Approach Catalina

I waited until Mateo disappeared into the crowd before picking up my drink and crossing the street.

Mrs. Vega didn’t look up as I approached. Without her sunglasses I could finally see her eyes, dark brown and almost black, still fixed on the street where her husband had vanished. Up close she was somehow even more distracting. Her white blouse hung loosely from her shoulders, tied beneath a generous chest that strained against the fabric, leaving a strip of bronze stomach exposed above her shorts. Catalina Vega. The file shows they have the same planet of origin, married young, got off planet and immediately set out on a series of petty crimes together.

There was an empty chair across from her. I pulled it out.

“Taken?”

“Yes.”

“I knew you wouldn’t mind.” I sat down. “So, does your husband always storm off like that?”

“Only when he’s angry.”

“What makes him angry?”

“People following him.” I nearly choked on my drink. My hand instinctively went to the revolver at my hip. Her lips curled into a smile. She was fucking with me. She took another drag from her cigarette. “He’s worth eighteen thousand Xens.” Her eyes finally shifted toward me, a hint of amusement appearing in them. “And I think you know that seeing as you’ve been watching my husband for the last half hour.”

Shit, she knew. “How do you know I wasn’t watching you?” The words escaped before my brain had an opportunity to stop them.

One eyebrow rose. She glanced down at herself and then back at me. “I saw you doing that as well, cowboy.” Mrs. Vega leaned back in her chair and studied me through the cigarette smoke. “You’re not very good at this.”

“At what?”

“Bounty hunting. You spent all that time focused on Mateo’s mechanical arm when you could have just walked by and shot him in the back of the head.”

“Reward drops by nearly two-thirds if I bring him in cold.” I said as I took a swig of my drink. “Plus I don’t know what that thing can do, that prick could have a rocket launcher in his elbow for all I know.”

“You think his arm is a weapon?”

“I think a man wanted for murder probably didn’t replace his arm with a cigarette lighter.” That earned me a quiet laugh. Low and throaty, it did unfortunate things to my concentration.

“Relax, cowboy. He’s no cold blooded killer, the man he killed was just a moron who got a little too aggressive with me in a bar. It wouldn’t even make the papers in parts like these but the bar we were at just so happened to be right within the edges of Federation Space”

“I’m a man at a bar with you, he gonna kill me next?”

Her eyes looked me up and down before locking onto mine. “Do you plan on getting aggressive with me Cowboy?”

“Depends. Do you like aggressive men?”

A slow smile spread across her lips. “I married one.”

“Right. Stupid question.”

“Mateo’s always been a hothead, even when we were kids.” Her eyes drifted toward the street where he’d disappeared. “We grew up together on some backwater mining planet nobody’s ever heard of. Dust, rocks, and people working themselves to death for a handful of Xens. Without him I was destined to be like any other girl in my town, married young, living in a shack just waiting for her potbellied husband to come home from the Mines to fuck her without looking her in her eyes. Mateo promised me we’d get out. Said he’d buy a ship and take me places where I wouldn’t have to spend my whole life being fucked while staring at the same rocks.”

“And he did.”

“He did.” There was unmistakable affection in her voice. “Had to break a few rules along the way.”

I glanced toward the bounty information still floating at the edge of my vision. “Armed robbery. Smuggling. Murder. Those are some pretty big rules.”

Catalina laughed. “Those are nothing on planets like these. You’re expected to catch charges about as much as you’re expected to learn how to walk.”

“I’m sure that’ll hold up in court.”

“I don’t plan on stepping foot in any Federation court.”

She crushed her cigarette into the ashtray and leaned forward. The amusement remained in her eyes, but something beneath it had hardened. “Mateo kept every promise he ever made me. He protected me when we were kids, got me off that planet, and gave me a life I never thought I’d have. Whatever else he is, he’s my husband. I love him.”

Well, shit. My hand hovered just above the revolver at my side. “So what happens when I follow him?”

“He’ll fight you.”

“I figured.”

“And you’ll shoot him.”

“Only if he makes me.”

Catalina’s gaze dropped toward the Frontier Model 3 at my hip before slowly returning to my face. “I’d rather you not shoot either of us ,Cowboy.”

“So would I. He’s worth twelve thousand Xens more with a pulse and you’re too pretty to put a hole through ya.”

Instead of laughing, Catalina slid her chair closer. Her bare knee brushed against mine beneath the table. “I could make eighteen thousand Xens seem a lot less important.”

My mouth went dry. “Oh?”

She leaned toward me, bringing with her the faint smell of cigarettes and perfume. One hand settled casually on my forearm. “I’ve been watching you too, cowboy.”

“So it seems.” Her fingers slowly traced toward my wrist. I swallowed. “Subtlety isn’t really my thing.”

“No.” Her eyes dipped briefly toward my lips. “I don’t think it is.” She was close enough now that I could feel her breath against my cheek. This was definitely a trap. The problem was that I was having difficulty remembering why traps were bad.

“I love Mateo,” she whispered. “And I don’t want some bounty hunter putting a magnetic round through his chest.”

“Understandable.”

“So maybe we find another way.”

“What kind of way?”

Catalina’s fingers curled lightly around my wrist. “You leave this planet. Forget you ever saw either of us.”

“And you?”

Her smile returned. “I make sure you don’t leave Vaqueros feeling like you wasted your time.”

“That’s dangerously vague.”

“I can be more specific.”

Her lips hovered near my ear.

“Somewhere more private.” She closed in and I felt her breasts envelope my arm, her body heat somehow even hotter than the two suns bearing down on us. Every intelligent thought evacuated my head. Catalina slowly pulled away, but her hand remained on mine. “Whatever it takes to keep you from going after my husband,” she said. Her hand sliding down onto my thigh and gently caressing me before finally coming to a rest right between my legs.

I stared at her. Eighteen thousand Xens could really help me get a nice start in this world. She continued playfully rubbing my crotch as thoughts raced through my head. I looked toward the street Mateo had disappeared down. Then back at Catalina. She caught me looking down her blouse and smiled.

“So?”

I’d been a bounty hunter for less than an hour and was already considering accepting a bribe paid in a currency I was fairly certain wasn’t legal tender even around here.

Rogue had definitely been the right choice.