Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,8

hum and the air across the open end of the booth appeared to thicken and shimmer. Vic touched the controls again, and the view from inside the booth cleared so they could see the restaurant once more.

“I take it you come here a lot.” Xori was already parsing through the menu as she spoke.

“Good food, quiet spot. Yeah, we like it here,” Vic said.

“I guessed you’d eat most of your meals at the Nova Club. The food there is excellent.”

Ward nodded. “It is, but it’s also our home and our workplace.”

Vic continued the explanation. “And our entire family is there.”

“All. The. Time,” Ward finished the thought.

Xori sat back, smiling.

“What?” Ward asked.

“You finished each other’s thoughts,” she said.

“Well, yeah. We’ve always done that.” The words were out of his mouth before he realized that wasn’t true. Not recently.

“It was one of the things you said you used to do. Before. I’ve never heard you do it.”

Before. A small word that encompassed a lifetime. She was right, though. It was one of the many things they’d lost while under the thrall of their cold-hearted bitch of a handler.

“Well, hell. Now you mention it, I think that’s the first time in a while.” Vic reached behind Xori to slap Ward’s shoulder. “We’re getting our shit together.”

“Looks like.” And if it were true, then it was yet another sign that Xori was the one. Who better to share their lives with than the one who had given it back to them?

Meals at the Dobna Brin were meant to be leisurely social affairs. An array of various vat-grown proteins and pressed vegetable matter were available to order. The ingredients were then delivered to the table on trays, along with a massive bowl of broth that came with its own heater tucked in beneath it. The food was skewered and cooked in the broth, while the diners grazed on bread and spicy wedges of fried tubers.

After their meal was ordered and the drinks were delivered, the conversation fell into a lull that threatened to become an awkward silence.

“You look nice tonight,” he said, then immediately realized his mistake. This wasn’t supposed to be a date. Compliments were date territory, weren’t they? “Uh, I mean. You always look nice. Professional. But there’s something different…” he trailed off and silently wondered why the fraxx no one had thought to include a subprogram about small talk along with all the military knowledge they’d crammed into his head.

Xori smoothed her hair back from her ear. “You mean my matyri?”

He took the lifeline she tossed him. “Yeah. That’s new. It’s pretty. Why don’t you wear it more often?”

Her lips pressed together for a brief moment. It was barely more than a micro-expression, but it spoke volumes.

“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Vic said. He’d caught her reaction, too.

“You’ve both opened up to me about your lives.” She dropped one shoulder in the Pheran version of a shrug and then touched a slender finger to her chest, just above her heart. “If we are to become real friends, you deserve the same from me.”

He hadn’t planned on it, but somehow his fingers were brushing over the bronze adornment and skimming the delicate tuft of hair at the top of her ear. “Okay. So what is this?”

She shivered, and the deep blue of her stripes got even darker for a moment. Was she ticklish? A thought stirred at the back of his mind. Ears weren’t ticklish, but they were sensitive. In humans, they could be an erogenous zone—oh ho. He withdrew his hand and filed that bit of information away for later.

She paused to take several sips of her cocktail, leaned back with a sigh, and glanced between them. “I don’t like this seating arrangement. I can’t see you both at the same time, and to talk to one of you, I have to turn my back on the other.”

“I can fix that, with your permission?” Ward said.

“What are you up to?” his brother queried on their internal channel.

He ignored the question. Vic might be programmed to take the lead in most things, but for some reason he wasn’t ready to move on Xori. That meant it was up to him.

“If you have a solution to this problem, I’m willing,” Xori said.

“Hang onto your drink.” He pushed the table out with one foot, then reached over and carefully picked her up. He placed her on his lap so that she was sitting across his thighs, facing Vic.