Stark Surrender Read online

  “I can’t—wait,” he gritted. “Now.”

  He couldn’t wait? Logan always maintained ruthless control of his own responses. It was one of the things that made him such a great lover.

  But it had been so long since she’d had him, and the sight of him over her, lost in his passion, his cock filling her again and again, sent Kiri ruthlessly up and over the top of a cliff of need, and flying out into ecstasy, her body clasping him in delicious spasms.

  "Logan." His name ripped from her throat, rising over the sounds of their bodies slapping together.

  Logan convulsed in her arms, a deep roar of completion bursting from his throat as his heat filled her. Then his head fell forward, and he relaxed onto her, a heavy weight of sweating male, his chest heaving against hers, his breath soughing in her hair.

  Kiri lay under him, stunned with both his loss of control and the power of her own response. She hadn't come like that since the last time she'd been with him. Sex toys just weren't the same, and she had no interest in other men, although she'd certainly tried, dating a few times and even bringing one man home with her. But after several kisses, she’d finally accepted that he did nothing for her sexually, and sent him politely on his way.

  She pressed her eyes shut against the hot pressure behind them, and let herself have one more moment to hold the only man she wanted. Gave in to the need to slide her arms up around his broad back and stroke his skin, like damp satin under her hands. And for that moment, sated and filled with him, she held the galaxy in her arms.

  But finally she let go of him and shoved at his shoulders. "Logan. Get off me. You need a showerdry. We both do."

  He lifted his head, looking down at her with a look she recognized. One which still caused her pussy to clench around him where he was lodged inside her, even though he'd just made her come so hard she'd screamed his name. His eyes were only half-open, lazy with pleasure, his mouth soft.

  "Yes, we do," he said. But the growl in his voice said he wasn't after cleanliness. He slid slowly out of her, rolled to his feet beside the bed, lifted her in his arms and carried her into her small lav. He set her on her feet by the showerdry and waited while she opened the hatch.

  "It smells like you in here," he said. "I like it."

  "You can go first," she offered, holding the door open for him.

  He moved closer, herding her into the small stall, his body sliding against hers as he pulled the door closed behind them. "We wash together. I want you as slippery and wet all over, as your tight little pussy is inside."

  Oh, well, when he put it like that ... her knees sagged as his intentions filled her with renewed anticipation. She’d already given in to temptation—once more wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t as if she could get pregnant or catch any STIs, with the vaccinations everyone took regularly. Although it was time for her to go in again … she was fairly certain. Better check her com in the morning.

  As the hot water streamed over them, he took a handful of fragrant gelsoap from the dispenser and stroked it down over her breasts, pausing to pinch her nipples and roll them between his thumbs and forefingers. Then he washed her all over, kissing her wet mouth as his knowing hands slid between her thighs from the front and the rear, teasing her with slippery touches. And thoughts of anything other than the man standing over her wafted away with the steam curling upward.

  Kiri managed to gather her own dollop of gelsoap and went to work on him, luxuriating in being able to caress his tall, muscled body everywhere as well. Her own fingers sliding into the crease of his taut ass-cheeks, she looked down as his cock bobbed against her belly.

  "Teasing the Tyger," he warned, even though she was the one with Tygean blood, not him. He lifted her up against the curving wall, his hands under her ass, his cock rigid between them. "Can you take me again?" he asked hoarsely.

  She tipped her head forward to kiss him. "Yes, Logan."

  She caught her breath as he slid home again, stretching her channel. She was going to need gesics afterward, but she couldn't bear to miss another chance to have him.

  He kissed her, deep and wild as he filled her with his hard, satin length. Holding her up in both hands, he bent his knees and drove into her until the stall creaked around them, and the hot water turned to jets of warm air.

  Kiri wrapped her legs and arms around him, squirming until his cock raked against that perfect place inside her pussy.

  "Logan," she gasped into his mouth. "Logan. Stay with me. Stay."

