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Her gut churned, forecasting his reaction when she told him the hideous truth. Any day now. She could do it today, tomorrow, should have done it from the start.
Confusion clouded his tone. “He shared… pictures of you?”
“Yes.Naked,” she emphasized.
“And that could have kept you from traveling?”
“Yes.” It had been the single most mortifying day of her entire life. Walking into the office to discuss onboarding—only to get pulled aside and told that sensitive images had been shared. Sensitive images ofher. Selfies she’d taken while shopping for wedding lingerie in various states of undress—intended only for her future husband’s eyes.
The nauseating humiliation of that day lingered in physical memory. Patrick had emailed them directly to the commander of the Aerinus.
“You really don’t like pictures of you, do you?” Caligher asked with a touch of humor, failing to grasp the gravity of what had been done to her.
But it was Lucca who’d made the error.
Ternetzis didn’t wear clothing. Modesty was not a concept. Caligher would never understand why this was a bad thing.
She bit her tongue, panic pouring through her. The fuckups she’d committed on a near-daily basis were tallying high. Too many, and Caligher would never trust a thing that came out of her mouth.
She needed to tell him soon.
Tonight.
Her desperate conscience rang its agreement.
If she told him tonight, she would never lie to him again. She would offer everything—the truth, her life if he wanted it. She had to believe it would work.
“Are you a computer?” he suddenly blurted.
“Am I a…. am I awhat?!”
“Are you a computer?” he inquired with dead seriousness.
Her head rocked back, dispelling her dark train of thought. Sometimes, Caligher said the most absurd things.
“I won’t judge you,” he said. “I won’t even be… mh, opposed, to trying to make it work.” The words were compressed—the barely-perceptible tell of him trying not to grin. He coughed. “Look, I just want to know.”
“Do Isoundlike a computer to you?”
He laughed indulgently and said, “Just checking. I’ve been ruling things out.”
She leaned back in her seat and threw a breath to the dark cabin. His question had made her forget what she was thinking about. “How big’s your list?” she asked.
“I keep coming back to pirate.”
“But I’mnota pirate.”
Chuckles warmed the speaker system. “Let me be the judge of that.”
She could sense affection pouring through the room. His steps were happy, his tail swinging hard enough towhoosh. It must be heavy, she imagined, as he busied himself and made for his social outing.
Tonight.
It had to be tonight.
She started getting things ready.
CHAPTER9
