Gladiator's Prize Read Online Free PDF Page A

choice. She’d always been fairly ambivalent about sex, but not now.
    “I’ve been attracted to men before,” she said hesitantly.
    “I really don’t need to hear that.”
    She laughed.
    “But that was nothing compared to this—it’s more than just attraction. I want to eat you, or something. Like candy.”
    He groaned, and dropped his head back against the pod’s couch.
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    “I really, really didn’t need to hear that,” he muttered. “You have a way of driving a man crazy.”
    K’rilla opened her mouth to defend herself, but the pod stopped smoothly and the door slid open. She pulled away from him. A uniformed sentry, very young, stood at attention when he saw them. He swallowed nervously and she offered him a slight smile, feeling compassion for the youth. He couldn’t be more than eighteen at most.
    Darius acknowledged him with a tight nod as he pulled K’rilla to her feet, walking her over to an armored hatch. Darius placed his hand on the access plate and the door slid open.
    “This is our cabin,” he said, and for the first time she sensed uncertainty in him, as if he might be worried what she’d think. She walked in cautiously, curious about his living space. She recognized it from the ship’s schematics, of course. Even the admiral had little more than a three-room suite, with one of the rooms serving as a conference area for his executive officers. But it surprised her all the same. The walls were bare metal, the furniture completely utilitarian.
    Empty of any comfort.
    “Do you have another residence planetside?’ she asked.
    “No.”
    “It’s very sparse,” she said after a long pause.
    “I live to fight, this is just the place I do it in,” he replied. She looked back at him, studying his face. The man’s profile was grim, frightening, and she understood all too well why the Imperials feared him so much. He looked like a killing machine, a sculpted god of war who inexplicably found himself in human form.
    A lonely god, K’rilla realized.
    She hated seeing him like that, although there was no rational reason for her to care so much. Maybe he was right. If they were lifemates, that would explain it. Could it really be possible? Lifemates? Her traitorous body whispered that it was true.
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    Of course, they wouldn’t be fully joined until they shared their bodies.
    Only one way to find out for sure, K’rilla realized. She took a deep breath, willing herself to stay strong and brave.
    “Where’s the bed?”
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Chapter Three
    Saul hadn’t realized how nervous he was until she asked her question. They had to be the most beautiful words he’d ever heard—they certainly came from the most beautiful mouth he’d ever seen. He imagined it wrapped around his cock, almost losing control.
    Damn.
    He opened his mouth to answer her and thought better of the move. He didn’t want to do anything to startle or scare her, not after she’d surprised him like this. Instead he pointed toward the hatch. She gave him a smile that trembled ever so slightly. This was hard for her, but she was ready and willing to give them a try.
    I am the luckiest man in Saurellian space.
    She turned and walked toward the hatch, her hips swaying unconsciously, every motion sensual and glorious. The woman had curves, no doubt about that. She wasn’t heavy, but there was enough of her to give a man something to hold on to. Saul wondered how she’d gotten to her age without another man claiming her, then decided not to follow that mental path. The last thing he needed was to imagine her with another man. Just the hint of it sent his pulse pounding and his vision blurred with the fierce anger he’d only ever felt during battle. Double damn. He’d have to watch his instincts very carefully, until they were safely mated and his biochemistry changed.
    And how amazing that change would be…
    Not only was she stunning and sexy and perfect, but she held the key to an