“So how did Celeste end up on the crew?” Sierra asked.
Jeth clenched his teeth as he struggled with a particularly stubborn screw. “I managed to convince Hammer that she would be useful at distracting marks. We’ve been together ever since.”
“You mean together, together?”
Jeth’s grip on the screw slipped and he almost hit himself in the forehead. “No, nothing like that. At least not for a while.”
“I see.”
They fell into silence for a couple of moments. Jeth searched his mind for something to say, but everything sounded stupid or too personal. He felt an insane urge to tell her about his dream of settling down on Enoch, but he didn’t dare. Why would she even care?
Finally, Sierra broke the silence for him. “So, did Hammer recruit you through an aptitude test, too?”
He exhaled, relieved to be talking again. “No. I wasn’t quite eleven when I started working for him. I don’t think I remember how it all started, but I first met him after Milton lost Avalon to him in a card game. When I found out about it, I snuck into the casino and tried to attack Hammer with this pathetic little pocketknife. I thought I could force him into giving us back the ship. Yeah, it worked about as well as you can imagine. But I started doing odd jobs for him not long after. He must’ve been impressed by my bravery or attitude or maybe my sheer stupidity.”
“It’s not stupid to fight for what’s yours,” Sierra said, quietly.
Something moved in his chest again. What’s yours. Like the right to live your own life, the way you want to live it.
“And she’s a great ship,” Sierra went on. “An entire world unto herself.”
Jeth’s breath caught at the compliment, a pleasant shiver going through his body. He cleared his throat. “Are you finished with that other wrench?”
“Yeah.” Sierra reached down beside her, picked up the wrench, and turned back to him. “Well, I suppose Ham—uh!”
Jeth rolled toward her. “What is it?”
He saw the answer at once. A big drop of system coolant had fallen on her face, right beneath one eye. “Crap, let me get it. Keep your eyes closed.”
Sierra dropped her hand from her face and held still. Jeth reached for her, but he couldn’t quite manage it in the tight space.
“We’ve got to do this out there. Can you scoot out?”
“Yes.”
Jeth slid out from underneath the station and then helped her do the same. He pulled her into a sitting position. Then he cupped her face in his hands to hold her steady as he wiped away the coolant with his thumb, being careful not to push it into her eye.
Sierra smiled. “That tickles.”
A flush of heat enveloped Jeth, and he shivered again. Somehow he managed to make his tone playful as he said, “Shhhh, don’t tell me that. Or I might have to tickle you on purpose.”
Her lips parted. “You wouldn’t dare. I’m a highly-trained ITA agent. I can hurt you with nothing but my big toe.”
Jeth chuckled, the sound huskier than normal. “Okay. I think we got it.”
Sierra opened her eyes, and Jeth realized he was still holding her face. He ought to be embarrassed by the intimacy of it, and yet he wasn’t. Her mouth was still open, her eyes locked on his, and her expression unwary. She made no move to pull away from him. He once again realized how pretty she was. Beautiful, really.
He felt a wild urge to lean forward and kiss her. He fought it back.
But then she leaned forward and kissed him.
He was so surprised that his whole body went rigid for a moment. In the next, instinct took over, and he pressed into the kiss. Tingly heat, so intense it almost hurt, burst over his lips. An onrush of sensation spread over him, obliterating all thoughts. His mouth parted, and he inhaled, breathing her in as he savored the feel and taste of her.
Then someone coughed from behind him, breaking the spell.
“Am I interrupting something?” Lizzie said, close to giggling.
Jeth pulled back, dropping his hands from Sierra’s face. He stood up. “No. I was just helping her get some coolant out of her eye.”
Lizzie chortled. “Sure you were. Did she have some in her mouth, too?”
Jeth scowled. “Did you get the tool?”
“Uh-huh.” Lizzie waved it at him. “You want to do the work for me? I mean, you two seem to be doing such a good job.”
“Very funny, Liz,” Jeth said.
Her grin broadened. “Well, if not, you could go for a romantic stroll through the ship. Just the two of you. Alone. In the dark.”
Sometimes Jeth despised having a little sister.
He risked a glance at Sierra, who’d gotten to her feet. To his surprise, she was grinning, too, her cheeks flushed and lips wet. He wanted to kiss her again.
With an effort, he pulled his gaze away. Don’t be an idiot, a voice whispered in his mind. That’s a bad idea and you know it.
Yes, he did. No distractions. Especially not on board his ship and with a girl that he had every intention of betraying—even if it wasn’t likely she would ever find out.
No, he needed to stay focused on the task at hand. Copy the project, get the metadrive, and move on. There would be a time for this sort of thing, but now wasn’t it.
CHAPTER
17
JETH SPENT THE NEXT DAY AND A HALF DOING HIS BEST TO avoid Sierra. It was hard, and not just because the living quarters were so tight with this many people aboard. No, trouble was, he wanted to see her. A lot.
Instead he made sure there was always someone else present whenever they were together. It wasn’t too difficult, given the attachment between her and Cora. And there was nothing like having a kid present to stave off romantic inclinations.
Not that Jeth resented Cora hanging around. Just the opposite. He was actually starting to enjoy it. He’d never realized how much kids laughed. And at the simplest things, like funny faces and corny jokes. Being around her made him feel light, oddly removed from himself and his troubles.
It was this lightness perhaps that finally gave him the courage to ask Lizzie for their mother’s data crystal that first night.
“Oh,” she said, eyes widening. “I don’t have it. Milton took it yesterday.”
“Huh.” The news didn’t surprise Jeth. He should’ve guessed it for himself. Milton had just as much interest in it as they did, and unlike Jeth, he wouldn’t fear facing the pain that opening those memories would bring back. Milton had never moved on, never buried it deep inside. No, he buried it deep in a bottle, only to have it rise up again and again, waiting to be drowned by more booze.
Jeth went to Milton’s cabin after saying good-night to Lizzie, but Milton wasn’t there. At the end of the corridor, the door into sick bay stood closed. Jeth knocked on it, leery of just charging in.
Rather than call for him to enter, Milton opened the door a crack and peered out. “What is it?”
Jeth shot him a penetrating look. What was his uncle up to? Surely there was nothing doctor-related for him to be doing. “Lizzie said you have the data crystal she found.”
An odd, guarded expression enveloped Milton’s face. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, I’d like to take a look at it.”
Milton shook his head. “I’m not done with it yet.”
Jeth opened his mouth to argue, but closed it once more at the sight of Milton’s watery gaze. He swallowed, realizing yet again that he wasn’t ready to face it. He might never be ready. And if Milton was offering him an excuse to delay, Jeth would take it.
“Okay. Just let me know when you are.”
Milton nodded, then closed the door without another word. Jeth retreated to his room, pushing all thoughts of his parents as far from his mind as possible.