Page 308 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Tori

Whatever had possessed me to try to talk to that terrifying Captain—and then outright lie?

I didn’t know. Maybe that whole confrontation with that creepy, gray-skinned guy had gone straight to my head.

I couldn’t believe I’d just handed him Novalee as a diffusion tactic; I’d been scared out of my mind that he and Eoin would come to blows right then and there.

I wasn’t the same person anymore, compared to even just last week.

I’d shot a guy, sung for a bar of lowlifes, chased Eoin all across the Yengar station, and now I’d gone and lied to a mercenary captain.

The Tori from a week ago would have been horrified at all these things—she wouldn’t have believed herself capable of doing any of them.

A single glance at the now peacefully sleeping Novalee in her improvised crib told me all I wanted to know.

If I told her about my adventures when she got older, I’d be proud of myself for doing this.

That’s why I was here, that’s why I’d chased after Eoin when I thought he needed my help, and I’d been right about that.

I wanted her to be proud of me when she grew up, and I wanted her to have the right example: a mom who might sometimes be scared, but who did things anyway.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw how Eoin was pacing back and forth across the small bit of space in front of our bed.

He was clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, metal shimmering down over his fingers to form a knife, only to disappear again.

I’d made him furious by lying as I had, by forcing us into this corner with the mercs.

They’d accepted the job, and now we weren’t flying to Rakex to meet with the Vagabond. We’d altered our course to head for a desolate mining planet on the edge of Kertinal space—a location that was currently at risk of being annexed by the great Kertinal Empire—or so Aramon had gleefully exclaimed.

I’d gotten my wish: we were rescuing those last two humans that Drameil had sold.

The humans he’d taken from that huge, derelict space wreck where we’d found Ariana a few weeks ago.

I knew that was a big win, but I didn’t want us to lose even two of them.

This way, we wouldn’t even have to risk any of my friends in the fight; the mercs were going to do all of that.

We just had to somehow find a way to pay them at the end of the line.

Eoin hadn’t said anything yet, but I was certain he was going to bust my ass for this in a moment.

He hadn’t wanted to involve me in this rescue at all, and now I’d dragged him into a corner.

I felt a little guilty about that because I knew—given his abilities—that he’d be the one to try to find a solution to pay these mercs after the rescue.

A little worm of worry wiggled through my stomach at the thought of how the captain of the Varakartoom might respond when he found out there was no treasure after all.

“Are you going to yell at me or not?” I asked, when Eoin just kept on pacing, and it was starting to drive me a little crazy.

He paused abruptly and looked at me with a glare in his swirling mercury eyes.

He opened his mouth once, then snapped it shut again.

Turning around, he sank down on the mattress, his back facing me, and then he leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

A little worried by the uncharacteristic response, I rushed around the bed to see what was going on. His shoulders were starting to shake, but he couldn’t be crying, he’d been raging mad a moment ago. I didn’t think his emotions could shift that quickly.

Tentatively, I put my hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong? Eoin, are you okay?” I asked. He lifted his hands away from his face, and while his eyes were a little shiny from tears, I realized it wasn’t because he was crying. He bit his thumb to keep his laughter contained, his whole body shaking.

I couldn’t help it, I smiled in response, and since his unexpected mirth was so contagious, soon I was struggling to hold in a laugh, too.

The shared laughter shook something free inside of me, making me feel all warm and tender.

Eoin wasn’t jumping down my throat for what I’d done; he’d held in his anger until he could see things in a better light.

How could I not give this guy a chance after that?

I wasn’t sure if it was me or him who reached for the other, but I found myself pinned to the bed beneath his weight in a position similar to last night’s.

I was definitely the one who dug my hands into his rough hair and yanked him close for a kiss.

He didn’t hesitate at all, his tongue invading my mouth, possessing me.

Eoin was always so confident, so quick with his decision-making, and this was exactly the place where I liked that kind of thing.

