Page 8 of Smuggler's Beauty

They exited into the lobby, and Evelyn had to stop herself from audibly gasping. The room she found herself in had gorgeous snowy marble tile set in a herringbone pattern. A sparkling chandelier dangled in the middle of the room, highlighting a glossy black piano. Jewel-toned velvet chairs and small, leather, two-person loveseats spiraled out from the piano area in loose clusters.

To the right was a full bar with a shining green marble top, threaded with white streaks. White marble cafe tables and golden chairs dotted the area surrounding the bar. There was ablack wrought-iron spiral staircase that led up to a balcony and observation deck on the second floor of the atrium.

Every place Evelyn turned, she could see greenery. Monstera, philodendrons, and birds of paradise grew in clustered pots and planters. Pothos climbed the far wall and danced along the inner pole of the staircase.

“Piracy pays a lot better than I thought it did.”

“What, this dump? She’s not much, but she’s home,” Cairn said, and Evelyn could hear the struggle not to laugh come through in his brogue. “L.I.N.D.A., where is my beautiful wife?”

The ship’s computer responded, “Welcome home, Cairn. Veronique is in the galley.”

“Oh, good. We can have dinner. I wonder what they’re making.” Cairn headed off towards the bar, stopping at a planter near the piano. He stuck his finger into the earth, then ducked around a corner and re-appeared with a watering can.

“Your ship’s computer is named Linda?”

“Yeah, L.I.N.D.A. — Linear Integrated Neural Data Array. She’s top of the line.” Aiden said, the tips of his ears going pink.

For a thief he sure has a lot of tells. Cute ones, too.

“She sounds lovely.”

“I am both top of the line and lovely. Whom am I speaking to? I will be adding your voice print to my memory banks.”

“I’m Evelyn Alpertti. Pleasure to meet you, L.I.N.D.A.”

“Meddling artificial intelligence nuisance,” Aiden muttered under his breath. “This is the way to the galley. We need to make a hand scan so you can get to the crew’s areas.”

Aiden led Evelyn to the smoked glass doors on the far side of the bar and gestured at a box mounted on the wall.

“These scanners are mounted at the doors that lead to all the crew areas of the ship. We just need to scan your hand and then you can get anywhere you’d like to go on board.”

“Are you sure you want to let me have unfettered access to the ship? I mean I could try to run away. Or eat all your cocktail cherries.”

Aiden grinned, and the smile lit up his too-serious eyes. She felt heat rising in her cheeks.

I need to train myself not to blush every time he looks at me.

He reached for her hand. “I’m willing to risk the cherries.”

Evelyn put her hand in his. It was unnecessary, as they were still several feet away from the wall. She was perfectly capable of guiding her own palm to the plate when they reached the scanner. But she couldn’t help herself; she craved the subtle zing of electricity that seemed to shiver through her at Aiden’s slightest touch.

The hair-raising awareness of sharing Amplification with him paled in comparison to the way her body seemed to come alive in his presence. She shivered at the gentle touch of their hands, and her eyes found his. The grin had fallen from his face, his gaze was serious again.

Without looking away from her, he guided their hands to the plate. Wordlessly, he covered her hand with his as she tried to pinpoint the exact shade of green his eyes were.

“New handprint accessed. Assigning to Evelyn Alpertti.”

She bit her lower lip, and his gaze focused on her mouth. She shuddered a little as his nostrils flared and filed that information away for later.

Cairn cleared his throat. “Now that that’s done, can we eat? I’m starving.”

Evelyn ripped her eyes away from Aiden’s as he snatched his hand away from hers. She noticed the tips of his ears were now a deep red shade. She could feel the heat in her own cheeks increasing.

Busted.

“What have you got to eat on this rust bucket?” She turned to Cairn and grinned. “Anything palatable?”

“Rations. Honestly, it’s a bleak life here in space, lass, but we manage.”