  In answer, he thrust harder, his face turned against hers until they both shattered, ecstasy pulsing where they were joined.

  Afterward, he leaned into her, holding them both up against the wall, his legs trembling with effort.

  "You'd better put me down," she murmured, her voice languid and sleepy.

  He let her down slowly, then held her until her legs worked again.

  "Come lie with me," he said.

  "All right." Just a little more time with him, that's all she wanted. Oh, God, had she really begged him to stay with her a moment ago? She cringed inwardly, hoping he hadn't heard her.

  Logan lay back on the bed, and Kiri curled against his side as she had when they were together. And just for now, lying with his heart beating under her ear, she let herself believe it could work.

  She stroked the ridges of muscle of his warm, hard abdomen, sliding her fingers up to tangle in the sparse curls on his broad chest. "Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"

  He tensed, his arm tightening around her. "No. I ... nothing is wrong."

  He was shutting her out, but then what had she expected? He always played his games in solitude, only letting others see as much as he chose.

  Taking a breath, she blinked back threatening tears. "Well, then, thank you for bringing Kai back to me." She lifted her head and pushed away from him.

  He held onto her, his eyes opening on a scowl. "Where are you going?"

  "It seems we're done here," she answered, proud that her voice was steady. "You can go on your journey into the wilds ... or wherever you're going."

  "Not yet," he said. He touched her face. "Please. Just ... lie with me a little longer."

  Torture herself with the joy of being held close to his heat and strength, when he wasn't hers to keep? Oh, why the hells not? Kai had gone out, and she wasn't about to suffocate him by waiting up for him, asking where he'd been and if he was all right.

  And besides, Logan had said he needed this. She needed it too, almost more than the air she breathed.

  When they’d met, he’d swept her away in his luxe cruiser for a gourmet dinner, then back to his scraper top penthouse for a night of the hottest sex she’d ever experienced.

  He’d talked her into staying the night, then more, and by turns he’d had her full of admiration at his business acumen and wide travels, purring with contentment after his brand of dominant sex, grateful at his open-handed generosity, laughing at his dry wit, and furious at his autocratic assumption that he should be in charge not only of his own life, but hers as well.

  But oh, how she’d missed him these last months.

  She yawned deeply, stretched and then curled against Logan's long, lean frame, drunk with the pleasure of holding him again. His arm heavy on her waist, he turned his face into her hair and held her. She was sleepy, but she was also greedy for this chance to hold him, breathe him in.

  “Kiri,” he said, his voice low and rough in the darkness. “Come with me.”

  Kiri froze. “Come with you?” she echoed. “Where? And for how long, Logan?”

  He took so long to answer she would’ve thought him asleep, except that his heart beat swiftly under her palm. She lay wide awake, wondering more than ever what was going on with him.

  “Just … traveling,” he said, his tone so vague she knew instantly he was evading her again.

  “Right,” she said. “I’ll just give up my business and my reunion with my brother, whom I haven’t seen for more years than I care to remember, and go travel
ling with you, Logan. Even though you won’t tell me where you’re going, of for how long. And I happen to hate space travel.”

  Anger pounding through her veins, she shoved at him. “Time for you to go, Logan. God, you’ll never change.”

  So swiftly she only had time to gasp in shock, he rolled, flipping her onto her back with his hard, hot body pinning her into the airbed, her wrists pinned in his.

  “No, I won’t change,” he agreed, his voice a rasp of what almost sounded like pain. “But I want you—and you want me. Come with me, Kiri. I need you. When I’m with you, it—it all goes away.” The last phrase was so raw it seemed to have been ripped from his throat, but she was too furious to feel compassion for him any longer.

  “I needed you too,” she told him, her voice shaking. “I needed you to commit yourself to me—to be the partner I know you could be, if you only wanted to. But real commitment to a woman means nothing to you. And I refuse to live that way for even one more day. Do you hear me, Logan Stark? I’m worth more than that.”

