Page 51 of Space for More

“Are you offering your services to me again?” She giggles, her face flushing.

“Absolutely.” I’d give her whatever she asked for.

“I’ll consider it. Not tonight, though. I’m so tired.”

I kiss her shoulder, tasting a hint of Phelix’s release on her skin. It should be an upsetting reminder, but it only makes me want her more. Want him more too, but I’ll never admit that out loud. “Okay. I should send these files to the agents anyway before they shit their pants waiting to hear from us.”

Eden perks up. “Oh! So you got the files?” She pauses, her brow furrowing. “Did you look at them?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t have time. I can forward them to your comm if you want to. I doubt I’d even know what I’m looking at.”

“Please.” Eden’s expression grows serious. “What if the schematics are in there? I don’t—do you think he’s going to do what they claim? The more time we spend with him, the less convinced I am he’d willingly endanger so many lives.”

I answer honestly. “I don’t know Phelix. Neither of us do. I was inclined to believe the worst of him, but now… I don’t want it to be true, but we still need to do our job. Even if it hurts to know the truth.”

Eden bites her lower lip, looking down for a moment. “I know him,” she says, barely above a whisper.

Oh sweet, naive Eden. “Banging someone doesn’t give you insight into their true thoughts. Though that’d be pretty nice if it did. Would’ve saved me a lot of hassle.”

“No… I know him,” she repeats, shaking her head. “I, uh, I reached out to him about a year ago because I needed help in his field of expertise. We talked for a while. I should’ve told you right away, but I didn’t think it would impact the mission and I was worried the agents would send me home if they found out.”

My gut clenches as I war with the instinct to get angry at her for keeping this a secret from me. I hate that she didn’t trust me, but would I have done any differently in her shoes? It’s silly to care that she didn’t tell me she worked with him in the past. She told me now that she trusts me, and that’s what matters.

“I… I wish you’d told me sooner.” I say, patting myself on the back for how reasonable I’m being.

“I know. I’m sorry! You’ve been so good to me since the moment we met. I… I feel so safe when I’m with you.”

Seeing her upset with herself, especially when tonight was supposed to be special for her, makes my frustration fade even more.

I pull her hand in and squeeze it. “Youaresafe with me. Part of keeping you safe is not letting you get blindsided if Phelix ends up being a criminal. He may have helped you in the past, but you never know what lies in someone’s heart. Especially not a nexxit trained from birth to mask his emotions.”

She sighs and squeezes my hand back. “Yeah. You’re right.” She looks so sad that I pull her in and press my lips to hers, trying to soothe her worries away. I’m used to people disappointing me, but I don’t want to see her get hurt.

27

Gentle fingertips stroking my side and thighs rouse me the next morning. Once again, it takes me a moment to realize I’m not back at home in my tiny bed in our farmhouse and that there’s someone in the bed with me. Not just someone, analien. My life has changed drastically since I came to Spire. It feels like it’s been years instead of a handful of days. I want to drift back into sleep, enveloped by Mezli’s warmth, but her touch is too stimulating.

“Morning,” I whisper, testing to see if she’s awake.

Mezli purrs and snuggles in closer to my back, her face burrowing into my shoulder. “Mmm, go back tosleep. It’s too early.”

A quick glance at my comm tells me it’s already almost mid-day cycle. It also shows a number of missed incoming messages. Mezli snatches my wrist and brings my hand up to her lips. “Ignore that. Let’s stay in bed all day.”

Sparks dance across my skin where her lips touch, tingling down my body until heat pools between my legs. I try to shake it off and clear the sleep and arousal from my mind, but when Mezli’s mouth travels to my neck, I moan softly.

“W-we should probably get up! I want to look at that data you gathered, and I’m sure the agents will want an update on our progress.”

“I sent them the data before we fell asleep,” she murmurs, the hand stroking my side teasing just beneath my breast.

A sinking sense of dread fills my gut. I wanted to look at the data before she sent it, and now it’s too late. I would’ve been able to see if Phelix had the schematics and then decide…

Decide what? If it was on his datapad, would I have tried to tamper with the evidence? My head is a mess. After finding out he remembers me and cares for me, the thought of him being a criminal who’d willingly endanger lives across the galaxy makes me sick. That I’d even consider trying to protect my crush over galactic security makes me even sicker. Shit, Mezli did me a favor by taking that choice out of my hands.

Mezli nips at my neck. “You’re thinking too hard, Eden. Whatever they find, we’ll handle it. We make a great team.”

I sigh, letting her smooth voice pull me back under her spell. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“I know.” I can feel her playful smile against my skin. “Let me help take your mind off of things.”

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