Organizing a date while confined to the med-bay proved trickier than Dante expected. Not only was he rusty on the whole wine-and-dine concept, but he needed his team’s help to make it happen, since he couldn’t do it himself. Aria and Kurt were back on the planet with Cris, but they’d assisted in their own way. Everyone was happy to help – for a price. The bad jokes and non-stop teasing were worth it, though, because everything was ready. He even had a few surprises arranged, and it was time for him to reveal the first one to his date.

Tyra was seated at her usual workstation, her chin propped on one hand as she stared at the screen. She’d worked tirelessly, poring over the results of her tests of the cobalt sample. She barely slept, and the only reason she’d eaten was because he’d been around to remind her to. She needed someone in her life to take care of her, and he was starting to think he was the one to do it.

“Hey, warden. Is my sentence over yet?”

She looked up with a smile. “I think so. Your last scans came back clear. Just promise me you won’t overdo it for another day or so. I’d like to keep you on light duties for now. You’ve already had more than the recommended dosage of healing accelerant. If you get hurt again, I won’t be able to give you another dose.”

He rose from the bed and stretched. “You don’t have a lot of faith in my ability to avoid trouble, do you?”

“In the short time I’ve known you, you’ve been shot, stabbed, captured, and beaten up. In my experience, facts trump faith.”

“I had a bad week.”

She laughed. “I’ve read your medical file, remember? The number of times you’ve been hurt, you should probably just hire a doctor to be on stand-by.”

“You volunteering?”

Tyra’s mouth opened and then closed again without her saying a word. She was silent a few seconds, then finally spoke. “Working as a military doctor isn’t what I want to do with my life. I want to help those who don’t have anyone else to help them. I can’t do that in the IAF.”

He’d learned that and a lot more about her in the time they’d been thrown together. “I know, I was kidding…mostly. I’m not going to start talking about our future before we’ve had our first official date. A date I can’t take you on if you don’t clear me to leave medical.”

“Well, in that case, consider yourself cleared. You’re free to leave and get yourself organized for tonight. Do I get to know the plan, yet? I mean, apart from the fact we’re going to have dinner together and one of us will be severely underdressed.” She tugged at her too-large shirt.

“You won’t be underdressed. I called in some favors. If milady would like to return to her quarters, she should find some better selections for this evening. Also, Trinity and Blink would like me to inform you that you should have said something earlier. They both thought the other one had given you more to wear. Blink’s going to see what she can find in your size while she’s down on the planet. And before you say anything about paying her back, remember that she’s a stubborn, slightly bionic badass and she’s not going to accept your money.” He held up his hands. “Her words, not mine.”

“I didn’t say anything because they’d already given me the clothes off their backs, literally. I’ll find a way to thank them.” She smiled. “And you, too.”

“You don’t have to thank me. You saved my life. I’m pretty sure I’m going to owe you for that for quite some time.”

Her smile broadened. “You better believe it.”

“I’ll be by your room to pick you up in forty-five minutes.” He was tempted to kiss her, but he didn’t. He was going to do this right. No rushing.

“I’ll be waiting.” She shooed him toward the door. “I need to lock up after you go. Magi put about eight levels of security in place, and I need to activate all of them before I can leave.”

Downs had been demanding access to the med-bay, and Dante, since he’d been brought back. Until now, Rossi and Tyra had kept her away, but now he was out, she’d want to question him. It would be a waste of his time, but it had to happen. That was tomorrow’s problem, though. Tonight was all about Tyra.

Being back in his own quarters was nice, but he didn’t have much time to enjoy it. By the time he showered, shaved, and dressed, it was almost time to go again. He grabbed his comm and sent a message to Dax and Eric, who were acting as his wingmen.

Everything ready?

Rossi didn’t bother messaging, he called instead, and when his face appeared on the screen, he looked annoyed. “I’m insulted, Strak. I run military operations for a living. Do you really think I can’t handle setting up a simple dinner date?”

