Fortune's Risk (Star Thief Chronicles 1.5)

Viktis jerked at her touch, letting out a hiss of pleasure. At the sound, wetness pooled between her thighs. Gods, the only thing she wanted right now was him. She didn’t even care about the darkness.

“Viktis, please,” she panted, tugging him toward the vent opening. Kitty’s bed was sounding pretty good right now.

But before they could move, voices came from the next room.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re here, ma’am.” A pause. “No, no sign of them yet. Of course. We’ll be right there.” There were footsteps in the foyer as the three guards scrambled to leave the suite.

Keva’s breath came in gasps, like she’d just run a race, and beside her, Viktis looked pained. “What was that about?” she whispered.

“No idea. But we’d better take this opportunity to get out of here.”

Almost reluctantly, she climbed out of the vent, back into Kitty’s darkened room. Her gaze fell to the large bed and a pang of regret shot through her. If they’d just had a little more time…

She would have done something completely stupid.

Keva took a deep breath and stepped away from Viktis. “You’re right. Let’s go.” She spun on her heel and stalked out, heat burning her cheeks. She knew exactly who, and what, this man was, and yet she’d thrown herself at him like some sex-starved whore. What the hell was wrong with her?

“Keva, wait.”

She ignored Viktis and yanked open the suite door to peek up and down the hall. Still empty. Without waiting for him, she headed toward the elevators.

Footfalls sounded behind her as Viktis sprinted to catch up. He winced as he walked, like he was in pain. “Keva. Listen.” He grabbed her arm but she jerked it away.

“No, you listen. That shouldn’t have happened. The stress of the moment got to me. It won’t happen again. Now, let’s get moving before the captain becomes violently ill from Kitty’s advances.” A shudder shimmied down Keva’s body.

Viktis frowned, but nodded reluctantly. “Fine, but don’t think this is over.”

CHAPTER 8

Viktis took his seat at the poker table and glanced around the packed casino. Where the hell was Finn? Behind him, he knew Keva was doing the same thing. The tournament was about to start, and there was still no sign of him.

“What do we do?” Keva whispered.

Her breath warmed his ear, the sweet, floral scent of her perfume washing over him, and he closed his eyes against the surge of lust that spiked through his midsection. He still ached from their earlier kiss like a teenaged boy. She shouldn’t have been able to do that to him with barely a touch, but the thought of how she’d tasted, how she’d felt in his arms was making him crazy.

He sucked in a ragged breath. Pull it together. He couldn’t afford to slip up now, not when he was so close to ending Kitty.

“We go ahead with the plan and hope he shows up soon,” he answered.

Her worried gazed scanned the room again. “I don’t like this. The captain is never late. What if something’s happened to him?”

“Then there’s nothing we can do about it now. He’ll be okay for a little longer.” But unease made his skin prickle. She was right. Finn would be here if he could. So what had happened? Renna would kill him if Finn was hurt on his watch, and he knew first hand exactly how dangerous it was to get on her bad side.

“Here, hold on to this for me,” Viktis said, passing over a small biolock. “Just in case.”

“What is it?” Keva asked, her forehead furrowing adorably.

He cleared his throat. Since when was adorable part of his vocabulary? “It’s an insurance policy in case our friendly mob queen tries anything. A copy of the data I planted in her suite.”

“Smart.” Her gaze met his with admiration and they stared at each other for a long moment, the sounds of the casino starting to recede.

Until the murmur of the crowd grew louder, breaking the sudden tension between them. Kitty Cordoza and two of her bodyguards had entered the casino and were making for the poker tables. Viktis tried to pick his jaw up off the floor as she sashayed toward him in a dress that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. The cherry-red, floor length silk had a slash that revealed her long legs as she walked, and a plunging neckline that went almost to her stomach. Her dark hair cascaded over her shoulders in shiny waves, and her red lips were parted in a smile as she met Viktis’s gaze.

“Mr. Zero. So glad you decided to enter the tournament. I have a feeling this is going to be an exceptional game.” She held out her hand to him and he took it, pressing a kiss to her palm.

“You look magnificent, Kitty. I don’t think anyone’s going to be paying attention to their cards, we’ll all be too busy staring at you.”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “That’s what I was counting on.”

A short, potbellied Conyara alien climbed onto the platform set up behind the poker tables. He spread his arms with a smile that stretched his facial ridges wide. “Welcome everyone to the first Pointe Blue Casino Poker Tournament. I’m excited at the fantastic response. The Children of the Stars charity will benefit from your extreme generosity. Now without further ado, let’s play!”

The dealer-bots cracked open fresh packages of cards at each table and shuffled them between their metallic fingers. “Costa Five rules, minimum bet twenty thousand credits.” Quickly, the bot dealt out a hand to each player, their human-like eyes watching each of them carefully.

The bots had been designed to be tamper proof, but if you knew the right people…And Viktis always knew the right people.

He picked up his hand and smiled. Not bad at all.

“Bids in.” The dealer stared at each of them. The man on Viktis’s left pushed over a stack of chips. Everyone else followed suit.

“Show your hands please.”

With a smile, Kitty flipped over her cards, along with the two other men at the table. Viktis kept his face expressionless, but he’d won the table. Easily.

“Who’s lucky tonight?” Kitty asked. “That’s quite a hand.”

“Let’s hope it keeps up,” he replied with a smile. “Luck is a fickle thing.”

She ran her fingers down his arm, stroking the back of his hand. “Indeed it is.”

His gut clenched. The expression in her eyes was savage. And not just because of the tournament. Every instinct screamed that there was something wrong, something he was missing, but he had no idea what. He’d have to stay the course for now and hope he could stop her before whatever she was up to went too far.