stars, with no evil corporations waiting to destroy everything you’d ever loved.
He abandoned his beer and plotted an intercept course. As the old man spun Nina again, Knox stepped into their path. “Can I cut in?”
“If you insist.” Nina pressed her lips together, but her eyes sparkled. “I’ll save you another waltz, Enoch. I promise.”
“See that you do, girl,” he said, but he graciously handed Nina over to Knox.
Once he had her in his arms, Knox gave her a rueful smile. “I don’t know how to waltz.”
“Well, that’s a problem, Captain. Neither do I.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Enoch was leading.”
Her fingers brushed the fine hairs at the base of his neck. A shiver worked through him, arousal coming on slow and hot. He let himself wrap his arms around her and pull her so close that their dance was nothing more than a lazy sway. “We’re both highly trained athletes. We’ll figure it out.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“I think it’s working just fine.”
“Because we’re not waltzing.” Her gaze fixed on his mouth, and her eyes went dark. Hungry. “I don’t know what we’re doing.”
“Dancing, Nina.” He splayed one hand wide on her hip, holding her close. Savoring the feel of her, for the little time he had left. As tempting as it was to steal another night with her, he owed her the truth. Tonight.
Soon.
“Can I ask you something?” she said suddenly.
“Of course.”
She looked away, surveying the crowd. “If my team hadn’t been here today, would you have left these people to fend for themselves?”
A serious question. It punctured a little bit of his heroic high, but he did her the courtesy of considering his answer seriously. “Maybe. I’ve spent a lot of years having to weigh what good I can afford to do against my mission objectives, not to mention what the TechCorps will do to the people under my protection if I step out of line. I would have wanted to help them. But I haven’t always had the luxury of doing what I wanted.”
“What changed?” she whispered.
“I didn’t want to disappoint you,” he admitted just as quietly. “And I’m tired of disappointing myself. I kept thinking if I could just get my men free, then I’d have time to worry about the rest. But some lines … If we cross them, we’ll never be free.”
Her thumb brushed the scar where he’d cut out his TechCorps tracker. “They don’t own you—that was a lesson I had to learn. They may have made you, but what you do with that will always be your choice.”
“I’m learning.” He smiled at her and twirled her lazily toward the shadows. “Thank you for reminding me. I’m glad we did this. I needed to know what it feels like, to do something just because it’s right.”
“Are you trying to tell me you’ve never been a hero before?” The inside of her thigh rubbed the outside of his. “That’s not what Boyd said about you.”
It was the last thing he’d expected to hear. “Boyd … said something good about me? Was this before or after he was poisoned?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. They weren’t compliments. He had a little rant about how you always had to help people, save them. Do what was right.” She bit her lip. “He said we deserve each other.”
Then Boyd had done Nina a disservice. Knox had committed the least harm possible within the confines of his orders—which was a far cry from doing what was right. “Boyd was wrong,” he warned her. “Nothing’s changed, Nina. I’ve done some dark shit. Saving one town doesn’t excuse that.”
With a low, mirthless laugh, she stiffened in his arms. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten all your warnings. I don’t think I could. You keep giving them to me.”
He couldn’t seem to stop himself, even when it put distance between them—just not too much distance. As if he could find the right combination of warnings that would keep her close but blunt his impending betrayal.
He’d been a coward all along.
Her hands slid down to his shoulders, then to his upper arms, and she stopped swaying. “What am I doing?” Her voice cracked on the last syllable. “If you don’t want me, Knox, you can just say it. I won’t make a scene.”
Fuck. “Nina—” he started, but there were no words that wouldn’t make it worse. I want you, but you won’t want me. Not after—
Anything he said to reassure her would just hurt her more in the