Asteroid 6969: Tiger Gold Read online

  The idea of submission had got her wet—at first. But now she wondered if it really suited her. She’d loved watching through the peephole, but she hadn’t seen that many clients in action. Maybe she’d missed something. She thought it would be romantic and fun. A romp. A little spanking and lots of caresses, and finally a bout of frantic lovemaking. That’s what got her hot. Not sitting handcuffed in an uncomfortable position for an hour and then getting a mean whipping.

  Had it been such a good idea? Or had it simply been her longing for sex? Damn, she got so horny sometimes she got cross-eyed. Like now.

  She lay back on the bed and opened her legs. “Come on, lover boy. Take off that tuxedo and show me a good time.”

  Ivan rolled his eyes. “Fanny tried to teach you some class but obviously she failed.”

  Heidi groaned and pinched her nipples. “Please, I need you, I need to feel you inside me.”

  “You are not being submissive,” he hissed at her.

  “You’re supposed to initiate me!” she cried.

  “You’re supposed to obey my every word!” His face was turning dark red.

  Heidi sat up and stared after him. He had to be joking. What was he all pissed off about? “What should I do?” she asked.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Touch yourself. All over. Let me watch you make love to yourself.”

  Fine. That she could do. She’d been doing that for ages now. She stroked her naked body, running her hands over her breasts and belly. A tingling sensation lured her hands between her legs where her heated pussy clenched with need. Her finger found her clit and she massaged it while pinching her nipple with her other hand. A throbbing grew in her cunt, and her labia swelled as her clit and nipples grew harder. Wetness coated her finger, and her flesh grew slick. She closed her eyes, lost in the sensations. Her cunt ached, driving her crazy. She wanted a cock, damn it. She needed something big and hard plunging inside her burning flesh.

  Her skin flushed, her breath coming fast, she stopped touching herself and sat up. “Come on Ivan, please, take me,” she begged.

  “That’s better.” He smiled and then, before she could react, he flipped her over, slipped the handcuffs on her wrists, and clipped them to the bed with Heidi lying facedown. “We’ll try again, shall we?” He took off his clothes and Heidi could see he had a huge hard-on.

  “Sure, but not with the handcuffs, all right?” He’d fastened her hands to the top bar and her shoulders felt as if they were about to pull out of their sockets. Already stiff, her arm muscles screamed in protest. “Come on Ivan, it hurts!” She twisted her head to get a better look.

  He shook his head. “No, we must learn to be a good little submissive. Remember, your pain is my pleasure, and my pleasure is your pleasure. That is very important to me.”

  “Spaceship.” Heidi waited for him to unchain her. Instead, he took his whip from the bedside table and smacked her again. The sting pained her, but it didn’t excite her, as Ivan had promised. It only hurt. “Stop it! I said Spaceship!”

  “That doesn’t work anymore. You’ll have to submit before that word works.” He kissed her back, running his lips along her spine, then he drew back and pushed her legs apart.

  Heidi had wanted to lose her virginity. But suddenly she didn’t want to do it this way. She bucked and struggled.

  Ivan gave a huge grin. “Yes, fight it, but you can’t break free, can you?”

  She uttered a strangled scream. Ivan hit her again, harder this time, and the pain seared across her buttocks, making her gasp.

  “Stop it!” she cried. “Spaceship!”

  “Forget it.” His voice was thick. He leaned over her, she felt his hot breath on the back of her neck. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

  The door opened and someone walked in. A low, masculine voice with the twang of a spacer made Ivan freeze.

  “Excuse me, but I think you’d better listen to the lady.”

  * * * * *

  Lance had been half asleep in his tub when the girl’s pleas roused him. Roused him in more than one way. Her voice had been like a siren’s call and he’d had to give his cock a good, stern talking-to before climbing out of the tub. But he’d climbed out. First of all, he’d been raised to believe that nobody-no-how ever takes advantage of a woman. This woman was begging someone to stop hurting her, and when that person didn’t listen, Lance’s blood began to boil.