“Uh, no sir. I wasn’t questioning your ability, I was just, uh…” he scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I feel like I’m sixteen and about to go on my first fraxxing date. I already screwed this up once, and I can’t let anything go wrong.”

Dax laughed, and somewhere in the background Dante heard Trinity giggling. “Trin, help me! Your boyfriend isn’t being very helpful.”

Trinity’s face popped into view beside Dax’s. “That’s because he doesn’t know what to tell you. I’m the one who asked him out, remember? All he had to do was show up and remind me why I fell in love with him the first time. He had it easy.”

“I don’t remember it being all that easy,” Dax grumbled.

“You’ll do fine, Dante. All you have to do is be yourself. She’s seen you as a badass soldier and didn’t run screaming. Now it’s time to show her who you are when the uniform comes off.”

Dax groaned. “There’s a visual I didn’t need. You’re going to pay for that, Butterfly.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Trin insisted before winking at Dante. “Though, if things start going that way, remember to turn off the surveillance system. You don’t want Magi getting hold of something like that.”

“And this is why I asked for your help. You’re detail oriented. I’ll deactivate the damned thing the moment we walk into the room. Thank you, Trin.”

“You’re welcome. For what it’s worth? I really like Tyra. I hope everything goes well tonight.”

“We both do,” Dax added. “Good luck.”

Once the commander had disconnected, Dante set his comm aside and gave himself a final look over. His wardrobe consisted mostly of work clothes, workout gear, and casual attire, which meant his only option for tonight was his uniform. Normally he avoided reminding dates about his military connections, but he didn’t have a lot of choice. Besides, Tyra already knew what he did for a living. The risks, the violence, all of it.

“Here’s hoping she has a thing for guys in uniform…or out of them,” he added, grinning a little as he recalled Trinity’s comments. He’d like nothing better than to have his shortcake for dessert tonight, but that was her call to make, not his. He’d grown up watching his mother being abused and controlled by the men in her life. By the time he was old enough to date, he already knew he would never be like those men.

His comm chimed again. Magi was checking in.

Operation Date Dazzle is a go. Everything’s in place. Good luck and try not to screw this up…again.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, kid.” Dante switched the device to emergency mode and slipped it into his pocket. He was off duty and unavailable for anything short of an imminent attack. He only had one focus tonight, and her name was Dr. Tyra Li.

He arrived outside her quarters and pressed the door chime, eager to get the night underway.

“One sec!” she called out from the other side of the door.

He stood at parade rest, waiting. He was about to ask if there was a problem when the door opened, revealing a flushed and breathless beauty. Her hair was loose and fell around her shoulders in a curtain of midnight silk, and she was wearing a simple black dress that came to mid-thigh.

“Hi. Sorry. This dress fastens in the back, and I’m having trouble with it,” she explained as she looked him over. “And might I add, wow. You look amazing. I’ve never seen you in uniform before.”

“Would you like me to do up your dress for you?” He managed to get the words out despite the fact he was having trouble focusing on anything but the vision in front of him. The dress showed off her soft curves and golden skin, and he wanted nothing more than to bury his hands in her hair, haul her in close and devour her, and dinner be damned.

“Would you? Trinity was a sweetheart to lend this to me, she even helped me shorten it a bit with tape, but neither of us thought about how I was going to get it done up once she left.” Tyra turned around, moving her hair out of the way with a graceful sweep of her hand. She’d managed to get the dress partially fastened, but most of her upper back was still exposed.

“Happy to help.” He stepped in close and closed the dress the rest of the way, letting his fingers drift over her skin as he did so.

“She told me you asked her to check on me and make sure I had everything I needed.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You didn’t have to do that.”

He leaned down to plant a soft kiss on the nape of her neck. “I couldn’t bring you flowers or take you somewhere fancy tonight, but I could make sure you had something nice to wear.”

