Page 39 of How to Steal a Galaxy

“A record for me.”

“—but you also prevented violence.”

“I asked you not to remind me of that.”

“I knew—Iknew—you’d come tonight, though.” Rian shakes his head again, not even aware that he is doing it, I think. Trying to clear his mind. His gaze focuses on my left ear. “You’re missing an earring.” He giggles, like there’s been nothing funnier than my lost earring, then he sobers, a little frown line between his two usually sharp eyes, and I can almost see him questioning why he would find a missing earring funny.

We start walking through the big front doors out toward the steps. I veer Rian to the tread ramps to the sides. My feet are killing me in these heels, and he’s already stumbling.

“Iknewyou were going to come tonight,” Rian mutters, his voice wobbly when the ramp grips his feet and the rubber tread below starts moving him toward the street.

“And I did,” I say. Despite the city lights, I can still spot some stars peeking through the night sky, silver clouds hiding the big moon, and the little one a sliver of a crescent, a sharp-edged bowl about to tip the stars out, letting them sprinkle down on us.

“But you didn’t steal anything,” Rian says, a hint of a whine in his voice.

I was right. This onelivesfor the chase.

Good thing I like running.

I pull him against me as the tread under our feet smoothly glides us around the curve of the ramp. “I told you,” I whisper in his ear, reveling in the way my breath makes him unravel. “I only came here for you.”

Okay, that’s not entirely true, but he deserves my full attention right now. Besides? My other gamble? I’ll have to wait a little while longer to see if that pays off.

But tonight? Tonight belongs to Rian. Me.

Us.

He pulls back, suspicion giving him a searing beam of light through the fogginess clouding his mind. “Why? To gain my trust? To deliver a message? From who?”

We step off the treads of the ramp, and I stumble a little on the hard concrete sidewalk. Dumb shoes.

“Can’t a girl just want a romantic date?” I ask.

Above, at the top of the imposing white steps, a flash of red. Phoebe scans the departing crowd, her gown a fiery streak, the electric lights in her braided buns a demonic halo. I tip my face toward her, and when she notices Rian, me, us, she just nods and steps back into the museum.

“A date?” Rian laughs. “Maybe it’s just the relief of all this being over...”

Or maybe it’s the psychotropic drug in my lip gloss that I’ve been purposefully planting all over him, so strong that only the color seal on my lips keeps it from bleeding into my bloodstream, so powerful that I resisted chocolate-covered strawberries just to make sure I didn’t risk coming under its intoxicating effects.

I steer him toward the corner and the ride I’ve already arranged. A good hunter, after all, knows not only how to secure her prey but how to transport it.

“Oh, Rian,” I say gently, pouring him into the backseat of the rental self-drive. “This night is far from over.”

17

Rian wakes up slowly, groggy. His gaze focuses on me, and a little smile carves into his lips. Oh, that does something to my heart. Oh, shit. This is going to be trouble.

His eyes widen, and he sits up in the bed, head whipping around.

“Where the fuck am I?” he asks. Realization zips through him like an electric shock. “Am I on your ship?” He’s confused but not panicked, not yet. He knows—he must know—that my ship was docked not more than an hour away from the Museum of Intergalactic History. Whatever scheduled agenda he’s got running through his head, he’s probably figuring out how he many bullet points he can still cross off, depending on how long he was passed out.

“Welcome to the illustriousGlory,” I start, but he cuts me off.

“Am I inyour bed?”

“You don’t have to sound so ungrateful about it,” I grumble. “Thereisonly one bed on this ship.”

“Did we— What did we do?” There’s a manic edge to his voice now. He’s taking it all in—the narrow bed, his jacket crumpled on the floor, my change in clothes from an expensive gown to a serviceable (and comfortable) shirt and trousers.

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