  Now he was angry too, his grip tightening on her wrists, his breath harsh. “I’m not that man, Kiri. I can never be. But I’m still the man for you.”

  “If you’re the man for me, why can’t you give me what I need?”

  His grip tightened on her wrists, his body shaking with some dark emotion. “Because of the rest of who I am.”

  And with this cryptic utterance, Logan kissed her, hard, his tongue tangling with hers, his lips sealing hers. And just that swiftly, their anger morphed into lust. Furious and aroused beyond bearing, she struggled under him, fighting him—but not to get away, to take charge of the kiss, and to hold him the way he was her.

  Her hands trapped, she wrapped her legs around him, digging her heels into his taut ass and writhing under him, demanding a response.

  She got it. With one lithe move, he rolled onto his back, and thrust into her. The girth and hardness of his cock burned overly-sensitized flesh, but she ignored this, moaning into his mouth as he began to pound into her, swift and rough. Somehow she needed the pain to cauterize the wound that would never heal, the one he’d slashed across her heart.

  She rode him in the darkness, fighting him for the perfect position so his cock thudded against her G-spot, their sweat-slick flesh slapping together, harsh pants mingling.

  This time, her orgasm rushed over her like a huge, hot wave, bucking her high and then flinging her out into a freefall that was as ecstatic as it was terrifying. Only his grip on her wrists, his body under hers held her safe.

  He pulled her down to him and swallowed her cry with another deep kiss, and she drank his groan of completion.

  When it was over, she went limp on top of him. Safe in his arms, worn out by the emotions of the past days and by three rounds of Logan Stark style sex, she fell deeply asleep.

  Chapter Four

  The man woke with a start, his heart pounding, his body tight, ready for fight or flight, in the way he'd become accustomed over the last several nights. He had to go, had to run, from …

  He frowned at the darkness of the unfamiliar bedroom, trying to remember why he was on the run. But then a wonderful, feminine scent told him he was in a woman's bed.

  Turning his head, he looked at her.

  In the warmth of the night, she lay naked on her back, one slim arm flung over her head, her face turned toward him. She'd pushed the light cover down to her hips. Her bare breasts were like halves of a peach, small nipples riding their soft swells, rising and falling with each breath.

  Her long lashes lay like dark fringes on her cheeks, those beautiful golden brown eyes of hers shuttered, her mouth soft and swollen from his kisses.

  She was lovely and he'd had her. She was so small, and delicate in her sleep, all that verve and will and passion muted.

  He could take her with him. It had been good with her, pushing back the black turmoil in his mind. The particulars of their sexual union were foggy, yet the languor of his body told him he was well sated. She soothed him—the pain in his skull had even disappeared long enough to let him sleep, although now it was returning, those huge boots stomping once again through his skull.

  He wanted to keep her at his side, hold her for his own. But she might say no. And though he was fumbling in the dark like a blind man, he knew one thing about himself. He could force her to go, but he wouldn’t ... shouldn’t, at least. He blinked and shook his head, struggling to remember the rules he’d been living by … and why they were important anymore.

  Wait. The darker, more cunning side of his consciousness unfolded further, reminding him if she did refuse him, she'd be awake, aware. He had to get away in secret, until he could remember, could assess all threats looming in the blackness.

  If she saw him go, she'd be a threat. He'd be forced to neutralize her. And he was afraid he was ruthless enough to do it. To break something beautiful and precious.

  Sweating again, he dragged his clothing on, then slipped from the room, and out of the condo, taking only what he'd brought with him. It was enough to get him to his destination.

  Back to the beginning, where he could try to make sense of who he was, now that so much of him was disappearing … and why the parts that remained were so dark that looking into his own mind was like peering into an abyss—one so deep he couldn’t see what lurked in the bottom, but he could sense it.

  At first, he’d thought the blackness in his mind was some foreign entity, attacking him from without. But now he understood. The blackness was himself—everything feral and ruthless that he’d suppressed until he’d convinced himself this side of his nature was gone.

