“Yeah. Not even,” Bastien scoffed. “So dubbed for her temperament and the fact that during training, she set fire to a fellow classmate’s airbee when she caught him cheating on her.” A pattern that had been hers until they broke up. Somehow he’d been spared that part of her fury. The only thing of his she’d ever set fire to had been his hormones.
Ember narrowed her gaze on him. “Somethingyoushould have kept in mind. Huh?”
“I didn’t cheat on you.Youbroke up with me. How many times do I have to repeat that?”
“Asshole!” Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. “I take it yours is the Sentella fighter?”
“Yes. Are we going to fight the whole way?”
“Probably.”
“Oh dear gods…” Bastien whimpered all the way to the ship.
Without a backward glance, she climbed onboard, giving him a prime view of her ass that was just cruel.
By the time Bastien had joined her in the cockpit, he was in all kinds of pain. Something not helped by the fact that it was so tight a fit, she was basically in his lap. He stowed her gear and made ready to launch.
“What? You couldn’t afford a bigger ship?”
He ignored her obvious dig. “Wasn’t expecting company.”
Then the scent of her body hit him. Closing his eyes, he could barely focus on anything else as he imagined what he really wanted to do right then.
And it wasn’t fly the damn ship.
Until her link buzzed.
“I need to launch,” he reminded her, not wanting to hear the sound of one of her sister’s voices right then. Their added condemnation was the last thing he needed. His ego had been kicked enough for one night.
She checked the number, then shot a lethal glare at him over her shoulder. “It’ll wait a few.” She tapped her ear. “Hey, baby, is everything okay?”
Those words slapped him hard and furiously.
Until he realized it wasn’t a man’s voice on the other end of her call. Or her sister’s.
It belonged to a young boy. “Hey, Ma! Do you have a few minutes?”
“For you, precious, always. How was school today?”
“Do I have to keep going? Isn’t there a law against torture or something?”
“Not for school kids, sorry. That’s just par for the course.”
He made a sound of supreme annoyance. “I miss you, Mama. When you coming to see me?”
“As soon as I can. Promise.”
“Okay,” he said petulantly, then sighed heavily—as if the world were coming to an end. “Well, Aunt Cin says I have to go do homework and not bother you. But that she’ll call you later. Love you, Ma!”
“You, too, doodles.” She made a kissing noise at him as he cut the connection.
His gut tight over the fact that the love of his life had a child with someone else, Bastien struggled to not let the hurt he felt show. But it was hard. Practically impossible as images of her in bed with another guy ate him raw.
While he’d known life wasn’t fair, this was a kick to his stones he really could have done without.
Trying to be a bigger man than that, he took a deep breath and leveled his tone. “Is your husband all right with you flying out on this mission?”
With me.
