A part of him wanted to point out that she hadn’t asked a question, but he reserved that sort of pedantry special for Barr. Instead he leaned in, brushing his mouth over hers. Any intent to keep the contact light was burned to ash in the blaze of heat that followed.
Her fingers tightened in his hair, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, the slow slide of her tongue over his drawing a groan from his throat. He slid her closer, nudging his thigh between hers, and she clamped down. Teeth nipped his lower lip before salving the hurt with more kisses. His blood felt molten, all the heat and need and want he’d bottled up trying to spill over at once. Her head tilted back, and he traced his mouth along her jaw, finding a spot on her throat that made her tremble like a plucked string on a gasp of delight. Layth smiled against her skin, smug pride riding shotgun with desire.
A thought punched through the reverie in his head, and he lifted his head. She curled into his chest and stroked her hand absently over his biceps, the touch comforting through his shirt sleeve. It was a delicious moment of peace, and he deliberately noticed every detail to save it in his mind.
Collins butted his head into Layth’s calf and reminded him of what he’d planned to say. “What if we don’t hide them at all?”
She looked up, confused. “What do you mean?”
“You’d only have to smuggle them when they didn’t belong. But at the TriSystem Circuit, ostentatious displays of wealth are de rigueur. That’s why you chose them in the first place, right?”
She stepped back, smoother palms smoothing down his arms until his hands rested in hers. “If I looked the part, I could just walk in. Cat and all.”
“I doubt you’d even have the only cat there.” He’d avoided the races like the plague. Mostly because they were exactly the sort of decadent excess his siblings preferred. The amount of money spent on the races would just as easily revolutionize the planet’s economy, but so few wanted to think about that when spectacle was right there.
“Did you mean what you said, about coming with me to the race? About helping me?”
He pressed his lips to her temple, careful to avoid going any lower and finding her mouth again. That level of temptation was dangerous. “Of course.”
She nodded and tucked herself into his chest again. He leaned against the wall, arms loose around her but unable to release her, even if he wanted to. He hadn’t paid much attention to where the circuit was at this point in the cycle. The majority of the races were around Calypso, however, and they only dipped occasionally into the Accipiter and Kronus systems.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and he looked down to find Meja watching her fingers on his sleeve.
“For what?”
Her lips tightened into a thin line, and she didn’t meet his gaze. “The next race is on Burbidge.”
12
The engineering core was less peaceful since Baker had returned. Even before Layth had finished climbing down the ladder to the Sentinel’s main drive, he could hear the woman’s energetic swearing. He poked his head through the hatch, surveying the situation. “Is it a bad time?”
“I dunno, Doc. Did you bring any SkinSeal with you? If so, then you have great timing.” She rubbed at the back of her hand with a less-than-sterile cloth. Layth tried not to shudder. Or correct her, since that hadn’t gone over well the one time he’d tried.
“I didn’t, but I restocked the kit that’s down here. Did you already use it?” He pulled himself into the core and drifted toward where the first-aid kit was mounted on the wall.
She looked at him. “Pfft. April gets all the good treatment. As soon as I’m gone everything gets restocked. I see how you are.” Baker must have seen his horrified expression as she immediately switched to add, “That’s a joke. Laugh a little.”
He smiled, fished the fresh tube of SkinSeal out of the med kit, and pushed off the wall to drift back toward her. “Let me see. What’d you do now?”
“Cracked my knuckles on the back of the housing while adjusting the microfilament drive plate.”
He had no idea what the words meant. For all he knew, she was making up gibberish to amuse herself. Baker held her hand out for him, and he could immediately see that the cuts were superficial. They needed cleaning, but the SkinSeal would serve better to prevent them reopening rather than actually do any mending. The amount of grease and oil on her skin was a bigger concern. “Wait.”
He returned to the kit to grab a sterile wipe and cleaned the back of her hand. That prompted more bleeding, as well as a new round of profanity from her, but at least the wound looked less like an infection waiting to happen. He sealed up the cuts, tacking down the worst of the torn skin as well as he could. “You should wear a glove when you’re working.”
She pulled her hand back and checked it. “I would, Doc, but it ruins my sensitivity. I’m all about the touch, you know?”
He chuckled and shook his head. Baker’s only real love was the Sentinel’s systems, but she had a way of making everything into innuendo. “If you think that ruins your sensation, try having a replacement hand after I have to remove yours due to infection.”
“You’re no fun,” she said with an exaggerated pout, but he noticed she covered the injured hand with a heavy glove before turning back to the humming drive. “April’s in the next segment, by the way.”
He nodded and drifted toward the bulkhead that supported and divided the long cylindrical room. “Thanks.”
Baker snorted. “Like I don’t know who you’re here to see.” She shot him a grin, and he wondered what she’d meant by it, if there’d been any meaning at all.
April met him at the bulkhead, their smile light. “You’re making house calls now?”
He followed them into the next segment before pushing into a corner to stabilize in the microgravity environment. “Call it a quirk of timing. I was actually coming to check on you.”
They inclined their head in acknowledgment. “Not sure that was necessary. As you saw before, my injury is nearly healed.” They checked back toward the ladder hopefully. “Unless you brought a cat?”
“No luck, I’m afraid. Though…” he took a deep breath, “…I was hoping I could talk to you about all of that.” He made a gesture at the walls, as if to encompass the universe beyond.
“Always.” They plugged their omni into a nearby panel and pushed away to fold into a sitting position in the middle of the space. “It will be a bit before this diagnostic is finished, so now is an ideal time to talk.”
Now that he had their attention, Layth wasn’t entirely sure how he wanted to broach the topic. It wasn’t as though he had a lot of experience in the first place, and now it all felt unnecessarily complicated. He opened his mouth, ready to speak, then cut himself off twice. Finally, he blurted it out in one mass of words. “We’re friends, and while I’m not sure what that means, I think I need a friend’s advice.” His hand slipped into his pocket, crushing the fabric scrap there, as if the strip could lend strength to his voice. “I think I’m developing feelings for Meja, and that she’s returning them, and I don’t have any idea at all what I’m doing or what it means.”