The ship was moving, but not upward. Instead, they were crawling along the cavern floor. Up ahead was the opening to one of the many tunnels, this one far wider than most. They were heading straight for it, hovering no more than a dozen feet from the ground.

“Shit,” he muttered. The crazy bastard couldn’t really mean to go down there. Could he? There was no way they would fit.

“Okay, breathe in, everybody.”

Jon clenched the arms of his seat, waiting for the screech of metal on rock, his eyes glued to the vampire’s back. Rico’s shoulders were tense but somehow, he managed to keep the ship in the center of the tunnel. Once inside, the ship’s external lights came on, and Jon watched without breathing as they wound and twisted for miles.

Finally up ahead, the tunnel came to an abrupt end. He waited for the ship to slow. Nothing happened. They weren’t going fast, but all the same, if they hit even at this speed, they would disintegrate.

“Shit, Rico,” Tannis muttered. “Shoot it out.”

“Can’t. They’ll see the explosion.”

“They’ll also see the explosion if you crash straight into a solid metal door and blow us up.”

“Actually, I’m hoping it works on proximity sensors. Otherwise we’re fucked.” He nodded to Alex. “Hey, maybe you could try a prayer right about now. We could do with a little divine intervention.”

Alex put her hands together. Jon realized she was actually going to pray. Did she really believe there was a God out there? And if there was, did she think He’d be listening and would give a toss whether they lived or died?

“Dear God,” Alex murmured. “Please open the doors. Rico says he’s sorry for all the bad things he’s done, and he promises to be better in the future.”

Shock flared inside him at her words. They were about to die, and she was joking.

Rico laughed. “Thanks, sweetheart, but I think that might have done the trick. God loves us after all.”

Jon forced his gaze from Alex back to the viewer. A thin crack appeared in the doors, and then they slid back.

Seconds later and they were out into the open sky. Jon waited from them to speed up to make a run for it. Instead, Rico kept the speed slow and hugged the contours of the land. He was a brilliant pilot, sticking so close to the ground that they wouldn’t show up as a separate entity. Still, Jon found his heart beating fast as he waited for them to be spotted, waited for the hoard to swoop down and annihilate them.

The monitor was back on the cruisers above them. They still hovered above Bastion’s place, but at any moment, they would realize the Cazador was gone. Time crawled by as they inched over the barren landscape.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he wiped it with the back of his hand. He was actually afraid. Jon almost didn’t recognize the emotion. He hadn’t been afraid of anything in a long time.

How can you fear when you have nothing to lose?

His mind refused to process the implications of that. Nothing had changed. There was still nothing to lose, and he planned for it to stay that way.

The tension in the room slowly rose as each second stretched taut. Finally, Tannis snapped.

“Shit, Rico, that has to be far enough. Get us the hell out of here.”

“Getting to you?” He grinned. “Okay. We should be far enough not to be picked up. Hold on, children.”

The engines roared, and they headed out into space at full speed.

“Looks like we’re in the clear,” Janey said a minute later, and Jon released the breath he’d been holding for what seemed like hours.

Next to him, Alex was grinning like an idiot. Didn’t she have the sense to know they’d nearly died?

He unstrapped the harness and stood up. Everyone’s eyes locked on him as he stalked across the floor, but he kept his lips clamped together. If he opened his mouth now, he was sure something stupid would come out.

In the privacy of his cabin, he shrugged out of his coat and tossed it on the bed. His skin was clammy and cold at the same time. He’d been certain they were going to die back there, and they hadn’t. Why wasn’t he feeling euphoric?

He didn’t know what he felt, but he was sure fucking joy didn’t describe it.

Edgy. Scared. Stupid. The list was endless, and none of it was good.

Pressing his fingers into his eyeballs, he tried to reduce the pressure. Behind closed lids, he saw pink, hot pink, and he ground his teeth together to banish the image.

He had to get out of there. He functioned better alone. If he could get away from these people, he’d be fine.

They weren’t going to kill him, at least he didn’t think so. If they ever managed to get the Collective off their backs, he was sure he’d be free to go. So all he had to do was track down who’d set him up, find a way to get out from under this bounty—keep to himself, not get involved—and afterward, he could go back to his life.

The thought filled him with no pleasure. That part of his life was over. It was time to move on. Which didn’t mean he had to throw all sense aside. Money was no problem; he had accounts all over the universe. Killing people was a lucrative profession, and he’d been good at what he did. The future was limitless—he could do anything he chose.

But he’d do it alone.

He threw himself down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep. No way. The notion came to him that he was waiting for something, and he was unsurprised when the buzzer sounded.

Rolling to his feet, he smashed his hand down on the panel without checking the viewer. He knew who was out there—he’d been expecting her. No doubt come to parade herself in front of him and expect him to be all turned on by her tight little body in those tight little clothes.

“What the hell do you want?”

Even in the four-inch heels, she only came up to his chin, and he had to look down to sneer at her. Straight into her cleavage. He tried to remember her breasts last time he’d seen them, bloody and marked by the vampire, but he couldn’t summon the image to his mind.

The fastener of her top was lowered so the creamy mounds almost overflowed the hot pink jumpsuit. Jon forced his gaze upward. Her eyes were downcast, almost demure. Another act. She tilted her head to look up at him. For the first time, she was wearing makeup, her eyes ringed with smudged black, making them appear even bigger. Like great limpid pools of neediness.

She licked her lips. “Can I come in?”

“No.”

“Please. I just want to say thank you for saving my life.”

“Then say it and go.”

