Stealing My Heart Read online

  Drew grinned. Pirates. Everybody loved pirates. Dang. Not working. The blue-eyed blond on his knees gripped his hips, holding him closer and Drew grunted. It felt good…but he was too distracted. Will was making sounds which indicated that he was thoroughly enjoying his efforts. Dammit. He was hard as hell, but Will was not bringing him any closer. He needed to free his mind, but there was too much going on in his head. He didn’t understand why in hell they couldn’t find it. Pagnotella was a top notch navigator. She had always located her target. But for some damnable reason, they’d been going around in circles for the last three days.

  Will came off his cock just as Drew was thinking of redecorating in French provincial. “Drew?”

  Drew’s dark eyes snapped opened.

  Will was sitting back on his heels. “Is there something I’m not doing? You usually enjoy this.”

  Drew scowled, reaching down to pull up his pants. “Forget it. I thought it would help me relax. Bad timing, I guess. How’s Pagnotella doing with her recalibration?”

  “I don’t know,” Will sighed and got up off his knees, wiping his mouth. “You want me to go check?”

  “Yeah, and I need to know how many gallons we have on board. The Lukinites have an order in for thirty, and we haven’t even delivered what we promised to Mars yet.”

  “Aren’t we making a stop on Devon?”

  “No. They’ve decided not to sell to us anymore. I think they’re trying to go solo. They have no idea what in hell they’re getting into. The Feds will be onto them soon enough. Anyway, most likely we’ll have to go back to the reservoir on Diamond Crest for a pit stop before delivery.”

  Will looked apprehensive. “I hate going there, especially this time of year. Those caves are so volatile.”

  “That’s what we’re paid for, to go where others fear to tread. Now, go do what I asked you to. I’ve got a communication to do.” He grinned. “And my cock’s gonna want a rematch with that beautiful mouth…and…ah…maybe that hot ass, so don’t go far.”

  Will’s beautiful mouth twitched into an involuntary grin and he disappeared through the automatic sliding door without another word.

  Drew threw himself into his chair and flipped on the giant screen in front of him. He pressed the keyboard on his desk. Immediately, Lukins’ minister of the environment appeared. The Lukins looked much the same as Earthlings did, except for their ears, which were a little bigger and rather square. “Jamus,” Drew said, “how are you, my good friend?”

  “Don’t good friend me, you black hearted scoundrel. Where’s my shipment? You already got your money. I paid you in advance. You probably lost it all gambling.”

  “Now, now, Jamus, no need for that. I can see you’re still sore over that last poker game. I won, fair and square.”

  “Sure, tell it to your mother, you bastard.”

  “I almost regret bringing you those old Pirate movies from the twentieth century. I think you’ve been taking them too seriously.”

  “If I don’t get my shipment, Lacour, I’m going to take it out in trade.” He leered at him through the screen. “You know I’ve always fancied that ass of yours. You might be one cold hearted son of a bitch, but you’re gorgeous as sin.”

  “Ah, Jamus,” Drew batted his eyes at him, “I didn’t know you cared.” He wasn’t letting that creep anywhere near his ass.

  “Very funny, Lacour. But, I’ll be damned,” he pointed his finger, “if I’m going to get hung out and dried without at least getting one good shag in first. It will give me something to dream about when I’m rotting away in prison.”

  “No one is going to prison. You’ll get your shipment. It just might take a little longer this time. The supply is drying up. I do have a contract with middle earth. I can’t just abandon my own people.”

  “Screw you, Drew. You have no loyalty to anyone but yourself. Don’t give me that shit. You got a week. If not, your ass is mine, honey.” His face disappeared from the screen.

  Drew knew they were down by at least one hundred gallons. They had to find that planet. He stood up and headed to the main control room. Pagnotella was hard at work, staring into the computer screen.

  If Drew had been attracted to women, Pagnotella might have just been his type. Valencian by birth, she’d been ashamed of her earth-bound Italian accent, but now that everything to do with that planet was fashionable again, she perused antique pasta books and joked about meatballs. A former veterinarian, now that animals were virtually extinct, she’d formed an unnatural interest in leeches, the only animals to survive the interplanetary loss of water.

