Free Finding Lara (Distant Worlds Book 3) by Kelly Lucille

the
safety of your daddy and leave the traveling to people who know how to defend
themselves and are not a walking talking victim waiting to happen.  You are just
begging to be taken advantage of.”
    She glared outright at
him and jumped off her stool shoving him back, or at least that seemed to be
the plan.  But she just ran into his chest with her piddly push off and ended
up so close he could feel her breasts pressing against him.  Before he could
really enjoy it, she was sliding past him and flouncing out the door.  He
turned to see every eye in the place on him.  “Am I wrong?” he asked the room
at large, then paid the tab when no one challenged him.
    He headed out the door
and went after Lara, cursing when he did not see her anywhere.  There was
nothing nearby that could be hiding her, not really.  The only choice was the
bar, but she would have had to run to make that; then he saw her stand up and
brush herself off behind some cargo by the long grasses.  She saw him and
blushed.  He could feel his mouth starting to twitch when he realized she must
have fallen over the boxes in her inebriated state.  Not that he could tell
that by the way she moved.
    “Captain Barnos,” she
said with just the faintest crack in her voice, “would you kindly escort me
back to the hangar now?”
    He held the laugh back.  “It
would be an honor, Lady Lara.”
    She took his arm and
walked stately back to the hangar bay that housed The Fire.   Halfway
there he looked down at her.  “You owe me two silver for all those drinks by
the way.”
    She flashed her eyes up
his way, her lips moving into a wicked little half smile that he was unprepared
for.  “Tell me, Captain Barnos, who was taken advantage of this time?”  Then
she dropped the hand she had on his arm and sashayed her way to the ship, head
held high.  She only tripped once, when she hit the gangplank.  Barnos was
laughing before she was out of sight on The Fire.
    Before he could follow
her and possibly seduce a sloshed lady like the scoundrel he was, he heard the
raised voices.  Recognizing the growling temper in the words, he turned
prudently and went to save whoever his partner was ready to kill.  But the
sounds of Lara’s laughter and that last smile she waved at him in challenge had
his mind less on the fight and more on the lady he left behind.  Which he could
honestly say had never happened to him before.  He was stopped from thinking
too much on it by the sight of Tolan Lark about to lose his mind arguing with
the cute little mechanic.  Worse, she seemed to be arguing back, not
intimidated by his growl or flashing Shakien eyes.
    “You are not staying to
look over my shoulder while I fix your ship,” the little mech did her own
version of a growl.
    “If you think I’m letting
you work on it without seeing exactly what you do to my ship you are out of
your pretty little mind.”
    “If you need lessons on
how to fix a ship find someone else.  I’m not about to have you questioning me
every step of the way because you think a woman can’t handle it.”
    “Nobody works on my ship
without me there.  Not woman, man, or beast.”  He pointed aggressively to his
own chest.  “I oversee all repairs.  Period.”
    “Then find yourself another
mechanic.”
    Barnos sighed when he saw
the mech step forward aggressively in the Shakien’s space.  Talk about the
wrong move.  He moved faster so that he was almost within touching distance
when he saw Tolan Lark’s teeth had shifted to a more pronounced canine.  Barnos
stepped up to grab the little mech and pull her back, but two things happened
before he could do that.  One, the mech just seemed to float right out of his
reach faster than his eyes could catch, leaving him grasping air; and two,
Tolan Lark turned those savage lavender eyes his way and lost his ever-loving
mind.
    Barnos was still
wondering what the hell was happening when the man shifted.  Fur flowed over
his body like water,