I take the stairs two at a time and burst through the door on the next level up. The lights in the med unit are off. I slow and, in a crouch, approach the automatic doors from the side, trying to peer in the small window.

   Terran is sitting in my chair with his boots on the desk eating chips.

I stand up and enter, but I don’t sheath my blade.

   “About time,” he says, crunching into a chip. “Three tries is generous.”

   “What are you doing?” I ask, irritation replacing the panic I felt when I thought someone was stealing my research.

   “I was bored,” he drawls. “There is literally nothing to do on this heap.”

   “Considering you are supposed to be the engineer, you have very clean hands,” I observe. “Perhaps your time would be better spent working. I am paying you to do that, after all.”

   He wipes chip dust on his pants and then holds out his hand, making a show of examining it. “We are sitting in deep space. You had the engines serviced before you left, and they are still in top condition. I say top, not best because they are old as dirt. Makes them easier to work on in some respects, but they are never going to be next-generation tech, even if I spent my whole life down there. Besides, I’m lonely,” he adds with a smirk.

   I am seriously pissed now. Striding over to him, I knock his boots off the desk. “I was sleeping. It’s four in the morning! Go to bed if you’re bored.”

   He sits up really fast. Like, too fast. His face is suddenly centimeters from mine, but not touching. Neither of us says anything, but I don’t back away.

   He is too close. His green eyes seem to shine with an inner fire. I’m breathing his exhales… and it’s intoxicating.

   “I’ll go to bed if you go with me,” he says in a suggestive whisper.