GWEN

I didn’t think he was particularly good at everything he had mentioned. Who wasn’t good at blowing up shit? And a good lover? Please. But a shot of lust went through my body at the thought of fucking Anders. I had never allowed myself to think about him that way before.

I tried to get a grip, but the way Anders looked at me was doing crazy things to my traitorous body. I could see the confidence in his eyes. His hair was tousled where he had run his fingers through it. Right now Anders was leaning back, looking relaxed in his seat but he had me pinned with a gaze that heated me to the core.

Wait a minute. I was supposed to be heartbroken and getting over a divorce. Wasn’t I?

Anders was my best friend. I had felt a pull toward him from the start, but I had shoved it deep inside me and ignored it when we were near each other. I hadn’t wanted to admit that there was an attraction between us from the moment I met him. It would have been inappropriate while I was married. But what was the harm now?

All the barriers were gone. I wasn’t married. I didn’t even appear to be that upset about it anymore. I was angry at Jake and sorry about the breakup of our marriage. But heart-broken? Not so much.

Was it possible my marriage had been based on infatuation? Something we had acted on too quickly?

I was stuck in a small fighter with Anders. We weren’t going to be able to avoid constant interaction. My attraction to him was undeniable, but I couldn’t possibly act on it. I didn’t want to lose him.

I knew he would help me get over this bump in my life. He had always been such a good friend to me. No matter how I imagined he was looking at me, I had no idea if he felt anything in his heart.

What was I thinking?

We were on the run from a bunch of pirates, and we had to save our friends and family. We had more important issues than our feelings for one another. I tried to focus, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his fiery stare.

“What do we do now?” I was failing to bring my mind back to our current situation.

Anders looked away from the monitor. His eyes were calm this time when they met mine.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think we should head here.” He pointed to a spot on the star chart. “We can hide out for a day and regroup. If we stop and think for a few hours, we can catch our breath and make a plan.”

I sighed. “I suppose going to the authorities is out of the question?”

“No one’s going to help us here. That’s why pirates have our ship. I know the guy in charge. He’s understaffed with more territory than he can cover. I’ve heard him whine about his problems over drinks too many times to count.” He frowned. “If only I could have convinced Father sooner, we would have been ready to fight them off. If we had more time, we could have taken a safer, longer route.”

“It’s too late to worry about any of those things now.” I put my hand on his shoulder. The touch sent an electric current through my body, and he drew a breath as if he had felt it too. I took my hand away and headed back up to the cockpit. “I’ll set a course for Falinn.”

And hopefully I would stop thinking about what he looked like without his clothes on.

* * *

I sat back and watched Anders set the starship down as lightly as a feather on the remote landing pad in a field that was mostly dust and weeds. It was far from any cities and it would be easy for us to hide here. I saw mountains far off on the horizon. A little town full of dilapidated buildings was in the other direction.

Anders began powering down. I was happy to let him take care of the minutiae of landing this time.

“Do you think they will follow us? What if they used a tracker?”

“Come on. They didn’t have time to attach one.”

“We have propulsion. The pirates can follow our heat trace.” I looked at Anders, feeling uneasy.

“Did you read the specs on these fighters? They can erase their heat signatures. Why do you think they’re so expensive?” He stood up and walked to the back to finish closing down the gunner’s station.

“What about our digital tracks? If they have anyone who’s good with computers, they could find us.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” He passed me standing halfway between the cockpit and the weaponry. There was so little space in the tiny hallway that our chests almost brushed. He hesitated, facing me and practically touching me. “But I’m no slouch in that department. I’ve been busy scrambling our signals.”

I shook my head, trying not to react to his nearness. “You’re cocky, Madellan, and it keeps getting you into trouble.”

“I’m just telling the truth. And it’s not me who’s going to be in trouble.” I thought he would say something else, but he didn’t complete his thought.

Was this what he did when he picked up girls at the bar? No wonder they all went home with him. He had never turned his charm on me before, so I had never had to resist it.

Something had shifted between us when I told him that Jake and I were through. Our language was the same, but the energy between us felt different.

He was definitely making suggestive comments. Maybe he always had, and I perceived them differently now that I was single. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. I tried to think of a smart remark, but he was already past me, shutting things down at the back of the spaceship.

Was I imagining things? He was probably only joking around with me. I was taking it the wrong way because I was single now and we both knew it. Surely I had been reading too much into the side glances and innuendo. Anders was his usual entertaining self, and anything else was in my head.

I didn’t want there to be anything else, did I?

It was a good thing we were getting out of the ship because I needed some space. If I could just get away from Anders, and be by myself for the night, I could think and work through my feelings. With some distance between us, I could sort things out.

I sighed. I had no idea what I should do.

* * *

“Only one room.” The small, dark-haired man held up a single finger. We were at a shabby hotel, the only place to stay in the small town. “One room, one bed.”

I hadn’t thought through the consequences of hiding out in a village. It was going to be hard to find space for us. Anders cut his eyes over to me nervously, and I gave a tiny shrug.

“You don’t care, right? It’s good for the happy couple!” He grinned at us.

“Yeah, it’s okay. Isn’t it, honey?” Anders raised an eyebrow at me.

“He snores,” I blurted out. I took Anders’ hand and threaded my fingers through his. “He has a medical condition. We try to get separate rooms whenever possible. We’ll just have to put up with it for tonight, won’t we?”

