something we can talk about later,” he offered. “I can show you the models and systems.”
“I’d like that.” Others might find it boring, but she was excited by the prospect of learning something new from Cipher.
“Come here.”
She stepped between his legs, and he gently turned her around to face the sink and mirror. He combed his fingers through her unruly hair and separated it into three sections. Surprising her with his skill, he braided her hair and then coiled it into a bun at the back of her head. He secured it with clips he pulled from the pocket of his pants.
“I’m impressed.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Where did you learn that?”
“My older sister,” he said quietly. “She got hurt as a young kid and had problems with her hands, even after surgery. I helped her with things like her hair when I was on leave from school.”
It hadn’t even occurred to her that he had family somewhere. Feeling terrible for not asking before, she turned to face him. “I’m so sorry I didn’t ask about your family. I just…well…I sort of assumed you didn’t have anyone.”
“You weren’t wrong.” His hands settled on her hips. “My dad died in battle when i was eleven. My mother and sister were killed in a Splinter attack on our home planet seven years ago.”
“Cipher,” she whispered sympathetically. Cupping his jaw in her small hands, she said, “I’m sorry about your family.”
“Thank you.” He kissed her palm and sent a frisson of heat through her arm. “My family would have loved you. My mother was from a planet where women were equal to men and worked outside the home. She was a mechanical engineer. That’s how she met my dad. My sister studied mathematics at a university on our planet.” He traced her collarbone. “Someday, I’ll take you to my home world. You’ll love it.”
“I’ve never traveled anywhere.” She glanced around the bathroom and shrugged. “This is the farthest I’ve ever been from home.”
“We can go anywhere you want, Brook. I have months of saved leave. I’d like to travel the universe with you.”
She grinned. “That sounds incredible.”
“Doesn’t it?”
She nodded and then worried her bottom lip. “What does your future look like? Our future, I mean. Do you serve in the military forever? Do you retire?”
“I can do either. I’ll have enough points to retire in a few years. If I choose to separate from service, I’ll be strongly encouraged to remain here and settle on Calyx. We intend to colonize your planet.”
She perked up at that revelation. “I own a chunk of land on the mountain. Not just the cabin,” she explained. “I own the twenty-one acres around it. I have the deed in my pack. We could build a bigger, nicer cabin someday.”
His eyes brightened at that thought. “I think I’d like that.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed circles on her hipbones. “We can look at some plans later. Daydream a little.”
She grinned. “I haven’t daydreamed like that since I was little.”
“Me either, but maybe it’s time we let ourselves dream of a different future.”
She leaned in to kiss him. “Together?”
“Together.”
Their lingering kiss filled her with so much hope. She wasn’t foolish enough to think it would always be this easy and simple. At some point, they would butt heads and argue, but she was determined to try to make it work with him. This wasn’t the way she had envisioned her life, being claimed by an alien sky warrior she barely knew, but it felt so right.
“Let me help you in,” he said, standing and guiding her over the ledge and into the rectangular tub. It was clearly designed for a big man like him, and she could practically swim in it.
“Do you want to join me?” She waved her hand through the hot water, scooping up the pink bubbles and watching them slide between her fingers.
He wavered, his gaze darting from her to the open door. “Let me take dinner out of the oven.”
While he was gone, she enjoyed the luxurious feel of the water and the delightful sugary sweet scent of the bubbles. She closed her eyes and inhaled and felt as is she were standing in a bakery crammed with the most delicious cakes and pastries. She had only been in a bakery once, on a trip to Connor’s Run with her father. He had let her buy a cupcake, and they had shared it under the shade of a nearby tree. It had been so sweet that