One Kiss
Elayne S. Venton
Changeling Press
m/f sci-fi

“Damn meteor storm,” the Elfen who owned this scum-magnet bar grumbled. “Cleared out the place
faster than an Enforcer raid.”

Mai Huan propped one leg atop her body jewelry showcase and painted her toenails, listening to him
gripe. “Nobody wants to get stuck on this piece of crap asteroid, Hermie.”

Including her.

Every day, Mai hoped for word on her transfer request. This latest assignment from the Law Council
bordered on mundane. An informant on a desolate outpost. Gods! If she had to record one more
drunken rebel, whispering about his criminal activities, she’d scream. And all because of one minor
slip-up on her last assignment. Cripe. Hadn’t she been punished long enough? Maybe when her contact came to pick up the data
chip containing her latest report, he or she would bring news.

The only other person she’d be thrilled to see right now was Vik. She pictured him striding into the dim, empty bar, his black hair
flowing over his shoulders, his expression determined. He’d weave through the metal tables and chairs to her booth, stealthy and
graceful, and lift her into his arms without speaking a word. His amber eyes would glow with amorous promise as he carried her
back to his spacepod. Then they’d do the one thing Mai had refused to do with him -- or any other undercover partner. They’d
fuck.

Yeah, riiight. Like that was going to happen. Mai blew her long bangs out of her eyes and finished painting the last toenail a bright
orange, matching the stripes on her dress, then switched legs. She’d fallen hard for Vik, yet upheld the Law Council code: always
maintain a professional relationship between agents. And Vik graciously supported her decision. What bugged her was, he hadn’t
pushed her beyond a single, heart-stopping, mind-blowing kiss. Stupid male. She hadn’t seen him since they’d worked the dictator
case together. Over two anums ago.

Mai fingered the heart necklace she wore, tracing over the brief inscription. Damn him. How long should she pine over a male who’d
vanished?

“I’m thinking about moving on.”

“You can’t go!” Hermie squeaked. “My bar business has tripled since you’ve set up shop here.”

Mai laughed. “That’s because most of my clients choose inebriation over an anesthetic when it comes to having their bodies
pierced.”

“Softies.” He grinned at her. “It’s no fun if you pass out.”

“I don’t think you have a nerve ending in your body.” Every chance he got, Hermie showed off his multiple piercings. He was Mai’s
best advertisement and most fearless customer.

“Oh, I feel your pain, honey.” He winked at her. “It hurts sooo good!”

Mai scoffed. “Watch out or I’ll pierce your tongue again. You didn’t like that so much.”

“Oh!” The height-challenged male shuddered. “That was --”

A loud metal-ripping groan reverberated into the bar, sending shivers across Mai’s shoulders. Had a shuttle crashed? Hermie
rushed forward. Mai shoved her feet into her absurdly unseasonable sandals, grabbed an environmental cape from beneath the
counter, and followed. Before they reached the exit, the bar door burst open, sweeping in retina-burning brightness, a blast of
frigid air swirling with magnetic dust, and a backlit shadow that almost filled the door frame. Shielding her face with her arm, Mai
plopped down on a nearby barstool, coughing through the thick atmosphere.

“Hey!” Hermie groused, craning his neck looking up at the hulking creature. “Close the outside door before you open the inner.”

The new arrival growled and slammed the heavy door closed, shutting out the blinding light. The ventilation system sucked the
contaminants into the floor grates.

“Outer door’s gone.” His gruff voice echoed across the vacant room. “Almost took my head off.” He stamped his thick-soled boots
and shook the long pile of furs he wore. Clinging metallic flakes shimmered to the floor.

He looked familiar. In a place where no one wanted anyone remembering them, Mai’s photographic memory remembered them all.
Skimming over his menacing expression, she paused, her attention grabbed by his silvery blue eyes. They didn’t fit in with the
heavy eyebrows, bumpy nose, broad cheekbones, long scraggly hair, and the dirty, braided beard of a Neanthrope. No, those eyes
were too perceptive. Vigilant. Intelligent. Not the dull fixed look of a Neanthrope at all.

He pinned Mai with a probing look, the silver in his irises flashing hypnotically and the black pupils fluctuating like the zoom on a vid
cam.

Sorting through her memory, his unusual optical flux came up twice, in two different species. Expanding her mind search, the eye
shape and size popped up three more times in different colors and a variety of faces. Including Vik’s.

Amber eyes, shimmering with golden highlights. Sultry. Dangerous. Half human, half Panthos. Vik possessed the dark, sleekly
muscular body of the panther-people and a predominantly human face. Mentally, Mai placed Vik and the Neanthrope side by side.
She snickered at the vast difference.

The Neanthrope looked away, bellied up to the bar, and ordered a gut-burning drink.

Mai decided she’d never seen this stranger before. Still, he might be her contact. After another quick scan of his rugged profile,
she returned to her booth so she’d be in position if he wandered over and gave her the code phrase.

Hermie set down the Neanthrope’s drink. “Hell of a storm if it tore off the outer door.”

The Neanthrope grunted, the sound almost drowned out by a surge of rocky debris pelting the bar’s exterior. After the clamor
diminished, the absence of blaring music and buzzing conversations inside made eavesdropping from across the room relatively
easy.

“Did meteors force you to land here?”

His customer nodded. “Knocked a stabilizer loose. Easy fix. As soon as the storm clears.”

“Might be awhile.”

“I got time.”

Mai caught the Neanthrope staring at her reflection in the bar mirror.

Hermie chuckled. “Maybe you’d want a body piercing while you wait. Mai’s the best. Big selection. Very gentle with genital piercings.”

The customer narrowed his eyes at Mai’s twin in the mirror.

Jumping up onto the bar, Hermie let his pudgy hand hover at his waistband. “Care to see samples of her work?”

His gaze flicked to Hermie. “No, thanks.”

Hermie frowned. “Don’t be so hasty --”

The big visitor rose and cracked his knuckles. “She’s got a showcase, doesn’t she?” He strode over to Mai’s kiosk.

Mai raised an eyebrow then smiled sarcastically as he approached. “She does. Are you interested in anything in particular?”

He stared at the platinum heart nestled between her breasts, then lifted his gaze, searching her eyes. “One kiss.”


Now available from Changeling Press: One Kiss