She hums. “Control freak.”
I snort. “Says the woman who has three backup nav drives just in case.”
“Redundancy isn’t the same as control. It’s preparation.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
She shifts slightly, her hip brushing mine. I feel it everywhere. Gods, I hate how good she smells. Like leather and ozone and whatever perfume she pretends she doesn’t wear.
“This bird’s seen better days,” she mutters, tapping a frayed conduit. “You ride her hard.”
“Only way she knows how to fly.”
Nova glances at me then—sharp, sideways. “That an innuendo?”
“No. But it can be if you’re into that.”
She rolls her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitches. Almost a smile.
We fall back into silence. Tension thickens, unspoken and undeniable. Every brush of her arm against mine, every shift of her body, feels like gravity trying to collapse the distance between us.
I focus on the wiring. Or pretend to. My thoughts are drifting somewhere between her lips and the way she looked at me last night before walking away like it didn’t mean something.
“Why’d you really come down here?” I ask, not looking up.
She pauses. Doesn’t answer right away.
“I was heading to the gym,” she says. “Saw the maintenance order on your ship. Figured you’d be too impatient to wait for the techs.”
“You figured right.”
Nova’s quiet for a second. Then, softly, “I like watching you fly.”
That shuts me up.
I look at her.
She’s not smiling. Not teasing. Just… honest.
“You fly like you’re trying to outrun gravity itself,” she adds. “Like if you go fast enough, you’ll slip free.”
I lean back against the bulkhead, heart thudding.
“That’s what it used to be,” I admit. “An escape. The only place I felt like I was worth a damn.”
“And now?”
I meet her gaze.
“Now it feels like a cage.”
Nova doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t look away. Her voice drops to almost a whisper. “Maybe you’re not running anymore.”
I tilt my head. “Then what am I doing?”
She doesn’t answer. Just holds my gaze like it’s the only thing anchoring her.
The air between us hums with something fragile and dangerous. I want to touch her. Want to lean in.
