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“No, nothing like that.”

There was silence for a few seconds. “Where’s Eden?”

He tensed. “In the cockpit. Doing her own thing, like she always does. Why do you want to know?”

“We have history. You think you can spare her for a few hours?”

“No.”

Ranger chuckled. “Oh, it’s like that. I didn’t know.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve hooked up? Or is it more official?”

“It’s not anything. She’s my partner, and she has a job to do.”

“Sure, but you both need downtime. I figured she could spend it with me if she wanted to.”

“Hasn’t she already given you the brush off?”

“Ouch! Sure, but that’s Eden. She plays hard to get. She’s one of those women who likes a guy to work for it.”

He knew all about that. “It’s up to her. I’m not her keeper.”

“That’s good to know. We had a wild time when we were together.”

Blaze didn’t want to hear about it. “Shouldn’t you be making sure we aren’t about to be attacked?” Yep, he was being a dick, but Ranger rubbed him the wrong way when it came to Eden. Any guy who had the privilege of touching her made him want to rage out of control.

Ranger chuckled again. “Whatever you say. So long as I’m not stepping on your toes by chasing Eden.”

“She does what the hell she likes. If she wants you to chase her, you’ll know.”

There was another pause. “You’re sure you have no problem with that? I like her, but I’m just looking for fun.”

“No problem.” Blaze stared at the floor. He wanted to tell Ranger to keep his damn hands off, but that would mean another massive line got crossed. Eden wasn’t his. He had no right to say who she should be with.

“Whatever you say, buddy. Catch you on Tiavac. We’ll have a few drinks.”

“Sounds great.” Blaze cut the link and strode out of the cargo bay.

He growled low in his chest. Eden was a free woman. She never tied herself to anyone. She always made that clear.

Blaze grabbed his tool and went back to work. A few more hours of mindless labor would take his mind off things. But what he really needed was space and time away from Eden. There would be no way to get that while he was on this ship.

He’d only been working for twenty minutes when Eden strolled into the equipment room.

“Hey, what did you do to Ranger?”

“Nothing that I know of.” Blaze kept his head down. Had that star damned jerk been blabbing?

“He was being weird when we spoke over the comm link. He said he wanted to ask me out but needed your permission, and you didn’t give it to him.”

Thanks for nothing, Ranger. “The guy’s jerking you around. Ignore him. I do. He’s always talking crap.”

“What did you say to him?” Eden leaned against the wall, one hand on her hip.

“I said nothing about him not dating you. I just said we’re busy.”