Raina held her arms out to Nick.

He came to her, a tender expression softening his masculine features.

“Can I touch you?” she asked him carefully.

He smiled down at her, blue eyes twinkling, and cupped her cheek in his hand.

“Not yet,” he told her. “But I would like to hold you.”

“That’s not fair,” she protested.

“It’s what I want,” he told her firmly. “I won’t take any chances. We will seal our bond only when we both are ready. It is the best way.”

She could see the tension in his jaw. He wanted her badly. But he was willing to sacrifice his own satisfaction to preserve her opportunity to choose.

“Thank you,” she said.

“It’s my pleasure,” he told her.

“Speaking of which, wow,” she said.

“That was my pleasure too,” he said, looking pleased with himself. He had a right to be.

“I’m pretty sure it was mine,” she teased. “And it was unbelievable. I guess I owe a big debt to those many women who made sure you knew what you were doing.”

“It had nothing to do with them,” he told her with a solemn expression. “It is because we are blood mates. My every touch gives you exquisite pleasure, as yours will to me. It will be better when the bond is sealed.”

He meant it, she could tell.

And oddly enough she sensed that he was right.

The idea was compelling, no matter how her sensible side railed against anything that would interfere with her plan to explore whatever new frontiers remained.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her.

“Yes,” she said, realizing that she hadn’t eaten since before boarding the ship.

“It feels like the heat is finally kicking in. I’ll grab you some clothes and we can see if there’s anything to eat,” he offered. “This suite should have a dining area.”

She watched as he climbed out of bed, those glorious golden muscles bunching and stretching with each movement.

Even in the low gravity, he seemed huge and heavy - substantial. The kind of man who belonged on the cover of a romance novel or flipping tires in a strong man contest.

Raina was no delicate flower, but something about his sturdy constitution spoke to her cavewoman side. Here was a man she could depend on not to be bested in combat or blown away in a brisk wind.

He pulled on his pants and dug through the closet to the right of the driftwood bench for clothing that might fit her.

Raina’s thoughts went back to the other closet and the baby in his little pod.

Her chest ached at the thought of him all alone. Though of course he was not alone, BFF20 was working diligently to see if he could be freed. But that wasn’t what a baby needed.

“Here you are,” Nick said, offering her a pair of pajamas. “They’re the warmest looking thing in the closet.”

“Thanks,” Raina said, trying to shake her worries about the baby.

She rolled out of bed. The air was still cold, but there was no biting edge to it anymore.

The pajamas were faux fur. She slid them on just in time for Nick to hand her the matching slippers.

“Nice,” she said appreciatively. “Don’t you want a shirt or anything?”

“I do not need one,” he said. “My body adjusts. Do you wish for me to put one on?”

She snuck another look at those incredible abs.

“Nope,” she said. “I just want you to be comfortable.”

The right side of his mouth curved upward as if he were trying to hide a smile.

Well, he could make himself look however he wanted. If he had chosen to be a stone-cold hottie, it had nothing to do with her.

“How did you decide to take this form?” she asked him, grabbing her pack off the floor by her clothes as they headed back to the living room.

He got a strange look on his face.

“Well, I was going to be working for humans, so I had to take on a human form,” he said.

“That makes sense,” Raina agreed. “But why this one?”

“I, um, saw it in a magazine,” he said.

“An ad for underwear?” she asked, recognition dawning on her.

“Yes,” Nick admitted. “But his eyes weren’t blue, they were green.”

“You always change one thing,” she noted.

“I have to,” he told her. “It’s illegal to fully impersonate someone else.”

“Why?” she asked.

“You can imagine the way someone unscrupulous might use it to steal things or take advantage of people,” he said.

She hadn’t imagined that, but she could absolutely see his point.

He opened a door and stepped through. Raina followed and found herself in a spacious dining room.

The black and white floor tiles reminded her of a Victorian kitchen back on Earth, though the room was perfectly round. At the center of the room, a large wooden table with benches was set with fine silver. What appeared to be a living boxwood hedge, adorned with fairy lights, encircled the perimeter of the room.

But for all the strange beauty of the room itself, Raina’s eyes were drawn to the ceiling, which was a huge, clear dome revealing the stars.

“Wow,” she breathed.

“Wait here,” Nick said, heading to an alcove on the other side of the room.

