Fool Me Once (Privateer Tales) Read Online Free Page B

suspect we can work something out,” he answered, his gravelly voice conveying the lust he clearly felt.
    I placed my hand under his chin and stroked it lightly. “Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” I punctuated by tapping my index finger on his nose. It never ceased to amaze me how disgusting little men would believe that someone might be interested in them. I gave him a smile that communicated amusement at his advance.
    “Is there anywhere a girl could get a shower?” I asked, changing subjects.
    A broad grin spread across his face. “I bet we have something for that. Name's Benny. You need anything around here, you ask for me. Got it?”
    “Call me Lena.”
    Benny led me through the lot to a centralized building. The lot was surrounded by twenty meter high gray walls. Benny showed me where the semi-private showers were and pointed out a suit freshener.
    “Not too many ‘round here wear vac-suits. Might stand out if you do.” Benny wasn’t making any move to leave the shower room. No doubt he thought some sort of payment was due in advance.
    I turned away and started peeling off my vac-suit. The skin tight suit-liner drew his greasy little eyes to my body. I'd been with much worse, but whether Benny knew it or not, that wasn't where this was headed. His breath caught in his throat as I wiggled out of the suit.
    “Benny, sweetie, I’m exhausted and have been sailing for weeks. Would you be a dear and run my things through the freshener?” I used my sweet damsel voice.
    I pulled my suit liner down to my waist, exposing my breasts only slightly. With my back still turned to him, I wiggled it over my non-existent hips. The vac-suit and liner puddled at my feet. I walked out of my clothes into a shower stall without turning to see if Benny was doing as I asked.
    “Uh, sure, Doll, let me get those.”
    “You’re a prince. How about you toss your shirt in there too. A girl likes a clean man, you know.” It was a small public service I was performing.
    The hot water felt luxurious, as did the scent of Martian air. It didn’t smell of machinery but had a slightly sweet smell. Washing the grime off felt so wonderful. I was lost in the enjoyment of it when I heard Benny’s raspy voice outside the stall.
    “Uh, I put your clothes on a bench out here, and I, uh, washed my shirt too.” There was hope in his voice. It was time to crush his dreams.
    “You are too good to me.” I turned off the water and leaned out of the door to grab my suit liner. I allowed Benny to get a small peek, but not too much. It wouldn’t do to make him think I was easy. He could deal with a little rejection, no doubt he'd lived with it his entire life.
    “Where’s a girl get something to eat around here?” I asked. I had forty m-creds in my account. It should cover a single meal but not much more.
    “I like to eat at Fortieth Street Diner,” Benny offered.
    “Join me?”
    He thought for a moment. “Sure Doll, I’ll even buy.”
    Oh, this was too easy. I might feel guilty at some point.
    Outside the ship-lot, the twenty meter tall walls were constructed out of red bricks. I had to touch the brick, as the material was so foreign to me. Plastic or steel were the building materials of space stations, not bricks. I giggled at the feel of the rough structure. It wasn’t completely a show for Benny, but I also knew that his perception of me as a bubble-head wasn’t necessarily a bad idea.
    Wide walkways between the building s were mostly one or two levels and the streets had stylized lights hanging from tall, regularly spaced posts.
    “This is the Italian district,” Benny, the tour guide, informed me. “They say these are reproductions of actual buildings from Italy, on Earth. Look, there, at the streets, those are all real bricks. If we got one thing here on Mars, it’s clay. You should see those little mason bots go. They can put up a building in less than a week. It’s not a real big deal since they just build ‘em