7. Elodie

I’m still thinking about the kiss.

I can’t stop thinking about it.

Even now, if I close my eyes, I can feel Calder’s lips against mine.

I hide in the cabin, alone with my thoughts. I’m drowning in work. I should open my screen and get caught up, but my brain refuses to cooperate.

Calder kissed me this morning, but he seemed completely unaffected by it. Just now, though, when he asked me if I wanted to rest up in the crew cabin, there was a moment when his eyes lingered on me for just a bit longer than necessary.

In that moment, I could have sworn he wanted me.

And I want him too.

Join me in bed,I almost blurted out. The words were on the tip of my tongue. But I stopped myself.

I wish I knew what to make of Calder.

I shake my head and turn on my screen. I need to stay focused on surviving the trade show without strangling Throop. The next four days will be hard enough without the complication of lusting after Calder.

Besides, my turmoil is probably all one-sided. To Calder, this morning’s kiss was a demonstration that we could pull off pretending to be a couple and nothing else.

I make myself a promise. No making things awkward. There’s nothing between us. Calder is doing me a huge favor, that’s all.

We landon Luxaria eight hours later. Calder touches down at the Atlantis spaceport and parks in the designated dock. Before I can protest, he grabs my luggage, and we head out.

We jumped time zones on our flight, so it’s evening in this sector. Despite the late hour, the sun still shines brightly down on us, a quirk of Luxaria’s position in the solar system. A welcome wave of warmth washes over me. I beam at Calder. “This is certainly an improvement on the weather back home.”

Then I spot my nemesis.

I grit my teeth and feel my blood pressure rise. “Throop,” I say to Calder under my breath. “Up ahead.”

Calder gives the man a once-over. Today, Foder is wearing a ridiculously loud green shirt, his pants are too tight, and he’s molded his hair into some kind of spiky style. “He looks like a mutant cactus, doesn’t he?” he says dryly.

I bite back my snort of laughter. I’m not entirely successful at hiding my mirth because Throop turns around and spots us. “Elodie, there you are,” he calls out.

Ugh.

“Let’s go say hello,” Calder suggests lightly. He wraps his arm around my waist, drawing me closer. Thank stars for my podmate. I’m still annoyed with him over the fuel thing, but I can’t deny that he’s quick on the uptake. He strides forward, looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

Foder watches us approach. He gives Calder an appraising look before transferring his attention to me. “You look tired, Elodie. Flying commercial can be so exhausting.”

Catty bastard.

The plump, pretty woman with Foder looks mortified at his comment. She shifts her weight from one foot to another and looks like she wants to be anywhere but here. I think I like her already. Foder seems to remember her presence. “This is my girlfriend, Sarai. She’s a researcher.”

“Nice to meet you. I love your hair.” Short curls of deep glossy black frame her face, the ends tinted with purple and gold. It’s a high-end artistic job, probably done by a human, not a bot. I’d love to do something like that one day. Once I’ve bought my ship.

She gives me a wide, friendly smile. “Thank you.”

It’s my turn to introduce Calder. I glance up at his face and thank stars for Karven nanobots. His bruises are completely healed. “This is Calder.”

Throop nods in the barest imitation of courtesy and then returns to his previously scheduled agenda of insulting my appearance. “How was your flight over? I wasn’t looking forward to the trip, but Jarel invited me to share his shuttle. So much more relaxing.”

Ah, I see we’ve moved on to name-dropping. I shouldn’t let myself get goaded, but I can’t help it. “We didn’t take commercial either,” I say airily. “We took?—”

Calder cuts in. “My ship,” he says. He smiles down at me, his grip tightening around my waist. “I just bought it. Elodie hasn’t had a chance to see it yet, and of course, I wanted her expert opinion.”

Foder looks taken aback by the mention of a private ship, but he quickly collects himself and pastes a sneer on his face. “Your ship?” he asks skeptically. “Which one is that again?”

Oh, I’m really going to enjoy this. I gesture casually to our borrowed spaceship. “It’s the red Wraith 9000. You know the Wraith series, don’t you? It won the best spaceship of the year award seven times in a row.” I look up at Calder, returning his smile. “I have so many ideas on how to modify it.”

Calder presses an affectionate kiss on my forehead. “I’m all ears.” He seems to belatedly remember that the other couple is still there. “Pleasure meeting you both,” he says politely. “I’m sure we’ll bump into each other at the trade show.”

Then we stroll away.

Once we’re safely out of earshot, I burst out laughing. “That was genius,” I tell him, chortling with glee. “Did you see the look on Foder’s face? He was so ready to brag about his ride with Jarel Onel, but you totally threw him off his game.” I had my misgivings about the private ship, but they’re gone now. “It was such a great idea borrowing Zayd’s ship.”