  He sloshed out of the tub and looked for his clothes. No clothes. That’s right, he’d asked the hostess to take them to get cleaned. He hadn’t liked the thought of getting all clean and then climbing into dirty clothes. Right. Well, his stun gun was here in its holster. He strapped it around his waist with a practiced move and stormed into the hallway. The girl’s voice came from the first door on his left. No wonder he could hear her clearly—they shared a common wall and the walls were pretty thin. He didn’t waste time knocking. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and stepped inside.

  As soon as he set his eyes on the scene, his cock reared up as if it wanted a better look. By Hades, he’d never thought a woman handcuffed to a bed would give him that sort of reaction. He cleared his throat. He was here to save her, not ravish her. Although ravish is exactly the word that popped into his head.

  Yes, yes! Ravish away! His cock agreed.

  He pulled his stun gun from the holster and held it low, right in front of his very undisciplined cock. Hopefully no one would notice.

  The man spun around and glared at him.

  The woman on the bed just stared at him. He tried to catch her gaze, but her eyes were glued to his trigger finger. By Hades she was hot! Strawberry blonde with that milky skin and freckles, and, well, he couldn’t really see what color her eyes were because she was looking at his cock. No doubt about it. He took a deep breath and kept the gun trained on the slimy-looking fellow near the bed. “Step away from the lady,” he said.

  Things didn’t quite go as he’d planned.

  Chapter Four

  Heidi twisted around and her mouth dropped open. An Adonis with a stun-gun stood in the doorway. At least, that’s what she imagined an Adonis looked like. Tall, blond, and naked but for a holster slung around his slim hips, the man had eyes like chips of burning emerald. But who was looking at his eyes? Heidi could hardly drag her gaze away from his very masculine attributes. She wished he’d raise his hand a bit, but he was holding his stun gun very low, hiding what seemed to be a very stiff cock. She swallowed hard.

  The stranger pointed the gun at Ivan and, never raising his honey-smooth voice, said, “Step away from the lady.”

  Heidi glanced nervously at Ivan. He was tall, muscular, and the scar on his cheek bespoke of more than one laser-sabre duel. She suddenly wished herself a million light years away from the bed, the bordello, and the situation she’d just got into. What an idiot! Because of her, this poor handsome spacer would get himself sliced and diced by Ivan’s laser-sabre.

  Well, there was more than one way to skin a furzba. Ivan wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. He was busy rearranging his expression into one of absolute fury. She saw him surreptitiously reach for his pocket, where he kept his laser-sabre.

  Heidi leaned on her elbows, raised her right leg, bent it, took aim…and kicked.

  Her foot missed Ivan by scant inches. He moved faster than a furzba on fire. Damn! Heidi gasped as Ivan whirled, his laser-sabre singing like a high wind. He held the sabre to her throat.

  “One move, and I’ll kill you,” Ivan said to her, his voice flat. His eyes had gone flat too. Heidi was reminded of the stare of a lizard. She swallowed hard.

  Ivan turned to the naked man in the doorway. “Drop the gun or I nick her jugular. It will make a fountain of blood nearly three feet high, I don’t think anyone will be able to save her.”

  The blond man didn’t hesitate. His gun clattered to the floor. Ivan nodded. “I bought this little bitch, and I intend to teach her some manners. Now, turn around and leave. Shut the door behind you.”

&nbs
p; Heidi trembled. Ivan’s voice, as cold as dry ice, raised gooseflesh on her arms. Her life flashed before her eyes, and it wasn’t very long, or very interesting. Something else flashed. Before she could drag air into her lungs to scream, a silver disk flew from the blond man’s hand and knocked the laser-sabre out of Ivan’s grip. The sabre skittered across the polished wooden floor, and Ivan made a dive for it.

  The spacer was quicker. With a movement like a wild cat, he reached the sabre first and pointed it directly between Ivan’s eyes. “Sorry, but the little lady doesn’t need to learn manners from the likes of you.” He jerked his chin at the door. “Out. Right this second.”

  The look Ivan gave him was pure poison. Then he turned to Heidi. “That will be five hundred credits you owe me,” he spat.

  “As you can see, I’ve left my clothes and my patience in another room. Out.” The spacer’s twang hardened and he took a step towards Ivan. There wasn’t a lot Ivan could do except bow sarcastically, and leave.

