Chapter 52
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Evelyn staggered back to her quarters. After the shoot, Veronique and Nannette had insisted on eating a meal together in the kitchen, and that had devolved into shots of vodka for every increasingly ridiculous doom scenario they could come up with for Nannette’s unknown fate.
Well, unknown to all of them but Mathias.
The one with the penguins had them cackling.
Slightly sloshed, she maneuvered the hallway to the rooms she shared with Aiden. A gigantic grin was plastered on her face when she opened the door. She hoped he was back from his errand. She couldn’t wait to jump him.
She didn’t find what she’d expected.
Granted, she didn’t know what time it was. The ship had been suspiciously quiet as they’d shot their video, and the kitchen had been emptier than it should have been during mealtime.
The rest of the crew was squeezed into their quarters.
Lillian and Elenor were sorting levels and putting screwdrivers back into a meticulously organized tool kit.
Veselko had a gigantic trash bag he was attempting to wrestle into submission.
It was overflowing with packaging materials and corrugated cardboard.
Tariel was breaking down boxes to feed into the recycling unit and neatly stacking the ones he deemed salvageable.
Cairn was watering a monstera in the corner.
Apparently, he had talked Aiden into getting more plants, after all.
Aiden was organizing her media onto the brand new bookshelves they had installed. The stained walnut planks matched the rest of the furniture perfectly, the stylistic touches of the hardware bringing out the metal in the ceiling light fixtures. The bookshelves looked like they’d always belonged.
Evelyn’s throat tightened. Don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry. She swallowed hard. She knew her eyes were glistening. She debated trying to blink the impending tears away. She would have to blink eventually, anyway. Would blinking too early force the issue?
She realized she was standing in the doorway like an ill-placed mannequin and took a few steps into the room. The movement finally alerted the group to her presence. Veselko let out a wolf whistle and snapped a salute her way.
“Where do I sign up for service?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
She laughed, and the tightness in her throat eased a bit. Veselko winked at her, and she shot him a grateful smile before she turned towards Aiden and gestured to the bookshelves.
“Getting a few necessities?”
“Absolutely,” Aiden said. He straightened the book he was adding to the shelves and headed toward her. “You can’t lurk in a storage closet forever. I mean, you can if you want to, but I thought you’d like to be able to enjoy your media in more pleasant surroundings.”
“Also, we need the closet for smuggling,” Lillian said. Elenor smacked her upper arm. “What? We need somewhere to put cargo. Evelyn’s media collection isn’t cargo.”
“I don’t think I have words. I’ve had too much vodka, and if I try to express my thanks I’m going to blubber. So. I’m going to sit now.” Evelyn plopped into an arm chair and stared at her media collection. “Did you transfer these piece by piece? It looks organized correctly.”
Aiden laughed. “I took pictures,” he said. He went into the bathroom and returned with a glass of water. “Drink up.”
Evelyn nodded. “This is good advice. You give very good advice.” She sipped her water and kept staring at her perfectly organized media collection. She was vaguely aware of the rest of the crew continuing to tidy up around them.
She sat and sipped and thought about the bookshelves.
The implication of the bookshelves. Evelyn wasn’t normally one to let herself want anything that couldn’t be purchased in a bookstore.
Aiden, hell, the entire crew, had been winding their way around her heart in a way that made her positively yearn.
She knew she shouldn’t. She had responsibilities to tend to.
The alcohol had made her even more introspective than usual.
It was one of the reasons she rarely drank to excess.
If she got any further into her head, Evelyn feared she’d never be able to crawl out again.
Eventually, they were alone. Evelyn knew this because Aiden had knelt down in front of her and unzipped her boots. He slid them off and started to rub her feet, firm thumb strokes working into her arches.
“I’ll give you a million kisses if you never stop that,” she said.
“You drive a hard bargain,” he said. “How did the speech shoot go?”
“It was awkward at first. I hate being the center of attention.” She stopped speaking as he interrupted her with his laughter.
“Is that not a secret? It took a while to shake off the knowledge that Lillian is going to simulcast this over an entire planet. Veronique is very good at directing. She would be an incredible drama teacher.”
Aiden switched feet. “I don’t doubt it. She’s very good at making people feel seen.”
“Says the seeingist seer of people.” She flung a hand in the direction of the bookshelves.
He shook his head. “Just you. Come on, dollface.” Aiden got to his feet, then reached down to haul Evelyn up and directed her into the bathroom.
“I’ve been given strict instructions to remove this getup delicately and make sure you wash your face.”
Collusion! No wonder they’d kept feeding her shots.
He helped Evelyn out of her dress, fingers gently skating across the soft plum wool as he worked the zipper.
Aiden hung the garment up and left her to go place it in the closet.
Evelyn fumbled with the bottle of eye makeup remover and had worked the oily concoction into a black, raccoon like mask on her face by the time he’d returned.
“Hot,” he said. “This is a good look for you.”
“You’re a good look for you. Wait.”
He laughed and turned the water on in the sink.
He tested the temperature and adjusted the faucet.
Evelyn washed off the greasy mess, splashing the bathroom with drunken inaccuracy.
She wiped her face off with a towel and slapped on moisturizer.
There was no way she could manage any more of her routine.
She turned around and found Aiden holding out one of his T-shirts. She slipped it on and nuzzled into his arms.
“I’m just sober enough to know I’m too drunk to tell you what I want to tell you,” she said. She looked up into his eyes. “But I want to.”
He kissed her on the forehead and wrapped her in his arms.
“Me too, dollface. Me too.”