It was weird seeing her there. He’d never brought a woman downstairs before. No one but him ever went beyond the shop.
He set the tray on her lap. What a great place to start—with a wanted criminal in his bed.
His scowl felt etched into his face. Incredible woman he liked and desired. Bed. It was usually pretty obvious what to do with that, but he had no idea what to do with Tess.
The arrow of guilt that speared him reminded him that he’d already done way too much, since he still wanted that money as much as he wanted Tess.
Fucking rebels. How many times had he wondered what it was like? Chasing the night. Not living by the rules. Not crunching numbers, or worrying about infrastructure he had no right to touch, or thinking about employees that weren’t even his. Kissing Tess was like living a different life.
But he’d never wanted that different life enough to abandon the docks his family had built from the ground up. He’d worked his ass off, and he wanted them back.
Tess finally looked up from the tray she’d been staring at. Her blue eyes looked darker than usual in the low light. She glanced from him to the food and then back to him again. “You made me cinnamon toast?”
“And fresh-squeezed orange juice. Eat up.”
She blinked a few times, and Shade thought maybe he’d been too gruff. “Here. I’ll prove it’s not poisoned.” He took a big gulp from her full glass.
“Hey!” Tess snatched the juice away from him, smiling now. “That’s mine.”
She drank and then groaned low in her throat. The satisfied sound shot straight to his groin.
Shade shifted back from her. Not appropriate. The woman could barely stand up.
Among other reasons…
“That tastes amazing.” She devoured the toast, making a noise that was practically orgasmic when she licked the sugar off her fingertips.
Was she trying to kill him?
Glancing away, Shade swiped a hand through his hair. He heard her finish off her juice.
She sighed. “I love landing because the food is so good. Up there, in the Dark, the fresh stuff runs out fast, and then it’s just the same old canned slop over and over again until you want to throw up.”
Steeling himself, Shade turned back to her. She was still just as beautiful. A light smattering of freckles across her nose, the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, hair all over the place.
“Why do you stay so long in the Dark?” he asked.
She acted like she was thinking about it, but he knew she was just coming up with a lie.
“Because everyone wants me dead.”
Shade started.Honesty?That was a surprise. “Everyone?”
She shrugged. “Well, no, noteveryone. But some very powerful people do, and that trickles down to even the lowest goon in the galaxy. And the Powers know, the Dark Watch is all over the place.”
“Do you need help?” He nearly bit his tongue. Had he really just asked her that? He didn’t want to be an even bigger bastard where Tess was concerned, but he was going that way fast.
She shook her head. “You’re fixing theEndeavorfor a fair price. That’s already huge in my book.”
Shade lifted the tray from her lap and set it on the bedside table. “Why are they after you?” he asked.
She laughed. “I’m not telling you that!”
“Why not?” He sat on the edge of the bed.
She huffed, tucking her hair behind her ears like she always did. Earlier, he’d wanted to push it all back himself and see her face.
“To begin with, it’s a long list,” she said.