  When he’d left, the spacer shut the door and, in two steps, had reached Heidi’s side and unlocked her handcuffs. She blinked and looked up at him, a tremulous smile on her lips. “Thank you,” she said.

  He looked at her, his expression unreadable. Then he nodded curtly and, to her disappointment, snagged two silk robes from a hook on the wall. He put one on and tossed her the second one. “Why don’t you get dressed?”

  Cheeks burning, Heidi slid the robe over her shoulders. “What’s your name?” she ventured.

  “Lance Rocket.” His mouth didn’t quirk a single millimeter as he said it.

  “Mine is…”

  “Heidi. I know. I was here tonight.” His voice was dry. Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “I don’t suppose you have any idea where to find five hundred credits.”

  “For what?”

  “Well, unless you’d rather Ivan the Terrible stake his legal claim to your cherry and own your body for a full year, you’d better find some way to raise five hundred credits.”

  Heidi’s heart sank. The five hundred had been credited to Fanny’s account. And Fanny needed those five hundred credits. They would finish paying for safe passage for two young women. Gayle and Sarabeth had just graduated from the school with honors. They even had jobs lined up for them in New Paladin, a Federation planet not too far away. One of Fanny’s “lost children” had moved there and had started working towards helping others get off Asteroid 6969 and get jobs. But they still had to pay for transport and certified, official papers.

  She glanced from beneath lowered eyelashes at her savior. A plan began to form in her mind. A very nice plan. One that involved a long, lean, bronzed body and glittering green eyes.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he growled.

  Heidi gasped. “What?”

  “I said, don’t even think about it. I’m not a child molester.” His words stung.

  “Child? You think I’m a child?” She drew herself up. “I happen to be nineteen years old, almost twenty, and I’m sick of being the oldest virgin on this forsaken piece of rock.”

  His chuckle set her teeth on edge. “You’re eighteen. You’re forgetting the announcement.” He put on a showman’s voice. “Miss Heidi, just eighteen and never been kissed. Buy her, and you’ll get to initiate her into the pleasures of love. A tender virgin, she’ll be yours for a year. Buy Heidi, and get a piece of paradise.” His smile slid off his face and his eyes hardened. “In my opinion, initiating someone is a lousy reason for making love.”

  “Won’t you reconsider, kind sir?” She tried to smile seductively, and let the robe slip off her shoulder, baring the top of a smooth, pale breast. She shook her head a bit, so that her long, straight, red-gold hair brushed the small of her back.

  Lance’s next words, though spoken in a soft drawl, hurt more than the bite of a whip. “Honey, you’d better get back to the kitchens or wherever it was you were working before and leave the whoring to more experienced ladies. The only men who will buy virgins are the kind that want to hurt them. I don’t mean to offend you, but I tend to speak my mind. Now, why don’t you get dressed?”

  Tears filled her eyes. She couldn’t help it. She’d made a mess out of everything, the auction, losing her virginity—or rather—not losing it, pissing Ivan off so that he’d probably kill this poor spacer as soon as he left the building, and screwing up and losing the money she wanted so badly to give to Fanny. A sob caught in her throat and she buried her face in her hands.

  “Aw honey, don’t cry. I’m doing you a favor. Save yourself for a man who loves you.” He patted her head, as if she were a stupid, tame furzba.

  “Leave me alone,” she choked, her voice thick with trying not to bawl. “Get out of here. Oh, wait.” She raised her face and managed to say, “Watch your back. That Ivan is a mean bastard and he’ll carve you up like a soap sculpture if you don’t watch out.”

  His grin made the breath catch in her throat. Damn, he was hot. While she had to be all blotchy with tears, nose running, and oh, by Hades! What a mess! She flopped facedown on the bed and pounded the mattress with her fist. All she was good for was cooking, cleaning, and painting signs.

  “Are you worried about the five hundred credits?” Lance hadn’t left yet. He still stood in the middle of the room, a concerned look in his eyes.

