Three months she'd stayed away, turning down 'Port Adana bounties for the more dangerous sectors. She needed the money, true, but she needed her sanity more. Her mystery lover was hazardous to her peace of mind. The sex was good, sure. Two years chasing a bounty was hard on a woman.

Her feet carried her to the same bar she'd met him in. When they'd both been running from something.

The tingle along the back of her neck told her that her mystery man was watching her. She met his stare and inhaled in response. Dark hair, like space itself, blended into the shadows. He looked trimmer than the last time she'd seen him. Living on 'Port Adana was as hard on a body as years in space. His gaze caressed her body, making her more aware of herself than she'd been in a long time. Her nipples stood firm against the armored vest she wore. At least that much was kept hidden from his intense perusal.

He walked around her, moving to her back. She balled her fists to keep from spinning. Putting her back to the bar was more dangerous than him at her back. Her gut told her that much. He stepped up behind her, his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.

"You're not registered with Level 8." She could hear the smile in his voice. "No woman matching your description lives in this level."

She grinned. He'd missed her, and done his homework. So her Level 8 cover story was blown. "And you're not a construction worker." She'd checked the moment she got back to her ship.

"I am. I just don't have a work card from 'Port Adana's Construction Guild, so it's all under the table."

"The men who were after you?" She remembered the rush through the corridor, secret panels, and his mischievous grin.

"I was late for my shift."

"Why didn't you go to work?"

"I had other things on my mind."

"Like what?"

"Like getting the fuck of my life."

Her pussy creamed at his confession. "Your place or mine, handsome?" Shock shot through her at the question. Sukin Sin, what the hell was she thinking? Invite him to the ship?

He wrapped his arm around her, tugging her back against his hard chest. The hard ridge of his cock pressed between their bodies. "I remember you saying something about not trusting a man at your back, sweetheart."

She stiffened, pushing away from him and blushing to the roots of her fire red hair for letting her guard down. "Don't get used to it. Besides"--she pressed her hand against the ridge of his cock, stroking the length through the work roughened pants--"I'm equal opportunity with my mistrust. It's not just you, baby." She stroked again, smiling at the way his breath caught. "I trust no one."

She inhaled his musky scent. Achingly long nights of masturbation and cold gel soaks were behind her. Right now, she needed a warm bed, although that was optional. Good food was a definite necessity, as was hard sex. She stroked his length again and grinned. Hard, up against the wall sex.

He wrapped her hand in his and cupped the thick ridge of his cock. "Let's go, sweetheart." His voice wrapped around her like velvet. "I've missed the hell out of that gorgeous pussy of yours."

Alexis shuddered in sweet response, her pussy hot and slick. "You keep talking like that and I'm going to throw you down right here."

He stepped to her side and scanned the smoky room. A dimple flashed in his cheek before he captured her gaze with matching intensity in his stare. "I don't share well. How 'bout you and I go someplace a little more--" he brought their interlocked fingers to his lips, "--comfortable." His lips brushed against the sensitive skin of her wrist before nipping it with his teeth. Alexis gasped, and sizzles of pleasure shot down her arm.

"Comfortable isn't what I had in mind, handsome."

He laughed, switching his hold in order to guide her out of the bar and down the corridor. Her heart pounded with lust and adrenaline. Her breath caught at the simple elegance of his "home." Stark white columns decorated the entrance, reminding her of an old Earth holo she'd watched once.

"It's not much." He shrugged a shoulder.

"How do you make enough money for this?"

He grinned. "Salvage rights. It used to belong to a man you might have heard of. Shane DeAngelo."

Alexis stopped walking, tugging her hand from his grasp. Shane DeAngelo had been the mark she'd brought in after their first round of intense sex. Hell, she'd run from Shane's goons into the bar where she'd met him.

His honey brown eyes crinkled in the corners from a soft smile. "I keep my ear to the ground. It pays off every now and then."

She shrugged a shoulder, brushing off his partial explanation and pretending it didn't matter. Alexis strode through the entrance and smiled at the vast space inside. The pod had been gutted. "It is what it is. You have a nice piece of property here. When the construction strike ends, I'm guessing you'll lose it?"

He glanced around as though absorbing it for later. "I suppose so." He caught her gaze and held it, challenge brimming within. "Want to help me break it in?"

Alexis smiled and pressed against his body. Heat and musk surrounded her and she inhaled it like a drug. "I thought you'd never ask."