Page 65 of Dark Space
‘But youmustregret it,’ he said, his brow furrowing.
‘Vesper,’ I said tersely, ‘I like you very much. But if youevertell me what Imustormust notfeel, I will turn around and walk away from you, and I will not be coming back.’
‘Anna,’ he said, his hand cupping my cheek. ‘You’re not thinking straight. Callanabductedyou. You wereassaulted. You were in constant danger, including during aliteral space battle. You were put in a position where you couldn’t saynoto Alcide –’
‘And I was still happier than I was here!’ I shouted, pushing his hand away. ‘Don’tpatroniseme, you dick! I know the beginning wasn’t ideal, but Ididhave a choice about Alcide, and Imadeit!And it was one more choice than I was given about my recent life on Earth!’ I glared at him, my chest heaving. ‘Do I wishCallan hadaskedrather than justtaken? Of course I do! But if he’dasked, I would have been scared, and I would have saidno, and I never would have metyou! Or met Alcide, or known Callan! Are you going to take that away from me, Vesper? Are you going to takethemaway?’
He stared at me in shock. ‘I thought you’d want to come back,’ he said weakly.
‘Well, you thought wrong, starling!’ I snapped. ‘Why would I want to be here without Callan? Without Alcide? Withoutyou?’
He swallowed. ‘Without me?’
I swept my arm out to encompass the beautiful town. ‘What are you going to do on Earth, Vesper? I give it a month before you’re bored, and two before you leave for some kind ofcrime-for-crime’s sakeplay and never come back.’ I pushed at his chest; he didn’t move. ‘I know I was probably just helping to pass the time for you –’
‘Anna,’ he said, horrified. ‘Anna,no. That’s not –’
‘And the moment I’m not the only available being, you’ll –’
‘Who’s making assumptions now?’ he snarled. ‘Will you just –’
‘No Iwon’t just!’ I shrieked. We were amassing a whispering audience now, but I couldn’t help myself. ‘I willnotlet you make choices for me, Vesper! Not when I wasonly just beginning to make them for myself again!I –’
He took my face in his hands and kissed me.
Perhaps I’ll let you make this particular choice, I thought, before my eyes fluttered shut and I found myself kissing him back, desperately. He slipped an arm behind my back and arched me beneath his body, devouring my mouth, despite the fact I must have tasted horrendous.
‘Anna,’ he said a moment later, nipping at my bottom lip. ‘I think I’m in love with you.’
I opened my eyes and stared up at him in surprise.
‘Just in case that wasn’t clear,’ he said, echoing the words I’d spoken to Callan just minutes before.
The crowd around us clapped dutifully.
I pushed myself out of his arms. ‘You’re in love with me, Vesper? Thenprove it.’ I slapped my hand against his chest. ‘Find us a hotel room so I can have a shower, get me some food, find me some clothes, and thentake me back to my wedding.’
I didn’t know how he did it, and I wasn’t about to ask. All I knew was that a bare handful of moments later, Vesper had secured the kind of credit card I’d heard of but never seen in real life, had pulled me down a street and charmed the staff at the fanciest hotel I’d ever seen into getting us asuite, and I was standing in one of the most beautiful rooms I’d ever had the pleasure of being in, looking into a sumptuous bathroom that had not only and bathanda shower, but a view over the gorgeous town that made the breath catch in my chest. The staff had eyed me dubiously; Vesper had tucked me into his side and given an indulgent smile.
‘My wife’s belongings were lost on the way here,’ he said. ‘I need to replace some of them for her. I’d like to refresh my wardrobe, too. Where would be best?’
The hotel’s gift shop had some options, as it turned out, so I left Vesper to it and followed the porter through the building to our suite, gawking at the huge bed and intricate wallpaper before pushing into the bathroom. When I finally picked my jaw up from the floor, I stripped off my uniform and filled the bath, dumping most of the bottle of bubble bath in with the water.
I sank into the hot water until it covered my ears, cocooning myself in silence. I could hardly believe that I was back on Earth, let alone inFrance, and in a particularly beautiful part of it, somewhere I’d always wanted to visit. Not only that, I was with one of the handsomest males I’d ever seen, who’d swiped someone’s credit card to pay for a place I never would have dreamed of staying. I hoped he’d taken the credit card from a tourist, rather than a local, and from someone who wouldn’t miss it, but I thought that Vesper had quite enough experience to choose his marks carefully.
I let myself feel guilty for a moment, but the hot water soaked the feeling away far more swiftly than it probably should have.
I scrubbed every inch of my body twice, then took advantage of the amenities provided to deal with my nails and to shave my legs and under my arms. I got out reluctantly, then spent about ten minutes brushing my teeth until I was fairly sure the scent of spearmint overpowered the smell of soap. When I was done, I turned around and got straight into the shower.
I’d been in a cell forweeks. I was allowed to have both.
I shampooed four times and conditioned twice, then wrapped a huge, fluffy towel around my body and blow dried my hair. When Vesper returned, looking unnervinglyhumanwith his arms weighed down with bags, I was curled up on a couch, wearing a robe and reading the only book I could find in English on the built-in shelves –Vanity Fair.
Vesper made a small noise of surprise as he took me in, and I realised that he’d never really seen me looking – well,clean. Callan had snatched me during the tail end of a seven-hour shift in a hot kitchen, and it had gone downhill from there. He dumped the bags and stalked towards me, his eyes flaring gold. ‘Anna.’
‘I’m still angry with you,’ I warned, putting out a hand – otherwise, I knew, I’d let him pull me into his arms and kiss me, and if he did that, I was likely to forget how irritated I was.
‘I thought you might be. I ordered us some food on the way back up.’ He paused. ‘I didn’t know what you’d like the best, so I got the chef’s recommendations. Is that all right?’
