Free Thrill-Kinky by Teresa Noelle Roberts

but Rita and the other crew members just nodded. Other races underestimated felinoids. The singsong intonation and enthusiastic body language that carried over from their native language came off as childish to other cultures. Add to that felinoids were uninhibited and playful by nature, had vague notions of personal space and personal property, and, to humans, resembled animals normally kept as pets. Even Xia’s friends tended to underestimate her because, well, she was Xia, sexy slacker with a little kleptomania problem. But the felinoid was a lot more intelligent than she often let show.
    “That’s about right,” Drax said slowly, “and I doubt any one of us had all the facts until now because we were all guarding our little pieces of information. Information is power.”
    “So how about giving us some of that information-type power?” Mik said. “Like where this is going down and what you need done.”
    “Rita has already done enough. I don’t want to put any of you in more danger.”
    “Too bad.” Rita kissed his cheek. “You’re not putting me in danger. I am. And if the others want to play too, that’s their choice.”
    “Rita, I was trained for this kind of situation…” He sounded like he already knew it was a hopeless argument.
    Good for him. Nice when a man knew how to give in to reason. Not that anyone had ever accused her, or anyone on the Malcolm , of being especially reasonable, but it was the principle of the thing.
    “You don’t know the start of what I can do, Drax. And you haven’t seen Xia and the guys in action, except for getting us out of the middle of the festival.”
    Drax nodded. “That was impressive. Well coordinated, if overly dramatic with the brawl. I always forget how strong felinoids are.”
    “You look like a bird. Brings out my natural prey drive so I want to run away with you and eat you right up.” Xia gave her most charming and carnivorous smile.
    Rita spoiled the effect by bopping her on the nose. “Behave!”
    “However, this is my operation. I shouldn’t pull in civilians who aren’t even Banjali…”
    Mik stepped closer and put one hand on Drax’s uninjured shoulder. Not, Rita thought, because he wanted to touch Drax, although knowing Mik, that might have been part of it. Happily married though he was, the man was a flirt. “Listen, Drax, you may be a secret agent or something, and Banjalis are resilient, but you’re in no shape to take on a whole gang of bad guys by yourself tonight, especially not in higher gravity than you’re used to. Anyone who wasn’t a Banjali would be in the hospital or maybe the morgue, not upright, mostly functional, and watching my mechanic like he’s thinking about getting her naked and having all sorts of wholesome adult fun. You need back-up. If I don’t miss my guess, you either don’t have any or you can’t reach them safely on normal coms, since you haven’t been trying to make contact with anyone. If a bunch of assholes from Blemond are mucking with my crew, not to mention two whole planets, we are definitely up for kicking Blemondian butt.” He took a deep breath after the rant, then added in his usual mischievous voice, rather than the serious tone he’d been using ever since the story began to unfold. “Since Miss Rita is looking at you the same way you’re looking at her, we can arrange the room later. Just ignore the holo-cams on the walls and such. Or smile pretty and we’ll give you a cut of the proceeds.”
    Rita threw a roll of bandages at him, since it was the only thing handy that wasn’t expensive and breakable, med-bay being what it was. Drax raised his middle finger, then commented, “It meant the same thing on my planet, long before we ever met a human.”
    “No need to get snippy. Might as well get some cash out of this mess. People pay for interspecies porn, and you’re both attractive.” She’d figured Mik was joking about holo-porn, but the way Mik grinned at his husband made Rita