Page 107 of Smuggler's Beauty

“She left the thumb screws in her other supply kit,” Nannette said. She was still staring at the ceiling. Evelyn nudged her with her foot again.

“Stop thinking about the vision,” she said. “It’s not good for you.”

“I keep oscillating between scenarios. It’s a hamster wheel of terrible ideas up here,” Nannette said, poking at her forehead. “I just have all the worst outcomes I can imagine on a loop.”

Veronique threw a hairbrush at her. Nannette batted it out of the way with her poking hand.

“You need to help me braid Evelyn’s hair. You’re the only one who can do those complicated crowns. I need her hair to say, ‘regal, but feminine.’”

Nannette grumbled as she got up. “I can catastrophize and plait at the same time. How do you think I got so good at it?”

Evelyn got up and went to wash her face. After brushing her teeth, she fished her foundation and hairbrush out of a drawer and brought them back with her into the bedroom. There was now a staggering number of makeup brushes spread on the coffee table with surgical precision. She wasn’t sure she even knew what half of them did. A bright lamp had appeared from the bowels of the tackle box, and Veronique was setting it up. Nannette was unwrapping a chocolate. She had moved from the bed to one of the easy chairs, her feet neatly tucked up under her butt. There was a towering stack of wrappers next to her on the side table.

“Have you been following all these scenarios all the way to the end?” Evelyn asked.

“No,” Nannette said around a mouthful of chocolate. “I just jump from one to the next.”

“Well, pick one. What happens if the bad scenario comes to pass? You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to. Just think it all the way through. What happens? And then what can be done about it?”

Nannette frowned. “That’s very reasonable.”

Evelyn shrugged. “Something Corrie taught me when I was a kid and terrified of presentations. Granted, the likelihood that my class would all rally to kill me with sticks is probably far less probable than whatever you’re imagining, but still. It can help break the terror loop.”

“Children are vicious,” Veronique said. She gestured to the other chair. “Sit here, and we can double-team you.”

Evelyn snorted and sat down. She handed her foundation to Veronique. “Do your worst,” she said. “I can take it.”

Veronique wiggled her eyebrows. “I bet you can, darling. Now, be a good girl and sit still.”

Evelyn felt a blush creeping up her chest. She crossed her legs and squeezed her thighs together.Who knew you could beconditioned so swiftly?Veronique cackled, and Nannette dug what looked like ten credits out of her pocket on her way to start Evelyn’s hair. She slapped it into Veronique’s hand and grabbed the brush off the table.

“I hate you both,” Evelyn said. She wasn’t able to keep the grin off of her face, but principle demanded she protest.

“Liar,” Nannette said. She started to brush Evelyn’s hair. “Usually Veronique and Cairn are the only ones who have to turn on privacy protocol. You can only walk in on someone bound and gagged so many times before you have to implement a system.”

It took everything Evelyn had to refrain from asking who was bound and gagged in that equation.It’s too fucking early for this.Still, it was a nice preoccupation while her skin was prepped, primed, and painted. She had a lengthy list for and against both of them enjoying the various aspects of bondage by the time Veronique told her to blot her lips. Nannette had finished her wizardry with pins and had returned to the bed. Her stack of chocolate wrappers were piled on top of her stomach. Evelyn wondered if she’d eaten anything resembling a real breakfast.

She’s going to get a stomachache.

“There. Now, wardrobe is hanging over the back of the other chair. Go get dressed,” Veronique said, screwing the top back onto a tube of lip lacquer.

Evelyn, resigned to the day’s events, stood and grabbed her clothes. She turned toward the bathroom with the garment bag in hand.

“Oh, and darling? We take turns.”

“This isn’t too much,is it?” Aiden asked. They’d just loaded the last of Aiden’s packages onto the jump ship, alongside the other necessities they’d picked up, the most important being the specialized fuel that enabled the ship to make a faster-than-light jump, if necessary. It was expensive, but they really couldn’t be caught without it on hand. Now wasn’t the time to risk having Evelyn burn herself out trying to rescue theDawnagain.

Cairn had somehow managed to talk Aiden into buying not one, but two monstera for his quarters. They buckled them into passenger seats on the jump ship before Cairn turned to close the gangway.

At least they aren’t going anywhere near Veronique. Maybe she won’t notice?

“Lad, if you’re taking to heart ‘actions speak louder than words,’ it’s fine. It’s the loudest you can get without nutting up and telling her you love her with your big boy words.”

Aiden scrubbed his hand down his face and sighed. He was a big boy. He should be able to use his words. He was also terrified he’d scare Evelyn off and make her shut down. Any hint he dropped around a future together was one she carefully sidestepped.

“You’re not giving her enough credit,” Cairn said.

“What are you, a mind reader? Branching out the skill set?”