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8
"Areyou sure we're allowed up here?" I gripped the railing in both hands and peered over the edge into the near darkness. The only light below came from a bank of controls on the far side of the lower level, near a door.
"Of course we're not," Slek said. He turned the light on his watch. "That's half the fun." He must have seen my expression because he grinned, white teeth flashing in the dark.
"Don't worry, we won't get caught. No one comes here, especially at night. Except to do maintenance, and no one's rostered for that right now. I checked."
"If you're wrong, you'll be in the brig right beside me," I said in a playful growl. I assumed they wouldn't send an engineer back to his home world in disgrace, but he could still get in a lot of trouble.
"I'll happily share a cell with you," he said, his smile lopsided. "Imagine the things we could get up to in there."
"Nothing, they'd have security watching us all the time," I said dryly.
He made a dismissive sound. "A minor inconvenience. Besides, I would soon make you forget all about them." His hand brushed across my ass and I jumped.
He chuckled. "Come on, I have everything set up over here."
'Everything' consisted of a blanket spread out on the floor near the wall, and a picnic basket, made of metal. Okay, it was a maintenance bucket, but I appreciated the look he was going for.
He knelt on the blanket and switched on a small light which sat to one side.
The light flashed frantically, like an emergency light.
I held up my hand in front of my eyes and squinted against the sudden, pulsating glare.
"Oops, wrong setting." He flicked a switch on the side and the light settled to a single, soft glow.
I lowered my hand and took in the sight of him on his knees on the blanket. He wore casual clothes. Black trousers and a black shirt which was so tight around his enormous biceps that I didn't know how the seams held together. On his feet he wore boots which looked well worn. Also black.
In comparison, my aqua t-shirt and black pants looked like a riot of colour.
"This is romantic," I said. Honestly, I was surprised. I wasn't used to guys doing sweet things like this. Usually it was a fast food meal and an action movie. Both awesome things, but not very intimate. Perhaps I had misjudged his flirty nature. There was clearly more to him than I had suspected. I reminded myself to keep an open mind from now on.
I sat on the blanket with my back to the wall. My hand tingled from where it touched his. It was a different feeling to Danec's touch, but just as heady. The butterflies in my stomach moved around in lazy spirals.
"We're not allowed alcohol on board, so we have water or synth milk." Slek reached into the bucket and pulled out a bottle of each.
"Water is fine, thank you." I accepted the metal cup, full to the brim when he handed it to me and quickly sipped to keep from spilling it. "Delicious."
Recycled umpteen times, it didn't exactly taste fresh, but it was drinkable.
"I looked for champagne glasses, but for some reason the Infinity doesn't have any." He made a face. "Something about wasting space and not being a priority. Blah, blah. Anyway, we also have sandwiches." He drew out a plate. "Vegetables, garu nut butter, synthcheese, or honey?"
"Honey?" I echoed, unable to keep the excitement from my voice. "Is it real?"
Slek tried to look insulted, but he ruined it with his smile. "Yes, a friend brought a few jars from Earth. I managed to score a couple." He handed me a honey sandwich on brown bread.
"By score do you mean your friend doesn't know you have them?" I asked. A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. Being around him made it hard not to smile and laugh. He was fun to be around. What was the old saying? Never a dull moment.
Slek laughed. "No, he knows. I might have over exaggerated the amount of pain my injuries caused, so he'd take pity, but it was voluntary on his part."
"More or less," I said.
"Well, yes," he agreed, without a hint of shame or regret. "I owe him now though."
I bit into my sandwich and savoured the sweetness of genuine, sticky honey. It tasted like home and deliciousness.
"Mmmm, totally worth it. So, do you come here often?" Geez, Edie, why don't you say the corniest line in the book? I mentally cringed at myself.
