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  He gave her a hard “don’t fuck with me” look then stared away across the garden.

  Leelah sipped her chamti, the jolt of caffeine finishing the job of waking her up. She ate another grape and breathed in a lungful of the fresh morning air as she considered her next move. “Look, Ja-hun. This standing while I sit makes me feel like some kind of princess. Please, sit down on the bench. I swear I won’t flirt any more or touch you at all. Just sit. Please.”

  Again, reluctantly, as though his feet were beyond his control, he walked to the bench and sat. She felt the warmth of his body and smelled the woodsy cologne he wore. “What is that scent?” she asked.

  “What scent?”

  “That you’re wearing.”

  “I don’t have anything on.” He paused. “The air of my room is infused with mashiki.”

  “That’s it.” Her own room was infused with sandalwood, an OldEarth fragrance she particularly liked. Maybe she’d have to switch to mashiki for a while. “I like it.”

  “No flirting,” he reminded her, and there was a ghost of a smile on his hard mouth.

  She smiled back. “Not flirting, just making an observation. Tell me more about you, about where you’re from and what brought you here.”

  “You don’t want to know.” The ghost-smile disappeared.

  “Yes, I do or I wouldn’t ask. Trust me, you can’t shock me. I already suspect the worst. I imagine you haven’t always been a bodyguard. I imagine you’ve been hired to kill people in the past. Maybe you’re trying to leave that life behind now.” She laughed. “Or maybe you’ve been sent to kill me, although I think you would have accomplished it by now.”

  There wasn’t a glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he stared back at her.

  “You don’t have much of a sense of humor, do you? I don’t think you’ve laughed since I met you.”

  He remained silent.

  “Okay, so you don’t want to talk about your work history. I get that. How about family history? Where do you come from originally?”

  He paused so long she thought he wasn’t going to answer that question either; then he suddenly spoke. “OldEarth.”

  Her eyes widened. “No shenje? Like directly from OldEarth? My father’s ancestors came from there. They were among the first to colonize NewEarth, but that was so many generations ago I can’t count them. I’ve never met anyone who was actually from OldEarth. What’s it really like? The vids show it as a wasteland.”

  “The vids are right,” he answered quietly.

  “Go on. Tell me more.” Goddess, she was getting tired of having to prod every word from his mouth.

  “I come from a place on OldEarth called Japan. An island and one of the few places people still exist. They live crowded together in all the safe zones across the planet. There’s not enough work, not enough food or water, not enough anything.”

  “Why don’t they leave?” Leelah couldn’t imagine staying in such conditions.

  “Can’t afford to fly out. Those who stayed behind when the migrations began were the very poorest, and life didn’t get any better for them over the next generations. Residents of OldEarth are the forgotten people.” His tone was level and emotionless. The shutters had drawn over his eyes again.

  She’d heard this about OldEarth, but never firsthand. “How did you get off-planet?”

  “Stowed away on a carrier that dropped care supplies from the Free Worlds. By the time I was discovered, we were nearly to NewEarth. For a few moments, I was sure the captain was going to jettison me with the garbage, but he decided to let the authorities deal with me when we got to port. I managed to get away before I could be arrested.” He smiled. “NewEarth was a shock, to say the least. I’d never imagined anything like it ‑‑ so much of everything anyone needed.”

  Leelah felt a wave of guilt at the awe in his voice. She took everything she had for granted, but realized Ja-hun still carried inside him a kernel of that half-starved boy, amazed at the riches around him.

  “Without an ID card, I couldn’t get work, not legal work anyway, which was how I stumbled into my first profession ‑‑ taking care of problems for criminal types.”

  Hired killer. She’d been half kidding when she’d said it, but now knew she was sitting next to a man who had murdered people. Actually killed other humanoid beings. A little chill went through her at the realization.

  “I finally decided I’d had enough of that life and went to work for Crin-tai, but guarding him entailed some of the same tasks I was trying to avoid. Now I’m here.”

