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“—the majority of my crew is currently scattered around the colony on leave. I couldn’t take off with you, even if I wanted to.”
“Doyou want to?”
Not even a breath of hesitation. “Yes.”
Talk about being completely honest. It gave her pause, but only for a moment. “It’s still a no.”
She continued walking, but that feeling of being followed was back. She whipped around, her heart thumping in her chest.
Ulrek made a low, growly sound in his throat, his eyes scanning the street.
“You feel that too?” she whispered, for the moment allied with him against this invisible foe.
“I do.” He continued to look around. “We are being watched.”
But there were only the regular folks of Reka 5 on the street. Could it be Craig? Maybe he’d sent one of his friends?
“Come to my ship. I will pay you to diagnose the problem. Only that. You will be safe there.”
Even as he negotiated, Ulrek was on high alert, his posture saying he was ready to fight. Delaney bet he was an awesome fighter. She shook her head, trying to shake the image of Ulrek in full bloodlust.
She remembered last night when Ulrek had faced down her asshole ex. Would Ulrek go into bloodlust to protect her from whoever was following them now?
Gah! What was wrong with her that she not-so-secretly hoped that was the case?
She knew full well that fighting in bloodlust was often followed by an intense craving, an insatiable need for sex. And if he fought to defend her, then she’d be his first target. If she was lucky, he’d steal her away to his ship to have his way with her. If she wasn’t, she’d end up getting her brains fucked out right here, tossed over the park bench.
But that wouldn’t happen because they probably weren’t in real danger. Besides, Ulrek was in disguise, and she doubted he could maintain it if his face changed while in bloodlust, no matter how good the prosthetic or whatever was.
“It’s probably just Craig or one of his friends. I can handle them.” She hoped the lie wasn’t obvious. She couldn’t handle them, not really, but she wasn’t going to admit weakness in front of Ulrek.
Ulrek didn’t look convinced. “Come to my ship. I give you my word that we will not leave with you on board. Diagnose the problem with my greenroom. I’ll pay you a full day’s wages no matter how short a time it takes, and you won’t need to fix it.” He glanced around. “I will protect you and get you back to your room safely after.”
He didn’t mention that if the verdict for the contract sided with him, she’d end up on his ship anyway. Maybe he didn’t think the decision would favor him because of who he was, and he wanted a guaranteed diagnosis either way.
“Three. I want three days’ wages.” What just happened to not negotiating?
“Two.”
Two days’ wages to just look at the greenroom and tell him what was wrong? It would take her a galactic hour or two at most. Then Craig and his friends would have given up for the day, and she’d be out of there.
“Deal.” She stuck her hand out before realizing Ulrek might not know a handshake was used to seal a deal.
But he did. He took it and shook. “Deal.”
He didn’t let her hand go after shaking it. Instead, he held onto it and started walking toward the dock.
Chapter 8
Delaney
Delaney snatched her hand away the moment they walked into the ship’s common room. Three Tallean males were playing darts, and all of them turned to gawk at her and Ulrek. She recognized Tuhror, whom she’d met yesterday.
“I thought we’d agreed not to kidnap the new greenroom technician,” Tuhror said with his brows raised.
“Delaney is myguestfor the next few hours,” Ulrek said. “She’s going to figure out what’s wrong with the greenroom. That’s it.” His hand landed on the small of her back. “But before we do that, let’s get you over to the medbay to get rid of this headache.”
“How did you know?” she asked. Her headache hadn’t gotten any better.
