Rees
By
Allyson James

Chapter One

    A Shareem male.
    Easy to tell he was Shareem, first because he was tall, more than six and a half feet. Second, because of the slim black chain on his left biceps. Third, because he was naked, except for a loincloth around his waist.
    From the other side of the airy white hall, Talan watched the Shareem pause in front of the door to a holo-block.
    The Shareem had long hair, dark blond and pulled into a tail that hung between his shoulder blades. His back muscles were sculpted to perfection, tapering to a small waist and muscular thighs.
    The loincloth left his backside bare. Talan had never seen a man's backside before. It was enough to dry her mouth and start her juices flowing.
    Reading about Shareem was one thing. Researching in a dusty library was one thing. Seeing a Shareem in the flesh was something completely different.
    She knew now why women had once gone crazy trying to get them.
    Shareem. Genetically enhanced males, grown and bred for the pleasure of females. A craze twenty years ago, very illegal these days.
    Despite the cooling system inside Talan's robes, sweat trickled down her back.
    He paid for the holo-block with a credit strip, and the big door slid open. Beyond, Talan glimpsed an ocean, palm trees and a beach. Good choice.
    The Shareem entered the room. The door started to close.
    Talan had never broken a rule in her life. Talan d'Urvey would never, ever sneak into a holo-block rented for only one person. That would be wrong.
    But she'd followed him this far, and she could not linger for hours waiting for him to come out.
    The door had nearly closed. Talan flung herself across the hall and into the holo-room just before the door boomed shut behind her.
    Rees stared out across the blue-green waves of the tropical ocean, sank his toes into the warm sand, and thought about the woman following him.
    Rees liked oceans. The desert world of Bor Narga had no oceans, except for a dried-up one in the middle of the planet.
    He liked the soothing cool of the water and the tropical air touching his ass, kissing his skin like a woman's lips. It was a perfect place to ponder the problem Rio had brought to him and to think about the woman.
    She'd been following him all morning, ever since he'd left the bazaar. At first he'd thought she was a patroller, one of that fine body of women who enjoyed harassing the now-free Shareem.
    A closer glance told him no. Her robes placed her as upper-class. The patterns and colors on them indicated she was unmarried, educated, and celibate.
    A celibate young woman following a Shareem.
    He wanted to laugh. Naughty girl.
    She'd followed him into the holo-block then dived for cover behind the broad-leafed plants and stayed there.   more >>