive knee to groin contact a couple of times. “I’m still a little tender. I should forget about her. She set me up. Ivy used her cunning to distract me.”
“You’ve told me that. She kissed the life out of you and played you at your own game. It’s better than shooting you in the belly and leaving you for dead. She did a good thing only having you arrested. At least this way, you get out of here once your charges have been processed.”
“There shouldn’t be any charges. I did nothing wrong.”
