“Who was on the comm?”
He glanced toward her and the look on his face told her exactly who’d called. Her brow furrowed for a few seconds and she chewed on her lower lip. It felt too soon, but he’d been here for nearly two months. She’d known he wasn’t going to be able to stay forever, that at some point, he’d be recalled—pulled back to the work that was no longer hers.
The fact that it wasn’t her job anymore came as an odd relief, in fact, but she hadn’t admitted to it. Not yet.
Watching him, she leaned against the corner where the living room wall met the hallway back toward the ‘fresher and bedrooms. Her hair hung damp round her face, silver locks curling slightly, barely brushing the collar of her jacket. How long would it take for it to grow back out again, to the rope of a braid she’d worn back when she was still a pilot, back when everything was shaded in many fewer shades of gray. His gaze searched hers for a few moments. She smiled wryly, one corner of her mouth kicking upward even as she knew the grief at his impending departure showed in her eyes, in every other curve and line of her face.
“When do you have to go?” she asked softly.
“Wheels up by 0900,” he said quietly, leaning back in his chair. “They probably would’ve rather I left tonight, but you made reservations. I wasn’t going to break a date.”
“Bobby, you didn’t have—”
“Yeah, I did.” He unfolded from the chair, stretching his arms toward the ceiling for a moment before he crossed the space between them. A knuckle scarred from some long-ago fight brushed against her cheek, lifting hair back from her face. She smiled at him, reaching up to wrap her hand around his. His gaze was steady on hers, his smile gentle, not quite sad. “It’s the least I can do.”
“We both knew that you weren’t going to be able to stay forever,” she said. “I am honestly shocked that they didn’t call you home sooner.”
He was silent for a second too long. Her brow lifted.
“How many times did they ask you to come back?”
“Never directly,” he said. “They never asked me directly to come back, not until just now. They asked questions like ‘were you able to verify the circumstances’ and ‘is she sure about what happened.’ And then that stopped and they started to hint that they had an actual assignment for me that wasn’t a favor. That—that wasn’t something I was doing for myself.”
She looked down, down at her stocking feet and the toes of his boots, her stomach twisting into knots. “You came because Tag asked you. Because she told you that something happened.”
“She sent me part of the report,” he admitted. “I guess she thought I should know at least a little bit about what I was walking into. I don’t know if she or someone else pulled some strings and made it look like an assignment or what, but…but I’m glad. She asked me to come but as soon as I knew, I think I would’ve come anyway. I definitely stayed because it was you.”
“Because you owed it to me,” she whispered.
“No,” he said, brow furrowing. He tucked a knuckle under her chin, lifted her gaze to his. “No, Kingston, I stayed because I wanted to. Because I wouldn’t have felt right if I’d just left.” His lips thinned and he glanced toward the comm for a moment, brow furrowing. “It still doesn’t feel right to leave.”
“You have a job to do,” she said. “I’ll be okay, Bobby. The Empire doesn’t know where I am and no one here’s going to tell them. If I’m safe anywhere, it’s here.”
He sighed, resting his forehead against hers. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Tonight, we’ll have dinner, maybe we’ll take a walk, and then in the morning, you’ll go—you’ll report in and go on to the next assignment. It’s your job. I know how it goes—it was mine, too.”
“It’s not fair,” he said softly, thumb stroking her cheek, tickling the skin at the corner of her mouth. She smiled faintly.
“The galaxy isn’t exactly a fair place, is it? We’ll manage. You and I will both manage. I will be fine. I have to figure out what I’m doing next. While you’ve been here, I’ve been able to put that off but honestly, I can’t do that forever—and you can’t stop doing what you’re doing. It’s in your blood. I see it the same way I see it when I look at Tag. Pilots once but definitely something else now.”
He choked on a laugh, wrapping both arms around her and drawing her tight against his chest. “And what about you?”
“A pilot once,” she said, resting her chin on his shoulder. “Then a spy. I don’t know. I guess we’ll see.”
“Guess we will,” he murmured, then kissed her ear. “What time were reservations?”
“We’ve got another hour before we have to leave. I have to finish getting ready.”
He squeezed her again, then let go. “All right. I’ve got some calls to make, then, I guess.”
She pecked him on the cheek and stepped back. “Try not to get too involved, huh?”
“Who me?” He shot her a lopsided grin more suited to a scoundrel than a senator’s son. “Never.”
She grinned back, swallowing a sudden flash of pain and worry, then turned back down the hallway to get ready for what felt like it might be their last night together for a long, long time.
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