  He also understand, however, that someone else had loosed his dark side, made it so he had to hide. Now he’d find whoever had done this to him, and destroy them—even if they were someone who called him ‘sir’ and bowed to him. Especially then. He loathed traitors.

  At the space port, he eyed the huge, graceful shape of the ship Cassiopeia, floating in her dock like a giant silver swan who'd landed to tuck her head under a wing for the night. Bound for Earth II, by the holodisplay glowing in the center of the outdoor concourse.

  Earth II, yes. Images of dark, rainy streets and soaring towers flickered through his mind. That was where he must go. But did he belong on a ship this grand?

  He was about to walk on when a Pangaean in a trim silver gray flight suit paused beside one of the waiting hoverlifts, looking up from the holodisk in his hand. Recognition and surprise lit his face.

  “Sir, good morning. Are you with us on the flight to New Seattle?”

  There was only deference in the Pangaean’s manner. No overt threat, rather a subordinate. But it could be a mask. He couldn't afford the risk.

  "No," he said. "And forget you saw me."

  Ignoring the way the Pangaean's expression went slack with bewilderment, he strode on, along the space port to where the smaller ships docked. Those whose captains would take his credit and ask no questions.

  * * *

  Kiri woke with a wince, her body bearing the soreness of taking Logan three times. Showering, she allowed herself tears as she tried to accept that it was truly over between them now. In some ways, such as sexual, they fit together perfectly. But in others they were just too different. And he’d said himself, he’d never change.

  Time to force her attention back to her real life, the one that counted. She went to work, and spent the day serving customers with a smile, and supervising her coffee shop.

  That evening, she fixed a light supper of fish, veg and fresh bread. She and Kai ate on the patio. She drank her favorite white wine from Pangaea. Kai sipped it cautiously but drank mostly water.

  Gradually she shared her life story with him—the condensed version—including buying her small coffee shop in the New Seattle space port.

  She’d also shared how she’d spent years searching for him via an investigator who it turned out was taking the credit directly to the casinos where he gambled compulsively, until caught
by Stark's security people. She tried to make it sound funny, a joke on her, but the look in his eyes said she hadn’t succeeded very well.

  Then he asked how she’d come to Frontiera, and she shared that it was not by choice, but shanghaied by a New Seattle ganger jealous of her preference for Logan Stark.

  Kai stared at her at her as if she’d smacked him in the face with a piece of raw fish. Then he shook his head.

  “I … don’t know what to say,” he muttered. “I always pictured you living this idyllic life with our parents. In reality, you may have been free, but—” He broke off, taking another sip of wine.

  His words hung unspoken in the air between them. She’d been free, but lived in poverty. And, since Earth II was an overcrowded, polluted planet with beings fighting for survival and a bigger share of supplies and wealth, she’d also lived in nearly constant fear.

  "But now here I am," she added, able to really smile this time. “Living on a wonderful new planet, with a bigger, more successful business than before, and you're here with me. My life is perfect." It was, even without Logan. She’d make it so.

  Her brother made a low, husky sound in his throat. Laughter, maybe?

  “Your life is perfect,” he said. “You’re either the most optimistic being I’ve ever met, or the most … naïve.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “Why?”

  He flung out an arm to the open air. “Because, you’re on a new planet that’s mostly unexplored and holds who knows what dangers, including those that might emerge from the sea at your doorstep. There are just the bare beginnings of peaceful colonization, where the law is enforced by an ex-space pirate. Your life depends on a tiny business, in turn dependent on the safe passage of supply freighters through deep space full of pirates …”

  He shrugged. “On the other hand, what do I know? Be happy with what you have, right?”

  “Right,” she said, but she stared at her plate, dismay a cold current through her good mood.

  “Ah, hells. I’m … sorry,” he said, reaching out one hand across the table. She watched his hand hover and then retreat without touching her. “I’m not exactly the authority on happiness. You’re right, Kiri. You have a great life here.”