Keer held her close as he made his way purposefully through the people still thronging the marketplace. Looking down at the slightly flushed cheeks and the tousled golden hair, he couldn’t help the feeling of tenderness that welled up inside him. She was such a fighter—so determined to do exactly what she wanted. In any other subordinate he would see that quality as something to stamp out—after all, she couldn’t follow orders if she was constantly going off on her own. But with Sergeant Tabitha Bryce, he saw an independence that won him over despite himself. She moved him to emotions he had never felt before—had never allowed himself to feel. Keer frowned at that thought. That wasn’t such a good thing, to be honest. He shouldn’t let her affect him this way—shouldn’t let her bring his chained and hidden feelings to the surface where they could pose a threat to himself and others.
He honestly didn’t know what had gotten into him that afternoon. Certainly the whipping had been out of line. True, she had been about to blow their cover and she’d probably deserved every lick of the belt he’d given her, but he should have given those licks coolly and unemotionally. Instead she’d gotten him so red hot with anger it had been all he could do to temper the blows so he didn’t hurt her too badly. And then when he’d held her in place by forcing his fingers into her pussy…
Shouldn’t have done that, he told himself angrily. Shouldn’t have wanted to do that. And yet he had and he’d enjoyed it. The feel of her slick inner walls gripping his fingers as he held her and the way her cunt had gotten so wet as the whipping progressed…damn, just the thought of it had him hard all over again. He had to stop, had to get control of himself where this particular junior officer was concerned. Once they got back to the Pride of Justice, he was going to have to resume their former impersonal relationship. He was Zentorian, after all, and if he couldn’t control his emotions around one small female, he might as well hang up his uniform and quit Intergal completely.
He wouldn’t touch her again, he promised himself. Wouldn’t call her to his room and take his captain’s privilege with her beautiful body no matter how badly he wanted to. Things would just go back to normal and he would ignore her as he had before. Except for a formal reprimand on her record, of course, she deserved at least that much for her rash and reckless actions.
Just as he was resolving to put more distance than ever between them, Tabitha stirred in his arms and the silvery cords around her ripe nipples tightened, causing her to moan in her sleep. Keer stared at the erotic sight and shook his head. There was only one problem with his plan, he realized as he reached the end of the forbidden zone and began the trek back toward the interstellar ship docks.
She still wore the Drusinian love knots and he was the only man in the galaxy who could remove them.
SIX
“Sergeant Tabitha Bryce to the captain’s quarters. Sergeant Bryce to the captain’s quarters at once.”
Tabitha heard the announcement from inside her tiny shower stall where she was currently trying for the umpteenth time to remove the cord that was looped around her body.
“Ouch! Damn it—ouch, ouch, ouch!” she growled as she tried to peel even a little piece of it away from her right breast. But it was useless—she’d been trying for three days, ever since they’d gotten back to the ship. The damn Drusinian cord was still firmly in place even after hours of scrubbing, first in a sonic shower and then in a forbidden water shower. She fully expected to get in trouble for breaking water restrictions since they were currently in deep space but she didn’t care. If only she could get the maddening cords off her body it would be worth any punishment the captain could think up. Well, almost any punishment, she reminded herself, thinking of the whipping he’d given her in the marketplace.
Once they’d gotten back to the Pride of Justice, she had fully expected a more formal punishment than the one he had given her while they were planet-side but to her surprise, it didn’t come—not even in the form of public humiliation. To her great relief, Captain Keer had wrapped her in his purple merchant robes before carrying her aboard the ship. He’d walked down the main hallway, ignoring curious glances from the other crew members, and simply put her down on the bunk in her own quarters. He hadn’t said another word as he turned and left.
It had been three days since then and though the other crew had been giving her sidelong looks ever since, Captain Keer hadn’t said a word to her. It was as if he was determined to go back to their former stilted relationship—or maybe she should call it a non-relationship, Tabitha thought grimly. As though none of the heat that had passed between them at the slave auction or his anger at her defiance and the subsequent whipping he had given her had ever happened.