The glare I give him could send him to his grave. I kinda want it to.
Stan freezes, then lifts his hands in surrender. “Okay, yeah, babe. Bad joke.” He smiles like he doesn’t mean his words at all. “I forget you and Elle are siblings sometimes. Shoot me.”
“Terrible liar,” I mutter, frowning while he laughs.
Em looks between us, then asks, “Where is Elle at the moment?”
Stan relaxes his hands, looking relieved with the redirect. “Honeymoon.”
Em hums, thoughtful. “And she continues to go by Elle? I’ve seen a different name from the Adels’ database.”
I don’t interrupt, but my curiosity piques. My eyes go to Stan, waiting to see if he knows.
“It’s her choice,” he says, easy with a shrug of one shoulder. “I’msure she’ll tell you about it once she’s back.”
Em nods, satisfied with that. I get the sense she’s asking because she feels safe enough to be curious when it’s just us.
She asks a few more questions about the Song-Smiths while we walk. Stan answers each one but whines about why Em hasn’t asked abouthim. She tells Stan she already knows a lot about him. Stan grins at that, then stops short at another door and gestures between me and him. “Here’s our room, babe.”
He pushes the door open with a flourish and steps aside, eyes moving to me and Em, clearly expecting our reactions.
Warm air brushes my face. The smell hits me next. Sweet, smoky, and familiar. Everything in there screams Stan too.
The room is big and sprawling. Dark wood furniture. A wide bed that’s claimed clearly by him and a pile of clothes on top of it. Shelves crowded with comic books, half taken-apart tech, and handheld consoles. An Xbox hooked to a projector across the room.
A fireplace glows along one wall, casting light across the floor. I stop just inside the doorway, pointedly looking at the flat-looking flames.
Stan follows my gaze. “Fake,” he says quickly. “Electric. I didn’t want to come back to a cold room.”
“Good thinking,” I murmur.
He steps in close behind me, chest brushing my back, mouth near my ear. “Wanted it warm, hoping to take someone like you back home with me.”
I roll my eyes, guessing he left the thing on before he left for the ship last week. Now, he’s trying to spin it into something romantic. “Nice try,” I whisper to him.
He smiles easy anyway. “Hey, that’s my line, Ocean Eyes.”
Em lingers at the doorway, peeking in with interest. “It suits you, Stan,” she says.
“It does. And soon,” he adds, sliding an arm around my shoulders, “it’ll be decorated to suitus.”
His hold’s pretty possessive, but I don’t mind. I lean back into him instead, letting him have the contact.
He smiles at Em over my shoulder. “You’re welcome to visit. Anytime, even when I’m buck naked.”
I elbow him. “Stan.”
“Ow! Sorry,” he says, acting innocent. “Correction, Em—even when NilandI arebothbuck naked.”
Em fixes her glasses and doesn’t say anything. I glare at Stan, while he backs out of our room with a satisfied smile and points down the hall.
“Alright, one more stop.” His smile stays. “It’s the most important stop in Stan’s Great Tour of the Knights Estate, trademark in process.”
I roll my eyes but give him the tiniest smirk I can’t stop. His eyes match his smile. Em and I follow his steps, which stop at the end of the hall.
“Honor’s all yours, gorgeous,” he tells her, opening the door. “The first step into your new home.”
Em hesitates for a second before stepping in. The door swings open, light spilling out.
