Eventually, he brought them back to the same edge she’d entered the water at in a long, easy arc. She reached for the rim and held it as she treaded water there, up to her neck. She turned to look at him, and he was watching her with an unreadable expression.
“Thank you,” he said, “for letting me show you.”
“I’m glad I did,” she said, her heart still racing. Skin still singing. “I almost didn’t get in.”
He cocked his head. “I never doubted you, Holly.”
They were very close. The water lapped quietly around them. She could feel the warmth radiating from him and the pool at the same time, and found it pleasantly dizzying.
She held his gaze. “If Rest ’N Recharge takes this place,” she said, “these pools are gone.”
He stilled beside her. “Gone,” he repeated.
“Well, they’d be here, but without power in the station, they’d freeze.”
He looked at the pools. The expression on his face was the same one she had seen when he was gazing at the water, the unguarded one, except that it had gone pained at its edges.
“These pools are a wonder,” he said. “They should be preserved.”
She turned to look at him directly. She had held the question in for the entire morning, all through the drive and the conversation and the plumbing and now this, and she was tired of holding it.
“Rasker. Were you in the garden? A few days ago.”
The silence lasted two seconds. She counted them.
Concern crossed his face, sharp and genuine and fast, like he was working something out. “No,” he said. “I was not. I heard Alyce muttering to Sam about some garden vandalism. What happened?”
She knew itthen. She had been watching his face since he opened his door this morning, looking for something that would give him away, and there was nothing. Just as she expected.
She told him. The methodical destruction, the rows of plants dug up one after another, what had been lost and what Mish and Alyce had managed to save.
His expression darkened as she spoke.
“Has anyone been in contact with you,” he said slowly, when she finished, “from the other firm that wants to buy, Complete Respite?”
Holly shook her head. “Mr. Binn said they tried to buy it when Charles was still alive, and again after, but they haven’t reached out personally, like your clients. They own thousands of outposts. I doubt they care much about this one.”
“They care.” He said it carefully, like he was choosing to be honest rather than calculated. “They care very much. I’m not sure you realize how strategic this location is. How much both major way station operators want access to this moon.”
“I know about the Saga-1 space station that’s being built,” she said. “But…” she trailed off. “What exactly are you trying to say, Rasker?”
“Things happen sometimes, when a buyer is impatient and the legal route is moving too slowly. Small disruptions. Small discouragements. The idea is to make the current owner believe the property is more trouble than it’s worth, or to turn the people who rely on the location against one another.” He swept a wet lock of hair off her cheek. “I’m telling you, this may escalate. As time passes, there will be more pressure put on you to sell.”
“You’re telling me someone from Complete Respite may be here already?”Thatthought had not occurred to her. “Without my knowing, and is responsible for the damage?”
“I’m telling you it’s possible. I’m telling you to be vigilant.” He looked at her steadily. “And I’m telling you that I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Mish and Alyce are worried thatyou’rethe one getting impatient.”
“And what do you think?” he asked.
“I think they’re wrong.” She swallowed. “And I think I like you.”
He leaned in and kissed her. It was soft and unhurried, like he had decided to kiss her and was going to do it right. She felt the shock of it move through her in a slow wave, and she kissed him back. For a few long moments, the whole complicated situation, the outpost, the sabotage, all of it went very quiet.
Then they both drew back.
He looked at her. She looked at him. Neither of them said anything.