Calder lets go of me. “I’m glad.”

I feel the absence of his touch like a loss. It’s nice, being held by Calder. He’s so big that I feel tiny next to him. Tiny and very protected. Which is a ridiculous thought. I’m far more likely to kick ass in a fight than my hapless podmate.

We step outside. It’s a perfect summer day, not a cloud in the blue sky. A gentle breeze caresses my bare arms, bringing the scent of the ocean with it. I lift my face toward the sun and bask in the warmth. “I always forget how wonderful it is here.”

“You mean you don’t love the endless cold and constant drizzle of Avanti Sector?” Calder sounds amused. “Shocking.”

He steers me to the tube station outside the spaceport. The hotel is a short journey away. In less than ten minutes, we arrive at our destination. I walk up to a welcome station in the lobby. It scans me, and a message flashes on the screen.

“Our room isn’t ready yet. It’s a thirty-minute delay.” Thankfully, I don’t have any work obligations for the rest of the night, so Calder and I can hang out. “You want to stay in the lobby or go get something to eat?”

“Food, please.”

I was hoping he’d say that. Calder loves real food and interesting spices. I spent some time researching the restaurants in this sector of Luxaria. “I know just the place.”

The restaurant I found specializes in re-created food from the past. As soon as we’re seated, a serving bot places two steaming bowls in front of us. I study the info card. “We’re eating a dish from the ancient town of Shanhaiguan on Earth,” I read, stumbling over the unfamiliar words. “It’s a spiced vegetable and noodle soup. The noodles are made from wheat, one of Earth’s staple grains, and the vegetables used are garlic, ginger, carrots, bok choy, and broccoli.” I grin at my podmate. “I don’t know what any of those are, but I don’t care. This smells delicious.”

It’s also insanely expensive, but I don’t stress about the cost for a change. This is the least I can do to thank Calder.

We dig in. “Have you ever thought about moving out of Harte?” Calder asks as we eat.

It’s an unexpected question. “Sure,” I reply. “All the time. When I was young, I used to make these elaborate daydreams about what I’d do when I grew up.” I shrug. “And then I encountered reality.”

I must not be as good at hiding my emotions as I thought because I feel Calder’s eyes on me. “What happened, Elodie?” he asks, his voice gentle. “Something clearly did.”

“Foder Throop happened.” The familiar heartache presses down on me. “When I was a teenager, I had a mentor, Tanvi. She smuggled people out of the Crill Empire. Kids, mostly, the ones destined to be shock troops.”

Calder’s face hardens.

“Tanvi wasn’t one of the bad mugalari,” I hurry to assure him. “She didn’t rob them, dump them on a space station, or sell them to an unscrupulous corporation. She cared. I adored her. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.” I slurp some noodles into my mouth. Stars, this is messy. Good thing Calder and I are only pretending to date. “Then she hired Throop to be a bodyguard.”

“You said he was responsible for her death.”

“He murdered her.”

I tell him the whole story. Calder senses how upset I am when I’m done, and he thankfully steers the conversation to a safer topic. “Where did you want to live as a kid?” he asks me. “Luxaria?”

It’s not a bad guess. Everyone wants to move to the pleasure planet. I shake my head. “No, I’m not a planet person. I’ve got a bad case of wanderlust. I want to go everywhere. Do you remember that old show on the holos? TheOdyssey?”

“The frontier ship that explored uncharted space?” Calder looks puzzled. “But weren’t they trying to earn enough money to settle planet side?”

“That’s what Captain Behar always said,” I reply. “But every time she got a choice between going back home and flying somewhere, she picked the trip.” Calder’s bowl is empty. “How was your soup? Did you like it?”

“I loved it,” he responds simply. “Thank you for bringing me here, Elodie.”

Pleasure fills me at his response. Is this why the Karven like to share food? Because I could get used to this feeling.

“If you like being a spacer, you could crew with someone, couldn’t you? What brought you to Onel?”

Calder’s always interested in my work. The guy has endless patience. He can listen to me bitch about my job for hours. But I’m not going to do that today. He deserves better. “My grandparents were Crill refugees,” I tell Calder. “Someone like Tanvi helped them get out. I want to pay it back. But to become a mugalari, I need my own ship. I won’t crew for another smuggler because most of them?—”

“Are scum,” Calder finishes.

