Page 40 of Star Bright
“Good night, Vash.”
She wondered if either of them would sleep, and if they did, she suspected their dreams would be of flying.
+ + +
The next morning, she cobbled together a breakfast out of the mini kitchenette in her room rather than face Vash with his children watching. As she was reading through the general operations manual that Ug had given her, her datpad dinged. Yeah, she was getting the hang of this job. There was a weather report, a facilities update—and a message from Vash.
She hesitated before touching it. It was his face and voice, recorded just a little earlier. “After breakfast we are going to the gymnasium. We wondered if you would like to join us.” He glanced away, although she couldn’t see if he was looking at anything in particular. “Yadira mentioned wanting to try thewall again, and she wondered if you would climb with her. Although she very much understands if you’d rather not, as do I.” The message froze without him looking back at her.
When she hovered one fingertip over the screen as if she might touch his lips, the screen went dark.
She shouldn’t go. There were entanglements happening that weren’t necessary, and could only get messier. But she needed to tell him that a wing of guestrooms had unlocked after the cleaning cycle, so he and the children could move into real rooms. Of course she could just message him, she told herself.
Meanwhile, her feet were carrying her through the empty corridors of the outpost to the gymnasium.
She heard Atsu before she saw them. The little drakling was scaling the climbing wall with his sister on belay, with Vash watching behind her.
“Stick to your route,” he told his son. “When your arms are longer, you can reach for the farther holds.”
The little boy chuffed over his shoulder with drakling laughter. “You would catch me.”
“I would,” his father agreed. “But if you stay on course I won’t have to.”
The little drakling made it to the top on the easy route and rang the bell while shouting his glee. His sister stood with her hand hovering near the safety mechanism as he descended.
It wasn’t until both his feet were back on the ground that Darcy let out a short breath.
Vash arrowed a glance at her, but she realized that he’d known she was there.
“Good morning, Darcy,” he said, very properly.
“Good morning, Vash,” she replied as if they hadn’t just recently said the opposite under much more intimate circumstances. “Good morning, Yadira and Atsu. How was your breakfast?”
Atsu shimmied out of his harness and ran to her. “Have you ever eaten a berry tart?”
“I have. Did you like it?”
“I liked them all!”
She blinked. “No wonder you climbed so fast.”
“Addah made me save one. For you.” His bright green eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you have breakfast with us? I thought you were our friend here on Earth.”
“I had to work,” she explained. “But I’m here now.”
He narrowed his eyes another degree, making him look like a suspicious little old man. And she suddenly remembered reading about draklings’ keen sense of smell. She’d showered this morning, and she hoped that Vash had done the same before his children literally caught wind of what they’d been up to last night. How mortifying.
But Yadira, hanging back by the safety rope, didn’t seem to question the situation. She just toyed with the harness Atsu had left behind. Darcy smiled at her. “Since your brother has shown me the route to the top, are you ready to belay me?”
The girl nodded, refreshed ringlets bouncing around her shoulders. “I won’t let you down,” she promised. She tried out a careful Earther smile. “I mean, literally I won’t.”
While Atsu pointed out every single handhold and foothold he’d used, Vash resized the harness for Darcy. His hands on her hips were completely appropriate, but when he buckled the helmet under her chin, the brush of his knuckles across her jaw reminded her how he’d framed her face for a kiss, and then her mind whirled off to all the other things he’d done last night…
No, she could not let her body betray her, not to the children, not to him either. The outpost’s real staff were on their way, and if she wanted a job here—and not have her memories wiped—she needed to show at least a bit of decorum and professionalism.
So she held herself very still until he stepped back, with just the barest flicker in his fire-free eyes. Was he trying to hide his feelings too?
“Addah, you should race her to the top,” Atsu said. “You could do the hard route, using only use one hand instead of two.”
