as hard as she could and tell me to take care of you guys." He pulls out a jumper that looks suspiciously like his. "Here. Try this one on."
I take it from him, cautious. "You have a human sister?"
"Yeah. She's pretty much an irritating little shit. She's also the greatest." His look gets a tiny bit wistful. "I miss her now that she's off and mated, but she's happy so I guess I can't be selfish."
I wonder if this is true. "So…we're like sisters to you? Us humans?"
Adiron leans against the wall, giving me a heavy-lidded look. "Oh, make no mistake, Jade. I'm sure your friends are nice and all, but as for you? I am not interested in you in a brotherly way. At all." His smile is slow and confident. "But I'm pretty sure you guessed that already."
21
ADIRON
Jade is quiet as I dig through my clothes, looking for a uniform of some kind small enough for her. I don't have one of course, so at this point I'm just going to settle for one that's clean. The clones are far more human-sized and I'm sure Dopekh or one of the others would loan me something, but…the thought of Jade wearing another male's clothing eats at my gut. I want her to wear mine.
Kef me, I'm already getting wildly possessive and I've only known the female a few hours. I can't imagine how bad I'll have it in a week from now. Even when I was infatuated with Shaalyn, I was never this bad.
I find my favorite work uniform, a single-piece jumper that has seen me through a lot. I smell it to make sure that it's clean even though it's hanging up, and then I hold it out to her. "You can wear this."
She crosses her arms under her magnificent chest, and it takes everything I have not to drop my gaze. "If I do, will you take me to my friends?"
"Of course."
Jade gives me a look as if she doesn't quite believe me and then heads into the bathroom to change. I hear a bit of rustling and then the sound of a panel being plucked out of its place. I grin to myself. No doubt she's raiding my toiletries, looking for something she can use as a weapon. All she's going to find is some personal deodorizer and plas-film that came with the room, since this isn't our ship but Straik's. My old lavatory had a compartment with blasters and knives, because you never know when you'll need a weapon, but I don't have that here. I lean close to the door and offer, "If you're looking for something to use as a weapon, you're better off looking under my mattress. There's nothing in there."
She comes out a moment later, glaring at me. The jumpsuit is bunched up at her ankles and her hands are buried in material, the crotch of the outfit somewhere around her knees. Instead of it being sexy, she looks…ridiculous. I snicker.
Jade runs her fingers through her wild hair, pushing it back, and ignores my laughter. "Got a belt, you giant?"
I turn to the closet and dig around, looking for a spare. I hear her movements—humans really are loud in everything they do—and I know she's heading for the mattress, looking for a blaster. She can take it if it makes her feel less worried. I'm not afraid of her shooting me. It'd probably just make me fall more head over heels for her.
I do love a difficult female.
When I close the closet, I see her adjusting the front of her borrowed clothing, puffing it out, no doubt to hide my blaster that she's got stuffed in there. "I'd use the belt," I point out as I hold it out to her. "I have a holster for that blaster. Don't tuck it into your underclothes or you'll shoot a hole in places that shouldn't be shot."
She looks at me with that too calm gaze, her eyes narrowed. "Why are you giving me a weapon?"
"Because you're my guest?"
"I've heard that line before. It didn't involve me being anyone's guest."
I can just imagine, and my blood boils at how she's probably been mistreated. "I figure if you were going to kill me, you'd have done so already, back on your ship. If it makes you feel better, carry my weapon. Just try not to shoot the a'ani. They really are decent males."
She reluctantly digs into the front of her clothing and then pulls out