  She had a steely reserve that he knew hid a volcanic sexual appetite. She was just like him.

  “You rang?” She arched a brow at an enormous, fat leech twirling around her pinky finger, leaving a small trail of blood. He didn’t want to think about how the critter had turned quite so…bloated, and he focused instead on Pagnotella’s liquid brown eyes and pouty lips. She smelled of flowers, a soft, sweet fragrance. He wondered if the scent would intensify when she was making love. He shook his head…man, he was way too horny.

  She glanced at Will who was making some calculations on a magnetic sheet.

  “What?” Drew barked. “Someone tell me something.”

  On the screen, planets floated in a dark blanket of yellow stars…they were far from anywhere and they had to keep moving.

  Pagnotella kept her eyes on her course, dropping her strange pet into a glass dish. “I’m sure I’m missing something.”

  “That’s a given,” Drew growled.

  Will glanced in his direction. “We’re at six thousand two.”

  Drew sighed deeply. “That’s lower than I thought. Damn, we’re screwed. We need to find this place, and fast.”

  “Are you sure this Shangri La of yours really exists?” Pagnotella looked at Drew for the first time. She was the only one who’d ever dared speak to him like that.

  “It’s exists, and we better damn well find it, or we’re screwed. Keep working.”

  “Screwed,” Will huffed. “That’ll be the day.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t dream it?” Pagnotella asked.

  “No,” he snapped, “I didn’t dream it.”

  “Then how in the hell do you know there’s a frozen lake on this place? There are no bloody lakes left anywhere practically, except for the artificial ones.” Pagnotella pushed away from her computer, rubbing her eyes. She stood up, all five feet of her, and looked up at him.

  Drew towered over her, at six foot three, but Pagnotella held her own, her gaze never wavering from his. “I don’t need a history lesson.”

  “Sometimes I think you do need a history lesson,” she accused. “Damn it, Lacour, we’ve been going around in circles looking for this place. Tell me where you learned about it?”

  Drew walked over to the window of his ship and looked out into the inky atmosphere of space. He already knew what she was going to say if he told her the truth. He turned and looked at her. Will had come closer, also wanting an answer. “I won it in a poker game.”

  “You won it in a…” Pagnotella’s mouth fell open. “Come again?”

  He smirked. “Given I haven’t been able to come at all…” He couldn’t resist.

  Will lowered his head, hiding a smile.

  “Spare me,” she held up a hand. “Now, explain this shit to me. I’m looking for a frozen lake, on a planet I can’t locate, because you won it in a poker game. I don’t understand. Is this like the time you screwed that alien on Topsmall Island for…?”

  “No,” he said. “Look, I won a game and the loser had no money. I was livid. He was scared. He said he had something better for me than money. He knew where I could find a frozen lake.”

  “And you believed this shit?” Pagnotella threw up her hand. “He snowed you, buddy.”

  “Were you loaded?” Will smirked.

  “No. I was sober. And I believe him.”

  “Yeah, well if he knew this for sure,” Pagnotella
demanded, “why in hell didn’t he go there himself?”

  “He didn’t have a ship. And—”

  “And?” Pagnotella put a hand on her hip.

  “The place is guarded, I think.”

  “So this is an inhabited planet?” Will enquired.

  He shrugged. “I guess so. Something about the city being cloaked but look, if we can find that frozen lake, we can transform the ice to water and…”

  “I think this guy sold you a load of crap,” Pagnotella shook her head.

  “Well, you better hope not,” Drew said, “‘cause if he did, I’m going to be Samus’ cuddle bunny—”

  Will snorted. “He’ll be sorry.”

  Drew turned on him, his eyes narrowed. “Yeah, and God knows what he’s going to do with you.”

  Will’s eyes widened. “I don’t like the sound of that.” He paused. “Or do I?”

