Page 105 of Smuggler's Beauty

It tookAiden a few more days in bed before he shook off the worst of the fatigue. Evelyn left him to sleep alone during the day, popping out on short missions with the others to line up therest of the outstanding bits and pieces of Corvinia’s vision. She’d return in the evening, bringing him plates of food and stories of her day.

She’d run a red rinse through her hair and worn a pair of his chunky horn-rimmed glasses to obscure her beautiful hazel eyes today while she accompanied his mom on an arms deal. Aiden had been nauseated thinking about Evelyn brushing arms with the man Elenor was meeting, but he knew that she and his mother could both take care of themselves very effectively.

Evelyn handed him a plate, removing the lid with a flourish. A towering sandwich, piled high with turkey, bacon, lettuce, and ripe tomatoes was nestled with a pile of crisp chips. He took the plate from her as his stomach made a gurgling noise.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. Stronger. I think today’s the day I leave the sickbed.”

“Excellent news,” she said, placing a water bottle on the bedside table.

“How’d it go today?” Aiden asked as he picked up a triangle of sandwich. The bread was perfectly toasted, spread with just the right amount of mayo.

“So, your mom is scary,” she said as she plopped down on the bed next to him. “My translation implant wasn’t programmed for whatever language that deal went down in, but that crazy bastard pulled a knife on her.”

Aiden offered her a chip, and she popped it into her mouth. “And Elenor didn’t take kindly to that, I take it?”

“She did some crazy ass move that my brain couldn’t compute, took his knife away, and removed two of his fingers before I could even grasp what happened. After he stopped blubbering, he gave her the entire shipment and a bonus box of blasters. And then she gave him his knife back. In his thigh.”

Aiden nodded as he chewed his sandwich. “Sounds like a typical Elenor negotiation. I never buy a car without her.”

Evelyn laughed. “Sensible. I’d want her on my side if I have to negotiate any contracts in the future.”

“Surprisingly, Elenor and Veselko are a really good team. People underestimate him and are terrified of her,” Aiden said around a mouthful of chips.

“Yeah, he’s a lot smarter than he likes to let on, isn’t he?” Evelyn stole another chip and crunched down on it. “I watched him charm the pants off a trader yesterday and double our money before we left.”

“The himbo charm never fails him. Hasn’t since we were teenagers.”

“If it ain’t broke,” she said. “There’s something to be said for sticking with what works. That said . . .” she trailed off.

He offered her another chip, but she waved it off. Aiden popped it into his mouth while he watched her think. The red hair was nice on her, made her fair skin gleam, but he preferred the gold of her natural color.

“I’ve been checking on that Amplification sheen you’ve acquired. It’s still there, hovering around your energy signature, and it’s making me wonder if I can activate it without having to touch you. I learned to Amplify by touch, but now I’m wondering. . .” She shoved her hand through her hair, trying to find words. “For lack of a better term, you seem to be sort of . . . marinated? In Amplification energy, I mean, and I’m wondering if I can just direct ittoyou instead of having to push itintoyou.”

Relief washed over him. Aiden had been worried she’d written off working with his psychic talents at all after the tree incident. He was grateful she still wanted to work with him, let alone was worrying through possible experiments.

He swallowed the last bite of his sandwich. “That sounds a lot safer than trying to lift six thousand pounds unaided.” He laughed at the incredulous look on her face. “I asked L.I.N.D.A. the average weight of a maple tree.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, much safer to see if I can guide a tiny bit of Amplification to you from a distance. I was also thinking of practical telekinetic things you could do in a fight situation, and Nannette has volunteered some of her uncharged blasters to the cause. They’re a good weight to test with before and after Amplification.”

He put the empty plate on the bedside table and threw off the covers to get dressed in real clothes for the first time in days.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Evelyn had always beenfond of transitional spaces. The in-betweens of life. Spaceports. Roadtrips. The training montage in an action movie. Usually, the end of a thing just made you depressed. Nothing was worse than finishing a series. Evelyn often wouldn’t watch the last episode of a show she really loved. It was the journey where people found the most joy. At least, that’s what Evelyn thought. The next few days spent in such a state were some of the happiest of her life.

She was jumping through some considerable mental hoops to not focus on the end they were slowly working toward. Finality was not for her. So instead of moping that her life as she knew it was about to change forever, she became determined to be present every moment she had left on theDawn.

She ate too much at dinner, enjoying Elenor and Lillian’s incredible meals. She played cards with Veselko and lost every chip she wagered, and then watched Veronique clean him out. Cairn was teaching her how to care for the saplings he’d acquired after she’d eaten his previous garden.

At night, Aiden fucked her brains out.

In the mornings, he fed her hand-cut fruit and coffee.

Evelyn was very satisfied living in this transitional state.

She practiced her talent, both alone and with Aiden. Evelyn had talked herself into letting him help her psychic experiments. If she had her way, they’d lock themselves in their quarters with a stack of movies and endless sacks of microwave popcorn and not come out again until the heat death of the universe, or at least until she was satisfied he was completely healed.