Likehim? Oh, stars. I was in trouble.
I cut my eyes away from him quickly, remembering myself.
“Well, hello there,” he greeted happily, the door closing behind him. “Did the rest of your party go well?”
“Fine,” I replied, because I didn’t want to think about the master key at all. “How did you disappear so quickly at the party?”
He clicked his tongue in admonishment and grabbed a date from a bowl on the scratch table, then popped it into his mouth. “I told you I’m good at slipping away. Not my fault you didn’t believe me.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Then why couldn’t you slip away from Coruscant without my help?”
“I said I’m good at it, notgreat,” he pointed out. “And I was a little frazzled, honestly.”
“Right.”
“Who was the person who brought you a drink?” he asked, his voice curiously neutral. He picked at a thread on his shirt.
My eyebrows jerked up in surprise. Was he—was hejealous? “That was my brother, Val.”
“Your brother,” he repeated, nodding. “And he…”
“Is apparently only here for my birthday. He doesn’t visit often.” I hesitated and then lied, looking down at my feet. “He works on Corellia. I take it you came to anagreement with Veebs?” I asked, changing the subject.
He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Yeah, I can stay in the pantry if I become her taster until I get off.”
Which was a fate worse than being spaced, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
It was only until tomorrow. No one would find him in the pantry before then. I just had to make sure of it.
“You two should stay in the galley until you leave tomorrow,” I said. “Which means no more field trips.”
Sian visibly wilted. “You’re kidding!”
“No, I’m not,” I replied as Noola scurried up my body and perched on my shoulder. I scratched her under her chin, and she began purring. “Especiallyyou. You’re cute, but that won’t save you.”
“How dare you. It’s saved her every time so far,” he replied indignantly, bypassing me to go in his makeshift room and hanging his towel on another protruding piece of metal.
“Well, if Kotti catches her, she might end up on a leash.”
He clicked his tongue again, his black eyes gleaming in the low light of his room like far-off solar flares. “Don’t tease us with a good time, Starlight.”
A flush heated my cheeks again. “No,” I said quickly, backing away from him. “No, we’re not doing this.”
He tilted his head. A smile tugged at his mouth. “Doing what?”
“This.”And I motioned to him. And then to me. And then to him again. “Thisthing.”
Delighted, he leaned against the doorframe of his new room, a hand on his hip. “Flirtingisn’t a dirty word, Starlight.”
Flirting—was that what this was? It felt more like a gauntlet.
“My name is Ardent,” I corrected. “Not Starlight. I don’t even know how you got Starlight. You’re the one who looks like you were made from star stuff.”
His eyes widened, and so did his smile. “Is that a compliment, Ardent?”
Come to think of it, I didn’t like how he said my name, either, in that Wild Spacer drawl of his, long on theAaah, rumbling on ther, the end of it like a soft sigh. No, I would rather not be perceived at all,thank you.
And was I blushing harder? Oh, stars, I was.
