The Pleasure Bot (Planet Desire Book 4) Read Free Page A

Declan readjusted his clothing. “Are you satisfied I’m not packing?”
    “That’s for sure.” The man sighed loudly. “However, life-like was guaranteed. And your ass will do fine. Take off your shirt. I want to see your chest.”
    Declan scowled and made quick work of the shirt, yanking it over his head while wondering if the man was checking him for a holster.
    An appreciative whistle sounded from the speakers.
    Every hair on Declan’s body rose to attention. “I don’t know what this is all about, but if you think—”
    “You’re free of any exotic STDs—I scanned you when you entered the kitchen. Can you perform?”
    “Perform?” The muscles in his shoulders and arms bunched in rejection of the suspicion formulating…
    “You know—in the sack. Can you get it up?”
    “Look, I don’t bugger men, and I don’t let men bugger me.” Alarm and anger hoarsened his voice. “If you’re going to use your weapon, you’d better do it now, because I’m out of here. Call the police, if you like.” He leaned down to swipe his clothing from the floor.
    “Now, hold your horses. If you want a chance to free your crew and your ship, you’d better stop right where you are.”
    “Some things aren’t up for negotiation,” Declan growled.
    “Decky, baby. I’m not after your virginity.” This time the voice was feminine, mid-forty-ish, and amused.
    Were there two of them? Declan straightened, his patience at an end. “Then what are you after?”
    “I want to strike a deal.”
    “What kind of a deal?”
    “My boss will be walking through the door any minute now. She expects a playmate for the weekend, but the playmate couldn’t be delivered. She’s going to be very grumpy.”
    “Not my problem if her friend couldn’t make it.”
    “Oh, but he just did .”
    Declan didn’t much care for the sly note in the woman’s voice and narrowed his eyes. “Let me get this straight. You want me to fill in for this friend ? And do what? Spend the weekend with your boss…shagging her brains out?”
    “That about sums it up.”
    “What about after?”
    “I told you. I can arrange for the release of your crew and your ship.”
    “You can do that? How do I even know you have that kind of power?”
    “I’m connected, ya know? I can even tell you who tipped off the cops.”
    “Prove it. Give me a name.”
    “Does Ronald McEwen ring a bell?”
    Declan swore. “I knew it. That bastard Scot!”
    “Now, if you’ll just settle down, we have some work to do before the boss gets home. You need a bath and a shave. Then we need to do something about those clothes—she said no cowboys. That duster and those boots reek of OK Corral…and whiskey, Samureen Black, unless I miss my guess.”
    Still trying to get his bearings and figure out if he stood a chance at making a run for it, Declan stalled. “Who the hell are you, and how do you know so much?”
    “Never mind. Start stripping.”
    Declan folded his arms over his bare chest. “Won’t she be just a little upset that I’m not the person she’s expecting?”
    “She won’t ever know.”
    Declan raised an eyebrow. “Is this friend a paid companion, then?”
    “You’re quick.”
    Declan stepped backward toward the kitchen door. “So what exactly do I have to do this weekend?”
    “Fulfill her fantasies—only problem is, she can’t tell you what they are. The service took her profile and was supposed to provide her with the partner who’d give her what she needs—not what she thinks she wants. I can tell you now, if you do what she tells you, she’ll be bored.”
    “Is she so repulsive she has to hire a pleasure-giver?”
    “Repulsive? Why would you think that?”
    “She can’t find her own partner .”
    The woman’s laughter did nothing to calm Declan’s fears. “She’s an exec. A stuffed shirt. She doesn’t have time to find her own man.”
    The very last sort of woman Declan wanted to ride—stiff, unimaginative, unyielding. How the hell