She just looked at him. The silence stretched out. Then she laughed.
“Yeah… right?” She looked around them quickly. “Okay, so where are they?”
He frowned. “Who?”
“The camera crew that leaps out to say ‘surprise!’” She picked up her coffee again and took a sip. “I take a dim view of shit like that. And believe me, pissing off the head of security on a place like this isn’t a place you wanna be.”
His expression froze, and he looked at her curiously. “You think this is a joke? Why?”
She snorted, putting her cup down with a small click. “Men like you do not look twice at women like me,” she told him shortly, really in no mood for crap like this today.
Yeah, sure, she might have semi-obsessed over him on the security feeds, but that was it. The charm offensive had to have an ulterior motive. Like Grayson, her shuddering ex, who had wined and dined her to get an in with station security so he could ship his hinky shipments without issues. Fortunately, she’d seen his game early on and thrown him in the cells herself. “So either your buddies have put you up to it, or you want something.”
“Someone hurt you, badly. Didn’t they?” he mused, rubbing at the stubble on his oh-so-kissable jaw with strong fingers.
“Pop-psychology as well, huh?” She was on the defensive now, her back well up. “What’s with the one-glove look? Some off-world fashion someplace?”
His eyebrow winged up a little, and she caught a flash of anger in his eyes, quickly smothered. Ha… so Mister Charm wasn’t as unrufflable as he seemed. Was he?
Pushing upright, he pulled the black leather glove off his hand, yanking at the fingers before sliding it off. The glove hit the table. Her mouth opened and closed like a guppy as heat spread over her cheeks. Metal met her gaze. His right hand was a replacement.
“I do apologize. I didn’t realize you were…”
His lips quirked. “What? Devastatingly handsome? Charming in wit? Intelligent?”
“Differently abled,” she ground out, more annoyed with herself than him. She’d taken the mickey out of his glove when he was hiding his replacement hand and that had been cruel. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have made fun of your glove.”
He reached out and covered her hand with his, the organic one. “Hey… it’s okay,” he murmured, obviously sensing her distress. “Really. I’m not sensitive about it. And I’m not just differently abled, beautiful… I’m differently gifted.”
She couldn’t help the small snort that escaped her. “Gifted, huh?”
“You’d better believe it, baby.”
“Obviously humility didn’t come as part of the package.”
He grinned. “No need, not with my package. But you know what they say…”
She’d been about to clap him back for the package comment but lifted an eyebrow. “No, what do they say?”
“The proof of the pudding’s in the eating,” he drawled. “So how about it, beaut? Take a chance on me?”
She recovered her hand, instantly missing the warmth of his touch. Leaning back in her chair, she looked at him over the rim of her cup. “You? I thought we were talking about your package?”
His eyes darkened. “You can take that out for a spin any time you like, sweetheart. I just thought you’d like to be wined and dined first…”
“And we’re right back to why. And don’t give me that crap about me being the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen… unless you need optical implants as well.”
He just winked at her and tapped his left temple. “Who says I didn’t?”
Oh god… she wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole. Just one problem with that. No ground on a station and she’d seen the maintenance sublevels. No way did she want to end up down there. She’d probably end up with an infection or a nasty skin rash.
She finished her coffee and put the cup back down, pushing it away. “Well… it was nice talking to you, Mr…?”
“Zero.” He smiled.
“Mr. Zero,” she corrected herself as she stood. “But I’m afraid I need to get back to work.”
“It’s just Zero.” He stood at the same time. “What time do you get off work?”
“I’m afraid I’m pulling the graveyard tonight,” she said with a smile, totally brushing him off. She had a name now, so she could find out more about him. Even if she had to impound his damn ship to find out who the hell he and his friends were. “Perhaps see you around.”
And with that, she left quickly.
❖
Her quip to Zero had been meant as a brush off, but less than four hours later it turned out to be unwittingly prophetic.
“You have to be kidding me?” she asked, her expression flat and totally unimpressed. “You’re telling me they BOTH managed to get themselves a medbay trip?”
Mills looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I’m afraid so, boss,” he grimaced. “Ward called out a warning, but Nelson didn’t hear him and piled through the door right after him. They both got hit as the door shorted out.”
She groaned, closing her eyes. Yeah, she knew some of her staff weren’t the brightest bulbs in the box since places like Tarantus didn’t attract the cream of the crop, but come on… was common sense too much to ask for?
“Right, okay,” she sighed, opening her eyes. “Is tonight the only shift that needs covering?”
“Uh-huh.” Mills handed her the staffing sheet. “I managed to move everyone else around. We’ll be a little short for a few days until Baires gets back from leave but we can manage.”
She gave a small smile. “Whatever would I do without you, Mills?”
He opened his mouth, a gleam of hope in his eyes. She slapped the staffing sheet into the middle of his chest. “And no, that doesn’t mean dinner… or anything else. I don’t date my staff.”
His face fell a little, but then he grinned. “Can’t blame a guy for trying. Can you?”
She chuckled as she stole his new coffee, still steaming in its plasti-mug. “Nope. Now get your ass out
