Ignite by Tana Stone
Chapter Twenty-Six
Zoey
I ducked into Nina’s office, flattening myself against the wall. “Is he still following me?”
My friend looked up, pushing a curtain of dark curls from her face and readjusting her glasses. “Is who still following you?”
I peeked my head around the wall and loosed a breath. “Serge. He’s been trying to pin me down about rescheduling that virtual date all day.”
Nina grinned and leaned back from her shiny white desk. “You do know the walls to this office are only frosted glass, right? He can still make out your shape.”
I groaned, eyeing the modern walls that divided up the design studio. “I miss wood and sheetrock.”
“Not very popular choices for space stations.” She swiped her fingers across her tablet to save her work. “I thought you’d changed your mind about the whole matchmaking thing. Serge said you were excited to meet the Drexian he picked out for you.”
“I had to make him think I was into it.”
“Why?”
Crap. I couldn’t tell Nina the real reason I’d feigned enthusiasm for the setup—to distract Serge from suspecting that I was involved with the captain. Since he’d nearly walked in on us the day before, I’d been paranoid that he suspected something. I wasn’t ready for anyone to know about my sex-with-no-strings-attached deal with Kalex. Not even my closest friend on the station.
I shrugged, not meeting her gaze. “I thought if I went along with it, he’d calm down a bit.”
She barked out a laugh. “You have met Serge, right?”
“It wasn’t my best plan.”
“Obviously. How long do you plan to hide from him?”
“Do you think it’s possible to avoid him until the station is completed, and I return to the Earth?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I think you’ll be lucky if he doesn’t track you down by the end of the day.”
She was right. It was a self-contained station, and Serge was relentless. “At least the captain isn’t allowing nonessential communication yet. Serge might be able to harass me about picking a new time and my wardrobe choices, but he can’t actually schedule anything.”
“That won’t be forever, though.” Nina swiveled her chair around. “Vekron’s been able to do amazing things to strengthen the shields.”
The entire crew had been working around the clock to prepare the station for a potential alien invasion, even if not everyone knew that’s what they were doing. Nina knew, but only because she was working closely with Vekron, and I couldn’t bear the thought of keeping multiple secrets from her. Considering what we knew of the Kronock, she’d taken the news well, throwing herself into work.
I wished I’d had the same luxury, but there wasn’t much for an astro-architect to do when it came to shields and security systems. Which meant I’d spent too much time obsessing over my secret arrangement with Kalex and avoiding Serge.
“I guess you don’t need any help from me,” I said.
“Not unless you’ve learned encryption coding since yesterday.”
I shook my head. “Remind me again how you know. I thought your cousin taught you holographic design.”
“It’s impossible to work with Vekron and not pick things up. One day, when things were slow, I asked him to teach me.”
“You learned encryption coding on the side?” I marveled at my friend. Despite her wild hair and even wilder clothes, she was a total brain.
She twitched her shoulders. “I never had boyfriends. I learned to love studying.”
“Something else I find impossible to believe,” I muttered.
“Come on,” Nina said. “You know how it is. Boys never go for the smart girls.”
I still couldn’t buy that she hadn’t attracted guys with her untamed curls and ample curves. “Then they were idiots.”
“Speaking of guys, you’re sure you don’t want to give this Drexian a try?”
For a moment, I thought she meant Kalex, and my pulse quickened. Our encounter in his strategy room had flustered me, as had the way he’d looked at me afterward. If he hadn’t assured me that he wasn’t interested in any type of relationship, I would have been worried. He’d bristled at the mention of Dryx, and I was pretty sure his menacing growl hadn’t been about the Kronock.
I shook my head, both to assure Nina I wasn’t interested in Serge’s match and to rid my mind of the image of Kalex’s tortured expression. “Would you want Serge to pick your husband?”
Nina crinkled her nose. “Good point. His idea of a snappy dresser is probably not the same as mine.”
“Not unless you like mid-century pimp.”
Nina put a hand over her mouth to quiet her giggles. “Don’t let Serge hear you. He puts a lot of effort into his wardrobe.”
“Too bad their research into Earth fashion stopped in the 1970s.”
“I don’t know. I think the flared collars and ascots work on Serge.”
Before I could argue that flared collars didn’t work on anyone, the communication device I’d jammed into my pocket trilled. I pulled it out, my eyebrows lifting in surprise before I could school my reaction.
“Let me guess?” Nina said. “Our Gatazoid friend?”
“Actually, no.” I shoved the device back in my pants. “The captain wants to see me about the additions to the fantasy suites.”
“I thought he nixed those?”
“Maybe he changed his mind,” I said, wondering if his potential change of heart had anything to do with our new arrangement. The thought made me feel a little uneasy. I didn’t want to ever be the kind of woman who got what she wanted by using sexual favors. Then again, I did enjoy the sexual favors.
Leaving Nina with a wave, I made my way to the inclinators, stopping at one of the fantasy suite levels. It had been a few days since I last checked on this particular level, which had been designed to recreate an alien planet and not an Earth environment. It was one of the ways the Island would be different from the Boat. Since the new human brides were now all volunteers, the theory was that they were more adventurous and didn’t necessarily need to stay in a place that looked familiar—or at least recognizable.
I stepped off the inclinator car and hesitated, wondering if I’d gotten the right level. I checked my comms device. Nope, this was the level on which the captain had asked me to meet him.
Instead of entering into a holographic recreation of a Caribbean island or a mountainside chalet or even the African savannah, I had the strange sensation of stepping into a jungle slash science experiment. A lush rainforest surrounded me with vines wrapping around tall trees and colorful birds swooping overhead, but the entire place seemed to glitter. Vividly hued crystals were interspersed with the trees—some of them taller than my head. Light from two suns sifted through the canopy of leaves, making the crystalline structures sparkle and vivid shards of color dance across the wooden walkway. Steam rose from occasional sunken pools as the surface of the green water bubbled, sending up a scent that reminded me of mangos.
Vekron and Nina and the holographic design team had done an impressive job—at least I thought they had. I had no idea what this alien environment was supposed to look like, only that it was a popular R and R destination for Drexians. I only hoped the women from Earth would find it appealing, since we had devoted an entire level to it.
I strode impatiently down the walkway. Where was Kalex, and what was the problem? When I saw an open door leading inside one of the suites, I sighed, and walked through it.
If the outside of the holographic environment had been unexpected, the inside of the suite was even more so. The center of the room was sunken and opened to the ground below, one of the bubbling springs the centerpiece and surrounded by cushions and low loungers. One the other side of the pool, wide round steps led to an oval-shaped bed that was draped in layers of sheer fabric, vines like the ones in the jungle dangling from above and creating an unusual headboard.
The ceiling itself was arched and looked like the inside of a woven basket, more vines hanging at intervals to suspend swinging chairs or floating tables. Standing crystals served at lights, giving an ambient glow to the peculiar room. The entire suite was open to one side and overlooked the jungle, lush greenery extending onto the balcony.
“Kalex?” I called out, scanning the space. If he’d stood me up, I was going to have his head.
Then I heard a slight rustling from behind, but before I could turn, my hands were grabbed roughly and pinned behind my back.