“Exactly.” I finish the last of my soup. “That’s why I came to Onel Corp. The pay was good. At the start, it was a good place to work. But then Jarel took over, and. . .” My voice trails off. “I don’t know. Foder is not his first garbage hire. There have been signs I need to get out, but I just got into a routine, you know?”

And would you look at that? I’m talking about work again.

“Anyone would be lucky to have you,” Calder says. “You are a talented mech, Elodie. People will be fighting for a chance to hire you.”

My heart melts. This is why I love Calder. He’s always so nice.

This is why you love Calder? What the hell?

“It’s been way more than thirty minutes,” I say, getting to my feet abruptly. “Our room is probably ready by now. We should go.”

Our room is locatedon the penthouse level. I don’t quite understand how that came about—it’s not like Onel Corporation to splurge for nice accommodations for their employees—but I’m not going to complain. As far as I’m concerned, I deserve all the perks for putting up with Throop.

I hold out my wrist, and the door slides open. We walk inside, and I freeze.

The room is large and spacious, with an astonishing view of this sector of Luxaria. But that’s not what stops me dead in my tracks.

There’s only one bed.

I squeak in horror. My hand flies to my mouth. “Oh no,” I chant, absolutely aghast. “No, no, no, no.”

Calder gives me an inquiring look.

How is he not freaking out? “Two people,” I choke out. “One bed.”

He lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “It’s a big bed,” he says calmly. “Doesn’t seem like a huge problem to me.”

He’s not wrong about the size; the bed is massive. It’s large enough that it can fit four of him. But that’s not the point.

It’s one thing for Calder to pretend to be my boyfriend in front of Throop and my other co-workers. It’s another thing entirely to share a bed. That is a level of intimacy I don’t think I can cope with.

Really, Elodie? Don’t pretend you don’t want it.

“They can move us,” I blurt out. “This is a large hotel. There’s bound to be a vacant room that has two beds.” Yes, it will hurt to give up this amazingly luxurious room, but this is an emergency.

Calder looks skeptical. “Elodie, it’s trade show season. You saw the lobby. I doubt there are any vacancies.”

Damn it, he’s right again. The lobby had been packed with people when we got back, and just as we were walking in, three more tubes arrived, and hundreds of conference attendees swarmed out. The odds of the hotel having a vacant room are not high.

I take a calming breath. “Okay. No big deal. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Colder grunts in disapproval. “If anyone is going to sleep on the floor, it’ll be me.”

I eye the set of his jaw. Calder has a stubborn side—the fuel incident just one example—and I don’t want him doing that. Not when he’s already doing me a massive favor by being here.

I gulp. “Or we can share the bed.” His eyes fly to mine, but I can’t hold his gaze. “There’s plenty of room.”

“You sure you’re okay with that?”

I’m still refusing to look at him. “Absolutely,” I lie. I stride toward my bag, open it, and pull out my sleep shirt. “I’m just going to get ready for bed.”

“Okay.”

I flee to the refresher and change into my sleep shirt. Calder has seen me in this shirt more times than I can count, but suddenly, I’m acutely aware of how thin the material is and how the shirt clings to my curves. My nipples are clearly visible through the fabric.

Calder’s just outside this door. We’re going to share a bed for the next four nights. I feel nervous and tentative and don’t know what to do with myself.

Stop. This is not a big deal. It’s Calder. You’ve been his podmate for six months. There is no reason to make this weird, Elodie.

But I’m lying. Things are undeniably getting weird. The way I feel about Calder is changing. I always thought he was attractive. For the first week after he moved in, I pinched myself on a daily basis, wondering if I had dreamed up the gorgeous man in my pod. But it quickly became obvious that Calder wasn’t interested in me, not sexually. I told myself it was for the best. I needed a reliable podmate far more than someone to warm my bed.

So what’s changed now?

The lights are off when I emerge from the refresher. Calder is standing by the window, staring out at the view. He doesn’t turn around to look at me, which fills me with an odd mix of relief and disappointment.

I make a dive for the bed. “It’s pretty, right?” I ask when I’m safely under the covers.

There’s an odd note in Calder’s voice. “Beautiful.”

He’s looking at the view outside. He’s definitely not talking about me. I am in a threadbare shirt that is the opposite of sexy, and besides, it’s too dark to see anything.

Right?

Get your head on straight, Elodie. “Are you going to be up long?”

“No,” Calder replies. “I’m going to bed too.”

He sets his comm down and goes into the refresher. I’m still awake when he comes out, though I’m pretending otherwise. He moves silently toward the bed, the mattress dipping when he gets in.

My eyes are closed, but he seems to know I’m still awake. “Good night, Elodie.”

“Good night, Calder.”

The next four days are going to be rough.