the night. Not living by the rules. Not crunching numbers, or worrying about infrastructure he had no right to touch, or thinking about employees that weren’t even his. Kissing Tess was like living a different life.
But he’d never wanted that different life enough to abandon the docks his family had built from the ground up. He’d worked his ass off, and he wanted them back.
Tess finally looked up from the tray she’d been staring at. Her blue eyes looked darker than usual in the low light. She glanced from him to the food and then back to him again. “You made me cinnamon toast?”
“And fresh-squeezed orange juice. Eat up.”
She blinked a few times, and Shade thought maybe he’d been too gruff. “Here. I’ll prove it’s not poisoned.” He took a big gulp from her full glass.
“Hey!” Tess snatched the juice away from him, smiling now. “That’s mine.”
She drank and then groaned low in her throat. The satisfied sound shot straight to his groin.
Shade shifted back from her. Not appropriate. The woman could barely stand up.
Among other reasons…
“That tastes amazing.” She devoured the toast, making a noise that was practically orgasmic when she licked the sugar off her fingertips.
Was she trying to kill him?
Glancing away, Shade swiped a hand through his hair. He heard her finish off her juice.
She sighed. “I love landing because the food is so good. Up there, in the Dark, the fresh stuff runs out fast, and then it’s just the same old canned slop over and over again until you want to throw up.”
Steeling himself, Shade turned back to her. She was still just as beautiful. A light smattering of freckles across her nose, the bluest eyes he’d ever seen, hair all over the place.
“Why do you stay so long in the Dark?” he asked.
She acted like she was thinking about it, but he knew she was just coming up with a lie.
“Because everyone wants me dead.”
Shade started. Honesty? That was a surprise. “Everyone?”
She shrugged. “Well, no, not everyone. But some very powerful people do, and that trickles down to even the lowest goon in the galaxy. And the Powers know, the Dark Watch is all over the place.”
“Do you need help?” He nearly bit his tongue. Had he really just asked her that? He didn’t want to be an even bigger bastard where Tess was concerned, but he was going that way fast.
She shook her head. “You’re fixing the Endeavor for a fair price. That’s already huge in my book.”
Shade lifted the tray from her lap and set it on the bedside table. “Why are they after you?” he asked.
She laughed. “I’m not telling you that!”
“Why not?” He sat on the edge of the bed.
She huffed, tucking her hair behind her ears like she always did. Earlier, he’d wanted to push it all back himself and see her face.
“To begin with, it’s a long list,” she said.
“How long?” He was being pushy, but that seemed to put her at ease. She probably figured a person who was a danger to her wouldn’t just outright ask questions like this. They’d use tactics and finesse. Or else brute force.
Shade tried to ignore the sickening fact that Tess seemed to trust him. He was to blame for that.
She bent her knees and tucked her legs up under her. The movement brought them closer together. “You know when it’s do or die, Shade?”
Her eyes drew him in, and the sound of his name on her lips was like a drug. He inched closer, letting the 12-perfect diction of every word she said wash over him, even though it was toxic to them both.
“And you do things anyway,” she continued. “Maybe mess up your whole life, because you know it’s the right thing to do. You just know what you have to do, or you could never live with yourself again.”
He nodded. He’d never had that feeling himself, but he was mesmerized by her conviction. And a little ill. Even as he listened to her, he was still thinking about taking her in. She was weak and alone, sitting right here in his basement with him. In mere seconds, he could have her tied up and completely at his mercy. Two hundred million. Maybe more. His money. His new life—or the life he should have been living already. Scarabin White—paid off and out of his future for good.
Tess was obviously a resistance fighter to the core. He’d already brought in dozens. He could bring in dozens more. But she’d just