Sliding his hand to her nape, he dragged her tight to his chest and bent down to capture her mouth in a gentle, easy kiss. “I missed you.”
She laughed. “Venom, it was two hours.”
“It was the longest two hours of my life.”
“I doubt that very much.”
He tapped the point of her nose. “I’ve got a way we could kill another two hours.”
Her belly flip-flopped wildly. “I’m intrigued.”
He laughed and slipped his arm around her shoulders to steer her out of the room. “I bet you are.”
They made their way to an empty elevator and stepped inside. They chatted about the meeting and the two new friends she had made. Venom seemed genuinely happy that she had hit it off with Naya and Hallie.
“I know that no one can replace Ella but I hope you can find good friends here.”
“I think I’m off to a promising start with those two. Naya invited me to drop by her shop whenever I’d like. She even offered me some space in her shop.”
Venom shot her a strange look. “For what?”
“My dresses.”
He turned so he could peer down into her face. “What dresses?”
She couldn’t read his expression. Was he angry? “The ones I plan to design and sell.”
“I see.” His jaw tensed. “You didn’t think that I might want to be consulted before you made a decision like this?”
“Well…I thought you wouldn’t care. I mean—this is my job. It’s what I do. I design, sew and sell dresses. I’m a seamstress, Venom.”
“No,” he countered somewhat gruffly. “You were a seamstress. Now you’re my mate.”
Her hackles rose at his insinuation that she could only do one thing or the other. “I can be both, Venom. Lots of women juggle multiple roles. Besides, it would be nice to have the extra income.”
He stiffened. It was almost as if she had verbally slapped him. “I may not earn a salary as large as Vicious or Orion but I make damn good money sticking my neck on the line every day. It’s more than enough to support us.”
Dizzy frowned. “Did I say anything about your salary being too small? Hell—I don’t know how much money you earn. Don’t you think I need to know that?”
He avoided answering her pointed question. “We don’t need the extra income you would receive from selling a couple of dresses.”
“So what? I’m supposed to just sit at home and wait for you to get off work every day?”
“Yes.”
She rolled her eyes. “You can’t be serious. You know that’s ridiculous.”
“So now my culture is ridiculous?”
“Stop putting words in my mouth, Venom. I don’t know what your problem is but I’m not going to stop designing and sewing.”
“You can design and sew for yourself but that’s it. You will not sell your dresses for money.”
Her eyebrows arched to her hairline. “Are you forbidding me from working and earning a living?”
“Yes.”
Her mouth gaped at the harshness in his voice. This version of Venom was a man she hardly recognized. Had she been that badly fooled over the last five days with him? Was this the real Venom, this obstinate, uncompromising jerk?
“Naya has a shop.”
“You’re not Naya.” He pointed out the obvious. “She’s a war hero. She nearly died and saved thousands of lives.”
Dizzy couldn’t even find the words to reply to that. What he said was bad enough but what he didn’t say hurt even more. He had just made it perfectly clear that he considered her less than Naya. She wasn’t brave or heroic. She was just a woman who designed frilly dresses.
She backed away from him until the elevator wall stopped her retreat. “Is that really what you think of me?”
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Before she could explain how he had hurt her feelings, Venom’s watch beeped loudly. He growled with irritation and studied the screen. “Shit.” He smacked the navigation screen of the elevator and changed their destination. “This discussion will have to wait.”
She didn’t want to wait. She wanted to hash this out now but something in his voice told her this wasn’t the time. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a hostage situation aboard the Arctis. My SRU team is deploying and they need me.” He rubbed his jaw. “You’ll have to wait in the office I share with Raze. There isn’t time to take you back to our quarters.”
“Okay.” She was taken aback by the fierce glint that had suddenly overtaken his blue eyes.
In a few short minutes, she had witnessed three different sides to Venom. There was the gentle, sweet lover she had come to know and crave. There was the harsh, traditional male who wanted her to live within the pretty little box his culture created for wives. And then there was this man—the brutal warrior who had survived so many horrific battles.
The elevator doors opened up into a noisy hallway. She heard a man shouting orders and the sounds of boots slamming against the floor. Venom gripped her hand and dragged her down the hall. One wall was see-through and gave her a clear view of a dozen men gearing up in frightening uniforms and loading up with weapons.
A great big bull of a man stepped into the hallway. “Ven, this isn’t a daycare.”
“Not in the mood, Raze.” Venom’s feet didn’t slow and she had to scurry to keep up with him.
Raze? She glanced back over her shoulder to stare at her husband’s best friend. The soldier had the broadest chest she had ever seen and was a good two or three inches taller than Venom. He didn’t seem happy to see her trespassing in this very male domain.
Venom unlocked a door and tugged her into a nicely appointed office. He carefully steered her into a chair. “Don’t move. I’m locking the door behind me. You stay here and you’ll be safe.” His fingertips traced the front of her collar. “Don’t forget what I told you about the men who snatch brides. This isn’t the time to go exploring the ship.”
“I understand.” The very idea of it terrified her.
Venom’s hard expressions softened some. “I know you’re mad at me about what I said in the elevator.” He pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. “We’ll figure it out.”
Not wanting him to run off into a crazy, dangerous situation with an argument between them, she grasped the front of his uniform shirt and jerked him down for a real kiss. He groaned softly against her mouth and deepened the kiss, flicking his tongue against hers before reluctantly breaking away. Dizzy stroked his cheek. “Please be careful.”
“I will, sugar.”
And then he was gone, rushing out of the room and locking her into the office to await his return.
She prayed he would come back to her in one piece.
Chapter Fourteen
“Is your head in the game or do I need to pull you off this mission?”
Venom glanced at Raze. His question bordered on insult as far as Venom was concerned. He had never, not once, allowed his personal issues to cloud his judgment. “I’m here. My head’s right.”
Raze’s pointed stare bored into him like a drill bit. “I realize I should be a good friend and ask you what the hell is going on between you and that blonde pixie you Grabbed—but we don’t have time. We’re hitting the deck of the Arctis in less than three minutes.”
“I’m fine. It’s under control.” Venom didn’t try to hide his irritation with Raze’s incessant prodding. “Let it go, boss.”
“All right.” Raze seemed reluctant but did as asked. He turned his attention to Cipher, the brilliant engineer who was as deadly with his algorithms as he was with a weapon. “Intel?”
“The subject is a twenty-seven-year-old male named Ben from Grogan’s Mill. He appears to be the ex-boyfriend or fiancé of Kate, the woman he’s currently holding hostage at gunpoint. He faked his papers to get onto the transport ship for family day and posed as the victim’s brother. He’s shot and killed one policeman and wounded three bystanders. The medics can’t reach one of the victims. He’s critical and needs immediate transport.”
Venom studied the intel screen strapped to his forearm. Cipher sent a live feed of the situation to their devices. He zeroed in on the injured man, another visitor from Calyx, sprawled facedown on the floor. Two small but growing blood pools framed his still body.
Ben, the hostage-taker, clamped a sobbing, nearly hysterical woman to his front. The subject had kicked over a couple of tables to form a fortified position so Venom quickly assessed the space for areas with higher vantage points. He had a sinking feeling this call was going to end badly and wanted to narrow down the possibilities for a perch.
“The subject is boxed in?” Venom noticed the policemen guarding the exit points and the perimeter of the Arctis food court.
“Yes,” Cipher confirmed.
“So let’s take some of the pressure off,” Raze ordered. “We need to give this guy some breathing room and see if we can get him to talk. Priorities are the hostage and the wounded bystander. Ven?”
He didn’t have to ask what Raze wanted. If talking the subject down failed, they would have few choices to end the situation. “I’m on tactical options.”