  For a long moment, the only sound that could be heard was the incessant hum of the starboard’s sleek engine.

  “Get back to work,” Drew finally barked. “And I’ll try and buy us some more time.”

  When Trace Delano walked into the surveillance room, he stopped all the computer traffic. His ex French Canadian boyfriend would have said, Un ange passe, an angel passed, his mother’s charming way of describing a long stretch of awkward silence. Trace was a compelling presence. He was human, but a gifted one. His six foot, muscular frame was accented by jet black hair, green eyes, acute hearing, sharp vision and extra-sensory abilities that set him apart from other men thanks to having died and crossed back again.

  One of his men, a tall, wiry Australian by the name of Tor Yanbo, pointed to the radar. Trace stood there for a few minutes studying the tiny blinking light on the screen. He sucked in some air. “We have trouble,” he said. He turned to one of the other officers. “Any luck finding out who that ship belongs to?”

  “It’s Drew Lacour’s ship, sir,” the officer replied. “I’d bet my life on it.”

  Trace looked down at him. Speak of the ex French Canadian. “I don’t want bets, I want facts. We’ve managed to throw that ship off course several times, what happened? How did it get this close?”

  Tor gave him a helpless look.

  It didn’t surprise him. Drew was one determined son of a bitch, and he usually got what he wanted. “I want the first defence squad armed and ready. If it’s Lacour and his band of pirates, they won’t stop until they get what they came for.”

  “Sir?”

  Trace didn’t realise Tor was talking to him until he felt him touch his sleeve.

  Trace gave himself a mental shake. “What is it, Tor?”

  “Do I give the order to shoot on sight?”

  The question lingered in the air. The other members of the security team waited for his response. Shoot on sight? Shoot Drew? No. He couldn’t let them shoot Drew. He cleared his throat. “Take them alive. There’s no reason to hurt anyone unless they fire first.”

  “Yes, sir,” Tor nodded.

  Trace quickly left the control room, walking past people without speaking. When he got to his office, he slipped inside and locked the door with a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to have to answer any more questions. He was sure the security team found his response to be curious. He pressed his thumbs to his eye sockets. What the hell was he going to do with Drew? To give the order to take hostile invaders alive was risky at best. But he had his reasons, reasons he certainly couldn’t discuss with his team.

  Drew. There was no way he could give any order which might put his life in danger. Drew had been his passport to the living…and was now a sad part of his past. He allowed the anger to seep into his pores. One last time, Delano, he warned himself. Trace got up and paced the room. He knew with each step he took he shouldn’t even be here. When he was eleven, he had contracted a rare, but treatable form of Myelocytic Leukemia. His parents, who’d been part of a religious cult that didn’t believe in medical intervention of any kind, sat back and prayed as he wasted away to nothing. Miraculously, he survived thanks to a lightning storm and now he was part of the living, albeit a distinct, separate race unto himself.

  He didn’t feel that way when he met Drew. He felt like he’d found his heartbeat again…it was truly that. His heart beat in a different way when he was around Drew.

  “You’re a big softie,” Drew had whispered to him one night, the first time they kissed. He remembered exactly where they were. On the steps of the old tower of their military college. In the months to come, it was the only place they could fuck in private. That’s where they had been, Trace imbedded in Drew’s ass the very last time it rained on earth and the rainfall, like hot warm tears from a broken-hearted woman had drawn them closer.

  “It won’t be the last time I fuck you in the rain,” Trace had whispered into Drew’s mouth as Drew threw his head back to capture the earth’s tears on his tongue. Trace never thought anything would come between them. They’d fought side by side in a multitude of interplanetary battles, and fucked each other’s brains out…his Drew. And now, he was headed for this very planet, and somehow Trace knew that it was only a matter of time until they met again. How long had it been now…over seven years? After his stint with the military, Drew had gotten out.

  Trace quickened his maddening stride back and forth. It had been the last time they’d fucked in the rain. Dammit. Drew went solo, and started his own contracting business. At first, he worked for the Confederation, playing within the rules. Now he sold water to the highest bidder, and not all of them were allies.

