Chapter 17

Chapter 17

T he waterways in Delta City couldn’t be more perfect. Perhaps it was the lack of people, or pollution, or maybe it was just that whoever had built this system had done it to her precise specifications and they wanted the fish to thrive just as much as Primula did.

As for the fish…they did exactly what fish did. She set the hover dolly so the tank was level with the lip of the pool, opened the lock, and let the fish make their own way into the city’s waterways. Which they did…and they just kept on swimming.

Primula wasn’t sure whether she was happy for them, or if it felt a little like they were abandoning her, too. The tears in her eyes were easy to blink away, though, so she made her way around the square, opening tank after tank, until all the fish were free.

It wasn’t a viable aquaponics farm yet, but it was a start.

She pulled out her tablet, ready to comm Daedalus to tell him she was finished for the day. Tomorrow, she could check to see how the fish had fared. Only when she was sure it was safe to release more would she ask him to bring the other tanks out.

No, she wouldn’t comm him. She’d go visit the beach herself. The city was on an island, so it couldn’t be that hard to find.

Sure enough, she found it without too much trouble. The dome went right down to the water on the far side of the city from the landing pad, but she hadn’t realised it went into the water, extending across a little white sand lagoon so that the water glowed blue instead of rose, like it did outside the shelter and bright lights of the dome.

Daedalus was stretched out on the sand, face down. Stark naked.

Primula clapped her hands to her mouth. Why hadn’t he warned her it was a nudist beach?

She should go, before he noticed she was there. Or worse, asked her to join him.

Primula swallowed. Stars, but he looked perfect. She’d never understood how anyone could compare an arse to a peach, but looking at Daedalus’s backside, she finally got it.

She had to get back to the ship before he saw her. No way was she getting naked on a beach.

She hurried through the city, not even pausing to see the splash of her happy fish in their new home, until the door of her cabin closed behind her.

“Mrrp?” Lothario asked, stretching out on her bed.

Primula threw herself down beside him, covering her face with her hands. Even that wasn’t enough to block out the vision of Daedalus lying naked on the beach. Or the memory of when she’d knocked on the door of his cabin, and he’d answered it naked.

She couldn’t even think about him without imagining him naked. She certainly couldn’t share dinner with him. She couldn’t possibly look him in the eye when her thoughts were creeping lower into definitely not safe for work territory.

No wonder the other girls at work had succumbed to his charms. If she’d stayed much longer on that beach, she’d have been hard pressed not to reach out and find out if his butt was as firm as she imagined. She’d never grabbed a guy’s butt in her life!

But now she wanted to.

“Stars, Lothario, what am I supposed to do?” she wailed.

But the meowl had already curled up and gone back to sleep.