“Thank you.” She turned around and offered him a shy smile. “So, do I pass muster?”

He didn’t like the doubt that shadowed her eyes as she asked the question. He cupped her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. “You look incredible, but that’s no surprise to me. The day we met, I thought you were the sexiest ragamuffin I’d ever laid eyes on. Tonight, looking the way you do, I’m kind of grateful we’re stuck on the ship. If I took you out in public, I’d spend the whole night fighting with all the men who wanted your attention.”

“And I’d be too busy fending off any women in the area to get to appreciate your efforts.” She set a hand on his chest, just below the silver, five-pointed star that was the Nova Force’s unique insignia. “You clean up very nicely.”

He laughed, leaned forward, and gave her a slow, lingering kiss that allowed him to savor the moment, and her. “The only woman I have eyes for is you.”

Dante escorted her down several corridors and down a mag-lift to the lower levels of the ship. The only sounds were the whispered whir of distant machinery and the rhythmic beat of their footsteps as they walked. Unlike the upper levels, the floors here were bare metal, and there were far fewer doors. “We’re having dinner in the bowels of the ship?” she asked as she followed him down another long hallway.

“Actually, we’re having dinner at the bottom of the ship.”

“So, what’s down here? I mean, besides us?” she asked, curious.

“This is where the Malora’s weaponry is housed.” He turned and offered her his hand. “Come on, it’s not much farther.”

She laughed, the noise echoing down the corridor ahead of them. “You brought me to the weapons deck for our date? I hate to break this to you, but not many women find plasma cannons and the smell of ozone romantic.”

“For the record, it’s fraxxing sexy that you know what a plasma cannon smells like when it’s fired. That being said, I did have something a little more intimate in mind for our date.” He stopped in front of a reinforced door and placed his free hand on a keypad. It flashed blue, then green, and the door opened. “Dinner awaits.”

She expected to walk into an armory of some kind. All hard metal surfaces and sleek weapons. Instead, she found herself standing on a small landing with stairs leading down to an impossible sight: a relatively small room whose floor and walls were completely transparent. Dante went first and she followed him in silent amazement, drinking in the view beyond the windows. Once they reached the main level, it was like standing in open space, and she felt a slight wave of vertigo as she looked down to see the planet spinning slowly beneath her feet.

Dante squeezed her hand. “It takes a little getting used to, doesn’t it?”

“It does, but it’s worth it. You did promise me an amazing view. You certainly delivered.”

He led her to a medium sized table placed in the center of the room. It had been draped with a white tablecloth, and it wasn’t until they got closer that she realized it wasn’t a table at all, it was some sort of console set into the floor. Beneath the cloth red, blue, and green lights strobed and flickered softly. Most of the light came from the light cubes set in the center of the table, providing enough light for her to see two place settings and a cart of some kind covered with another white cloth.

“What is this place? I thought you said this was where the weapons were housed. It’s too beautiful for that,” she said, still looking around in awe. There were two large, reclining chairs facing outwards. She could see they were loaded with tech, but there wasn’t enough light to tell what any of it was.

“This is the gunner’s pit. The ship’s AI can handle most battles on its own, but if it was necessary, we could operate all the weapons from here,” he said, pulling her in close and wrapping a strong arm around her waist. “I hope you can still see the beauty in it now you know that.”

She leaned into his hard body and laid her head on his chest. “I still see it. I’ve lived long enough to know that most things are too complex to be easily classified. There can be beauty in destruction, and sometimes the most dangerous things are the ones that are the most attractive.”

“I’m glad to hear that. This is where I come when I need to figure shit out. It’s special to me.”

She tipped her head up to look at him without moving her head from his chest. “The view must help put everything in perspective.”

“Yeah, it does.” He leaned down to kiss her, then paused just before his lips met hers. “Computer, activate Dante’s security program Pest Control Alpha.”

“Program activated,” the ship replied.

“Pest control?”

