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He trailed leather and a sensual musk steeped in bergamot, grapefruit, lime, and artemisia.

Enticing.

Her body betrayed her. Every nerve lit. The hairs on her arms stood up.

She hated it. She also wanted to moan it, part aroused, part horrified; she was reacting this way to amostro, though she kept the latter thought to herself.

‘Oh, I bite. Hard,’ she muttered, backing away.

His lips curl. ‘Do you now?’

His eyes gleamed with an unholy light.

She caught on to the meaning he took from her words and sighed. ‘I need to get out of here.’

He raised the drink to his lips and sipped, silent and brooding.

Then, with an amused glance laced with a sardonic twist, he drawled, ‘So find your way out.’

She raised her chin, defiant. ‘Fine. I’m leaving.’

He tilted his head and jerked his chin, saying nothing.

Nada, not even a farewell grunt.

She turned on her heel and strode out into the hallway.

Gone were the pulsing lights. So too, the guide path.

The ship was quiet.

Ominously so.

‘Son of a -.’

She veered left and hit a dead end.

She swerved right into another curved pathway that looped into a gallery. The place was a labyrinth.

‘Fokkme,’ she muttered, retracing her steps. ‘Andfokkyou.’

She made several more twists and turns before she gave in.

She cupped her hands around her mouth. ‘Which airlock gets me off this floating cage?’

The speaker above her crackled.

An amused chuckle filled the corridor. ‘You sure you don’t want a drink first? A bit of food to stave off the hangriness?’

‘I’d rather eat stars and die.’

The hallway lights flared once, then pulsed as his chuckle serenaded her furious escape.

She followed the indicators, swearing every few steps.

By the time she reached the outer portal, she was seething.

She tapped her suit lapel, and her helmet slid over her head.