Three Nights on the Errant Venture Part 2

Shada awoke spooned against Karrde, his arm heavy across her waist. She shifted against him stretching a little.

"Good morning," Karrde breathed into her ear.

"Good morning."

They lay there for a bit in silence, reluctant to start their day apart. Finally, Shada asked, "Will you be working with Booster today?"

"Yes. I trust you'll be able to amuse yourself?"

"Of course." She would be spending today tracking down the items on Mazzic's shopping list.

"And how might I entertain you tonight, my dear?" He pressed a suggestive kiss to her neck. "Perhaps an intimate dinner alone?"

"No. I want to go to the casino."

"The casino?" He pulled back, sounding surprised. "I thought you'd get enough of that sort of thing with Mazzic."

She turned over and propped herself up on her arm looking down on his slightly confused expression. It made her smile to see him caught offguard for once. "Well, I'm not going to just hang off your arm and watch you play sabacc." She poked him in the chest with a finger. "That's all I ever get to do with Mazzic. I want to have fun. I want to play."

He studied her a moment, taking in her teasing smile and the touch of apprehension in her eyes, wondering what she was really thinking."Very well. We shall go to the casino and gamble outrageously."

"Not too outrageously. Just enough that I feel like I'm living a little."

"Well, well, well. Look what the sand panther finally drug in," Booster said as Karrde entered his office later that morning. "Have a good night?"

Karrde just smiled and went over the carafe of caf and poured himself a cup.

Booster gave him a sour look. "Figured you wouldn't be the type to kiss and tell."

Karrde sat down in one of the chairs in front the desk. "Where do you want to start?" he picked up one of the datapads stacked on the surface.

Booster pawed through the datacards scattered across his desk and said almost offhandedly, "Lando was by here this morning before he left."

"Oh?"

"He was very interested in 'Sleena'."

Karrde looked up sharply. "Did he recognize her?"

"No. But he did want to know if she was unattached. He didn't think it likely that she was really involved with you," he said a mocking smile twisting his face.

"What did you tell him?"

"That she was a contact of yours."

"Hmm." That was probably the best explanation. His contacts were many and varied.

"Can't say I blame him. Shada's a hell of a woman. When she gets tired of you, I may look her up myself. I like the idea of a warrior woman," Booster mused, leaning back in his chair. "I kind of like that she could break me in two, but she still looks so delicate."

Karrde didn't know if delicate was the right word for Shada. There was nothing fragile about her. She was strong in both body and mind, but there was also an elegant fineness to her features. He supposed anyone short of a Wookiee would look delicate compared to a massive man like Booster. "I'll be sure to let her know."

"You're lucky no one can seem to fathom that you might be romantically interested in a beautiful woman, Karrde. I wouldn't either if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."

"It has nothing to do with romance, Booster," he objected. "Just mutual pleasure."

"Yeah, just keep telling yourself that. I've never known you to lie to yourself like that, Karrde."

"I'm not lying to myself," he replied, a touch of exasperation coloring his voice. "I've never desired a romantic relationship with anyone and I don't now. The lady in question certainly doesn't. Why shouldn't we enjoy the pleasure we find in each other when the chance arises?"

"So you're telling me this is just sex," his friend asked, disbelief clear in his tone.

"Of course."

"I know you, Talon Karrde." Booster wagged a finger at him. "If it was just sex you wouldn't be carrying on for so long. And I can tell this has been going on for quite a while. You get bored with that sort of thing fairly quickly. There must be something else going on for you to stay interested. Some sort of intellectual stimulation or something."

"That is true," Karrde agreed, hoping that would shut him up. "She is a fascinating woman."

"She's a dangerous woman. So is it the danger of who she is and what might happen if you're discovered that turns you on?"

"Booster, I'm not discussing this anymore," he said, finality clear in his voice and expression.

That evening when Karrde returned to his quarters, there was the lingering scent of Shada's perfume in the air, but the woman herself wasn't there. He hadn't expected her to be, but the scent teased him, ratcheting up his desire for her.

He pulled out his formal suit from the closet and gave it a once over, making sure it was clean and pressed. Then he took a quick sonic shower before getting dressed.

He made his way to the tapcafe he'd agreed to meet her at. He scanned the crowd as he entered and inadvertently paused in the doorway for a moment when he caught sight of her at the crowded bar.

He could hardly miss her.

