“And seems to me your problem isn’t Xander and his feelings, it’s you and the fact that you’re protecting yourself.”
“I…I…” Stars, Lala was right. Mal realized while she’d been spouting off about Xander needing to explore what he wanted, she’d really been protecting herself. She pressed her gloves to her helmet. “I think I’m really, really stupid.”
Lala rolled her eyes in a way that seemed to involve her whole body. “The brokenhearted are sooo melodramatic. Me, I’ve never been in love or had anyone love me. Sometimes I think alone is the best way.” The teenager’s face softened. “But if I had a super sexy cyborg tell me he loved me, I’d be grabbing that man and never letting go.”
Mal straightened. She could borrow theInfinitasand head straight to Centax. Then she pictured Xander’s blank face during their last conversation. The way he’d dismissed her. Her shoulders slumped. She’d damaged something. Maybe he wouldn’t even want to see her.
“Look, Lala, I appreciate you coming out here. You did annoy me, but I think I’m more miserable right now than I was before.” She sank back to her knees. “I just want to focus on my work.” Numb the pain.
“So, I guess you aren’t interested in the fact that a Centaxian Infiltrator landed at HQ just before I came out here.”
Mal froze. She couldn’t move. She hadn’t heard a ship, but then Infiltrators were designed for stealth. “What?”
“Didn’t think so.” Whistling out of tune, Lala bounded away, turning a few somersaults as she went. Krypto happily abandoned Mal to follow the girl.
Mal stared at her gloves. They were stained with grease, just like her hands beneath. And her CenSec wouldn’t care a bit.
She got up and moved as fast as she could toward the huma-dome.
She leaped through the purple shimmer of the dome’s barrier and instantly the artificial gravity inside pulled her down. She yanked off the helmet and tossed it on the ground. At a fast clip, she rounded the hangar.
The landing pads were ahead, and sure enough, a sleek, black Infiltrator sat there.
And beside her stood a super-sexy CenSec.
He wasn’t wearing his uniform. The sight of him in casual clothes—jeans and a dark-gray T-shirt—made her mouth go dry.
As she got close, she slowed to a walk, and then finally stopped. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
That deep voice shivered through her. “Xander—” Stars, her voice cracked and those damned tears were desperate to make an appearance.
He took two quick steps and scooped her into his arms. Feeling like she was coming home, she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Do notleave me again.”
She smiled at his authoritative tone and took a deep breath. He smelled so good. “I missed you, too.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. There were things I couldn’t avoid.”
“I know?—”
“I’ve resigned from Security.”
She gasped and pulled back to look into his eyes. “You what?”
“I love my planet and my job. But what I feel for you… I’ll spend every moment showing you that you’re the most important thing to me. Like your mother was to your father.”
“Oh, stars.” She pressed her forehead to his. “Xander, you were born to be a CenSec. You can’t quit.”
“I can if it means I can have you…”
She’d brought him to this. “No.”
Under her hands, his shoulders slumped. “You don’t love me.”
Xander wasin heaven and hell. The heaven of having Malin’s slight weight in his arms, her slim legs wrapped around him.
