Page 26

Quarters aboard ship were barely big enough for the narrow bunk shoved against one wall, a storage locker, and the little fold-down desk beside it. There was certainly no room for a very large, suddenly very dangerous-looking man with his build.

His eyes stayed on her face as he took one step, then another. Her back hit the opposite wall, and she stopped, biting her lip.

Leaning in, he braced one hand on the wall beside her head. She looked up, her pulse hammering so hard it felt like it had been relocated into her throat. “What the hell are you⁠—”

He leaned closer and her brain stopped. Just… completely stopped. Her gaze roved over his face. He was close enough that she could see the faint shadow of stubble across his jaw and the tiny creases at the corners of his eyes. The heat of his bigger body beat at hers, even through her coveralls, and⁠—

God, was he going to kiss her?

Which would be a terrible idea.

A terrible, stupid, bloody⁠—

He didn’t. Instead, he just stood there looking down at her. He was so fucking big. The low ceilings forced him to hunch a little, but it didn’t help much. His chest was level with her face, solid and broad and very close. Her knees weakened, going all soft and squishy beneath her, threatening to deposit her in a humiliating puddle at his feet.

No. Absolutely not. She locked them straight and glared harder.

“You wanted me to prove something?” Heat flooded his eyes as he bit the corner of his lower lip.

She stared at him. Oh God, that expression should be illegal.

He stepped back, giving her enough room to breathe. Not that breathing helped. Hooking his fingers into the front of his coveralls, he dragged the upper half down to his waist and then pulled the shirt beneath them over his head.

Her eyes widened, and she lost the power of speech completely.

Blond hair spilled free over his shoulders, longer than she’d realized beneath the cap. It fell over broad, muscled shoulders and a chest that looked carved out of metal or something. Definitely not human flesh. His abs were ridged and bunched as he flexed, flowing down into lean hips above the coveralls bunched low around his waist.

Jesus.

Then she saw it.

The wound was small, as he’d said. Nothing more than a shallow cut at the side of his ribcage. It had stopped bleeding already, the blood dark and drying around it.

But it wasn’t the wound that held her attention.

He was covered in scars. Everywhere. There were fine white lines and thicker uneven marks. Some she could tell had been made with a blade, but others looked more like burns. There was a puckered mark near his collarbone and another one that looked like a starburst low across his stomach.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at his face. Men who flew charter ships for a living did not have that many scars.

Which meant the man in front of her wasn’t some handsome young pilot with a shit ton of confidence and a blinding smile—or rather, he was, but that was just the mask that he wanted people to see.

This was a man used to violence.

She looked up to find him watching her watch him. The charming smile had dropped away, leaving something quieter and far more predatory.

The narrow room suddenly felt too hot, the air thick with the sharp scent of old ship metal and the copper stink of blood. Underneath it all, there was something else… something clean, warm, and male.

He stepped forward, crowding her back against the wall. She should move. She should tell him to put his shirt back on, get his wound checked, and stop standing there half naked as if he were trying specifically to ruin her day.

She didn’t. Instead, she stayed exactly where she was.

He lifted a hand slowly, giving her plenty of time to duck away. Then strong fingers slid into her hair at the nape of her neck, warm and rough against her skin. Cupping the back of her neck, his thumb rested beneath her ear as he tilted her face up.

Her body went tight, an ache low down between her thighs.

“I’m not like any man you’ve ever dealt with before, beautiful,” he murmured in a deep rumble.

She knew he was telling the truth. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew. It was like every cell in her body resonated with the truth of his words.