  “Guarding me and my father. He must really think we’re in danger to hire…” She left the words “a killer” unsaid.

  “Someone like me,” he finished. “Yes. The threats he’s received suggest this organization or person knows details about your lives only a member of your household or someone who’s been doing intensive surveillance could know.”

  A chill went through her. A spy in her own home! Someone’s been watching me. “No one told me this.”

  “Your father didn’t want you to be frightened.”

  “Well, I am now! Goddess, I would’ve been nicer to you if I’d known this.” She flashed him a smile. “Or maybe not. You’re kind of fun to harass.”

  His lips curved slightly. She wanted to turn it into a full smile. “You’re kind of fun to do a lot of things with.” She set her breakfast plate and cup on the ground and leaned toward Ja-hun, placing a hand on his thigh. The action didn’t make his smile grow wider. Instead it disappeared. He started to rise.

  “Oh, come on. I like you. You like me. We’re both adults. Why can’t we indulge ourselves a little? Besides, if I’m with you, I’m completely safe, right? So you’ll still be doing your job.”

  He grabbed her hand, but instead of thrusting it away, he held it. “Leelah…”

  “I know you think I’m a bored, spoiled rich girl, who just wants to have a fling with the hired help, but that’s not what this is.” She grasped his strong, hard hand, pressing it with her fingers, and gazed directly into his eyes, willing him to listen. “I swear to you, I’ve never come on to one of my bodyguards before, never imagined doing that, but with you… There’s something between us, and you know it, too. Can’t you feel it?”

  Ja-hun paused before nodding once. “Which is all the more reason I need to keep my distance.”

  “You’re afraid of falling in love?” There! She’d said the word, put it out there for his examination and hers. Was love even possible when they’d only known each other a few days and had, apparently, absolutely nothing in common besides a healthy sex drive?

  He pulled his hand away. “I’m afraid of you developing a crush on a man who’s totally inappropriate for you.” He rose from the bench.

  Leelah did, too, blocking his getaway. “Why don’t you let me worry about that?” She moved in close to him, chest to chest, her head tilted back so she could look into his eyes. Her hands slid around his lower back and rested there. “If my heart gets broken later, I’ll deal. I’m a strong woman. But for now, come with me. I want to show you an even more private place in my garden.”

  “Ah, Leelah.” The sound of her name was a soft caress falling from his lips, and she knew she’d won this round. He allowed her to take his hand and lead him along the stone path to the small gazebo in the cool shade of the Baalong tree’s branches.

  In the shelter of the building, Leelah threw her arms around Ja-hun’s neck. “I’m irresistible, aren’t I?”

  “You know you are.” He held her tightly, his hands cupping her bottom. “And I’m weaker than I ever knew.”

  “I admire weakness in a man when it works in my favor,” she teased, rising up on her toes to reach his mouth. She kissed him and didn’t have to work at getting him to respond this time. His mouth meshed with hers, as hot and hungry as it had been last night. Already, his movements and the taste and feel of his mouth were familiar to her. She loved the way he kissed, long, slow strokes of his tongue that made her think abo
ut what else he could do with it.

  Relaxing against him, she gave herself up to the pleasure of his mouth and the strength of his arms. If they did nothing but stand here, kissing all day, it would be fine with her. But she felt his cock pressing against her and wanted to examine it as she hadn’t done last night. She pushed him back toward one of the wicker chairs in the gazebo. “Sit.”

  He obeyed without protest, dropping into the rattan chair and pulling her onto his lap at the same time. She played with his hair and kissed his forehead, eyelids, cheekbones, and jaw. She kissed all over his face and then his neck as she loosened his tie. “You really need to stop wearing these things.”

  She would’ve taken off his shirt, but he stopped her unbuttoning hands. “This isn’t the place for that.”

  “Is it the place for this?” Slipping off his lap to kneel before him, she reached for his waistband. Before he could stop her, she had his cock out.

  He sucked in a breath. “Shenje! You can’t do that here.”

