Excerpt of Blood and Metal by Nina Croft

Fergal was still standing, and she swiveled her chair to
look at him.

“Come here,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because I need to kiss you.”

Need—she liked that word. Was she pathetic that she wanted
to be needed? She pushed herself slowly to her feet and took
the single step to eliminate the space between them. This
close she could smell his now familiar scent, warm man
overlaid with something slightly metallic. She breathed him
in deeply, resting one hand on his chest over the rapid thud
of his heart.

He threaded his fingers through her hair and tipped back her
head. As she stared up into his silver eyes, she saw the
regret there. Regret for what, she wasn’t sure. Then his
mouth lowered to hers, and he kissed her. His tongue pushed
inside, and she sensed the darkness stir sleepily. Instead
of fighting, she welcomed it, and it sank back down into her
subconscious. She gave herself up to the kiss, pressing her
breasts against his chest, her hips against his groin,
feeling the hard length of his arousal.

Now was so not the time for this, but she couldn’t pull
away. He intoxicated her. She breathed him, tasted him,
heard his ragged breath in her ears. His hands stroked down
her arms, pulling her tighter against him.

The first indication that something was wrong was the cold
touch of metal against her right wrist. She went motionless,
his mouth still against hers, but before she could react,
he’d twisted her left wrist behind her and fastened it to
the right so her hands were secured behind her back.

She took a step away from him, and he didn’t try to hold
her. Staring up into his face, she could see the
determination in his eyes. She rattled the cuffs, but she
was held tight.

Fergal reached across and pulled the laser pistol from the
holster at her waist. “Sorry, sweetheart, but I need a
little time to get out of blaster range.” He flicked the
switch to stun and stepped back. “This will hurt, but it
also means you can tell them I overpowered you. Don’t
mention you wanted to come along. Just go back to your life.
Your friends.”

“I don’t want to tell them that. And you’re my friend.
Please, Fergal, don’t do this.”

“I have to. I can’t take you in there. There’s a 99 percent
chance that this is a suicide mission. And I don’t want you
to die for me. I’ve had that once in my life, and never again.”

Who? She hated that person for turning Fergal into the cold,
lonely man he was now. “Who was it?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I like you, Daisy,
but I won’t let myself care for you, and I won’t let you be
used against me. Besides, there are things you don’t know
about me, and believe me, if you knew, you wouldn’t want to
come along.”

“There’s nothing—”

He cut off the words by kissing her. In that moment, she
knew he was going to do this. Anger rose up inside her,
stirring the darkness, but anything was better than the
despair that threatened to swamp her.

This time it was Fergal who stepped back. She stared into
his eyes, saw the moment of resolve, the flash of light, and
all was pain and darkness.