Page 42 of Tempting Fate

“I am now.”

“Dick.”

They gave an exaggerated yawn. “You love me.”

“Yeah I do. Want to go into town today?”

“Sure you’re not needed for more handies?”

I rolled my eyes. “We can’t just wait for the commonhouse to get fixed. We need to find somewhere else to live.” The sooner I could get back to predictability, the better.

Fenn’s covers rustled as they shifted in their nest, and their face appeared above the walls of mine. “Ugh, true. Yeah, we can do.”

“And you can see Xeefral.”

Fenn strutted to the bathroom with a spring in their step and a lilt to their voice. “May-be.”

Once they were ready, we headed out to breakfast, but as soon as I’d sat down, Daiytak approached, something firm in her expression.

Oh god. She knew, didn’t she? She knew how wrong I was.

“I’m so sorry to ask, would you mind looking after Airida again today?”

I pushed down a flutter of excitement. “I thought Orukem was back?” Behave. It was just for today, I’d stay professional, and she’d be back later. She had to be. Vadias was safe enough, wasn’t it?

“No. She should have been back last night.” Daiytak didn’t bother hiding her concern. “If you can do this, it means we can focus on finding her.”

Shit, that didn’t sound good. I pushed aside my own worries. Fenn and I could go to town tomorrow, and I could help Daiytak by taking away another logistical problem. And I’ll enjoy it. “That’s fine. What happened?” A chill went through me. “You don’t think it’s to do with the bounty?”

She let out a long sigh. “No. And how do you know about that?”

“How did I not know?”

“We’re monitoring things, and there’s no activity here. No point scaring anyone.”

I crossed my arms. “How do you know there’s no activity here? He’s being hunted!”

She stared at me for a little longer than was comfortable, then shook her head. “We have plenty of connections. The hunters all think he’s on the Dorimisa with his sister, and there’s no sign of anyone here. It’s completely safe.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Now go to Airida and let me get on.”

I almost kept the conversation going. It was easier to talk about bounty hunters or second-guess myself for the nineteenth time about whether to tell Airida about them, than think about… him. Because, heck, of course I looked forward to seeing him again.

I bit my lip, hard. “Keep it simple and detached.”

Airida lay much the same as I’d found him yesterday, though one hand lay under the sheet, clearly curled around his dick.

I shivered. Though this wasn’t meant to be sexual, something about the sight of him holding himself—

“Good morning, Imani.” Airida wore the self-deprecating expression that was becoming familiar. “Thank you for coming.”

Oh god. No jokes. Please, brain, no jokes. “No worries. Same again?”

Same again, like I was a barmaid serving another drink, not offering a lovely man a hand job like that was a normal thing to do.

He gave a terse nod and pulled the sheet aside.