“Magi. He hates not knowing what’s going on. I’d like to think he’d behave himself tonight, but this way, I don’t need to worry about it.”

“Your team is the best kind of crazy.”

“They’re the dysfunctional but loveable family I never wanted. Thing is, now I’ve got them I’d die to keep ‘em safe.”

“If I could switch places with my team, the ones that died – I would. It doesn’t feel right that I lived and they didn’t. If I hadn’t been upstairs treating Nico at the time…”

“Then you might have died, too, and we would’ve never known what happened. I’d still be down there, looking for answers. Or maybe I’d have wound up getting caught again, only this time you wouldn’t be there to save my life. Nico would still be stuck on the surface, and we’d have no idea what cobalt did because you weren’t around to tell us what to look for. You survived, and you’re doing all you can to find justice for the ones who didn’t. That’s all any of us can do.”

“That’s easier said than done. But I guess you know that already.”

“I do. And I think you do, too. Let’s sit down, eat, and do what I should have done days ago.”

“Buy me a drink?”

“That too. But mostly I want to learn about you, Shortcake. No emergencies. No imminent threats. No one else around to interrupt us.”

“I’ll share my story if you share yours. But before we start, I need your assurance that if I put my drink down on this thing, I’m not going to accidentally vaporize the planet.”

“It’s passcode protected. The planet is quite safe.”

They sat, drank wine, and talked for a while before Dante remembered to bring out the appetizers. Once he removed the cloth covering the cart, she laughed. “I’d blame Trip for stealing medical equipment, but he’s down on the planet right now. So, who came up with this part of the plan?”

“Dax. According to him, it’s not stealing if you’re in charge of the ship.”

He set down a basket of still-warm bread, some butter, and an assortment of synthesized proteins in various flavors and textures. Then he produced another basket and removed the lid, releasing a cloud of fragrant steam that was instantly familiar.

“Are those jiaozi? Where did you find the ingredients for dumplings out here?” She took the basket from his hands and inhaled deeply, letting the scent carry her back to her childhood, to market days where merchants would hawk their wares in sing-song voices and the scent of steamed dumplings would rise from the vendor’s carts.

“We had most of the ingredients onboard, and the food dispenser managed to replicate the rest, more or less. I’ve never had them before, so I’m not sure they’re perfect, but the one I sampled was very tasty.”

She laid one of them on her plate and broke it open. “How did you know I loved these?”

“Bedrest is boring, but it gave me time to do some reading. I re-read the file I was given on you when I was tasked with finding out what happened to you and your team. I skimmed it last time, but this time I actually read your background. You were born on Earth, a citizen of Xinshi. That’s where I got the idea you might like a taste of home.”

“How much of my story do you know?”

He reached across the table and took her hand. “Enough to know that you didn’t get into that fancy med school because your parents were rich. Axion’s compensation package paid for your schooling.”

“After the accident, no one came to help. It was like we didn’t matter at all. It wasn’t until later I discovered no one came because no one knew it had happened. Axion tried to cover it up. If it weren’t for a man named Lucas Dalton, they might never have been found out. Lucas worked for Axion, and he reported what they’d done to anyone who would listen. Because of him, my father got to live the last year of his life in comfort, and I had the means to become a doctor and try my best to see that what happened to me never happened to anyone else.”

He stroked his thumb over the top of her hand in slow, gentle circles as she spoke. “You chose this life because of what happened to you when you were a kid. I guess in some ways, that’s what I did, too.”

“Tell me.”

“My mom’s a hell of an entertainer, but she was never been good at reading people. Still isn’t, but now she’s got a good man to protect her from her bad judgement. My father didn’t stick around long after I was born, and after he was gone, she always seemed to end up with someone with heavy hands and a bad temper. She got hurt a lot, and once I was old enough to know what was going on and try to stop it, I got hurt, too. So, I learned how to hurt them worse.”

