Sparks in Cosmic Dust by Robert Appleton Read Free Book Online

it.”
    Okay, so he was dumber than she’d reckoned. Obtuse. A little more persuasion was required. “Think about that, Solomon. What have I got to gain by letting you win like this?” She thanked God her tight corset was a bitch to fit into—it bought her precious time. “Sure, technically I get a portion of your clips added to my account, but that’s hardly worth kissing goodbye to my reputation, is it? I’m no longer that unattainable goddess you’re harping on about. I’ve just been ravaged. Savvy? Once word gets out, I’ll be just another shack-sheik’s moll stripping in the premium cube. Overpriced. Yesterday’s news.”
    “I guess.” He cleared his throat. “I mean nah, you’re still—”
    “And I’m saying I want you to come back tomorrow and screw my brains out, or not, whatever you like so long as you beat me at Cydonia Face four more times.” She couldn’t believe how smoothly it all flowed out. Inklings of a ruse like this had never congealed before today. Celibacy had made her rich, and the only players she’d ever considered losing to in the past were toffs, easy on the eye at the buy-in, easy to hate once their arrogance kicked in.
    The closest she’d come to ending her unbeaten run was with a moneyed teenage girl, whose porcelain skin and demure personality had seemed so harmless, so irresistible, there was no downside. Not until the brat had emerged after round eleven, the girl’s second defeat in a row—she’d screamed enough obscenities to clear a barracks bar on Selene finals day. But with Solomon, it had all come together.
    Almost.
    “What about the capital?” He untangled his inside-out jacket. “I don’t think I could manage more than two of these matches. This was only on impulse after…never mind. You got enough to stake me?”
    Varinia strained to dampen her grin.
    He was onboard.
    “Yes. Drop by El Oso Negro tomorrow morning. I’ll leave something for you at the front desk. Flash your ID and use…let me see…‘blackjack’ as your password. But please, wear something different, and don’t call any attention to yourself. Archie Delaney owns that place as well.”
    “Wouldn’t it be better leaving it someplace else then?”
    “It would, but you can imagine what a tight leash he keeps me on. Any time I leave El Oso Negro I have to take an armed chaperone. At least this way I can draw out some spending money without having to watch over my shoulder. It will be enough to tide you over.”
    “Okay.”
    “And by the way, I should tell you I’m worth somewhere in the region of half a million clips.”
    He nodded blankly, then rose and roughed his jacket on, preoccupied.
    “You okay, doll?” she asked.
    “Fine.”
    “I didn’t mean to put the fright on you like that. We’re pressed for time is all.” No response. “So we’re on for tomorrow?”
    In one purposeful motion he rubbed his face and parted his disheveled hair, his stare resting on the far wall, away from her. Then he turned and, as if snapping out of a daydream, leaned in and treated her to a short but dizzying kiss, its depth unquantifiable. Was it a farewell gesture? The sealing of their pact? A promise of things to come?
    He left without saying a word. Instead he threw her a wink before strolling out under the cameras’ scrutiny, away to his side of the glass, back to wherever he’d come from.
    A man she hardly knew.
    Her partner in this all-in gamble she couldn’t afford to lose.
     
    Steam vents hissed, last-minute roly-poly couriers sped by as Clay supported Lyssa’s limp on their way to the launch hangar. It was going to be a close call. She’d twisted her ankle during their escape from the bookie’s office, amid a blaze of bullets, and though they’d snatched three thousand credits from his safe, Lyssa had hugely underestimated the man’s entourage. Damn near a dozen gun-toting goons had opened up, honeycombing the corridors behind them as they’d fled.
    “You’ll have to carry