  She sighed and rolled over. “No. The money is in Fanny’s account, and I’ll just ask her to give it back. I wanted Fanny to have it, that’s all.” Her voice wobbled and she sniffed. “It was part of the Safe Passage Fund and we almost made enough to send…aw, Hades help me. You don’t care. Why don’t you go back to your woman, whoever she was, she must be missin’ you.” She managed to keep the jealousy she felt out of her voice.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think I was with a woman?”

  “Well, I happen to know that you’re naked as a new-born furzba under that robe. I just figured you came from a room nearby.”

  “I came from the baths.”

  “Oh.” Heidi blinked. The baths were a popular spot with the grime-coated spacers. They didn’t have water on board their ships for washing, and sonic showers, nice as they were, couldn’t beat a long soak in a copper tub filled with steaming H2O and some of Fanny’s special bath salts.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Why?” The eyebrow lifted again.

  “Your water must be cold by now.” She got up and drew her robe tighter around her waist. Well, might as well go face the music. “Come on. I’ll get you set with a new tub. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t have to pay for another one, and then I better go see Fanny.”

  “I’d like to see Fanny myself,” Lance said darkly. “What was she thinking, auctioning you off like a piece of meat?”

  Heidi winced. “Er… Actually. It was my idea.”

  Ice suddenly looked warmer than his eyes. “Your idea? Why? Are you so desperate for a credit you’d pull a fool stunt like that?”

  Her cheeks flamed. “It wasn’t for me. I told you…”

  “You didn’t tell me anything.”

  “Oh. That’s right.” She rubbed her forehead. “The money is for the Safe Passage Fund. Fanny uses it to send people off this asteroid two at a time. It helps pay for setting them up as citizens on a Federation planet, so they can have a real life.” She realized she sounded wistful, so she tried to give a laugh. “We have two women waiting and this money would have finished paying for everything. Now I have to think of another way of earning five hundred credits.” She took a deep breath and stared glumly at Lance.

  He looked stunned. “A fund?”

  “Yeah. For the kids who deserve to get off this piece of rock. Fanny’s been doing it for over ten years now. And I help whenever I can.” Her stupid eyes kept getting full of tears. She blinked hard and tried to look cool and professional, as if it didn’t matter that she’d just lost five hundred credits.

  Lance quirked her a grin. “And you’re not one of the kids who deserve to get off th
is rock?”

  “Fanny asked me, but there always seems to be someone who needs it more, you know? Sure, I’d like to leave, and never return. But I’m tough, and Fanny treats me like her own daughter.”

  He looked around, a baffled expression on his face. “What do you do here?”

  “I clean, do the laundry, and iron mostly. You can’t imagine how much laundry there is here. I have enough to keep me busy for years. Plus I help Clive out. He’s Fanny’s right-hand man, and I run errands for him and such. It really is the nicest place I’ve ever lived, honest.”

  “This is the nicest place?” He choked and shook his head. “Where did you live before?”

  She gave him a pained look. “On the other side of Glitch Gully, with the Condozzi gang. Believe me, their hangout make this place look like a Federation five-star hotel.” She cocked her head. “What about you? Where are you from? You’re a spacer, I can tell, right?”

  “I’m from Space Station Pollux One. Space-born and bred, you’re right about that. My daddy was a mechanic and my mom was the waitress in the space station bar. I was born and raised in that station, and as soon as I could, I shipped out on a freighter as dockhand.” He shrugged. “I’ve never set foot on a planet yet. Asteroids and space stations are all I know.”

  “Well, I haven’t even set foot on a planet or a space station.” Heidi rolled her eyes. “Are you still dockhand on a freighter? How did you end up on this rock?”

  “No, I have my own ship now. It’s a long story, but anyhow, I picked her up cheap at a scrap auction and fixed her up. She’s a nice little jumper, and I have a small crew. We hire out for different jobs. We’re in this area because someone paid us to pick up some tiger gold from a nearby asteroid.”

  “Tiger gold?” Heidi sat up straighter. “Isn’t that the rarest metal in the Federation?”

  “Probably. You don’t find much of it anywhere. Used to be a good deal around here, which is why the space pirates still hang out around this area. A couple asteroids still have small veins the pirates fight over. There’s a story going about that there’s still some left on Asteroid 6969 too.”