Page 51 of Until the Stars Fall

“Looking like what? What do you see?” The last thing I needed was for rumors to fly on this ship, no matter how I felt about Beck.

“Don’t worry, I’m the only one on board who can see auras to this extent, but Hannah’s got a sixth sense. So I don’t know if you’re ready for your sister or anyone else to know about whatever’s happening with Beck. But let’s just say you’re both still…energetically connected.” She lit a smoke bundle and blew it into a smolder. “May I?”

I nodded. Being with Beck had been so passionate, transcendent even. “Energetically connected, huh?”

She stopped bathing me in smoke to look at me, amused. “Girl, your energy was all over that big man this morning, and he’s still all over you. I think I see a sacral etheric cord taking shape.”

I didn’t understand the words, but she said it with the playful intonation of a girl teasing her friend about a boy.

“Honestly, it’s been forming for a while. I first noticed it after the spacewalk. Together you’re raising each other’s vibration, and that’s a good thing, but you still only want your own energy in your aura.”

She finished cleansing me and tapped the bottle in my hand. “Here. Take one of these after each encounter to prevent pregnancy.”

“Thank you.” I turned to go, but thought better of it. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Of course not! Look, there’s a water fountain in the front.”

I stopped on the way out to take a pill, and I stowed the bottle back in my room before anyone saw me with it.

Walking into the kitchen for breakfast, I heard Beck before I saw him. Hannah and Eyre were filling their plates, and Beck was setting out orange juice and coffee with Summer. Whatever Summer had said had Beck cracking up with his mouth open wide in that approachable, life-of-the-party way he had. He was wearing a black V-neck T-shirt and jeans, and his wet hair was pulled up. He looked up at me as I walked in, and I could’ve sworn an invisible string tightened from my belly to his. Is that what Zola was talking about?

Was it too soon to get him naked again?

“Look out,” he called out, “safety engineer on deck!”

No one in the room reacted to his habitual morning greeting to me, and relief sank through my bones.

“Hey Gem, we’ve got scrambled eggs and bacon this morning,” Hannah called.

“That sounds amazing. I’m starving.” I scooped eggs onto my plate, and Beck appeared beside me.

“Your OJ, madam,” he said, his eyes sparkling more than usual. I felt rather than saw a change in his demeanor. To anyone else, I hoped he looked the same, but his magnetism drew me in. Electricity nipped my hand when he handed me the cup and our fingers brushed.

“I like what you’ve done with your hair,” Summer said to me.

Hannah came up and played with one of my curls. “She’s finally taking some steps away from the straight iron.”

I smirked at my sister before turning to Beck. “I’ve got a shift in the kitchen this morning. Can you get that measurement on the brinwire tubing for me and see if we have anything to run a new line?”

He nodded, chewing and not looking up at me. “Didn’t we see some in that box of old mech parts?”

“Yes! Thank you. I knew I’d seen some somewhere, but I couldn’t remember where.”

To her credit, Zola was a phenomenal actor, and Beck was following my lead to keep whatever was happening between us, between us. And thank God. I didn’t understand what Beck and I had yet, and besides, it was too new and precious to share. When other peoples’ opinions got involved with my love life, it never ended well. And every time I thought of him, I didn’t want it to end.

Because of my kitchen shift, I only saw him during mealtimes when the others were around. But about an hour after dinner, on my way out of the kitchen, I got a text from him: Can’t stop thinking about you. If you want me, I’m at your Beck and call. ;)

I snorted and tagged his text with a laughing emoji. He thought he was so funny.

I waited until I was back in my room to reply: Still up?

I took a minute to refresh myself in the bathroom. His response was waiting for me when I got out.

Yes ma’am. Just got out the shower.

Wicked, shower-related shenanigans with Beck? I texted him back: Be right there.

I poked my head out of my room and looked both ways. I didn’t know why I was sneaking around. I’d left Hannah in the kitchen, and no one else was on my hallway. Besides. It was a big ship, and hardly anyone wandered around this late. I slipped down the service stairs.

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