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“Hear, hear,” Naomi said, lifting her own glass, pinky out slightly, as if she had been born to the same society as his employers.
They both took a sip, and she hummed in appreciation.
“You like it?” he asked.
“It’s incredible,” she said.
“That’s a Maltaffian wine,” he told her. “So good, they say it’s an aphrodisiac.”
He sort of wished he could go back in time and hold back that last part. No matter how much he genuinely wanted to take his time and get to know her, his mouth kept steering the conversation back to the bedroom.
But Athena saved him, as usual, choosing that moment to let out a huge sigh as she flopped down on the heated kitchen floor after bolting down her dinner.
“Long day for her,” Naomi said.
“She’s always on duty, in her eyes,” Gage agreed. “I can’t seem to convince her that this is like a vacation.”
He couldn’t really seem to convince himself either, but she didn’t need to hear about his obsession with security. She hadn’t come all this way to hear him talk about his work.
“You must be exhausted after your journey,” she told him sympathetically.
“Not at all,” he assured her. “I travel the galaxy as part of my work, and the Fleet-72 I arrived on is equipped with excellent seating and bedchambers. It was nothing.”
An odd expression crossed her face and was gone in an instant.
He turned his attention to his dinner, trying to figure it out without looking at her, but he came up with nothing.
The dinner was delicious though.
“So good,” Naomi moaned around a bite of steak.
The sound cut through him, making him long to stop all this talking and eating and drag her to bed.
“Wow,” she said, looking at the kitchen.
He turned to see Athena was running in her sleep, paws moving. In her sleeping state, the coloration of her fur often shifted to match her dreams. Right now, she was dreaming of a blue sky with fluffy white clouds moving swiftly across it.
“Is that projected onto her somehow?” Naomi asked.
“She’s a Drathian Shepherd,” he said, shaking his head. “Her fur can change colors based on her thoughts, or to match her environment.”
“So, she’s dreaming about the sky,” Naomi said, eyes locked on the lush blue fur with the drifting patches of white.
“Exactly,” he told her.
“Aren’t most purebred Drathian Shepherds working dogs?” she asked.
“She is a Maltaffian guard,” he told her proudly. “Canine Officer, First Class.”
“Wow,” Naomi breathed. “So, when you said she thinks she’s on duty, you didn’t just mean as a pet being a little protective.”
“Protecting is her job,” he said. “And she is truly accomplished. She once saved two children from a kidnapping attempt.”
While he disliked hearing his own heroism referred to, he had no such compunctions when it came to Athena. She had been the real hero that day.
“You are lucky to have her with you,” Naomi said with a smile.
“I am,” he said. “So, what do you like to do with your free time on your home planet?”
