"Mary Rosenblum - Splinters of Glass" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rosenblum Mary)

“Why the hurry?” Her eyes narrowed and a hint of anticipation curled the
edges of her full lips.

He should have known he couldn’t fool Kar. Let her choose between gossip
and sex and she’d pick gossip every time. “I spotted a vein of rose moss.” He
jerked his head vaguely poleward. “I’m afraid Zorn saw me leav-ing. I wouldn’t put
it past him to try sniffing out my back trail, dig it out himself. You know Zorn.” He
jerked his shoulders in an angry shrug. “He’s a claim jumper. But I didn’t dare stay
long enough to dig in and register the site. The power plant was draining.” He
slapped the board. “Barely made it back as it was.”

“Nobody’s seen rose for a hundred days.” Karina’s smile broadened. “But
you got the nose, ice-boy. One day you’re gonna tell me how you always find the
best moss, right?” She spun away from the workbench, her slender arms slipping
under his tunic, sliding around his rib cage, her lips rising up to capture his. “I love
secrets,” she breathed into his mouth. “You know I’ll charm it out of you eventually.
And you’ll love giving it up to me.” Her long, strong fingers played his vertebrae like
a virtuoso, walking downward to his hips, around and down...

“After.” He swallowed a groan, caught her wrists. Pushed her away. “Don’t
lose me this rose, Kar. Or I won’t be able to afford you.”

“Huh.” She spun away, lights flashing in her braids. “You don’t buy me,
honey. Not even with rose moss money. The board work you pay for.”

“I didn’t mean that.” He put his hands on her shoulders, felt lean muscle and
bone beneath the slick thermal fabric of her tunic. He dug his thumbs into the
muscles along her shoulder blades, heard her deep-within hum of pleasure as he
kneaded the knots out of the muscles. “You know I didn’t.” He licked the back of
her neck, tasting her skin, sweat, the bristling short hairs beneath her braids. “Fix this
quick so I can get that rose before Zorn sniffs it out and then we’ll celebrate.”

“You’re so persuasive,” she purred, twisting her head back to grin at him.
“Okay, ice-boy, clear the decks.” She shrugged him off, grabbed his board, and
slung it lightly onto the workbench. Opened its access panel with a tap of her finger,
pulling the microgoggles onto her face as she bent over the circuitry, probing with a
long, tapered fingernail biowired for testing.

Qai held his breath. He had enough credit to buy a new board if he had to.

“Bad regulator chip is all.” Karina pushed the goggles up onto her fore-head.
“Got one in stock, so no biggie.” She stepped over a stack of board shells to pull
open drawers in her storage wall. “Got it.” Ten minutes and she was done, closing
up the smart-plastic hull as she straightened. Rose on tiptoes to kiss him. “Go get
that rose.” She winked. “Then we celebrate.”

He pulled her into his arms, mouth covering hers, kissing her hard, so hard
that he tasted blood as they separated. Because he might never...

Don’t think that.