Page 109 of Between Earth and Eternity
“Good to know,” I say, crossing my arms and tossing him another scowl.
“Bex, are you being nice?” Vallen strides into the room wearing a black hoodie and jeans. His hair is damp, like he just got out of the shower. I’m not sure I can be trusted to be alone with him if he looks like this.
“Of course.” He winks, and I smile back but glare as I do. “One hour. Everyone has confirmed, so be back by then. I already put an alarm on your StarComm. Don’t be late,” Bex says and waits for Vallen to acknowledge.
“As if I have ever been late before,” Vallen says, annoyed, but taps his device to verify the time.
“I get the feeling, if you’re going somewhere with just her, you very well might be.” Bex bites his lip to squash a smile.
Vallen rolls his eyes. “Thank you, Bex. That will be all.”
He smirks and walks out of the room.
“Ignore him,” Vallen explains. “He likes giving me shit when I lose a bet. This will go on for days, no doubt.”
“What did you two bet on?”
He runs a hand through his hair, pushing his tongue into his bottom lip. “He bet me that it wouldn’t take me longer than five minutes to ask you for a dance at the gala.”
I swallow. “And?”
“It’s not important.” He turns to walk away, but I grab the sleeve of his hoodie. He scrunches his nose, and it’s so adorable, I might die. It’s nice to see him this way, playful and relaxed.
“I’ll just ask Bex later if you don’t tell me now.”
“Two. It took two minutes.”
I cover my mouth to hide my smile.
“The second I saw you in that dress. I had no choice.” His face goes serious as I reach up on my tippy toes to his ear.
“Good. I may have to wear that dress again if that’s the case.” I breathe in his scent and step back.
“You and your wicked mouth,” he says in a low tone, my knees almost buckling at the sound of it. “Alright, quit stalling. We don’t have much time.”
“Absolutely not,” I say with my arms crossed in a defiant stance.
Vallen had led me through crew passageways until we’d reached a viewing port of some kind. It wasn’t until I saw the suits lining the wall that I realized why he’d brought me here.
“It’s completely safe. It’s a maintenance door that crew members go through to repair anything on the exterior of the ship.”
Nope. Not going to happen.
“This is where you finish what your brother couldn’t do, right?”
“Don’t even joke about that,” he says firmly.
“Fine. But why are we doing this?”
“Do you trust me?” He grabs his hoodie from the back and pulls it over his head. Convenient distraction, even if he has a T-shirt underneath, but I briefly catch a sliver of his skin.
“Yes.”
“Then do this with me, please,” he says, retrieving a suit hanging from the wall.
“Why?” I grimace, eyeing the suit closest to me.
“Because I don’t want my brother’s cruelty to take over every time you wonder what could happen to you beyond these walls. I saw what it did to you, seeing him again.”
