Shadowed Read online

  “What is it?” she asked. “Are your shoulders aching again? You need another massage?”

  “No. Nothing like that.” He looked both angry and uncomfortable.

  “Well then…” She shook her head. “I can’t help you if you won’t tell me.”

  “I need to use the fresher, damn it,” he finally blurted.

  “The fresher?” Realizations suddenly hit. “Oh, you mean the bathroom.” It must have been all the juice he’d had. Actually, she was beginning to feel the effects herself.

  “Whatever you call it,” he growled. “You’re going to have to uncuff me—now.”

  “I’m sorry.” Nina took a step back from him, her hand going reflexively to the locking mechanism still hidden in her front scrub pocket. “But I don’t trust you—not enough to let you go.”

  “I swear I won’t hurt you,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Nina put a hand on her hip. “And will you promise to fix the ship and take me straight back to Earth if I let you go?”

  Reluctantly, he shook his head. “I can’t promise that, no.”

  “Will you at least trigger the emergency beacon if I let you up?”

  Reddix frowned. “I don’t want interference. If I can fix the ship myself, things will be much…easier.”

  Nina felt cold all over. “Easier for you to take me off to wherever it is you were taking me before we landed,” she snapped. “Easier for you to do…whatever it is you want to do to me.” God, she’d been such a complete idiot, letting herself care about him.

  “Yes,” he admitted heavily. “Exactly.”

  “Then I’m not letting you up.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “You have to,” he growled. “That damn Vanerian sweet juice…” He nodded at the big green bottle, which was still standing on the compact kitchen counter.

  The bottle gave Nina an idea. It wasn’t something that would have occurred to her if she hadn’t been slightly buzzed and feeling brave because of the alien alcohol in her system, but at the minute, it seemed like the perfect solution.

  “Just a minute.” She snapped her fingers. “I can handle this.” Of course, exactly what she was going to have to handle, she didn’t allow herself to think about. She went to rummage in some of the various compartments.

  “What in the Seven Hells are you looking for?” Reddix sounded thoroughly exasperated as she dug through the ship, checking every storage locker and compartment.

  “Gloves.” Nina pulled back from the cabinet she was rummaging in. “Do you know if they have any on a ship like this? Otherwise, I’ll have to touch you with my bare hands, and I know you don’t want that.”

  Not that she exactly wanted it either. But again, she wouldn’t let herself think about it.

  “Where exactly are you planning to ‘touch’ me?” he demanded but just then, Nina found what she was looking for.

  In a small square box with alien writing on it, she found several bottles, tubes, and sprays that looked like medicine. Clearly, it was a first aid kit—something she should have thought about looking for before, when she was cleaning the cut over his eye. Well, she could worry about that later. For now, she hopefully examined the contents of the box. Aside from the medicines, there was also something that looked like a tourniquet made out of snakeskin, some dark blue silky squares that must be the Kindred version of gauze and…

  “Bingo,” Nina muttered to herself, pulling out the thin pair of dark purple gloves. They seemed to be made of the same silky material as the “gauze” patches but they would prevent skin-to-skin contact, which was all she needed. The gloves were much too big for her hands but to her surprise, the minute she put them on, they shrunk to fit as though they’d been made for her. Perfect. Now to do what had to be done.

  But as she turned back to Reddix, he had a mutinous look on his darkly handsome features.

  “What in the Seven Hells do you think you’re doing, sweetheart?”

  “Helping you.” Nina got the empty wine bottle and settled between his legs. “I’ve got on some gloves so you don’t have to worry about skin-to-skin contact. See?” She held up one gloved hand to show him.

  “Skin-to-skin contact isn’t the only thing that bothers me—this is fucking humiliating.” Reddix glared at her. “Just let me up to use the fresher. I swear I’ll come right back and let you cuff me again when I’m finished.”

  “No.” Nina shook her head firmly. “We already ruled that out. Look, I’m sorry—I know this is embarrassing, but look at it from my point of view. You practically admitted you still intend to do me harm, and you won’t even agree to set off the beacon so we can get help—if whoever comes looking can even find us this far out. So this is your only option. Other than wetting your pants.”

  Reddix glared at her but finally nodded. “Fine. But I’m not happy about this, and I promise you, Nina, you’re going to pay for it sometime in the future.”

  Nina felt a shiver run down her spine, but she was determined to stay strong. Lifting her chin, she stared into those blazing silver eyes.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” she said in a voice that wobbled only a little bit.

  Reddix gave a humorless bark of laughter. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.” Then he nodded between his legs. “Well, go on—do it.”

  “Right.” Leaning forward, she started to open the front of his tight black trousers…or tried to, anyway, because the damn things wouldn’t come open. There was no zipper, no buttons—the trousers seemed to be seamless.

  Nina was beginning to feel panicky, and the buzz she’d had earlier from the Vanerian sweet juice was almost gone, taking her bravado along with it. She could sense Reddix’s growing impatience as she fumbled around, feeling like a complete fool.

  “Goddess damn it,” he swore at last, “You’re going to give me a whole other problem if you keep on like that.”

  “I’m sorry…” Nina glared at the pants as though she could force them to part with the strength of her irritation. “They just…won’t open.”

  “They have magnetic tabs. Just run your finger along the inside edge and you’ll see.”

  Nina did as he said, unable to help noticing how rock-hard his abs were as she ran her fingers along the inside of his trousers. His skin was warm against the back of her fingers, and she tried very hard not to come in contact with anything she shouldn’t. She felt kind of like an inept actress in a porno vid—a low budget one that wasn’t very good. Finally, she located the tiny, hidden row of magnetic tabs he’d told her about and was able to pull his trousers open.

  In the back of her mind she’d been wondering what kind of underwear Kindred wore. Now she could see the answer was…none. At least, in Reddix’s case.

  “Oh…my,” she muttered as his shaft was abruptly revealed. Even only half hard it was bigger and thicker than anything she’d ever seen before—and that included Mitch’s equipment, which he had been extremely proud of.

  “Well?” Reddix demanded, and she realized she’d just been sitting there, staring at him. “Are you going to do this or not?”

  “I…of course. Of course, I am.” Feeling like an idiot, she reached between his legs. I can do this, she reminded herself desperately, despite her growing embarrassment. I can do this—I’ve done it before. Which was true—she’d helped patients to use a male urinal before when she worked in the nursing home. But all of those men had been old and feeble and mostly out of it. None of them had been huge muscular Kindred warriors glaring at her while she handled their…business.

  She forced herself to take his hot, hard length in her gloved hand, noting as she did that she could scarcely wrap her fingers around it. God, he was huge all over! She felt really sorry for whatever girl had to accommodate this—it was simply too big. It seemed to pulse in her hand and she felt like a porn actress all over again.

  “Hey—are you gonna jerk me off or help me out?” Reddix growled.

  “I…uh…” Nina’s face was so hot she felt li