Page 20 of Black Star

“Not if I want anything to get done. Everyone on theBlack Starhas to earn his keep. If you want to stay here, you’ll have to do the same.”

There was no inflection in the man’s gravelly voice, but the steel in his gray eyes told her exactly how serious he was. If she didn’t do what he told her, he’d likely space her.

“B-but no one knows I’m here.” Phoebe stammered her response. A sense of dread was slowly but surely closing in on her. She hated being on the defensive, but she didn’t really have a way to combat him. Shewasa stowaway aboard his ship. If he chose to make her pay his passage, there wasn’t much she could do about it. Her only hope was to get him to agree to something she could live with.

“Just how long do you think that will last? How will you get food? If I bring rations back to you, everyone is going to wonder why I get double, and why I bring it back to my quarters. They’ll soon figure it out.” He crossed his arms over the massive expanse of his chest. “Hiding you isn’t an option. You want passage? You’ll have to work for it.”

Briefly, Phoebe thought about bolting for the door, but this wasn’t a small man. He stood there, feet slightly apart. As spacious as the room was, he dominated it. She might be able to get around him, but she was willing to bet she’d not get far.

Phoebe crossed her legs and sat up a little straighter. “I don’t have many skills, I’ll warn you. But I’m smart, and I’m willing to learn.”

For the longest time, the man simply looked at her as if sizing her up. Phoebe had to stick her hands underneath her to keep from fidgeting. His gaze was too intense. He saw too much.

Finally, he spoke. “Later. If I’m going to have to put up with you for any length of time, I’ll have to be able to stand being around you.” He pointed to a room on the far side of his quarters. “Shower’s in there. Have you ever used an ultrasonic shower?”

Phoebe hated looking like she wasn’t wise to the universe around her, but if she said yes, she’d used one, he’d undoubtedly leave her to it by herself. “I’m afraid not. Just show me how to operate it, and I’ll manage on my own.”

Again, he raised an eyebrow, as if the whole thing was amusing to him, but he didn’t say anything. He stepped ahead of her and into the small bathing chamber. Entering a combination of numbers on a keypad outside a booth that looked barely big enough for one person, he handed her two small, spongy disc-shaped objects.

“Put these in your ears.”

“What are they for?” Phoebe looked curiously at the things. They were pliable, but rather stiff, as if they wanted to hold their shape no matter what form they were squeezed into.

“The ultra high frequency of the shower will damage your hearing if you don’t protect your ears.”

Her gaze snapped to his. “Then why not just use water? I don’t want to get in that thing.”

“You don’t have a choice.” He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. In the small room, Phoebe got a stark visual on exactly how big he was, and how tiny she was in comparison. He wore a black formfitting uniform that should have looked silly. But on this man, it outlined every powerful curve of his body. The muscles in his arms, legs, chest and chiseled abdomen stood out underneath the material as if a master sculptor had carved them. Phoebe had to force herself to look at his face. That wasn’t any better, though. He wasn’t pretty or handsome as some men were, but his features held a wealth of wisdom and promises of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Judging by the way his nose twitched, he also didn’t want to be near her much longer. That was acutely embarrassing, because she could have stood there and looked at him all day.

“No. I don’t suppose I do.” She fiddled with the earplugs in her hand. “So, I stick these in my ears. Then what?”

“Then you get in and let the ultrasonics do the rest.”

Phoebe stuffed the spongy things in her ears and gasped when they expanded. She immediately started to dig in her ears, trying to get them out. It felt like they were going to burst through her inner ear into her brain.

The man’s strong hands grabbed her wrists. He mouthed the word “no,” but she couldn’t hear anything. He held her gaze captive, looking intently at her, watching. Waiting.

In a few seconds, the sensations in her ears eased, but all sound was gone. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her own heart beating wildly, and air moving through her sinus passages as she sucked in breath after breath. She made an effort to slow her breathing, knowing that hyperventilating would only cause her to pass out.

He nodded his head and moved his hands from her wrists to her shoulders, squeezing them reassuringly, then let go of her. When he inserted two of the same discs into his own ears, she realized he meant to shower with her. Immediately, her breathing and heart rate shot up again. She shook her head and pushed at him, trying to shove him out the door so she could do this on her own. The last thing she wanted to do was to undress in front of this perfect specimen of a man.

He gripped her shoulders again and shook her slightly. Phoebe was beginning to panic now. What if he intended for her to earn her keep with her body? She fought madly now. His mouth moved, but she couldn’t hear anything. She pushed him into the wall, and knocked over a few small bottles and a cup from the tiny vanity stand, but no sound reached her. The whole thing was so surreal, she would have laughed if she hadn’t been so terrified.

Phoebe fought like a mad woman, kicking and clawing. He managed to spin her around and wrap one arm above her breasts, and the other just under her chin. Without even flinching, she bit him, all the while digging at her ears, trying to free them of the shit she’d put in them. She whipped around to face him and one well-placed kick caught him in the knee, and he grimaced. She hoped he yelped in pain, but she didn’t hear it. Apparently, that was all he was going to take.

The man backhanded Phoebe. Hard. Her head spun and she would have sunk to the floor if he hadn’t caught her. Eyes blazing, obviously angry, his look said she was in big trouble. She wanted to fight him, but she couldn’t get her legs underneath her. She still reeled from the blow he’d delivered.

He pulled her into his hard body and maneuvered them into the impossibly tiny stall. Her back was pressed against one wall and she was sure he was in a similar position. Phoebe watched as he pressed a few buttons to her left before reaching above them and sticking two eye shields over her eyes, then his own. She could still see, but it was like looking through dark glasses. He pressed another combination of buttons, and very bright light flooded her vision. Even with the shields, it made her wince.

Phoebe’s skin tingled and her scalp itched. She happened to catch a glimpse of her hair where it hung down her arm. No longer was it a tangled, stinking mass. It was long, silvery white, and soft as down against her shoulders. The shock and amazement combined with the recent blow to her head made her head spin, and her knees buckled. The man’s strong arms tightened around her, and she gratefully, passively, let him hold her. Her head fell against the hard muscles of his chest. His musky, masculine scent filled her nostrils. She blamed the sudden lightheaded feeling on the blow he’d given her, but she suspected it was her damned woman’s hormones making her drunk. She didn’t believe everything the Hand of God taught, but maybe they were right about this one thing. Maybe women were weak when it came to sex. She should hate this man, or at the very least be terrified of him. After all, he held her life in his hands.

Instead, at this very moment, she wished with all her heart her first impression of this scenario had played out. She wanted to be naked with him. OK, so mostly she just wantedhimnaked. She wanted to feel his skin against her cheek. Would it be smooth, or roughened with hair? The scent of him would be much stronger, of that she was sure. What would he taste like? Would he groan if she reached out with her tongue and laved the pebbled nipple even now stabbing the material of his uniform?

She shivered. When his arms tightened around her, she looked up at him. Gentle compassion shone in his eyes, but there was something else there as well. When Phoebe shifted her position, trying to stand more fully on her own, she realized what that “something else” was.

Lust. Need.

---