He didn’t warn her they might not find anything. He liked seeing the flush of excitement on her face.
Soon they hit interstellar speed, the stars turning to a stream of silver-white blurs that streaked past them.
He sat back. “Hey, I have something for you.”
She eyed him, trying to hide her interest. “Another present?”
“Yep.”
“I’m not so easily bought.”
“Nothing easy about you, Captain Smooth.” He pulled the small object from his pocket and handed it over.
She studied the small blue box wrapped with a slightly crooked cream ribbon. He had big hands, that weren’t designedfor tying neat bows, but she didn’t seem to mind. She pulled the ribbon off, opened the box, and lifted the tiny metal dog out.
It sat on the palm of her hand. “He’s so cute.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
Damn, he’d do just about anything to see that smile. Justyn reached out and touched the switch on the side of the dog. The minute robot came to life, emitting a tinny bark, sitting, then bounding to his feet to turn in circles.
“Wow.” Nissa’s smile widened. “It’s wonderful.”
“My cousin, Malin, makes them. They’re modeled after a real-life droid dog.” Justyn watched the little thing sit down on Nissa’s palm, tongue lolling. “Krypto’s a hell of a lot bigger than this guy.”
“Your cousin’s a talented metalsmith.”
“She’s a salvage mechanic. Since she shacked up with a cyborg on Centax, she learned how to make these guys from her boss at the salvage yard there.”
Nissa’s eyebrows rose. “Your cousin lives on Centax? With a Centaxian?”
“Cross-eyed in love with the guy. And he’s a CenSec to boot.”
Now Nissa’s mouth dropped open. “Your cousin isin lovewith a Centax Security cyborg? A lethal, emotionless, feared-across-the-galaxy CenSec?”
“Well, since he’s just as in love with her, I think the emotionless part might not be accurate. The rest of it…well, Xander is one scary son of a bitch?—”
“Xander Saros?” Nissa said incredulously.
“Yep.”
“He isn’t just a CenSec, he’s the head of Centax Security.”
“Yep.” Still shocked the hell out of Justyn, but he’d seen them together and didn’t doubt the cyborg would kill anything that harmed a hair on Mal’s head.
Suddenly, the sound of an alarm cut through the cockpit.
Nissa frowned. “Problem?”
He tapped at the screen. What he saw chilled his blood. “That can’t be right.” He tapped a few more commands and studied the sensor readings. “Fuck!”
“What is it?”
“Three starships en route to intercept us. And their weapons are hot.”
She tensed. “Can you tell who they are?”
“Nope.” Justyn altered theMercury’scourse. “Time for me to use some of my mad evasion skills.”
“Yes, I’m aware that you have a few of those,” she said dryly.
