Chapter 7
Mariska
Jeltom was very lost in thought, it seemed.
He stood beside the shield generator with his head down, but he wasn’t moving.
His long, intriguing braid hung straight down his spine, the tail of it brushing against the sexy curve of his ass.
The man knew how to fill out a pair of pants like it was nobody’s business.
He was also shirtless again in the warm Llyhke afternoon heat.
I shamelessly ogled the wide, muscled planes of his anthracite back.
I should try again, explain to him what I’d tried to ask over lunch today.
How embarrassing that I had barely gotten the right words out, and he hadn’t understood a single thing I’d said.
Then again, I’d babbled something awful about Jess and whether it was Valentine or not.
I should have explained the tradition first, not rambled about the timing, what did that matter anyway?
Valentine was supposed to be at the end of winter, when things were renewing and spring was approaching.
On Llyhke, the weather was turning into autumn right now.
Gathering my courage, I crossed the yard and smoothed my dress over my wide hips.
I couldn’t begin to describe how incredibly relieved I was to have him around for another day.
Selfishly, I now wanted more: I wanted him to be here everyday to help me with the tasks that were too big for one person alone, or the ones I didn’t even know how to do.
“Hi, uh… since it’s approaching dinnertime, do you want to stick around for a hot meal?
It’s the least I can do.” That was much smoother than this afternoon’s attempt at asking him out.
He jerked his head up, as if I’d caught him by surprise, and then shoved his big wrist behind his back, as if I wasn’t allowed to see it.
Was that the wrist with his comm device?
Now I was instantly curious, and just a little suspicious.
“Unless you have to run home to your girlfriend or something?”
He raised his other hand to brush it over the smoothed-back hair on his crown.
The long braid, painted with a strand of silver, only made him look distinguished in my book.
“Girlfriend? This is a friend who is female?” he asked, then immediately shook his head.
“My girlfriend lives on a ship with her mate now. I would not be able to go to her for dinner.”
I raised my hand to my mouth to smother a laugh.
He wasn’t trying to be funny, but his misunderstanding about the word “girlfriend” took the sting out of this afternoon’s miscommunication.
A friend who is female, that was one definition.
From the sounds of it, at least he definitely didn’t have some pretty, elegant Aderian lady waiting for him at home.
Now I just had to find out what that guilty flinch had been about, why was he hiding his comm?
“I would very much like to eat dinner at your abode,” Jeltom said then.
He glanced at my house, and his eyes turned sharp and flinty.
“And I will install locks before nightfall; that is a promise. Someone should be by to deliver them shortly.” I blinked at him, surprised.
He’d actually ordered locks for my doors?
My gaze flicked to the dusty road toward the sleepy, colorful little town in the valley below.
“Oh, uhm, thanks! I really would like locks.” The idea of being able to lock my door again made me tremble inside.
I’d grown up on one of Earth’s poor colonies, scraping for food, my parents working multiple jobs just to put clothes on our backs.
Crime had been rampant in the slums we lived in, and a lock could be the difference between life and death sometimes.
I just didn’t sleep right unless I could lock my door.
Though I had slept much more peacefully last night than I usually did, I’d woken up feeling achy and tired.
I hoped I wasn’t coming down with a flu of some kind.
I hadn’t been sick since opening my eyes in the Zeta Quadrant.
Rescued by the Ker and offered sanctuary—after I’d applied for it—by the Aderians.
Healthcare here was excellent. Except today, I just felt… off.
As if our conversation had summoned him, a figure appeared on the path.
I took a second look because the sight was such a surprise.
Was that Avertom? I had never seen him anywhere but inside his saloon, but here he was, coming up my path with a heavy satchel and a box in his arms. That wasn’t just a pair of locks for my doors, he was carrying much more.
“Uh, Jeltom? What exactly did you ask for?” I was already seeing a massive bill unfold inside my head.
Locks might be worth it for my peace of mind, but what else was there?
Avertom was still some distance away, but his long legs were making short work of it.
Was I going to have to ask him to stay for dinner, too?
A shiver of unease shot down my spine, one I tried to squash.
