the worst, but this guy was coming up a close second.
Touchy-feely people liked to touch and feel. It got to be a habit, which was probably why Rafe was so flirtatious, and why Nina found the Silver Devils’ captain so fascinating.
Dani set her blades aside. “When’s the last time you got laid?”
Nina choked on her coffee. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Was it that fling you had with the Professor?”
“No, it was … Dakota, wasn’t it?” Maya waved her bag of peaches to punctuate her point. “The seed smuggler. She always brought Nina impossible-to-find fruit. I miss her.”
Dani did too, but not as much as she missed the mechanic, or the burly bouncer from Clem’s place, or the baker. At least Nina tended to stay on good terms with her exes, even after their time together ended and she moved on to her next relationship.
And she always moved on. It wasn’t that Nina didn’t care, it was that she cared so much, and about everybody. She was earnestly interested in people, could find something to love in just about anyone. The mere thought exhausted Dani, who preferred to keep a small handful of people close.
Another thing the TechCorps had taught her—to care about as little as possible. It was difficult, after all, to convince a bodyguard to die for her charge if she had anything left to live for. So step one was always, always to isolate a new recruit.
It was another lesson that had stuck with Dani. It suited her, being alone except for Nina and Maya. She didn’t need to date someone to have sex. She didn’t need to like them.
Nina, on the other hand …
Dani lowered her voice. “Knox is hot. A little boring, if you ask me, but you tend to gravitate toward that. It’s been a while since your last hookup, and you’re getting antsy. That’s all this is. Maya, help me out here.”
“It’s a bad idea.” Maya shrugged. “I mean, you already know that. But I get the appeal. It’s a thing, you know. The bars close to the Protectorate barracks are always crawling with groupies. All that stamina and shit.”
Nina’s flush deepened, and it didn’t look like embarrassment.
“Don’t mention the stamina,” Dani advised Maya. “I mean, I get that you don’t find it hot, but—”
Maya pulled a face at her. “It’s hot in theory. But some of us don’t want strangers all up in our personal space for more than five minutes, much less all night. I’ll stick to the safe option of my fabulous imagination and nice, long baths.”
“I don’t want anyone all up in my anything,” Nina insisted firmly. “Captain Knox and I have to work together. To that end, we need to maintain a measure of civility between us.”
Civility was the last thing on Garrett Knox’s mind when he was staring at Nina’s ass—but pointing that out would be counterproductive as hell. “There you go. And when the job is done? Whatever happens, happens.”
It was an empty promise. Assuming they managed to finish the job without getting royally fucked over, Knox and his men would vanish so fast the rest of them would be left sucking on dust. Nina might be sad for a while, but sad was better than brokenhearted.
“I have my head on straight,” Nina whispered. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
Those were two vastly unrelated statements. Dani never worried because she thought Nina was fucking up, just like she never fretted over Maya for that reason. They could both get their shit done. The real problem was everyone else, all the people who could—and would—hurt them, out of malice or carelessness or greed or—
Yes, even necessity.
“I’m just doing my job.” Dani gave her knives one last wipedown, stowed them, and obediently held out both hands for Maya to check.
She turned them over, meticulously studying Dani’s skin for undetected cuts. When she didn’t find any, Maya smiled and dropped a packet of fruit into Dani’s hands. “Eat something.”
Across the room, Rafe set an empty med-gel applicator aside and started wrapping one of Knox’s hands. Whatever had happened between their team leaders outside, it had ended in bloodshed.
If that wasn’t some fucking inauspicious sign from the gods, Dani didn’t know what was.
* * *
TECHCORPS PROPRIETARY DATA, L2 SECURITY CLEARANCE
Recruit TE–815 received the highest score in the history of the program on his most recent aptitude assessment. His technological training will be accelerated, and every effort made to cultivate his loyalty. If the cognitive enhancement program progresses as planned, TE–815