Free Stark Pleasure; the Space Magnate's Mistress (The LodeStar Series) by Cathryn Cade

barge, and the huge craft followed, dropping down into the fog.
    Dizzy, Kiri jerked her gaze back to the room.  
    “Hungry?” Stark asked.  
    She surveyed the covered dishes over her coffee mug. She’d sworn she’d never want to eat again after that meal last evening, but she was hungry. When she nodded, Stark set down his mug and touched a button on the table. The cerametal covers of the dishes retracted, revealing their contents.  
    Kiri inhaled the rich aromas. The scones she recognized; she sometimes bought one from the bakery on the next concourse at the port. The fruit was golden ripe gremel from Pangaea. The fluffy yellow contents of the smaller dish next to it were a mystery, as were the crisp brown cylinders reposing in the third.  
    “Moonhen eggs and vegeprotein sausages,” Stark said. “Try some. Delicious.”
    She eyed them doubtfully. “Real bird embryos?”  
    “Full of protein,” he coaxed, his eyes twinkling.
    “All right, then.” Kiri allowed him to dish her some of the eggs and one of the sausages. She took a small bite of the eggs, chewing carefully. They were as tender as they looked and delicious, so she nodded at his look of inquiry and took a bite of the vegsausage. It was salty and crisp, and melted on her tongue. “That’s really good.” She took another bite, looking greedily at those left in the dish.  
    He nodded, indicating that she should take more. “I thought you’d like it.”
    The gremel fruit was sweet, the scones were light and flaky, laden with plump dried berries. Kiri ate until she was full, setting down her fork with regret. “Delicious, thank you.”
    Stark nodded, but his eyes sharpened over his coffee mug. “You’re welcome to stay for the midday meal.”
    Her heart lifted, but only for an instant. Much as she’d love to stay in his luxurious orbit, it was not to be.  
    “I’ve things to do. A new place to live, and—”
    He merely looked at her and she broke off with a shrug. He probably didn’t recall what it was like down here at the bottom of the food chain.
    “I can’t get your credit back,” he said. “I know you don’t like what the Vulpean did, but it wasn’t illegal. But I can help you.”
    Her heart gave another happy little leap. She rubbed her damp palms over her thighs. “Oh. What would that involve?”
    He shrugged, as if it were as inconsequential as which flavor to have in his coffee. “We’ll decide that later.”
    Later? She didn’t have until later. She only had now, and even that was debatable. Time to wake up from this pleasant little dream.
    Kiri slid out of her chair, rising to look down at Stark. It should have been an advantageous position, but somehow it wasn’t. Only stubbornness held her straight and adamant, when she wanted to sink back into her chair and agree to whatever he was offering, except that she wasn’t sure it was anything but a soft nest for a few days and nights.
    “Thanks, but I have a business to run. I can’t just take the day off.”
    “Kiri—”
    “Look, I appreciate your offer, but I’m a businesswoman, not one of your fancy whores. I can’t just lounge around here.” She waved her arm at the big room with its plush accoutrements.
    His gaze iced. Kiri bit her lip, wishing she could swallow her hasty words. Quark, she’d had better manners than that since she was nine.  
    It was just that her lovely breakfast was knotting in her stomach with nerves as she remembered the gaping hole of her credit account and the empty coffee bins in her kiosk and her apartment and all its contents, gone.  
    What she really wanted to do was fling herself into his arms and weep. Not exactly a move of strength.  
    He held her there with just a look. “I don’t want to hear that word from your mouth again. It has nothing to do with you.”
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. Not that way, at least.”
    She couldn’t very well tell him it was the thought of being only one more in a swift parade through