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“Mm-hm.”

He ignored that. “So… You’ve known her a while?”

“Years.”

Stevie tapped the edge of the manifests against her knee, watching him with that gaze that was way too like Ryke’s. Like she was assessing him and could see right down into his soul. But he’d been dealing with Ryke for years, so he kept silent and waited.

Stevie sighed and leaned back in the copilot’s chair, getting herself comfortable.

“Blythe Keller’s been around the trade routes longer than most people realize. She ran her own ship. Owner-operator, and was successful as fuck. She always took the complicated runs nobody else wanted.”

That sounded exactly like B. He could just picture her arguing down a dockmaster with her dark eyes narrowed and spitting fire.

“So what happened? How did she end up on this ship?”

How did she end up running from some draanthic named Joe?

“She had a fiance,” Stevie said, her voice flattening out. “James. They ran together for a while. Then he fucked her over. Emptied the accounts and made a run for it. But then the dumb fuck crashed their ship, got himself killed, and left her carrying his mess.”

Rann’s fingers tightened around the controls.

The urge to find this James male and make him explain himself rose hot and immediate. A female like B, sharp and capable and brave enough to throw herself into a fight beside him… and some male had been stupid enough to betray her?

Draanth. It was a good job this James was already dead. If he wasn’t, Rann would have felt obligated to track him down, rip his arms and legs off, and beat him to death with his own limbs.

“If she was mine,” he said quietly, “I would never let her go.”

Stevie looked at him for a long second. Then she huffed out a small laugh.

“Very swoon-worthy.”

He slid her a sideways glance. Why were all human women so unwilling to accept the concept that a male might commit to them? “It is little more than the truth.”

Stevie settled back in her chair with a small huff. “Anyway, that’s why B doesn’t trust men. Especially handsome ones. She’s an ice queen these days.”

Triumph filled his chest. There was no other male waiting somewhere to claim her attention.

Bringing up the navigation display, he checked their route once more, then engaged autopilot. The old ship accepted it with a low vibration through the deck, and he stood up.

Stevie’s lips quirked at the corners as she looked up at him. “You’re on a hiding to nothing if you think you’ll get anywhere with Blythe. Her plan is to retire on that colony and get lots of cats. No man required. Sorry, handsome.”

Cats.

Rann stared at Stevie for a second, then grinned despite himself. He could work with cats. He’d fought worse things than cats. Probably. They were tiny, right?

“Thanks for the warning, Boss.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Yes, Boss.” He gave her a cheerful salute and headed for the cockpit door before she could find something to throw at him.

Once he was in the corridor, his smile fell away.

B had wanted that kiss. He knew she had. He’d felt it in the way she’d gone still against him and that sharp little intake of breath as her lips had parted under his. She’d wanted him right up until the point she’d pushed him away.

Which was the part he didn’t understand.

The main corridor was quiet now, most of the crew either sleeping or doing whatever they did on the ship. He ducked automatically beneath a low conduit, shoulders brushing the walls. He could never get over how draanthing small human ships were.