“Fuck me,” I groaned. My PAER flashed red, the light reflecting eerily off the freshly cleaned metal corridor walls of the supply space station. “Not again.”

If I lived to tell the tale, I was never going to hear the end of it from my crew. Mr. tall, big, and bald had seemed like he was going to be an easy take down. I tracked him to a nearby supply space station in practically no time at all. I’d thought it was a sign that it was meant to be. I hate when I’m wrong.

Even as my PAER kept flashing red, nothing was happening. Frowning, I craned my neck forward. “Umm … whatcha doin’ there?”

My paycheck gritted his teeth, his hands rubbing together in a circular motion. I was a bit confused by the whole situation. I probably should have been running, but I was transfixed out of curiosity. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be the death of me. After all, I wasn’t a cat and I only had one life, so if curiosity killed me … I was screwed.

“He’s trying to build fire.” A smooth baritone voice tickled my senses, causing the tiny hairs on the back of my neck to lift. Something in my stomach fluttered, but I chose to ignore it.

I blinked rapidly, but didn’t take my eyes off of the scene in front of me. “What?” I muttered.

“I said he’s trying to build fire. You might want to leave before he turns you and your … interesting outfit into ashes.”

“What?” I repeated, annoyance causing my ears to heat. “Did you just insult my clothes?”

I always dressed carefully when on a job. I had a reputation to uphold, after all. Nice clothes meant I was pulling good bounties, which garnered respect. I’d worked my ass off for a long time to get where I was. I had access to top grade bounties. Only a few others had the street cred and connections in the UGFS I did. I was considered the best of the best. Secretly I thought it had a lot to do with how I dressed.

That morning, I’d donned one of the new outfits I’d recently purchased from an Earth museum that was closing down. The curator had assured me it was legitimate nineteenth century Earth clothing, called Steampunk. I was already attached to the look, and thought I looked pretty damn good, too.

A grunt met my ears. “I just warned you about your imminent demise, and you’re worried about your clothes. Well there, sweetheart, I’m thinking you might want to stop—”

I whirled around to face my tormentor, my bounty temporarily forgotten. “Oh, dear God,” I murmured, my eyes widening.

He would have to be attractive, wouldn’t he? His eyes were what caught my attention first. They were a pale blue set behind inky lashes. His dark hair was styled short, as if he took care to cut it often, but he had a few days’ growth on his chiseled jaw. He was a good deal taller than my height of five foot ten, and his arms and chest were corded with lithe muscles. He wore a pair of loosely fitted cargo pants, and a sleeveless shirt. He definitely didn’t take care in what he chose to wear, that was for sure. He was rugged, yet refined in some way, which I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He was stunning, and he put off the vibe that he knew it. His arrogant attitude was palpable, the essence of it rolling off of him in waves.

Everything about him makes me want to punch him in his smug face.

“God? I haven’t heard that term in a long time.” His azure eyes danced with mirth. “A human?”

I ground my teeth together. At least he hadn’t called me a hu-mutt. That was a step in the right direction. “Go away. I’m busy.” I turned my attention back to my bounty—who was no longer there. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, swearing under my breath. My nostrils flared with anger as I slowly turned back around to face Mr. Sexy … and Annoying. “He got away thanks to you.”

“I saved your life, you mean. He would have burned you to a crisp.”

I marched the few feet of distance between us, poking him roughly in the chest with the end of my laser gun. “I should shoot you. You just cost me a lot of money. Maybe I could sell your parts for a chunk of change.”

“He would have—”

“Look, asshat, fire I can handle. He would have been some seriously easy money.”

His full lips curled up into a sneer. “You may think you can handle fire, but—”

I dug my gun harder into his chest. “I said I could have handled it! I—”

My breath lodged in my lungs when his large hand came up to wrap around my wrist. Warmth suffused my system with a sudden intensity, and I gazed up into his blue eyes, which seemed to flicker with flames. The urge to lean into him … to press my mouth to his and rub my body against his … to throw him to the ground and— “What the hell?” I grated, yanking away from him.

But Mr. Sexy and annoying appeared to be as stunned as I was.

It was undoubtedly a ploy.

He pursed his lips, opening his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. A white-hot fury heated my blood. This guy obviously packed some kind of pheromone or seduction power, which he was trying to use on me. Well, I wasn’t having it.

I tapped my finger on the trigger of my gun menacingly, getting his attention. “You stay the hell away from me or I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”

Backing away from him slowly, I kept my gaze locked with his. “I mean it, I will kill you.” I spun on my heel, dashing off to where my ship was docked.

Can my day go any more wrong?

