Hot Target (Femme Metal, Book Two)

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An Excerpt From: HOT TARGET

Copyright © NATHALIE GRAY, 2006.

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.

"So this is the one who's stealing my clients? That's
'Ballistic Kim'?"

Titan watched the purple-haired girl flash a few dance
moves that would trigger sprinkler systems on half the station. She then
climbed the stairs to the mezzanine with enough attitude for three, the
statuesque woman tailing her smelling of professional bodyguard even from
where he sat. When head breaking started, he'd go for her first.

His informant nodded, his three eyes blinking arrhythmically,
which drove Titan crazy. Couldn't the thing synchronize its own eyes?

"A fucking doll with purple hair is selling weapons to my
clients, right under my nose?" Titan ground his teeth.

As though his anger had caused a smell, the little Mers
backed away, waving a hand in front of his face. "I receive payment now,
human."

The high-pitched voice just about made Titan want to
rush out of his chair and throw the alien over the goddamn railing. His
suit jacket opened against his pectorals when he reached behind and slid a
plastic strip out of his pants back pocket. The array of custom-made
weapons at his waist, all matte black to go with his moods and outfits,
occupied the Mers' gaze for quite some time.

Titan snarled and the alien took the plastic strip and
left. His titanium canine tooth always did the trick when his eyes couldn't
convey a quick and violent death fast enough for them.

Some people just didn't get it when they'd been
dismissed.

As he watched his competitor's progress up the stairs
and across the mezzanine, he couldn't help but admit she had the nicest ass
he'd seen in a long time. His dick thought so too and came up to watch.

Down, boy. When I'm through with that bird, there
won't be anything left but a bunch of feathers.

She sat right close to Collins--that lying sack of
shit--and pretended to be amused by the fat man's insipid humor. Titan
rolled his eyes when she plastered on the fakest, toothiest smile on the
station. No easy feat, considering Land's End counted more whores, escorts
and gigolos than a plastic surgeon's waiting room. At least, she didn't
have fake boobs. He could tell. She'd squished those babies up tight and
high. Just like he loved them. Nice and firm and planted high on the chest.
Cute face too, come to think of it. Narrow and pointy with a sharp
nose and large, dark eyes. Her hair looked high-maintenance but suited her
well.

He shook his head.

What the hell was wrong with him, appraising her like
that? All that orange latex was getting to his head. He'd better get moving
before he started drooling like an idiot.

Titan stood, circled the table in the corner of the bar
near the DJ's glass cubicle and cleaved a wide swath through the dancing
crowd. People seemed to melt away in front of him. As they should, if they
wanted to keep all their teeth!

Muttering under his breath the entire time, Titan
reached the stairs and looked up just in time to spot Ballistic Kim's
dark-haired companion leaning over the balustrade and scanning the place
with the practiced eye of a veteran. Too late he looked away from her.

She'd spotted him.

After arching an eyebrow in a way that let him know this
was a woman not to be messed with, she disappeared above the railing.

Fuck. So much for the element of surprise.

By the time he reached the crowded mezzanine, Collins
was staring over Ballistic Kim's head through the apertures among the
pressed bodies and directly at him. The tall woman was nowhere to be found.
Some bodyguard.

As though she felt the menace coming her way, his
competitor twisted in her seat, and to his immense delight, didn't even
need to scan the crowd to spot him. Titan stared at her while he marched to
her table.

Damn, she's even cuter up close.

What he'd first thought was plastic surgery and makeup
turned out to be the real deal. Those shiny cheekbones hadn't been messed
with, neither had that straight, narrow nose and those luscious lips, save
for a thick coat of something very shiny that changed colors depending on
the angle. It made her look like she'd eaten something incredibly juicy.
She didn't wear any color on her eyelids, something he abhorred to the
highest degree.

The large, dark eyes flared even wider as she stared
back at him. For some reason he'd rather not dwell on right then, Ballistic
Kim didn't look the expensive doll he'd initially thought she was...only a
very cute woman with smarts that shined through those killer eyes. No need
to step knee-deep in it to know he was in shit.

"So," he said, looking at Collins and using his "you're
in so much shit you could drown" voice, "that's who you've been fucking
with while I was waiting at home, dear."

Collins tried to talk but nothing coherent or
intelligible came out. He pointed at the strip of plastic on the woman's
arm, shrugged then fell silent, as he ought to have done in the first
place. Idiot.

Looking down at Ballistic Kim and extending his hand,
Titan grinned, making sure to angle his smile just right so she'd see the
metal tooth. "I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Titan Harris, the
guy you've just screwed with for the first and last time."

Well, fuck, she didn't even look impressed, just kind of
flushed and twitchy. She reached for his hand, faltered, got some nerves
and firmly clasped it.

Like a bolt of electricity had zapped him in the balls,
Titan gritted his teeth and tried not to flinch at the pain in his chest.
Where the fuck had this come from?

"Nice to meet you, Mister Titan Harris," she quipped
mockingly. Laughing at his name had always been a crime punishable by a
good pounding, even back as a kid.

Colored
beams of light hit her glossy lips at just the right angle. He could've
stared at that mouth all night.

Too bad he'd have to mess it all up.

Instead of releasing her hand, something any gentleman
would've done by now, Titan only accentuated the pressure. He was many
things but not a gentleman.

To her credit, she didn't flinch. "I'm sure we can do
business without turning into total Cro-Magnons."

Total Cro-Magnons? She--the girl was half his
size--was insulting him, calling him a caveman?

"I'm not here to do business," he replied,
forcing her to her feet and closer to him. A fruity smell wafted up and
diverted his chain of thought for a second, as did the shiny latex
straining over her slim body. His hard-on tightened painfully.

He wondered what she'd feel like up against the wall,
her legs wrapped around his waist while he pushed in deep. Tight and hot,
he was sure of it. And from the way he'd seen her move on the dance floor as
she crossed it, she'd give a hell of a performance to the lucky guy who
would manage to bypass the bodyguard.

She looked up into his face, seemed to note the resolve
there, and smiled a lop-sided one that nearly had him shaking his head.
Glitter scintillated in a very tempting fashion when she grinned. Hot
damn, all this and attitude too.

"I think you should let my hand go, Mister Titan
Harris." Something flashed green on the decoder strapped to her forearm. He
couldn't see what it was. Didn't much care either.

"If I did, I wouldn't be able to drag your little ass
outside to...discuss a few things."