“Yeah, I do if it’s possible. And then every time we visit your mother or, God forbid, have to live with her, I’ll have miniature Lacroixs I can use as a buffer zone.” Allie gave a lopsided grin. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, but with Anpaytoo it might. She actually scared Allie a little.
“Hey, she’s almost okay with you, even without kids.”
“But we owe her a shitload of money, and I don’t want to spend too much time with her until we can start paying that back. So, I know we can’t keep this ship because it’s more than a little conspicuous, but maybe we should look into what’s happening to theCandiruor those other listening ships.”
“You want to start a family ship for real?” Shank blew out a long breath. “Allie, family ships do some pretty illegal things.”
“But not immoral,” Allie said. “I can handle illegal a lot better than I would have ever thought. Immoral... I’m not okay with going there.”
“You won’t be able to go back after that first raid. You’ll never know if Command has evidence, if there are sealed warrants out for your arrest. I could only walk away because I was seventeen when I left for school. Command can’t keep records of someone who isn’t eighteen yet.”
“We crossed that bridge a long time ago and burned it behind us. I promised Jacqs we were coming for him, and I won’t break that promise. Everything that came after was inevitable. I’m never going to be a farmer or own an Arabian mare, and I’m okay with that.”
Shank reached up and ran a finger down the side of her face. “I love you, Allie Grah. I love your honesty and your bravery and the way you want to kill my ex-girlfriend.”
Laughter burst out of Allie. She guffawed so explosively she sprayed tiny drops of spit across Shank’s chest where it made a constellation of dark blue stars on his medium blue shirt.
“Shit. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, I’m the one who made the joke. I consider this proof that I’m funny. It’s good for my ego.”
“Idiot.”
Shank laughed. “Yep. But apparently I’m the idiot you’ve chosen to father your children, so I’m okay with that.”
“Whatever. Let’s go program the nav computers, and then we’re going to have to figure out a way to run shift with only five people.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Allie collapsed ontothe bed. She was tired. Exhausted. Haggard, overtaxed, and overworked. If she had one ounce of spare energy, she’d go find a data pad and look up more words to describe how utterly and completely wrecked she felt.
When Shank had wanted to claim one of the smaller cabins, part of Allie had wanted to protest. The ship had two grand suites: huge, beautiful things decorated in real wood. In their room, the bed was set back three feet into the wall with storage on either side, two chairs, and a fair-sized cabinet for holoequipment and vids. Their whole room, private bath and all, would fit into the entry of one of the suites. But right now, having the controls right next to the bed was a very good thing. She reached out and touched the wall panel to dim the lights.
The door opened with a mechanicalclick.
“You in here?”
