Dusk (Dusk 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

frowning as he mulled over the implications. The sorrowful shake of his head told her he had come to much the same frightening conclusions she had.
    “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but this is a negotiation, not a command. Terra couldn’t order us even if they wanted to.” Merrick turned toward her and wrapped his arms around her.
    Despite herself, she relaxed into his warm, powerful embrace. She breathed in the light scent of his preferred aftershave and the slight spicy note of his sweat. His chest featured only a light tuft of hair right over his breastbone, leading down a fine, soft treasure trail that arrowed under his breechclout. With an appreciative purr, she pressed her lips to one firm pectoral, just above the nipple, and let her tongue flick out to taste his masculine flavor.
    He gasped slightly and pulled her closer. His hands closed around her buttocks, cradling her in a grip as sturdy and unbreakable as carbonized titasteel as he lifted her up to press against his groin.
    “I wanted you so badly the entire time we were in there,” he informed her huskily, dropping his lips to hers.
    She started to reply, but before she could, he invaded her mouth with his tongue. It was a shamelessly barbaric male kiss, the kind that no woman has ever needed interpreted since the dawn of the species. That kiss spelled out “MINE” in letters of flame as he teased her tongue with his.
    Olivia squeaked at his possessive turn, but then melted against him, molding her body to his as best she could. Sometimes she hated Merrick’s territoriality, but in the right mood she found it quite arousing. Between her fear of what the Terrans were really after and her need for comfort, right now she was perfectly willing to let his inner Neanderthal have his way with her.
    Her crotch met the bulge between his thighs, sending a silent scream of need through her entire body as he pulled her closer yet. Even through his breechclout and her attire the hard ridge of his erection stroked at her needy center, coaxing soft waves of damp desire from her.
    She wanted desperately to peel off the scanty strands of fabric and take him right here and now, and to hell with who might see it.
    As if reading her mind, he kissed her once more with lavish craving and then pulled away.
    “We can do better than up against the ’car,” he said with a wink.
    “Oh… okay.” She tried to stop it, but felt her lower lip pooch out into a tiny pout nevertheless.
    He pressed his palm to the entry plate. The hatch slid silently forward to allow access to the pilot compartment. This model was designed to carry only two people, but it did so in unquestionable luxury.
    With a gallant gesture, he suggested she should enter first. She scrambled over the side, leaving her backside exposed and vulnerable for a crucial second. A stinging, playful smack on her rump brought her head up sharply.
    “Hey!”
    “Sorry.” He laughed with all the impish sincerity of a toddler caught noshing on forbidden snacks between meals. “But it’s all your fault, you know.”
    She glanced back at him, raising her eyebrows.
    “Oh, really?”
    “If your ass wasn’t so sexy, I wouldn’t want to touch it.”
    She groaned, considering all the delectable ways he had touched her ass in the past. Another throb of heat shivered deliciously through her lower body.
    “So where are we going?” she asked breathlessly.
    “Away from it all,” Merrick assured her as she sank into the soft, cream-colored leather of the cabin. Once she was secured, he leapt the side like a great cat bounding at its prey and landed precisely in the pilot’s seat. In seconds the repulsor-mag engines whirred as they came online and the canopy slid closed with a faint, sturdy clicking sound.
    She didn’t question his intentions. Olivia had known Merrick since their youngest school days, and the two had alternately driven each other crazy and away in the way of all young children with an attraction to each