She was wearing a crimson shimmer silk gown caught up in the front by a silver collar and draping low at the back. Her dark hair was in loose curls held back from her face by a silver band.

She was smiling and laughing, flirting outrageously with the man next to her.

Karrde tamped down the spike of jealously that went through him. She looked directly at him over the man's shoulder, but didn't act as if she knew him. I want to play, she had said this morning. Well, it seemed gambling wasn't the only thing she had on her mind. He made his way to the bar and pushed his way into an empty space beside the man. He nursed his drink, entertained by the ridiculous lies she was telling the man who seemed to think he really had a chance with her. After a while she deftly sent the man on his way, but she still didn't acknowledge Karrde.

He moved closer to her. "It seems your companion has abandoned you. May I join you?"

She turned to him and gave him a look as if she was assessing him. She smiled slowly, "If you like."

"If I buy you a drink, what sort of lies will you tell me?"

She grinned and laughed. "What sort of lies would you like to hear?"

A dozen fantasies he'd had of Shada skittered through his mind. Most of them involving her belonging to him in some fashion without any conflicts of interest. No Mistryl. No Mazzic. It terrified him to even think of indulging those fantasies, even in jest.

"We have always been honest with each other, haven't we?"

"Yes," she agreed some of the teasing light leaving her eyes. They were honest despite their secrets and always very careful not to get too personal.

"Perhaps it would be best not to start lying to each other now."

She smiled with a touch of bitterness. "Of course. You're right."

"I'm sorry," he couldn't stop himself from saying.

"Don't be." Her smile lightened again and she surveyed him from head to toe. "Well, then I'll be honest. You clean up quite well. Formal wear suits you."

"I wouldn't have you ashamed to be seen with me," he replied lightly.

"As if that would ever be the case."

"So, do you want that drink or would you like to proceed to dinner?"

"Let's go to dinner. I didn't have lunch."

Karrde gestured for her to precede him. He didn't offer his arm as he might ordinairly. There were far too many people on the Errant Venture who knew him and would wonder about the oddity of it as Lando had.

As they were about to walk into the casino after dinner, Karrde pressed something into her hand. "A little something to have fun with." He closed her hand around it.

She stopped and looked down at the credit chip. "Five thousand? I-"

"Please," he interrupted her. "Don't say anything as cliché as 'I couldn't possibly…'"

She looked down at the chip and back at him again, a smirk on her face. "Is this what being Talon Karrde's mistress is like?"

He kept his face expressionless, but wondered if he had been reading his mind earlier. "I wouldn't know. Talon Karrde's never had a mistress."

"Of course not." She grinned. "That would be entangling wouldn't it?"

"Quite. But for curiosity's sake would you apply for the position if there was one?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said lightly. "You'd be much less interesting if I had to live with you day in and day out."

Karrde laughed. "That's likely very true."

Karrde hid his grin by taking a sip of his drink as he watched a gleeful Shada counting out her pile of chips.

Shada had tried every game in the casino except sabacc, even the lugjack machines. But she had hit a real hot streak on the jubilee wheel. Every time she won she had let out a delighted laugh, clapping her hands in excitement. Even after all the years that they had been meeting and finding pleasure in each other, he'd rarely seen such a carefree smile on her face. He found her even more irresistible like that.

He was pulled from his musings when she slid a pile of chips across the table toward him. He raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Thank you for staking me."

"Shada, that's not necessary."

"It is. Thank you," she said firmly still smiling. "I had fun."

"I'm glad." He pulled the chips toward himself noticing that it was a couple thousand over the five thousand he'd given her. "So what are you going to do with your winnings? Buy something expensive and frivolous?"

She looked down at her chips, her smile losing a touch of it's lightness. "No. I'm afraid I'm not very frivolous."

He wondered what she'd do with the money, pass it along to the Mistryl or perhaps stash it away for retirement. One couldn't be a mercenary forever. He imagined she'd had quite the harsh life from growing up on a destroyed world to the hard life of a Mistryl Shadow Guard. "You should indulge yourself whenever you have the chance," he told her.

Shada smirked at him and took a sip of her wine. "I'm afraid I can only afford one indulgence at a time," she said, her voice turning husky and suggestive.

"Well, then." He pitched his voice low, so as not to be overheard. "I don't mind being your one indulgence then. Especially when you look so delectable. I've had a hard time keeping my hands to myself tonight."

"Then, by all means, let us adjourn to a more private location."

TBC