“Think whatever you want but understand that I would never risk your life. The Kindred ship is safe.” He frowned at her. “Now come here—you’re in Sylvan’s seat and he’ll be out in a minute.”
“What?” she looked at him in disbelief as he patted his lap. “I can’t possibly…”
“There are only two seats, one for you and me and one for Sylvan.” He frowned at her.
“I’ll scrunch down in the back.” Liv got up and began to hop her way to the back of the ship but Baird stopped her by taking her upper arm and pulling her into his lap.
“You’re my bride and you’ll sit with me.” Muscular arms enclosed her, safer than any seat belt, and he drew her close until she could feel the warm, hard planes of his chest through the thin lace of her baby doll nighty.
“Let me go!” She twisted in his arms but he only held her tighter, pulling her down hard so that she could feel the rigid lump of his shaft growing under her ass.
“Struggle as much as you want, you’re not goin’ anywhere,” he growled in her ear.
Liv was ready to spit she was so mad. “You…you big alien pervert,” she hissed. “You just want me sitting on your lap so you can rub your…so you can rub against me.”
“You mean like this?” He pressed up slowly, his pelvis working under hers until she could feel the ridge of his shaft rubbing against the crotch of her black lace panties blatantly. Suddenly she was wet. Wet and hot and ready and it scared her to death.
She bit back a moan as he pressed against her. “Yes, like that,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t tremble too much. God, how could he make her body react even when she didn’t want it to? Was it some kind of Kindred trick? “You’re…you’re hard as a rock and you just want to rub up against me.” Bastard!
“It’s your fault I’m hard,” he growled softly in her ear. “If you’d just sit still and stop twitching that soft little ass of yours all over my lap I wouldn’t be in this state.”
Liv felt a blush of mortification rise to her cheeks. “Well I didn’t do it on purpose! I just wanted to ride in the back of the ship.” Or anywhere but on your lap, you Kindred bastard! Then she thought of what Kat had said. “You’re not even supposed to be allowed to touch me yet—not until the first week is up. The contract says so.”
“You need to read the fine print, Lilenta. I’m not allowed to touch you in a sexual way and I’m not allowed to claim you. But you’re my bride and this is our holding week. According to the Kindred rules, I’m well within my rights to hold you and keep you safe.”
“Right,” Liv spat. “And right now I feel about as safe as a lamb being held by a wolf. You can’t tell me this isn’t sexual, you bastard.”
“It wouldn’t be if you’d stop struggling.” He sounded at the very end of his patience. “If you knew how long I’ve been waiting for you and how badly I want to claim you—”
“Well you can forget about that because it’s never going to happen,” Liv snarled. “And if you think for one minute that you can get away with molesting me—”
“All I can think about right now is how good you feel against me and how badly I want to be inside you.” His deep voice seemed to pierce her entire body. “If you’d just hold still and stop wigglin’ all over the damn place maybe we could both relax.”
His hot breath on the back of her neck as he spoke sent a shiver down her spine. And the things he was saying…Liv bit her lip, glad she was facing away from him so he couldn’t see her face which had to be fire engine red. But just because she wasn’t looking at him didn’t mean she couldn’t feel him. And smell him—a spicy male musk that seemed to be his natural scent was invading all her senses at once, making it hard to think.
“I’m never going to let you,” she whispered, holding herself stiff and still in his arms. “You might as well forget it and let me go right now.”
The arms around her tightened like iron bands and his voice was a low, possessive growl. “Never. You’re mine, Olivia. The sooner you realize that the better.”
Chapter Six
The ride up to the Kindred ship was tense and silent. Sylvan drove since Baird had his hands full with his reluctant bride. She refused to answer anything he said even when the g-forces pressed her against him like a giant, crushing hand. Once they cleared the Earth’s atmosphere, he spoke softly in her ear, pointing out the various stars the Kindred had been to and telling her how long it took to get to the other trade planets using the space-gap propulsion his people had perfected thousands of years before. But no matter what he said, Olivia remained silent.