Driven Read online

  "Hell, yeah." She didn't sound afraid. She sounded gleeful. "I'm going to pound some vagrant ass."

  Del admired her attitude, but wasn't quite sure about her aptitude. "You ever pounded someone's ass before?"

  Linna tilted her head to catch his gaze. "Not exactly, no. But I'm willing to try."

  The trio had drawn closer while they talked, but hadn't yet attacked. Del didn't know what they were waiting for. He cut his glance from side to side, searching for the possibility they had other friends lying in wait to pounce from behind. The servbot whistled, but waited for them.

  "Linna, I know you're strong and fast, but if you don't know--"

  "Shut up, Del." Linna's voice was calm. She raised her fists higher. "I meant it when I said I wouldn't let anyone hurt me again."

  "And the part about killing you? I don't want that to happen."

  "Don't worry," she said as the trio of shadows suddenly leaped forward. "It won't."

  She didn't wait for them to come to her, and once again, Del admired her strength. She did the same leap, hands-over-feet, that she'd performed on the rooftop. It took her one revolution, landing on her feet again, to reach the first assailant, and her fist punched out and connected with the guy's head.

  Del muttered a curse and waded in, holding back his punches until he could get close to the two other muggers. One, two, his fists shot out and connected with their black-clothed bodies. Their knives flashed. He ducked and wove.

  After a minute, he forgot to worry about whether or not Linna needed help, because it was clear as plazglass that whatever she didn't have in training, she more than made up for in enthusiasm. She moved like a whirlwind, dropping low to kick and punch and leaping over her attackers' heads in jumps Del could only marvel at.

  In less than a few minutes, the three who'd attacked them retreated with shouted threats and curses. Del's arm stung from a knife slash--a lucky hit--and he pressed his fingers against the blood.

  The bot whistled at them again and shone its spotlight toward them. Linna laughed out loud, her hair tangled and her face smudged, but her smile brilliant.

  "Go on, get out of here!" she shouted as the would-be thieves ran away into the night. She turned to Del, her expression growing serious. "You're hurt."

  "Nah. It's nothing." He pressed harder to stop the flow of blood. "Just a scratch."

  "Don't be silly." She came closer. In the light from the bot, the blood shone a garish red like paint. Linna hissed at the sight. "We should get that bandaged."

  "Let's get to the hanger first. I'll be okay."

  She clicked her tongue against her teeth. "You said it yourself. We don't know how much further it will be. Just let me bind it up."

  He agreed, not willing to argue about it. The cut stung like a benizona, anyway, but though it bled a lot it was shallow and not serious. He'd need to clean it soon. He didn't doubt germs on the thug's knife could cause quite an infection.

  Del watched Linna's nimble fingers tear a strip from the sleeve of her jumpsuit. She tied up the wound on his forearm, then lifted it to her mouth and put a gentle kiss there.

  Their eyes met and locked. Her smile faltered and her tongue swiped across her lips. Her fingers tightened gently on his arm, then slid down to interlock with his.

  "All better?" she said in a husky tone he recognized all too well.

  Damn, he wanted to kiss her again. Del moved toward her, almost imperceptibly. Just as slightly, Linna moved back. Her fingers stroked his in a lingering caress before she pulled back.

  "Let's go," she said.

  Chapter 6

  Linna had never been inside a spaceship hangar before. She stepped through the door after the servbot, Del close behind her. The hangar bustled with activity. Ships of all sizes and varieties lined the metal walls. Their crews came and went, shouting out orders, loading and unloading supplies. Boxes and cartons piled high in every free spot on the stained concrete floor.

  "Which one do you think we're supposed to go to?" she asked Del.

  The servbot rolled without pause through the crowd, skirted a towering stack of crates, and beeped at them to follow. They did. Linna half-expected to feel the weight of many gazes upon her, but the spacers in the hanger seemed to have adopted the Newcity motto of being busy attending their own business.

  The ship the bot led them to was larger than most of the others and parked just outside the hangar's open doorway. Lots of the other ships looked like accidents waiting to fall out of the sky, but this one was clean and shining, seemingly in good repair. Linna let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding.

  "Doesn't look too bad," Del said from her side. "That's a DPF-1024. Nice cruiser. Looks like it's been adapted for cargo more than a pleasure craft. And it'll have deep space capability, which means it can take us almost anyplace in the universe."

  "You know a lot about ships," Linna said.

  Del laughed and shook his head. "Transportation is kind of a hobby of mine."

  He was making a joke and Linna laughed, but it made her realize there was still a wealth she didn't know about him. What had he been before becoming a hovertaxi driver? She watched him stride toward the ship, the limp from his injured ankle barely noticeable unless you knew to look for it. Watching him was no hardship on the eyes that was for sure.

  Looking at the way his taut, firm ass filled out the back of his trousers made her cheeks heat. The curves of his back and shoulders were clearly outlined in the thin material of his dirty white shirt, but she didn't need to see beneath it to remember the way his skin rippled with muscle when he moved. She shook herself. Horny bitch. Enough. There was no use in torturing herself.

  He'd stepped up to one of the crew members, not a small man, but Del still towered over him. The crewman said something Linna didn't catch. Del pointed at the ship. He smiled, and the expression took her breath away.

  Stop it! she chastised herself. This was useless. Getting herself all hot and bothered when there could be nothing to it, in the end, but hurt feelings. She was smarter than that.

  Tell that to my clit, she thought with a shake of her head. That part of her body seemed determined not to forget about they way Del tasted, the way he felt pressed against her, the scent of him. She might be able to tell her mind to think whatever she wanted to, but her body seemed set on telling her to fuck herself. Or fuck Del, which sounded much better.

  She gave herself a firm mental shake. They were going to get off this planet and head for God-of-Choice only knew where. From then on, it would be up to her to decide where she went and what she was going to do when she got there. She'd better start thinking more about that and less about Del's ass and abs and thighs and....

  "God-of-Choice!" she muttered as Del, still talking to the crew member, turned to point toward her. She strode toward them, telling herself to get control.

  She forced her tone light. "All set?"

  "You got to talk to the captain," said the man in Universal. It took Linna's ears a few seconds to adjust from Newcity English to the new language.

  Now she was closer, Linna could see he had a third eye in the middle of his forehead. It winked at her. She kept her face neutral, not having any idea about the man's species and not sure if he was flirting or threatening.

  "Where is he?" Del asked, also in Universal.

  The man laughed. All three of his eyes rolled alarmingly. "Let me get the captain for you."

  He turned and climbed the silver ladder into the belly of the ship. As his feet disappeared, Linna turned to Del. He scruffed the top of his head, where the hair had begun to grow again in dark spikes. It'll be rough, like his cheeks where the beard stubble is showing, she thought, then gave another mental curse.

  She couldn't stop looking at him like he was a meal and she was starving. Well, she was starving. Linna chuckled out loud.

  Del gave her an amused look. "What?"

  She pressed a hand to her rumbling belly. "I'm so hungry I could eat a bowl of Thandlussian jel