The Pleasure Principle

“I wasn’t planning to stay over on this wretched planet. I just came for the gold. And I needed something befitting to wear to the Pleasure Clubs.” She all but sneered.

He narrowed his eyes. “What the hell were you doing there?”

“What would I be doing there, D.T.? Looking for you, you arrogant ass! Hoping you weren’t showering Pleasure Providers with gold bars like they were drops of rain in a torrential downpour!”

He scowled at her. How frivolous she thought he could be. How shallow. How selfish. Then he realized he hadn’t done much lately to prove otherwise, so he couldn’t exactly hold a grudge. Instead, he latched onto the way her green eyes flashed with fury and something else. Something that looked so very close to envy that it made D.T. laugh out loud.

“You’re jealous!”

She pushed away from him with a huff, but he had a strong hold on her. She wasn’t going anywhere.

“Of all the idiotic things to say to me, D.T.!” She glared at him with murder in her eyes. Which made him laugh even harder.

“Oh, come on, sweetheart,” he said as he came around. “It’s okay to admit it. In fact, I was a little jealous myself today.”

Her glare turned suspicious. “What on Earth have you ever been jealous of?”

His jaw tightened for a moment. How easily the tables had turned on him. But fair was fair, wasn’t it? “Who’s your new friend?”

Gizelle was the one to laugh this time. “You’re jealous of Trey?”

He merely stared at her, expecting an answer.

She grinned at him, her irritation seeming to drift away with triumph. He was not fool enough to believe her levity would last for long, but it was a nice change of pace.

“I just met him this morning. At port. He was for hire, so I hired him.”

“To help you recover the gold?” he eyed her with suspicion. “And…?”

A playful look crossed her pretty face, but a hint of lust also crept into her eyes, assuring D.T. she found her new crewmate desirable. “He’s not that kind of hired hand.”

“But you’re attracted to him.”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “He has a certain look that’s appealing to me.”

D.T. was not so blinded by the thrill of the chase to have missed the fact that Trey bore a striking resemblance to him. The thought stroked his ego.

Hmm. He found it rather intriguing the way this whole situation had played out. Well, with the exception of the blood she’d felt compelled to draw earlier. But it was dried now, so he let the insult slide. His thoughts lay elsewhere.

D.T.’s eyes raked over her body from the thin strip of black leather encircling her slender neck to the sheer white blouse with two satin ribbons knotted in a bow just below her full breasts. Her short black skirt veed high on the left side, leaving a gaping slit to the top of her bare thigh, revealing creamy white flesh his fingers itched to touch and his tongue begged to explore. The ruffled hems of the skirt and blouse added a delicate, feminine touch to the seductive ensemble. But the crowning jewel was the sheer material of the blouse. Through it, D.T. could see the dusky circles of her areolas and the tightened peaks of her bare nipples.

He groaned deep in the back of his throat as he took in the full view of her. She’d dressed for seduction, a means to an end. She’d come for the gold, prepared to do what she must to get it from him. Just thinking of the lengths she’d go to in order to get her treasure, the erotic things she’d do to him, the uninhibited things she’d allow him to do to her…. Lust raged within D.T., sending a roaring heat wave through him from head to toe, specifically targeting his cock, which hardened to an unbearable degree.

But his passion didn’t cloud his mind. Not too much, anyway.

“Did you intend to use Trey as reinforcement if your attempt to seduce me for the gold didn’t succeed?”

“Whatever it takes,” she said in a tone that sounded inviting and provocative to him.

The images that slipped into his mind of their own volition both enraged and excited him. D.T. had no intention of ever sharing her with another man. Then again, visions of Gizelle in the throes of passion, being pleasured by not just one, but two men—who to his comfort looked remarkably similar in features and stature—made him even harder. He could hear her lusty moans and her cries of pleasure as they both filled her completely and made her come over and over again.

His grip on her tightened. Maybe out of possessiveness, maybe because he didn’t want her to slip away tonight.

He wanted her all to himself. But he’d be lying if he denied that thoughts of doubling her pleasure still lingered in his mind.

“I’m not sharing you tonight,” he said in a tight voice. A tone of finality. No arguing, no negotiating.

“What makes you think I’m staying? You already said I could have the treasure. I plan to collect it and be on my way.”