“Take off your shirt,” he ordered, a growl threading through his voice that rumbled deliciously.

His hand was pulling on my T-shirt—the only one I currently owned—but he was gentle as he removed it.

Revealing my skin one inch at a time, he dipped his head, breath ghosting across my skin, his tongue swirling into my belly button.

I clutched at his short hair, my nails digging into his scalp, as I arched my spine, eagerly meeting his mouth.

His mouth brushed along the underside of my sensitive, swollen breast and skimmed through the valley between them.

He passed right by my eager nipples to nuzzle at my throat, the sensations heightening when he pulled my shirt over my face and I lost the ability to see.

My body broke out in goosebumps everywhere, a groan spilling from my lips when his tongue swirled into that little dimple at the base of my throat.

“Mmm, I think I’ll keep you just like this, Tally,” Eoin said with an amused tone, the words followed by the scrape of his teeth over the column of my neck.

I hissed in response, pleasure spiking through my abdomen.

Spreading my legs, I hooked them around his lean hips, urging him closer to where I needed him the most.

“Eoin, get on with it,” I said. “You’re such a tease.

” He laughed in response, followed by a tsking sound of disapproval.

His hands closed around my wrists, pinning them above my head, and then, with a few swift movements, my shirt turned from a blindfold into hand restraints.

I struggled against them, but he had me pinned tight.

“No, no, you’re going to lie still for me,” he warned, our eyes meeting in a heated glance.

I groaned, refusing to give up so easily, and wiggled my wrists again to free myself.

He shook his head, those mercury eyes of his stern, and the grip of his hand firm but painless as he pulled my bound wrists up farther.

I couldn’t see what he did, but when his hands came away again, my arms were stretched out above my head, and there was not even a little give.

Arching my spine, I twisted my head to look and was shocked to discover the glint of something metal shackling my wrists, chaining me to the metal wall.

“Bastard!” I exclaimed, but my body was all for this, flushing with arousal, my passage growing slick and wet.

“Oh, but you like it, Tally. You like it very much,” he drawled, and his confidence was like catnip, ratcheting the desire in my body even tighter, higher.

I squirmed beneath his body, unable to help myself.

I kept pulling on that chain, but there was no way to budge it.

Sticking out my tongue at him, I absolutely refused to tell him that he was right.

“You’re a little brat,” he said, grinning from ear to ear as if that fact pleased him.

“I think I need to teach you a lesson. But remember—quiet. You can’t make any noise.

” He dipped his head only when I’d given him a shaky nod, rubbing his face along the slopes of my sensitive breasts, his breath skimming over my skin.

A tooth scraped along the edge of one areola, and I hissed, my spine arching in response, pressing closer.

I bit my lip to keep a moan from escaping, and then hissed instead when I felt his hands working to pull down my pants.

The glide of his warm hands over my hips, down to my knees, and then he purposely seemed to tangle the fabric around my ankles so I could no longer wrap my legs around his hips.

“Perfect,” he murmured, his mouth gliding wetly from between my breasts, over my belly, to swirl his tongue into my belly button.

It tickled, and I squirmed, trying to get away.

“Stay still,” he instructed me. That firm tone of voice just made me squirm more, but for different reasons.

I did the opposite of what he wanted—a trend between us, I was sure—wriggling my hips, trying both to get away from that tickling tongue and to urge him to move on to where I really needed him.

He obeyed at last, but not without giving me a little glare, his hands pinning my hips in place. Then he hooked a knee behind one of mine and spread my legs until I was pinned in place like a butterfly, my ankles stuck together while my knees spread open and pressed into the bed.

Sitting up, he spent a long, interminable moment just staring at my passage—staring until I started to feel heat steal up my cheeks, burning my ears.

That damn blush was even spreading down my chest. I felt like I was blushing from top to bottom.

Why was he staring at me like that? I wanted to close my legs, but he was keeping me pinned open.

His mercury eyes locked onto my cunt like he couldn’t look away.