Page 22 of Sunastara & the Venusian
But when I walked through the door seven minutes later, I found the staff room empty—aside from Freddie. He sat across the table, staring at me. Had Elanie set us up to meet like this? It seemed unlikely, but the fact that I was here andshe was late was a little too ironic. And Elanie didn’t do irony.
“Hi, Sunny.” His cheeks were flushed, his hair slightly out of place, the top button of his shirt undone, his eyes twinkling. He looked relaxed, deliciously loose. He looked like?—
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Like what?” I blurted out, even though I knew exactly how I was staring at him. Like he was a snack, and I was hungry.
His lips twitched. “You’re staring at me like you know something I don’t.”
He’d been the perfect gentleman, treating me with kindness and respect, giving me all the space I’d stubbornly demanded. This behavior had only served one purpose: making my pink parts even more inappropriately perky in his presence.
I licked my lips. “Well, it’s just…”
“Just what?”
Fire raced up my neck, pooling at the base of my throat. “You look… The way you look right now… You’re reminding me?—”
“Sunastara Nex.” He leaned forward onto his elbows, grinning up at me. “Are you blushing?”
“No,” I insisted. “I just raced up here so I wouldn’t be late. So I’m…hot.”
He snorted at me, sitting back in his chair again. “You’re hot.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No.” He was the one insisting now. “That’s whatIsaid.”
This conversation was spiraling out of control.
“Wait, are you getting hotter?” he asked. “Because your cheeks are even red?—”
I groaned. “Fine, it’s just… You look likehimright now, okay?”
His head tilted. “Him?”
“Oh, for star’s sake. Joshua. You look like Joshua.”
He frowned, glancing down at his shirt. “I do?”
“Yes.” Waving my hand in the air over him, I said, “Messy hair, loose shirt, loose tie.” I scowled—because he was doing everything he could not to laugh, and it wasn’t enough. “This is how you looked when you first walked into that bar on the CAK. When we…” I shoved my foot metaphorically into my mouth. “Anyway, it’s a whole Joshua thing.”
“Well,” he said, still laughing but also combing his fingers through his hair, straightening it into place. “I didn’t mean to.” He hiccupped.
Pursing my lips, I narrowed my eyes. Now things were making sense. “I think I might know what’s going on here. Is there any chance that you are currently intoxicated?”
He winced. “Quite, unfortunately. Garran found me this morning, and to make amends for damaging our serving drone, he demanded that I join him for a mimosa brunch on deck nine.”
“Demanded?”
He nodded. “Argosians can be very persuasive. And the mimosas were”—hiccup—“very bottomless.”
“That’s a job hazard, for certain. And with the Fire Ball still to come…” I tutted at him. “You, my friend, are going to have a rough day tomorrow.”
“Yourfriend,” he repeated slowly, deliberately, looking like he’d nibbled on the word and wished he could spit it out. Staring directly into my eyes with a boldness only afforded by a morning spent drinking too muchchampagne, he said, “Such a small word to describe one of the biggest disappointments of my life.”
Within the space of a heartbeat, my breath caught and my mouth went as dry as a Neptune desert.
Freddie blinked, then his face paled, like he’d just realized what he’d said. “Oh shit. Sunny, I’m sorry.” He reached for me. “I didn’t mean it. I mean, that’s not true. I meant it. But I shouldn’t have said it. I think I might have gotten drunker than I meant to get. No, that’s not right. I hadn’t intended to get drunk at all. I’m only drunk on accident.Stars, I’m making this worse, aren’t I?”