 

 

Stringing together every obscenity I could think of, I stormed onto my ship in a foul mood to rival all foul moods. There was just something about Mr. Sexy and Annoying that had gotten under my skin. It was probably because he’d managed to cost me my bounty, insult me, and I’d still been attracted to him. He must have been packing some serious magic mojo to pull that one off.

I felt violated … and yet still strangely turned on. My skin was flushed, my body humming with need, and I couldn’t get his piercing gaze out of my head. “I should have shot him,” I grumbled, stomping my way towards my living quarters. I was in no mood to see my crew at the moment. I’d let them down. We needed the money and—

“Jane!” Masha, our ship’s engineer, called out to me as I passed the engine room.

I tried to ignore her, but she was really good at getting underfoot, mine in particular. Her tiny five-foot-one frame maneuvered around to stop in front of me, her solid black eyes snagging mine. “We need to talk.”

Sagging with sudden exhaustion, I leaned one arm against the wall for support. I knew exactly what Masha wanted to talk about. “We’ll get the maintenance done as soon as we can. I can’t get blood out of a stone, Masha.”

Her bottom lip quivered. “What happened with the bounty you were supposed to pick up? I thought you said it was going to be eas—”

“Easy money?” I finished for her. “Yeah, I ran into a little … trouble. And now that he knows I’m after him he’s probably already halfway across the galaxy. I’ll just have to find someone else. There are plenty of bounties in the database.”

A single tear crept down Masha’s face. “But you know I—”

“I know, I know.” I flicked my gaze away. If I didn’t see the tears then I couldn’t fall under their thrall. “You get all emotional when things aren’t working right in your engine. Which—let me remind you—is technically my engine since I own this damn ship.” I slid past Masha, continuing on my way up the corridor. “Don’t worry, I’ll go pick someone new now.” And get to hear an earful from Zula while I was at it, I was sure.

Masha had a way of guilting me like no one else could. Guess that one glance already did me in. She looked almost like a human child, or at least she was tiny enough to be one … practically. She was a Guaviva, a species who ‘spoke’ to anything electronic or mechanical. I didn’t understand it exactly, but I did know that Masha had a breakdown every time the ship wasn’t running perfectly, as if it was in pain somehow, and affecting her. She’d come at me with her cherub face twisted up with anxiety, and I’d crack. Every. Single. Time. It was shameful, really. If only she was all scaly and weird looking, then maybe I wouldn’t be so vulnerable to her tears.

“Well, at least you weren’t thrown into a coma.” Zula’s sarcastic remark met my ears before I could even make eye contact. “So what happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened,” I huffed. “Some arrogant asshat got in the way, and my bounty flew the coop.” Leaning against the control panel, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t think it needs to be said, but I’ll say it anyways … we need to find someone else ASAP. Masha is in another one of her states about ship maintenance.”

“She manipulates your human side. Her kind doesn’t have the need to cry when upset. She—”

“Does an amazing job tugging on my human heartstrings, I know. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. What I do want to talk about is who my next victim is going to be.” I turned my attention to the computer screen as Zula pulled up the current database. She scrolled through silently, waiting for me to tell her to—

“Stop!” I exclaimed, practically falling over. I slapped the screen as if it was really his smug face staring back at me, not just an image. “That’s him.” I narrowed my eyes, skimming the information. Ash? His name is Ash? What kind of stupid name is Ash? No second name, surname—no aliases? And— “You have to be fucking kidding me?” I ground my teeth together. He’s a friggin’ Species Class 4.

“What’s with the dramatics?” Zula asked, skimming the information herself. “Where do you know him from?”

“He’s the asshat who got in the way of me collecting the—”

“Other Class 4. Coincidence? Probably not. They were most likely there together. It would make sense that he would distract you from getting his friend so they could both get away.”

“I don’t care. I’m going back out there to track him. Ash’s ass is mine.” Yep, that has a nice ring to it.

Zula sighed, something she did a lot around me. Go figure. “Not this again. Just pick—”

“Nope. He’s the one I’m going after. I’m going to take a quick shower to regroup, and then little ‘just Ash’ isn’t going to know what hit him.”

“You are in rare form, even for you. Are you getting your menstrual cycle? Your human side gets so emotional when—”

“Oh my God! Shut up, Zula! That’s an order from your captain!”

In an even bigger huff than when I’d entered, I stomped out of the control room. Zula thought, with that big brain of hers, she had everything all figured out, even my hormones. The truth was … my human side was confusing, but so was the rest of me. I was the sum of several parts that equaled indecipherable. Even I didn’t know what the hell I was doing most of the time. But at least I’m never boring.