Free Tiger of Talmare by Nina Croft

was melting inside. Christ, she was turning into another Tiger groupie. "Well, don't expect me to be lying on my back for you anytime soon," she snapped. "You've definitely put a stop to that."
     
    "On your back, on your knees. I'm not particularly fussy about the position. Just be aware it's going to happen."
     
    "In your dreams," she muttered. But she could feel her body reacting in all sorts of ways to his words, and a graphic image appeared in her mind. Her, on her hands and knees, Tiger poised behind her. A shiver ran all the way through her body to settle low down in her belly.
     
    "Like that idea, do you?" he purred.
     
    She glanced up and found him watching her. His eyes were almost sleepy, heavy-lidded, a greeny-gold gleam from behind his thick lashes. An expression of extreme masculine satisfaction settled on his face.
     
    She scowled. "Totally indifferent! Now are we going to get out of here?" She forced herself to look away from him. "Where's Leila?"
     
    "Here," Leila spoke from the rocks above them. "I was just waiting for you to finish your little love scene." Mel didn't deign to answer, and Leila continued. "Sanderson's gone. I think the others are dead."
     
    Mel shook herself and forced her brain to function. "Did you get your man?" she asked Leila.
     
    "Oh yeah, he's definitely dead."
     
    Mel examined at her closely; her clothes were stained with blood. You didn't get that much blood from killing someone with a blaster. "What did you do?"
     
    Leila smiled, her eyes glittering with residual excitement. "I sliced..."
     
    "Stop right there," Mel said. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to know. Are Angie and Grace okay?"
     
    "Yeah, they've gone back to The Revenge ."
     
    "Good. Let's go." She took a step and groaned.
     
    Leila jumped down and came toward her. "Are you okay?"
     
    "I was shot. By Tiger here."
     
    "Really?"
     
    "Actually," Zach said, "I saved her life. Twice."
     
    "Good, I think." Leila paused, glanced from one of them to the other. "Right then, I'm heading back to the ship. I'll see you there."
     
    She moved off, and Mel went to follow. As she took her first step, the burn flared into life and red hot pain shot through her. "Ouch, that hurts."
     
    Each movement sent a shaft of pure agony up her spine. Zach moved toward her, and she put up a hand to stop him. "No closer."
     
    "I was just going to help."
     
    "I'm not sure I can take any more of your help."
     
    "Don't be such a sissy."
     
    He stood looking at her for a while, head cocked to one side, considering his options. "There's only one way to do this," he said eventually. His hands went to her waist, and he picked her up, effortlessly tossing her over his shoulder. She hung there helpless as he adjusted her position.
     
    "Let me down."
     
    "Stop wriggling," he replied. One large hand clamped her in place with an iron grip around her thigh, careful not to touch the tender skin where the blaster had hit. She could feel his thumb digging into the soft flesh.
     
    "Hey, watch the claws," she grumbled.
     
    He loosened his grip slightly, and she forced herself to breathe out and relax.
     
    "Thank you," he said and set off after Leila.
     
    Hanging upside down, it seemed like a long journey. Her cheek pressed against his lower back, her arms dangled down below his buttocks. She could feel the heat from his body, smell the hot sweat mixed with Zach's own particular musky, almost feral scent.
     
    Her breasts, squashed against the rock solid hardness of his back, felt swollen, the sensitive peaks rubbing against the soft material of his T-shirt as he moved. His hand was stroking her leg. She thought about complaining, but it was doing too good a job of taking her mind off her injuries. He held her steady while his thumb rubbed small circles on her inner thigh. It was having a curious effect on her insides, which seemed to be turning molten and threatening to slide from her body.
     
    The sensation was completely new and not