Raina sat at the table and placed her pack on the bench beside her.

The hologram of a candle encircled in tiny white flowers appeared automatically before her. Raina smiled, it was a nice touch - romantic.

She unzipped her pack and dug through the assortment of tools and materials to find her ration vials. Hopefully Nick would find some water at least. You could eat the powder on its own, but it was much easier to choke down in liquid form.

She lined the vials up on the table in order of most to least disgusting. None of the labels with familiar foods tasted like their Earth equivalents. She assumed the same was true of the foods from other planets. But she was lucky to have nourishment, oxygen and enough heat to take the edge off.

She couldn’t help but think of the baby again.

If they were able to get him out, what would she feed him?

“We’re in luck,” Nick said, coming out of the alcove again, his arms laden with a huge box.

“Wow, what’s all that?” Raina asked.

“First of all, Earth wine,” Nick replied, handing her a bottle with an actual cork.

“Amazing,” Raina replied, spinning the bottle in her hands. It looked like a simple enough merlot - but ambrosia to a woman who had never expected to taste wine again.

“And not only are there enough rations to last us half a lifetime back there, there are also fire strips,” Nick said.

“Fire strips?” Raina asked.

“Oh, just wait,” Nick said. “I’m going to make you Earth food.”

Raina laughed, wondering what he was going to give her if the powder in her vials was what passed for Earth food these days.

She watched as Nick laid out a sheet of what looked like paper. He passed a small rod over it and a crackling fire immediately appeared over the triangle.

“That’s a fire strip,” Nick said. “Turns any surface into a cooktop. Under the strip it’s cool to the touch. But above the strip you can cook over the open flame.”

“Wow, like a grill,” Raina said appreciatively.

“Is that how you cooked outdoors on Earth?” Nick asked.

“Yes, exactly,” Raina said.

He grinned at her and pulled a stick out of the box, followed by a sealed container.

“Then why don’t you cook us up two of these while I get the rest of the meal started?” he asked. “It will make a good appetizer.”

Raina opened the little container as Nick pulled more odds and ends out of the big box.

“Marshmallows,” she exclaimed.

“They are to your liking?” he asked.

“Oh my gosh. This is the ultimate treat,” she told him.

“Was it served at Earth’s finest restaurants?” he asked.

“No,” Raina laughed. “Bags of these things were sold for a dollar or two at our most modest food shops. And then children would toast them over camp fires.”

“Well I can tell that isn’t the case anymore,” he said. “Food like this would cost a small fortune to acquire.”

“I guess that’s one benefit of being stuck on a luxury ship,” she said.

“If it was so inexpensive, then why would you call it the ultimate treat?” he asked politely.

“First of all, when you taste it you won’t ask that,” Raina said. “Secondly, it isn’t that these things are rare or expensive. It’s just that they bring back memories of childhood and camping trips and telling scary stories around the campfire.”

She stuck one on her stick and held it over the fire.

“Why is it sold raw?” Nick asked. “Wouldn’t it spoil in the bags?”

“Oh, it’s not raw,” Raina explained. “You can eat it without toasting it, but it’s nicer toasted.”

She spun the stick and watched the confection turn golden.

Nick placed a tile over a portion of the flames and then set a piece of buttered bread on top.

She watched as he added cheese and another slice of bread.

“Grilled cheese,” she said happily.

“Another Earth favorite, I am told,” Nick said. “It seems that none of Earth’s favorite foods actually require cooking.”

“Hmm,” Raina mused, watching the flames curl around the edge of her marshmallow. “That’s not really true, you just happened on two foods that work that way.”

He popped the lid on something and she turned to see the familiar label of a can of tomato soup.

“Okay, that doesn’t technically have to be cooked either,” she admitted.

Nick laughed and she laughed too.

It felt good to sit around the fire with the comforting smell of familiar foods, real foods. Nick looked more handsome than ever in the firelight, his blue eyes twinkling as he warmed up her favorite meal.

“What did you mean before?” Nick asked. “When you said you told scary stories around the fire as children?”

“Well, when you’re a little kid you don’t usually get to stay up until it’s super dark outside,” Raina explained. “But at camp you do. And you don’t sleep in a house, you sleep in a tent.”

