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“Third person. Classy.” She touched his shoulder, pulled herself up, and kissed him. He remained there, warm and still, and then his lips shaped to hers, and she tasted his breath then the sting of his tongue against hers.

Knowing that Rath was venomous and feeling it were different. Her head spun, and she clung to him as her body took the venom and turned it to heat in her veins.

It was quite the first kiss.

Chapter Five

Riley was panting asthe burn moved through her. Rath held her close in a chair cut for his back while she whined and twisted.

He stroked her hair and kissed her head, shoulders, and hands. “Ranna never stung you?”

“No, it came under sexual activity, and that wasn’t in our contract.”

“It is in ours.”

“I noticed. What is the venom doing?”

“Oh, that wasn’t the venom. That was the start of the nanites. There will be more, but I thought I would start small. I must say, I am really looking forward to continuing to explore you.”

She looked at him and saw a drop of shining liquid at the corner of his mouth. “Are you drooling?”

He grinned, and she saw that the drops were coming from his teeth.

She touched his lips and covered the deadly dentition. “Oh. Let’s just put those away.”

He laughed. “We are going to dinner in the captain’s quarters. I will pick something for you to wear. The Sisters will be joining us.”

“Nothing too slutty. I thought you only brought the two outfits from Ranna.”

“There are these things called fabricators. I ordered clothing for you the moment you made contact with the Sisters.”

She focused on anything other than the hormone riot inside her. “When is dinner?”

“In fifteen minutes. It takes ten to walk there.”

“You are a monster.” Riley narrowed her eyes at him.