  “Yes, I think I can.” She pushed his knees farther apart and moved between them. “You’re the guard. Keep a lookout for people, and I’ll tend to this.” His erection was thick and hard in her encircling fist. It slid smoothly against her palm as she stroked it. She bent her head and licked across the soft head, sampling the salty, musky flavor before engulfing it in her mouth.

  “Shenje,” he cursed again under his breath, but sure as hell didn’t push her away.

  Her pussy felt swollen and tender; the lips ached and clenched with desire. Leelah enjoyed giving blowjobs. She liked the power it gave her over a man, watching him go helpless with pleasure from her touch. She loved the groans and gasps men made when she brought them off with her mouth, the same yet somehow different from the sounds they made during intercourse.

  She sucked hard while pumping the lower part of his shaft. Then she pulled her mouth off, releasing his glistening, wet length. She looked up into his face and extended her tongue to lick with a broad, flat stroke all the way up his cock. Ja-hun’s eyes were darker than ever. They were mere slits as he gazed at her. His lips parted, and a harsh breath blew from between them. He reached out his hand and touched the side of her head. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

  His softly spoken words made a fresh gush of juice well from inside her. She smiled at him, then resumed sucking, taking all of him into her mouth again and swallowing as deeply as she could. While pumping up and down, she reached between his thighs with her other hand and fondled his sac, rolling his balls lightly between her fingers.

  His hips lifted as he thrust into her mouth, and his fingers tangled in her hair, holding her head more firmly. He groaned, and his cock swelled even larger, if that was possible. She recognized the signs of a man about to come and stroked him faster, sucked harder for several moments.

  “Be-na-jay,” he choked, gripping her head and bucking his hips. He froze and she felt spurts of cum on the back of her tongue. She swallowed and pumped a few more strokes until she was sure he was finished and then let his depleted cock slip from her mouth.

  Ja-hun’s head fell back against the top of the chair. His chest rose and fell with his panting breaths, and he mumbled another quiet curse she didn’t recognize.

  She grinned as she tucked his softening member into his pants and zipped him up. Straddling his lap again, her knees pressed between his hips and the wicker, she took his face between her hands and looked down at him. His eyes opened and gazed into hers.

  “I just knew you weren’t as cold as you act. In fact, you’re quite the firecracker,” she teased. She kissed his lips lightly. “Isn’t this a whole lot better than keeping your distance? Better for your mental health, too.”

  He sighed and hugged his arms around her back. “What am I going to do with you?”

  “You really want to know? I have some ideas.” She wiggled against him. “Maybe you can return the favor.”

  He glanced past her at the sunny garden beyond the shade of the tree and the sheltered gazebo. “In your room.”

  She pictured his resolve firming and him pulling away from her again by the time they got into the house. “No. Right here. I think it’s sexier. It feels a little dangerous and adds an edge, knowing someone might catch us. Do me here.”

  “Then you have to keep an eye out.”

  “Like you did?” she scoffed, knowing he’d completely lost himself in the blowjob and hadn’t once checked for interlopers.

  Rising from the chair with her in his arms, he set her on her feet. “If I’m going to do this, I want you to stand over here, reach over your head, and hold onto that column.” He positioned her against one of the supports of the hexagonal gazebo with her arms above her head. It elongated her body and thrust her chest out.

  He stepped back for a moment and just looked at her. “Yeah, like that.” Then he crouched before her and moved her legs shoulder width apart. “And like that.” He sat back and regarded the effect.

  She felt like a prisoner tied to a post, but in a sexy, good way. She arched her back a little more, making her tits jut further.

  With a quick glance at the garden, Ja-hun lifted the hem of her skirt and tucked it into the waistband, revealing the scrap of emerald green underwear covering her crotch. He pulled them down her legs, and she stepped out, first one leg then the other, before resuming her spread position.