“To prevent contamination?” Nick asked, his brow slightly furrowed as he flipped the grilled cheese on the tile.

“No, not at all,” Raina said. “To provide shelter from rain and wind. But children get scared staying up late and sleeping in tents.”

“This is a rational fear,” Nick said. “Tents do not protect from wild animals or roving marauders.”

“We don’t really camp in places where there are wild animals or… marauders,” Raina explained.

“I thought you said you camped out in the woods,” Nick said.

“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Raina said. “But most of the places where humans camp don’t have many animals. Humans make noise and leave trash behind. Animals prefer their privacy.”

Nick nodded with an expression that made her think he might sympathize with the animals more than the people.

“Anyway, telling spooky stories when you’re out in the dark woods is super fun and scary,” she said. “And children love to be scared. Especially when they’re surrounded by friends.”

“What are the stories like?” Nick asked. “Are they about the inevitable decline of your polluted planet?”

“Er, no, they’re about ghosts usually,” Raina said, trying not to be offended. After all, Nick was right, Earth’s inhabitants had not always been the biggest respecters of nature.

“But ghosts are not real,” Nick said, removing the first sandwich from the tile and adding the second one. “Why would someone find them scary?”

“True, but the idea is compelling,” Raina said. “I guess it’s all about fear of the unknown.”

“Tell one,” Nick said.

“Okay, this is a classic,” Raina said. “When you’re a camp counselor, you always do this one.”

Nick smiled and waited for his story.

“A long time ago, at this very camp where we are right now, there was a little girl named, um, Raina, let’s say,” she began, using her best spooky voice. “And even though her counselors told her to stay with her buddy and not leave the group, one night at campfire time she heard a rustling in the bushes.”

“Oh dear,” Nick said.

“Raina really wanted a pet rabbit, and she thought it might be a bunny making that sound,” Raina went on. “So she stepped away from the campfire and into the darkness. But she didn’t come back.”

Nick’s eyes widened slightly.

“Well, everyone searched for her until very late at night, but they couldn’t find any trace of her,” Raina continued, leaning forward to let shadows from the flickering fire play across her face. “One counselor stayed out all night long calling for her. ‘Raina! Raina! Raina!’”

Nick shook his head sadly.

“The next morning the campers woke up,” she went on. “And there was Raina asleep right in her bed.”

“Oh,” Nick said, looking more cheerful.

“But the counselor who stayed out all night was never seen again,” Raina said in a deep, serious voice. “And you can still hear her wandering around the camp at night, calling out—”

“Raina! Raina!” a voice called faintly from just outside the room.

Nick gasped, and Raina nearly jumped out of her slippers, her heart in her mouth.

“Raina, there you are,” BFF20 scolded as he sailed into the room. “I’ve completed my analysis, but I need to recharge in order to complete the upload and share what I learned. Permission to land?”

“Granted,” Raina said, holding out her wrist and hoping she wasn’t blushing too much from embarrassment.

The little robot folded himself up tightly and clicked into her wrist band to charge up.

“This was a very spooky story,” Nick told her.

“Usually it’s not that scary,” Raina said. “Unless I get another counselor in on the action to yell out the name. But even then, I’m supposed to be in on it.”

She pulled her toasted marshmallow off the stick.

“Here, I scared you, so you get the first one,” she told him, holding it out.

He leaned forward and licked it off her fingers.

“Mmmmmmm,” he hummed appreciatively.

“Good right?” Raina asked, wishing he would lick her fingers again.

“So good,” he agreed.

He put their sandwiches on plates and poured out the soup into two small bowls over the fire.

“How do you eat these?” he asked. “Do you take a bite and then swallow some soup to wash it down?”

“No, no, you dip it,” Raina said. “Like this.”

She ripped her sandwich into two pieces, salivating as the melted cheese stretched between them before splitting.

She dipped one end of the sandwich into a bowl of soup over the fire and then took a bite.

Nick mimicked her across the table.

The bread and cheese seemed to melt in Raina’s mouth. She closed her eyes, savoring it.

“It’s very good,” Nick told her.

“This is the best meal I’ve had in… well, hundreds of years,” she said. “I guess you were out for a while too.”

A strange expression flitted across Nick’s face.

“I’m not really sure how long I was out,” he said. “I’ve never had stasis lag this bad. Do you know… when we are?”