Page 25 of Stars At Dusk

His lips twitched at her reaction. ‘But that’s a discussion for another day. I’ll try to keep things professional til then.’

She saw an intent glimmer, almost a challenge, in his eyes.

A small smile played around his lips. ‘Right now, we need to get you situated. Let’s roll.’

She wisely followed his lead.

They walked out of the deserted corridor and threaded through the concourse. Kage walked by her side, occasionally placing a palm on her lower back. Off and on, guiding her through the crowds. She didn’t pull away from it; instead, she wanted to lean into it. It was mildly possessive, and she liked it. She then questioned it. And dropped it.Because what the hey?

Attractive though he was, her jaunt on Eden II was meant to be a career breakthrough mixed in with a carefree adventure. She had a goal of ‘no men’ to commit to until she felt ready. In the meantime, she wanted more fun—less involvement.

Especially with Kage. She sensed he could rock her world. And not in a way she was prepared for.

Soon after he’d dropped her off on Zulu One, she’d done her due diligence. She’d cross-examined Rina and Selene and put her nerd powers to work finding out more about him. Like the rest of his Sable Brothers, Kage kept a low profile. Which fit his call name, Shadow. Selene had confirmed that he was one of six mysterious individuals who ran The Sable Group.

These were no Mr Nice Guys.

On the contrary, they were ruthless players with a reputation for not taking shit. No one set foot inside Eden II’s spaceport unless one of them OK’d it. And if a ship tried to land on Eden II without their approval, it’d be tossed across the moon’s desert in a vexing pile of rubble—Rina’s words, not hers.

From the sounds of it, The Sable Group made their own rules and lived their mantra. She supposed workplace fraternisation rules were also flexible as they saw fit.

At the parking garage, Kage loaded her luggage into the trunk of the massive flyer she recognised from their trip on Axuma.

She glanced at him as she settled into the driver’s seat of his matte black and chrome craft. His profile, bearded, scarred and unconventional, stood out against the low light of the spaceport’s parking lot.

He caught her glance, and his mouth quirked. ‘Harlow,de nadawith the worry. I don’t bite.’

She rolled her eyes and looked away. ‘It’s not your bite I’m worried about.’

It was everything else. Kage was especially dangerous, firstly because she was profoundly impressed by his accomplishments. He was the Group’s master builder.

And she had a thing for builders. Especially experienced engineers with sexy nerd energy.

He was also behind Eden II’s dominance in ship design and manufacturing. His shop was responsible for the moon’s considerable armada, including support craft, patrol ships, fighter corvettes, bombers and carriers. All of them multi-mission with FTL capability. In terms of fleet power, they’d grown more quickly than any other entity in the Pegasi system.

All this insight had done was raise her opinion of him. Yet she refused to indulge in her feelings any further. She wasn’t in the head-space to be exploring possibilities with him. So she switched gears.

‘What’ve you been up to these last few months?’ she asked casually as they pulled into Eden II’s traffic.

He cocked a brow. ‘Why? You been wondering about me all this time, Harlow?’

‘Ugh,’ she sighed, irritated by how close he was to the truth. ‘I’m just making conversation.’

He shook quietly with laughter. ‘And I’m just playing,’ he shot at her. ‘On a serious note? Saving a planet, churning out more ship designs. Winning a huge contract with Galicia to build their next-gen military dreadnoughts, to bolster their defence capabilities. Which they need to counter the Omegaverse’s growing military influence in Pegasi. Nothing much to report.’

‘Right? Downplay much?’ she teased in their familiar banter.

‘Don’t know how to blow my horn,’ he said with a shrug. She picked up the sincerity in his tone.

‘Don’t I know it,’ she agreed, thinking of how private The Sable Group tended to be. She’d also discovered they owned vast manufacturing plants, shipping lines, supply chains and asteroid mining facilities. None of which was public information. They seemed to be accumulating a shipload of assets, and she wondered what they did with all their profits, for in her estimation, they were making some serious bank.

‘And what’s been in your wheelhouse these last few months?’

He spoke carefully, like he was bracing himself for her answer.

Sensing the unspoken question, she kept her reply purely work-focused. ‘Working on perfecting my xentium and elentium manipulation. Trying to simplify it so we can reduce the cost and energy required for its production. Otherwise, building expensive gear at our manufacturing facility will need high up-front costs. If I can’t fix this, we may need a Dyson sphere to get this shit running.’

He flicked a look at her. ‘Look at you, showing off your brains.’

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