Read Calder for Free Online Page B

then his tongue came out to slide every stray crumb from his lips. A woman could get wet watching him eat.
    “You never told me your name,” Braden said, opening his eyes again.
    “Katarina d’Arnal.” It didn’t matter if he knew her name—he’d see her in the clinic sooner or later. “I met someone, another Shareem. You look like him. Do you have a brother?”
    Braden shrugged, powerful muscles rippling. “Only if he came out of Vat 23.”
    Whatever that meant. “His name is Calder. Do you know him?”

Braden froze in the act of lifting another piece of pastry to his mouth. “You met Calder ?”
    “He came to my clinic for his inoculations.”
    Braden’s smile dimmed. “Wait a minute. You’re one of those women who use hypos on Shareem?”
    “I just started. Calder was my first.”
    “Yeah?” He sounded wary.
    Katarina bit the inside of her mouth then continued her confession. “Yesterday, I went to Calder’s…place.”
    That brought back his surprise. “You had an appointment with him?”
    Katarina opened her mouth to say no , but the word wouldn’t form. She remembered the flood of feelings when Calder touched her, the amazing excitement of her climax, the sting of his hand on her buttocks. Her lips numbed and she couldn’t say a word.
    “Ah.” Braden grinned, his wary look vanishing. “You couldn’t resist old Calder. I give you points for courage.”
    Katarina hadn’t felt brave in the slightest. “He sent me away and today he won’t answer the door.”
    “Well, he wouldn’t, would he? You never get a second appointment with Calder.”
    Braden’s look grew sinful. “But no worries, sweetheart. I’m not a one-time deal. You can talk to me whenever and wherever you want, for as long as you want, as often as you want. Calder’s loss.”
    Katarina pressed her palms to the table. “You don’t understand. I don’t want to make an appointment. I only want to talk to him.”
    “Calder doesn’t talk. That’s not what he’s for, sweetheart.” He leaned forward.
    “Me, I don’t mind a heart-to-heart.”

His breath on her cheek smelled of honey and Katarina wondered whether his lips tasted of it too.
    She realized in the next instant he wanted her to wonder that. Her research told her that a Shareem could project deep-seated longing onto a woman. Shareem needed women to want them—always—because Shareem had to keep themselves sated in order to stay alive.
    “What happened to his face?” Katarina asked, trying to shut out what Braden was doing to her. “How was he burned?”
    Braden sat up again, surprise slowing his outpouring of pheromones. “He showed you his face? The whole thing?”
    “It must have been awful for him. Couldn’t regenerative surgery help?”
    “Calder had the best plastic and genetic surgeon in the universe work on him. It was the very best she could do. You should have seen him before she went to work.”
    “How was he injured?”
    Braden took another bite of pastry. “I should shut up now. If Calder wants you to know, he’ll tell you.”
    “How can he tell me if he won’t let me see him? I don’t want to wait until he comes back to the clinic in six months.”
    Braden folded the paper over the remains of his pastry and licked honey from his fingers. “Tell me about you. You’re a medic, you said. Do you want to do experiments on him, try to ‘cure’ him to further scientific research? Forget it. That’s been tried.” His pheromones died away and she felt his chill anger.
    Shareem weren’t supposed to feel anger, the data files had said. Katarina suddenly wondered if whoever had made those files had ever actually met a Shareem.
    Braden went on. “We’ve had enough of scientific experiments, honey, Calder most of all. If that’s what you want, run back to your clinic and leave us the hell alone.”
    Katarina stared at him. “No. That’s not what I meant.”

“Then why do you want to see him? Oh wait, I remember, to talk