Free Amethyst Moon by Julia Brandywine

Chapter One
     
                  Tabitha King, staff overseer for Columbus Minerals, piloted her hovercraft through the Burundian Jungle on her way to Mine Twelve.   She traveled to this back-road outpost to eliminate some dead weight—namely, Laurent Fox. Damn his sexy, doesn’t work well with others, badass hide. As the best bounty hunter in the firm, he should have known better than to break off contact to pursue his own, no doubt illegal, interests.  Dirty or not, her boss Elliot Cartridge was so angry with him that he’d put him on the dreaded disavowed list.   
                  Instead of patrolling the abandoned mine for poachers, as Columbus Minerals paid him handsomely to do, Fox was probably hunting down some fugitive on company time instead, or maybe running some contraband.  At this point in their stormy relationship she wouldn’t put anything past him.  Her face burned when she remembered their last sexual encounter, right before she’d become his boss. 
                  He’d had her pressed against the cool tourmaline wall of her steam shower as he made even steamier love to her.  She’d been crazy for him, and as he thrust deep into her making her quiver around him all she could do was look deep into his green eyes and fall in love with him.  More fool her.  He’d been pumping her for more than information and she’d told all while creaming all over him. 
                  Yes, she’d been brought in as a shill, to get to the bottom of security leaks in the company.  No, she wasn’t sure who the culprit was.  But she knew in her heart it wasn’t him.  And then to her utter humiliation she’d blurted out that she loved him.  She felt him withdrawing closing off from her even as he made her cum like a slut.  Then he’d simply walked away.  That was six months ago and she hadn’t set eyes on him since choosing to manage him from afar.  She let out a sigh.  No wonder she was dreading this encounter but she refused to let it show. 
                  Damn the man.  He would have to play hooky when the oversight committee made their annual inspection tour.  He’d probably done it to make her look bad she decided.  Payback on his part, no doubt, for trying to manage him since her promotion.  Despite the welcome upgrade to her career, personally supervising the errant Fox was the last thing she wanted to do.  But now was the time to suck it up and do her job she told herself firming her resolve.             
                  She stopped her craft a hundred yards outside the mine shaft deciding a stealthy approach would work.   No need to tip him off to her presence until she caught him poaching, hunting fugitives, or goofing off.  A soft whirr from the back of the craft drew her attention.  She turned to look glancing past the cockpit to her living quarters.  Jerald 4, standing in the middle of the well-appointed living space, was preparing her mine clothes.  At least she could count on him.  The android’s eyes blinked green—her favorite color.  He’d been made to her specifications.  The fact that Fox’s eyes were the same shade was merely coincidental she told herself.
                  Jerald 4 and the land cruiser were only two of the fringe benefits her new position with the firm afforded her.  Not having to scrimp and save to survive was also a big bonus, one she’d learned the hard way after being orphaned when her parents were killed in a mine accident.  It was a lesson she’d never forget and she was damned if she’d let Fox take her new-found security away from her.  The big drawback to the job at this moment was tracking down Fox, and, if necessary, pursuing him inside the abandoned mine.  Mines scared her silly.  Still, she saw no need to let her superiors in on her private fears.  Her humanoid resources job, luckily, meant she rarely had to venture into the