“And now you use those skills to protect others.” Something clicked in her head. “You didn’t really sign up with the IAF for job security, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. In fact, I took a major pay cut, but it’s what I wanted to do. To make a difference, to stand on the right side of things for once. I’ve done some things I’m not proud of. Being a soldier gave me a chance to make things right. That’s something my…” he stopped talking long enough to take a drink of wine and then squeeze her hand. “My wife couldn’t understand that, though. Which is why we’re not married anymore.”

“What was she like? I mean, if it’s not too weird for me to ask.”

“If you’re worried about me making comparisons, don’t be. You and Tish don’t have a thing in common. She was blonde, pretty in a delicate way, and a lot like my mom, always trusting the wrong people and getting hurt. Looking back, I think that’s what drew me to her. She needed someone to take care of her.”

“You were her protector.” Tyra nibbled at her dumpling as he talked.

“Yeah, I was. My fighting career came with risks, sure, but I was home most nights, and we had more than enough money to buy whatever she wanted. She’s the one that got me to quit moonlighting as an enforcer. That was ugly work, but it paid the bills before I got established as a fighter. I didn’t like doing it, and she hated the idea of me working with dangerous people, so I stopped.”

“And then you told her you wanted to join up?”

“She wasn’t thrilled. In fact, she was furious. We fought about it constantly, but in the end, I knew it’s what I had to do. She said she’d accept my choice, but it turned out she couldn’t. She cheated on me not long after I left for basic training. When I found out, she said it was my fault. I wasn’t there for her and she couldn’t handle the loneliness or the constant worry that something would happen to me. The divorce came through the same day I shipped out for my first duty station.”

“She shouldn’t have cheated on you. If she wanted out, she should have just told you so.”

“I think she was trying to, in her own way. Thing is, I’m not a very subtle guy. Something I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. I’m happiest when there isn’t a lot of nuance going on. Makes everything nice and clear.”

“Nope.” She pointed her fork at him. “I’m not buying that ‘I’m a simple man,’ line you keep trying to sell everyone. Simple men don’t get recruited to Nova Force. They don’t find a way to fulfill their dreams and become pilots, either. You are plenty nuanced, and more than a little complicated, mister Strak.”

His mouth dropped open in surprise. “You think I’m nuanced?”

“I do. Those muscles of yours are nice to look at, but they’re not the only thing I find attractive about you.”

“Any time you want to look at my muscles, I’ll be happy to oblige.” He flexed his free arm so that his bicep strained against the fabric of his uniform.

She knew he was teasing her, but there was an invitation there, too. One she decided to accept. He’d been haunting her thoughts and dreams since the day they met. Tonight, she wanted more, even if it was just a distraction from the darkness and chaos that had filled her life of late. She set down her fork and leaned forward. “Is that so? In that case, I think we can postpone the rest of this meal.”

He gave her a slow, sensual smile that made her pulse jump as a jolt of pure lust raced through her.

“Yeah? You finally telling me it’s time to misbehave?” He let go of her hand, pushed his chair back from the table, then patted his thigh. “Because if you are, then you’re sitting too far away.”

His voice lowered to that low, sexy rumble that left her breathless and aching to be touched. She rose from her chair walked around to his side of the table, reaching out for him with trembling fingers. “I am.”

“Then, I’m a very lucky man.” He caught her in his arms, lifted her easily, and deposited her onto his lap. “That’s better.”

“Close enough for you?”

He leaned in and brushed a heated kiss across her lips. “For now, yes.”

She opened the topmost fastening of his uniform, hooking her fingers in the fabric before returning his kiss with one of her own. “Promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“The door is locked, isn’t it?”

He nodded, his deep blue eyes glowing with desire. “It is. There will be no interruptions. Not this time.”

“Good.” She nestled herself deeper into his arms and smiled up at him, aware she was about to throw rocket fuel on an open flame. “Show me what you’ve got, Muscles.”