  Her pussy had been pulsing steadily throughout the blowjob and now, exposed to his view, it ached even more. Her body begged to be filled, clenching and releasing until wetness rolled down her inner thigh. The sight of Ja-hun kneeling before her, his gaze fixed on her sex sent a fresh wave of lust through her. The anticipation of being touched and licked made her thighs tremble, and the helpless feeling of having her arms pinned above her head added to the excitement.

  Her hips thrust forward invitingly. Ever so slowly, Ja-hun leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her cleft. She sucked in a breath and resisted the urge to thrust against his mouth. Holding perfectly still, she waited to see what he would do next.

  He took his mouth away from her pussy and licked the inside of one thigh then the other. His finger traced around her vagina, then brushed over her labia and in between with teasing delicacy until her body quivered.

  “Lick me. Please!” Her eyes were nearly closed. She gripped the post hard and pressed her back against it, thrusting her hips toward him while still keeping her feet planted.

  A smile glimmered across his mouth, and then he leaned toward her again. He framed her cunt between his hands and licked up her seam and over her clit. He tickled it with the tip of his tongue, then licked it with broad strokes until her thighs trembled and she could barely keep her stance. He gripped her thighs, holding her steady, and burrowed his face deeper between them, probing his tongue into her opening as far as he could reach.

  For a moment, he pulled away from her, licking his lips, his avid eyes still trained on her sex. She loved the way he looked almost feral in his intensity, like a ravening beast that might devour her.

  Leelah remembered then to take a quick glance at the meandering path, which led past their Baalong tree. No one was coming, but she thought she heard footsteps on the path around the bend. “Hurry. Finish me off,” she whispered. “Now!” The fear of discovery had her adrenaline pumping, heightening all her senses. When Ja-hun licked her this time, it took only a few strokes of his tongue to bring her to orgasm.

  Bucking wildly, she stifled the yell that rose to her lips, and then, before she was even finished, she let go of the post and reached down to push Ja-hun’s head away from her crotch, almost knocking him off his knees. Leelah dropped to a crouch beside him as the crunch of footsteps on gravel grew louder and a flash of color showed between the green leaves of the Baalong. She grabbed her panties from the floor and threw them underneath a shrub growing beside the gazebo before smoothing her skirt into place.

  “Wipe off your mouth,” she said to Ja-hun, indicating his shining lips and chin. “
There it is,” she said loudly for the benefit of the person on the path.

  She stood up as her father approached the gazebo. “Ja, Daddy. Found my earring that’s been missing.” She indicated her dangling hoop.

  Ja-hun rose to his feet, his tie still askew, but his pants fastened. “Good afternoon, sir. Beautiful gardens.”

  “Yes. I love to walk here whenever I’m able.” He mounted the steps to join them. “Being in nature calms me. It reminds me of how many of mankind’s problems are self-created and ultimately unimportant. It’s too bad everyone can’t see that so they’d quit inflicting harm on others.”

  “Nicely put, Dad. I knew there was a reason you were leader of the Free Worlds.” Leelah wrapped an arm around his waist and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder and hoping he couldn’t smell sex on her.

  “Well, until we all agree to leave each other alone, somebody has to juggle things. Ja-hun, I’d like to talk to you about security at tonight’s event. Leelah, I’ll talk to you later about some of the people I need you to dazzle tonight. You’re the best at it.”

  “I know.” She accepted her dismissal with equanimity, although she’d like to have Ja-hun to herself a little longer. “Okay, I’ll go make sure I’m ready for tonight.”

  As she walked the path to the house, she laughed aloud over the close call. She had no doubt Ja-hun was going to snap right back into his shell like a turtle over this with his mantra of “We shouldn’t. We mustn’t. I can’t. It’s wrong.”

  But now she knew she had a sway over him that was almost magical. He wouldn’t be able to refuse her entreaties for long, especially not when he saw her in the dress she had picked out for tonight’s gala.

  Chapter Five

  Ja-hun was busy the rest of the day, going to the venue and checking out the tight security measures, as well as making mental notes about the building, the exits, and the possible places a sniper could be concealed and still hit a target like Leelah before she entered the building.