  When Drew told him he was leaving the military, Trace was devastated. He couldn’t understand why. Drew was one of the most promising recruits they’d ever had. Drew went out and bought a ship, state of the art, and the night before he left, he invited Trace to go with him. “We’ll be partners,” he’d said. “Come on Trace, come with me. I don’t want to do this without you. Help me find more rain.”

  Trace came from a long line of distinguished military officers. His family would have been devastated if he’d left the military to run off with Drew. He had been too young to follow his heart then, too young to stand up to his family. He’d turned Drew down, accused him of being a dreamer, of not thinking things through. He hadn’t realised at that time that he was crazy in love with Drew. After Drew left, everything had fallen apart. He couldn’t eat or sleep. He quickly fell out of love with the military. Eventually, he too left the military to start his own security firm. He didn’t care where his job took him, as long as it was a distraction from the ache Drew had left deep inside of him.

  God, there was a time when he could think of nothing else but him, couldn’t wait to rip off his clothes, touch his skin, kiss that incredibly hot mouth of his. Trace sank down into his chair, remembering the first time he’d ever set eyes on Drew Lacour. He walked into the classroom at military college that first day, and it was as if the sun itself had suddenly entered the room. Everyone loved Drew. He stood six foot three, solid muscle, gorgeous, unruly black hair that was totally against regulation. He wore those military fatigues so damn well.

  They clung to that sensational ass of his, framing it, like a God damned work of art. The professor hated him, of course. He was cocky as hell, and totally without respect, making jokes that had all the students cracking up at the most inopportune moments. Trace was sure they would have booted his ass out if he hadn’t been the best in all the physical endurance tests. The others all loved him, not only because he was entertaining but because he took time out to help the others, prop up the weaker students who struggled with the rigorous physical requirements.

  Trace could still see those wide, dark eyes of his filled with humour and sensuous

  mystery, as if he alone had the answer to some wonderful question. He had a crooked kind of grin which emphasised his square jaw which never seemed to get shaved to the sergeant’s specifications. He was Drew, beautiful and seemingly unattainable.

  Drew paid very little attention to him at first. H
e’d nod, say hello. Sometimes, he’d ask to borrow a pencil or explain the homework. Every time he came close to him, Trace’s heart hammered in his chest like a drill. He was intoxicated by him.

  One evening, a few months into their training, when Trace was in the locker room, Drew surprised him by walking in. Trace kind of froze up. He knew they were alone for the first time.

  “Hey,” Drew had said casually, knocking Trace’s hat off as he walked by.

  Trace reached down to pick up the hat with a shy smile. “Hey yourself, big shot.” He glanced at him. “What did you do that for?”

  Drew was leaning against his locker nearby, grinning at him. “I just wanted to see you bend over, that’s all.”

  “Ha, ha,” he said, “very funny.” He might have blushed. “What are you doing here, this late at night? You got permission to go into town, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I, ah…thought you were going with the other guys?”

  He shrugged. “I was going to, until I found out you were grounded.”

  “I’m not grounded, I…”

  Drew came closer. “Yes, you are. And I know why.”

  Trace didn’t say anything. He could scarcely breathe.

  “When the Serge asked who it was who stopped to help Nedermere through the mountain hike this morning, you refused to answer. You knew it was me who carried his pack.” Drew met Trace’s gaze. “Why didn’t you squeal? The Serge threatened to take away your pass if you didn’t tell him who did it.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  That was the night they ended up on the tower stairs, when Drew reached out to touch his cheek, Trace melted. He closed his eyes now, remembering. “I dare say you like me a little bit,” Drew had said softly.

  Trace’s eyes opened. It was all playing before him as if it had just happened. He could recite his own dialogue, his excruciating pain. “I…” he began. “I…”

  “I…I…what?” Drew asked him, cocking his head, meeting his gaze.

  When Trace didn’t answer, Drew motioned to him with his finger. “Come on,” he said.