Alex blinked up at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, and a wave of horror threatened to roll over him and suck him under. He wanted to yell—don’t do this. Instead, he gave in to the inevitable, stepped back, and gestured for her to enter the room. Leaving the door open, he turned back to face her, folding his arms across his chest, doing his best to look formidable.

She stood, nibbling on her lip as if unsure what to say now she’d wheedled her way in. Finally, she took a deep breath. “I know you think I’m a kid. But I’m not—I’m a woman. You’d know that if you took a moment to look.”

He didn’t want to look. Or maybe he wanted to look too damn much. This was exactly why he should have nothing to do with her; she clouded his mind. Confused issues that were normally crystal clear.

Her hand went to the clasp at the front of her jump suit, fiddling with it, and his gaze followed the movement. The fit was so tight, he could see her nipples clearly defined under the material.

Heat pooled in his groin, and his balls ached viciously. He had an almost overwhelming urge to toss her skinny ass on the bed and lose himself in her. Except her ass wasn’t skinny. It was surprisingly full. Like her breasts.

She wouldn’t know what had hit her.

And that was the problem.

The little fool had no clue what she was asking for.

Maybe she’d tempted Bastion the same way. And the poor sap had died because of it. He almost wanted to kick himself for that betraying thought.

Slowly, she lowered the fastener farther, until he could make out the shadowy curves of her breasts.

His dick was already rock-hard. Luckily, she wasn’t looking in that direction.

As she stepped closer, her scent teased his nostrils. She smelt like warm woman.

“I was so frightened,” she murmured. “I thought I was dead. I was sure I was dead. And he was hurting me.” A shiver ran through her small frame, and she gazed at him with those limpid eyes. “And then I thought we were going to die back there, and all I’d ever know about sex was pain. I just want to forget.” The fastener was lowered another inch. “I know you like to do the chasing. But one kiss? Is that so much to ask? To help me forget. Then I’ll go, I promise.”

She was manipulating him, but he could do absolutely nothing about it, and when she licked her lips again, he groaned.

“You are the dumbest woman in the universe,” he muttered before giving in to the unavoidable. Her mouth was soft. He had every intention of keeping his own lips closed, but her small tongue pried them open, thrusting into his mouth so he tasted her sweetness.

His cock twitched, and he shuddered with the effort of keeping his arms by his sides. She was rubbing up against him now like a bitch in heat.

The cradle of her pelvis rocked against his shaft, and he groaned into her mouth. She went still before drawing back to peer down the length of his body, and his cock twitched again. When she peeked back up at his face, her eyes were wide, and for a moment, something flashed in her expression. Then she lowered her lashes so he couldn’t see what she was thinking.

But she was as turned on as he was, the hard points of her nipples pressing against the soft material.

Jon couldn’t help himself. Sliding his hand inside the open top, he cupped her breast, rubbing his palm over the beaded nipple, squeezing gently. She winced, and he went still then dropped his hand and stepped back.

She moved in close again. “Please,” she whispered.

He parted the material and stared down at her. Dark bruises marred the perfection of one full breast. The other sported a double fang mark where the blood-sucking bastard had bitten her.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said.

“The hell it doesn’t matter. It’s all that matters. You’re a kid in need of protection. And I’m not in the business of protecting anybody.”

“Too late. You already saved my life.”

“Then I’m not in the business of protecting you again. Go find someone else.”

“You won’t need to. I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Darling, people like you never learn.”

“People like me?”

“Reckless people.”

She frowned. “I’m not reckless. I’ll have you know I’m the most unreckless person ever.”

“Yeah, right. That’s why you came begging me to fuck you, hours after we’d met. And that’s why you went running into a vampire’s lair. And no doubt, why you stowed away on that ship in the first place. It’s only a matter of time before you do something else stupid, and as Rico said, next time maybe you’ll get us all killed.”

Hurt flashed across her face, but he ignored it. Time she learned the realities of life. He reached out and pulled the jumpsuit closed, right up to her neck.

“Now you’ve said your thank you. Get out.”

She opened her mouth. Then snapped it closed again, whirled around, and left the room.

Jon took a deep breath and slammed his hand on the panel to shut the door. His body ached. He couldn’t remember ever feeling like this. Needing some sort of relief, he shoved his hand down his pants, wrapped his fist around his erection, and closed his eyes.

An image of Alex played across his mind, on her knees in front of him, her soft pink mouth wrapped around his engorged cock. He’d bet she’d never done that before either. No doubt, he’d have to tell her how he liked it, but she’d be a fast learner. He could almost feel her small fingers stroking his balls, while her tongue…

“Oh hell.”

A minute later he came.

…

Alex got halfway down the corridor and stopped. Instinct told her she’d nearly had him; he’d been so close to losing control.

She had a brief twinge of guilt over the tears. Especially when she had sworn she wasn’t going to cry again. Maybe she would burn in hell. But Janey had suggested it if all else failed. She’d said most men went to pieces if a woman cried, and that had certainly been true of Rico earlier. He’d been shocked.

Shocked was better than no reaction at all.

Her lips still tingled, and she touched them with her finger then pressed her hand against her breast.

His mouth had been hot and hard, the taste of him unforgettable. But there was also a gentleness in the way he touched her that was at such odds with his words and size. He’d said he wasn’t in the business of protecting anyone, but he had rushed in and rescued her. And kissed her.

Her first kiss.

Beneath her palm, her heart gave a little jump and unease shifted inside her. This thing with Jon was supposed to be simple fun—it was never meant to touch her heart.