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So here she was. To spearhead the project - alongside the man she’d last seen ten months ago. The man she’d tried so hard to forget but failed miserably.
Since Ziemer, she’d tried to avoid all-male company - from a romantic perspective - and banish them from her dating world. She was determined to make it to twelve months and beyond. But the universe wasn’t playing fair. It kept flinging available, eager and single men her way. She’d never swatted off so many than in these past few months. She’d ignored all requests, turned down dates and focused on herself. Her therapy. Her work. Her friends. Her love for cooking.
She’d been somewhat successful.
Except for the tiny moments when she had fleeting thoughts of one bearded, scar-faced, mouthy man. One with a bent for witty throwbacks and snarky comebacks delivered in a low growl. One she was secretly worried about working with. Who kept creeping into her mind uninvited, which pissed her off royally.
Dammit!
She shook her head clear and focused on the task at hand. Getting to her accommodation. A comm mail received days earlier from The Sable Group had directed her to an apartment building in Eden II’s city centre. She was to ask reception for her access codes.
She guided her floating air case along the concourse. To her right were more terminals. She swung left towards the exit via a swathe of high-end shops lined up like candied jewels in the port’s luxury precinct.
‘Hey, Harlow?’
She turned around to see Ruben, a handsome blonde-haired man who’d sat next to her on the flight. He was a mid-level tech, starting a new role with The Sable Group in a week. Rhesian, going by his suave trap-bath split accent and fashion sense. During their five-hour flight, they’d bonded over the latest stellar tunes from Falasia and their shared love for food tours. He’d tried to flirt with her. She’d felt no such vibe and gave nothing back. Towards the end of the flight, his constant attention had begun to grate on her.
She’d wondered about mentioning to Ruben that she’d be working at The Sable Group’s shop as well. But she’d thought twice about it. Her project was top secret; the less anyone knew, the better. So she’d told him she was a tech nomad, wandering the system chasing work contracts, which wasn’t a lie, just not the entire truth.
He grinned, his bright, white teeth bouncing light off in the well-lit terminal. ‘How ‘bout we catch a drink sometime on Eden II? Perhaps go on a little taste tour. I hear the food stalls here are out of this system.’
She half smiled. ‘Maybe,’ she said noncommittally. But, unfortunately, he didn’t pick up on her diffident tone.
Instead, he scrambled for his wrist tab and swiped his details to her.
He reached forward as if to give her a quick, spontaneous hug.
‘See you around!’ she recoiled from the unbidden physical contact, rapidly walking away, ignoring the bereft look on his face. She had no intention of actively seeking his company.
Now where to flag down a fly-cab?she wondered, trying to arrest her annoyance.
Her wrist comm map led her down a few twists and turns.
She rounded a corner into a deserted part of the concourse.
‘Harlow?’
She was about to bark out in irritation at being followed by Ruben when she registered the tone of the low voice behind her. She stopped in her tracks. Her heart thudded.
‘Kage?’ she breathed.
She whirled around to see no one. Just the normal spaceport flora and fauna. Not the man whose voice she swore she’d just heard—the man who had a bad habit of slipping into her thoughts lately.
Was her mind so pressed that she’d made up his voice in her head?
She narrowed her eyes, searching for a glimmer in the air.Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Harlow shook her head and continued on her search for an exit.
She paused mid-step, whipping out her comm tab, trying to make heads or tails of where she was. Pulling up Sysnet’s map app, she typed in her location, but the tab kept freezing up each time and kicked her out of the application.
‘Damn,’ she hissed with a small stamp of her foot, staring at the annoying screen.
‘Lost much?’ came a slow, low drawl.
This time she whipped around, glaring irately at the emptiness of the corridor ahead.
‘Damn you Kage,’ she bit out, this time sure of what she’d heard. ‘Not funny. And stop blocking access to Sysnet.’