I liked Avertom—I really did—but seeing him on my turf was a very different experience.
Avertom was also definitely an empath, even if he was one of the few who never pried or gave me those pitying stares.
“I’ll get it sorted, don’t worry. Why don’t you head inside to start that food?
He’ll be on his way in no time, and then we can eat.
” Oh, good, Jeltom didn’t want Avertom to stick around either.
I remained frozen in place, though, until my stoic mechanic reached out and, with a gentle, warm hand, gave me a nudge toward my door.
It wasn’t until I was inside, my back against the wooden panel, that I realized that, for the first time today, my body didn’t feel quite so achy.
No, that wasn’t true. I’d felt fine for a bit after lunch this afternoon, it had just been overshadowed by my embarrassment.
I couldn’t resist peeking through the window to see what the two guys were up to, though.
Avertom greeted Jeltom loudly and warmly, his face very animated, his hands all over the place as he talked.
I was a bit shocked to discover just how different his demeanor was around my silent mechanic compared to how he always was with me.
I thought Avertom was the silent type, always calm and unmoved, but he seemed very energetic now.
He even slapped Jeltom on the shoulder once and laughed uproariously.
There were far more things than just a pair of locks coming out of the bag, too, though I did actually see something that resembled locks.
There were also what I was pretty certain were extra-secure latches for my windows, and a whole slew of very complex-looking parts that might be for the shield generator.
With how casually Jeltom was taking care of stuff on the farm, I was beginning to believe he wasn’t here for a paycheck at all.
Hadn’t he said something like, “I need to stay busy,” earlier today?
I understood that. I liked to be busy, too, so I didn’t dwell too much on the past. And he had gotten shot; there had to be a story there.
Even so, we were both completely quiet that evening over dinner.
I didn’t ask him about the extra parts, and he said nothing about how much he loved my cooking, even if he devoured every single crumb of the potpie I’d made.
There were no leftovers, like I usually had, but I didn’t mind that part at all.
I got to watch him install the locks too, which was surprisingly quick with the tools he’d brought with him.
He showed me how they worked, keyed to my biometric signature so I wouldn’t even need something as archaic as a key.
On impulse, I heard myself say, “Key yourself in too, okay? You might need it, and I trust you.” I trust you?
How had that happened? Since when did I trust anyone, except Jess, maybe?
I’d learned very young that in the UAR colonies, it was everyone for themselves.
Jeltom shifted his head to look at me, his weight moving from one leg to the other as he leaned toward me with his entire being.
His long braid fell forward, and the tip of it swished against my hip, causing a shockwave of sensation to arrow through my body.
“I am honored, Mariska,” he said, his head dipping down in a nod, but it was too slow to really count as one.
“But you don’t have to do that. Your home is your sanctuary. I just want you to feel safe.”
My eyes stung—those stupid, stupid eyes stung—because I was ready to bawl just hearing those words.
I just want you to feel safe. Just like that.
Safe. He made me feel safe. His mouth tilted into that sexy half-smile I’d seen on him once the night before.
Oh crap, I’d said that out loud.“Good,” he said.
“Very good.” Then he raised his hand and pressed his palm to my cheek, each long finger stretching along the side of my head and sinking heat beneath my skin.
“Sleep tight, pretty human,” he drawled as a parting greeting.
He’d slipped out the door and vanished into the night before I’d so much as managed to blink.
Pretty human, sleep tight. And that touch to my face?
I was floating on cloud nine as I drifted from my living room to the bedroom.
Maybe I hadn’t made a big blunder after all that afternoon, maybe he was a little attracted to me too.
Familiar self-esteem issues wanted to rear their head, but I decided to channel Jess for the night.
I was a catch, I deserved happiness, and I wasn’t going to get it unless I went after it myself.
I washed up in my bathroom, which I’d scrubbed to within an inch of my life earlier that afternoon.
When I went to close the curtain on my bedroom, I could swear I saw a light on in the barn.
It winked out just as I saw it, perhaps I’d imagined it, but part of me wondered if Jeltom wasn’t still working back there.