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She made people laugh with zero effort.

Not the polite, obligatory chuckles that passed for professional conversation.

Nada. Twas the kind that had heads flung back, eyes crinkling at the edges, and caused people to lean into it as if she carried the gravitational pull of a star.

Fokk, maybe she did.

Because people flocked to her like moths to a flame because she was ethereal, she moved with unearthly grace, and when she chuckled, twas whiskey-warm, rich, andfokkin’ enticing.

She was so present and connected to the world around her that the Rider felt like he had been moving in slow, clinical detachment for far too long.

He also had a reason to keep a hawkish eye on her. Her casework was suss as hell.

So, despite himself, he shadowed Issa from afar under the guise of command duties.

Always hoping to catch her in the act of whatever celestial sleight-of-hand she was hiding.

However, all he seemed to observe was a woman in her full, maddening glory.

From her kindness when treating patients to her eyes, which seemed to hold the illuminance of endless galaxies in them.

He told himself he was hunting for answers, data, and proof of unauthorized practice.

However, he still jolted every time he bumped into her. Each freakin’ time he turned a corner, and there she was, leaning over a bed or stroking a patient’s hand in reassurance.

Sidling past him in the cafeteria, the corridors, and the surgical break room.

Hell, she was everywhere on this freakin’ capital ship that was almost half a city long.

Yet she never acted on their proximity.

No matter how often they bumped into each other in passing, how their eyes locked across a briefing room, and how thick the tension coiled between them in quiet moments, she never indulged it.

She just freakin’ smiled at him.

Beatifically.

Like a serene, untouchable goddess.

It drove himfokkin’mad.

He hid it behind his cold, glacial mask, keeping it at hand length.

Never letting on, she was getting under his skin.

Then, there wastheencounter in the lift.

He hadn’t even planned on using that particular elevator, but after another grueling surgical rotation, it was the fastest way to his quarters.

He stepped inside, expecting solitude.

Instead, he found her.

Issa was already leaning against the back wall, arms crossed, eyes closed in a rare moment of stillness.

The soft overhead glow highlighted the golden undertones of her complexion, the curve of her mouth, and the loose tendrils of riotous curls escaping her ponytail.

Her long lashes fluttered, and a brow arched when she sensed him, and their gazes locked.