I smiled brightly at Anders. He looked stunned for a moment before he forced a smile at me. “That’s right. She can’t get any sleep if we’re in the same room. But we’ll figure it out for one night. Do you have anything to muffle the noise?”

The man looked puzzled. “No. We don’t have a lot of concerts in this hotel, sorry.”

“That’s okay. We’ll be all right,” I said quickly. The proprietor took our fingerprints and samples of our DNA for the biometric door locks.

“Do you have any bags? We can bring them in for you.”

“We’ll grab them later.” I didn’t want to reveal that we had no luggage; it might arouse suspicion. A big city might have been better after all. It would have been easier for us to disappear. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks for everything.” Anders and I walked away hand in hand.

I felt a little dizzy at our charade and tried to pull my hand away. “He’s still watching us,” Anders hissed. He wasn’t going to release me. “Snoring?” He looked insulted. “Do I look like someone’s grandfather?”

“Of course not. How old are you, by the way?”

“I’m turning thirty this year.”

That was a couple of years older than me, but not old.

“It was the only thing I could think of in time. Why else would a happily married couple ask for separate rooms?”

Anders didn’t let go of my hand until he needed to use his fingerprint to open the door. I closed and locked it behind us.

My mouth dropped open when I saw the size of the room. It wasn’t much bigger than our fighter. The bed took up almost all the space. I looked at Anders speculatively, wondering how much room I would have next to him.

“It’s going to be a tight fit in here.” I stared at the only piece of furniture in the room, aside from two bedside tables.

“I’d offer to sleep on the couch, but there isn’t one. The floor is out of the question.”

I looked at the clean but stained carpet and wrinkled my nose, agreeing completely. We were both adults. Couldn’t we share a bed?

“Are you uncomfortable sleeping next to me? It’s only for one night.”

“That’s right. It’s only one night. Sure. No problem.”

That’s what I said, anyway.

* * *

We grabbed some food from a place down the street and ate sitting on the bed. I also bought a bottle of local beer. I was having trouble calming down after the day’s events, and I hoped that a drink after dinner would help me unwind.

When we had finished eating and taking turns washing up in our closet-sized bathroom, Anders spoke up. “We need a plan.”

“Don’t look at me. This was your idea, not mine. I’m just along for the ride.” I looked around for a glass, but there weren’t any. I checked the bathroom half-heartedly. There wouldn’t be room for any in there.

“What do we know?” Anders rubbed his hands on his thighs and watched my fruitless search. “Pirates have the ship with all our loved ones and friends trapped in a tractor beam. They intend to sell everything, including the women, and kill everyone else.”

I had friends on the ship, but no one I loved. “That sounds just about right.” I took a swig from the bottle and immediately had a coughing fit.

“We have no idea of their timeline, so we need to act as quickly as possible.”

I nodded, taking another drink. It went down easier the second time. I thought I’d better take it easy or I’d be laid out on the floor comatose.

“We have to release the transport from the tractor beam and get rid of the pirates.”

“That’s the problem, all right.” I offered him the bottle.

“Thank you for your contribution to this discussion.” Anders stood up and gave an exaggerated bow, which looked painful since he could only move around in a small square of floor. “I greatly appreciate it.”

I stuck out my tongue at him.

He took the bottle, sniffed it with suspicion, and gingerly took a small sip. He made a terrible face before taking a bigger swallow. “I could use some help from your brilliant mind.”

“Okay, let’s figure it out. Are you sure we can’t contact the authorities?”

He shook his head. “There are no legal entities out here. The nearby star systems won’t touch the Scarfaces. They’re too afraid of retaliation.” He pointed at me with the bottle, then took another drink.

“How are you and I supposed to get rid of them on our own?”

He took another meditative sip. His eyes lit up as a thought popped into his head. “Technically, we’re not on our own. There’s a planet nearby that recently eliminated the slave trade. I happen to know the person who helped them get rid of it. She was a slave once herself, but now she’s a queen. She’s from Earth, too. I think she will be sympathetic to our cause. Her husband will do practically anything for her. If she says to send a fleet, he’ll send one.”

“A queen?” I held my hand out for the bottle.

“It’s just a title. In her heart, she’s a poor girl from Earth. You really have a complex about royalty. Don’t forget, I come from a noble family too.”

“Stop it, Anders. I don’t want to think about you like that. It will ruin our relationship.” I took a big mouthful and swallowed it down. My head was starting to spin, and I felt wonderfully relaxed. The beer was great. If we ever returned to the transport ship, I would have to bring back a bottle or two.

He shook his head. “Sometimes I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“If you were a woman, you would understand. How do you propose we contact your queen and talk her into helping us?”

“I think we should just go there in the morning.”

“You. You mean, you’ll go there. I’ll wait in the ship.”

“I don’t think so. You wanted to come with me instead of staying in the panic room, so there’s no way you’re staying here. Anyway, this is a perfect time for you to overcome your issues with royalty. Is this a phobia on Earth or something?”

“Look, I’m just a pilot.” I took another drink and handed him the bottle. Maybe I was afraid of royalty. Or maybe I didn’t have a lot of self-esteem.

I wasn’t sure what my problem was, but I knew that I always acted like an idiot around his family. The last thing I wanted was for Anders to see me like that. He was going to have to see the queen by himself tomorrow, no matter what.

Anyway, I had bigger issues. Anders was taking off his shirt.