Page 47

Until him.

He took one step forward.

The movement sent a stupid little shiver down her spine. He was all hard muscle and old scars and chock-full of secrets, but standing there, looking at her like that, he made her feel small.

Not weak small.

Just... delicate small. Feminine. Protected.

Which was ridiculous. She was not a woman who needed protection. But, damn, it felt good that he wanted to.

Putting her hand in the center of his chest, she stopped him. He went still beneath her palm, looking down to search her eyes.

“Not so fast, handsome. Not here.” She nodded toward the medical bed as she prepared to slide off it. “My bed might be little more than a padded plank, but it’s still more comfortable than this. We’ll go to mine.”

Blythe swung her legs over the edge of the medbed and pushed herself upright.

Which was when the deck tipped sideways.

Not by much. Just enough that her knees buckled when her boots hit the floor. She caught herself on the edge of the counter as Rann moved.

His hand closed around her elbow, steady and warm, and she looked up to find his expression had changed. The heat was still there, darkening his eyes, but concern had cut right through it.

Oh, no. Nope. Hell nope.

“If you so much as utter one word about whether I’m up to it,” she growled, straightening up, “then I’m flying solo and you can go find a deck of cards to play with.”

His mouth tightened.

For a second she thought he might argue. Tell her she had a concussion, bruised ribs, and enough painkillers floating around in her system to knock out a herd of cattle, but he said nothing.

Instead, he bent down and scooped her up like she weighed nothing at all.

“Rann—”

He turned and carried her straight out of medbay. Blythe faced forward again, heat crawling up her neck even though there was no one in the corridor to see this.

She did not need carrying. She’d crawled through maintenance shafts half the width of her shoulders, hauled drive components that weighed more than she did, and repaired live systems with no more protection than insulated gloves and a bad attitude.

But Rann held her cradled against his broad chest, holding her close. Every step he took was smooth, as if carrying her was no effort at all.

And god, he smelled good.

Clean skin and something more intriguing beneath it. Wood and citrus and warm man. The scent was unique to him. She resisted the urge to press her face into his neck and breathe him in properly.

Which was ridiculous. He’d think she was a right weirdo if she started sniffing his neck.

His gaze dropped to her face. “You all right?”

“I’m being kidnapped by a suspiciously handsome criminal, apparently.”

A smile pulled at his mouth. “That’s not a no.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Ducking beneath the low conduit outside her room without jostling her, he yanked it open and carried her inside. Setting her on her feet, he turned back to close the door. She leaned against the wall. She really needed to deal with those door controls… The room spun again for half a heartbeat, but then he was there.