Page 5 of Her Consort
“Oh, my God,” she seethed, eyes squeezed shut. “I’m done talking about this. If you’re not going to be useful—”
“‘Woo hoo,’” Kogan calmly recited. “‘Save a horse, ride a Neanderthal.’”
If she wasn’t already hot, mad, and miserable, she would have blushed. As it was, all she wanted was to get out from under the floor, wrap her hands around his neck, and choke him down to her diminutive five-foot-two level. “I’m done.”
“Now, I don’t know what that means, as of yet, but I have consulted some of the finest literature—”
“Porno mags do not constitute ‘fine literature’!”
“Have you even looked at the articles? The things about human behavior I have learned!” She could practically hear him counting off on his fingers. “Ten Things to Do Instead When Aunt Flow Comes to Visit. Don’t Argue, Be Authoritative. How to Spank For Fun and For Discipline. She Won’t Put Out If You Won’t Listen…”
Her whole body underwent a spastic wriggle of absolute frustration that ended when she whacked her helmet on the subfloor ceiling and her head on her helmet. “Oh, my God, I don’t care! I’m fucking done! Get me the hell out of here!”
It took him ten minutes to clear enough crap off the panel above her, then pry it up. Piper fumed the entire time. She was stifling hot. With every drop of sweat she could feel puddling in the small of her back, trickling down between her thighs, tickling her already itching skin, she only got madder. It was a relief when she heard the jab of the pry bar and the metal above her finally let out a squeal of complaint. Light infiltrated the gloom of the crawl space that imprisoned her. She was scrambling to get out before Kogan got the panel fully upright and safely leaned against the wall.
“Look at all the bombs,” he said, ducking to peek at the thoroughly booby-trapped corridor ahead. “Somebody sure wanted to discourage trespassers.”
“You are such an idiot!” Piper exploded. Desperate to get out of this damned suit, already ripping at the fastenings on her arms, legs, and especially her neck, she stormed back toward her own ship.
Kogan’s hand at the small of her back shoved, all but throwing her the last few feet through glowing amber light of the field that divided the open hatchways, protecting her side from whatever potential toxins might be floating in the dead ship’s non-circulating air. She wasn’t even fully sure Ocymit breathed air, but that didn’t stop her from ripping the helmet from her damp head as fast as she could get her hands free. His shove was the only reason her first harsh gasp filled her lungs with cool, filtered oxygen.
“What is wrong with you?” he demanded, ripping his own helmet off.
“Me?” She rounded on him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Kogan took a startled step back. He blinked twice before his eyes narrowed. “What is wrong with you?”
“You!” she shouted, getting right up in his big Neanderthal face. “Don’t you ever stop talking?”
He canted his head, looking from her right eye to her left and studying all the parts of her face in turn.
The coolness of the environmental controls kissed the sweat from her face, but only until that secondary wave of pure fury burst up through the core of her. It scalded behind her stinging eyes, but no matter how she swiped and slapped to clear her vision, her hands were still in her suit gloves and they did not absorb. She was only smearing her misery around, making her eyes sting even more. They were tearing now. Great. The last thing she needed was for Kogan to think she was crying. And what the hell was on her suit? She stared at her hands and arms, the silver-gray fabric so coated in fine amber-colored powder that it looked damn near orange.
Frowning, Kogan drew himself up to his full height. “I was trying to distract you from the unpleasantness, but—”
“The only thing you’re trying to do is piss me off! Well, congratulations, buster. It—” she reared back, “—worked!” And shoved, slamming both hands into his chest with all her furious might.
A huge puff of amber powder exploded off her suit, enveloping them both in a hazy, stinging cloud.
Kogan fell back into the bulkhead wall. Angry as she was, she almost didn’t notice how his whole body stiffened, how his nostrils flared, and his dark eyes dilated as he sucked a startled breath. He looked at her, pupils steadily shrinking. Stepping back, breathing hard, Piper clenched her fists. She glared, daring him to get up. To say something, anything. To fucking even breathe.
Kogan cracked his neck. First one way, then the other. Slowly, he pushed back off the wall. Closing the distance between them with a single step—only a few inches taller or not—he loomed over her. Just as slowly, he also smiled. “Finally.”
Another cloud of amber dust erupted between them when he grabbed her, yanking her around and slamming her up against the bulkhead where he had just been. He gave her no time to react. She barely had time even to draw a startled breath before his mouth slanted over hers. It was a kiss, hard and unexpected, one that crushed her lips against her teeth and made her just want to bite him.
Yeah, sure she wanted to bite him. That was why she was kissing him back, again and again in open, hungry consummation. God, how she loved it when he pushed in, shoving her right up against the steel-gray bulkhead, his mouth in constant demand of hers. Her back arched, aching to feel the crush of his chest against her heavy breasts through this miserable spacesuit. Her belly ran molten, a flood of wanton heat trickling down through the heady need already pulsing through her sex.
What was she doing?
Planting her hands again his shoulders, Piper shoved him with all her might. She knocked him back, but only far enough for their lips to break contact. “Get off me!” she snarled. “I don’t even like you!”
“I know,” Kogan breathed. “Isn’t it exhilarating?”
Who kissed whom next, Piper honestly didn’t know. She was barely aware of how she grabbed the front of his spacesuit. Later when her head cleared, she would tell herself she was trying to push him away, but her arms were definitely not pushing when she yanked him back to her hungry mouth. She bit his bottom lip. That had been an accident, but his resulting growl rumbled through her on the most enchanting vibration. It trembled in her nipples and in her clit. It shivered straight on down through the molten, burning core of her, which only burned hotter still when he seized hold of her suit and literally ripped straight through both it and the blue jumper she wore underneath, from collar to crotch in two swift jerks.
The sudden caress of cooling air shocked her sweat-kissed skin. She gasped, her nipples tightening into beads as he stripped her arms out of both sets of sleeves, dropping the ruined halves as soon as she was freed.
Powder engulfed them in another cloud as he seized her ass, squeezing and slapping, shoving to continue peeling her out of her ruined clothes until both suit and jumper lay in puddles of blue and amber-coated silver-gray on the floor around her feet. She wore the tatters like booties, but she didn’t care. No one had ever ripped her clothes off her before. She still had her underwear and bra on, but already his fingers had closed around the front, gripping it between her breasts. The elastic scoured her skin as he ripped upward. The cool air kissed her nipples now too, and Kogan smiled, dark eyes glittering as he paused to admire the view.
