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He took another slug of the drink in his mug, eyes fixed on her as she took great care to clean their empty bowls using a bulb of water and a squirt of sanitary liquid before storing them away.

She turned her energy to piling up rugs on the two pallets, and he again wondered why she’d set them so close together.

It was then that the weariness of the day hit him. His heart and bones ached, his head throbbed, and he began to feel his noids cry out for rest.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

‘Get up, Ribau. You’ll be lying next to me.’ She sounded resigned, as if to a fate she was trying to avoid.

He looked up with a sharp glance at her.

The barrel of her laser was pointing right at him. Above it, her gaze was cold and empty.

He raised a brow. ‘Planning to kill me?’

‘I didn’t say anything about killing you. Not yet, anyway. I still need you and your craft, you know that.’

‘But, you won’t tell me where you’re going?’

He was being churlish and stirring them into a foolish argument, as lovers sometimes did. It pained him in its familiarity and ridiculousness at the same time.

Yet, he couldn’t help himself.

She shook her head in dismay. ‘In time, I’ll share. If you push me, though, I may have to do some damage. I’m freakin’ good with a laser and can fire at will. Which do you prefer, in the arm or thigh?’

‘Damn woman, slow your roll.’

‘Then do as I say.’ She tapped the weapon. ‘You’re going to come over to the pallets. I’m going to tighten your manacles. Before I do so, I will hand you a second set, which you’ll place around your feet and lie down. While I do so, do not dare attack me. I will not hesitate to blitz you.’

Little did she know he’d never harm a silken hair on her head.

‘Don’t try any tricks,’ she warned again. ‘I don’t want to have to hurt you.

He looked at her pale face and rigid frame, poised as if she was ready to fire, and amusement quirked his mouth. ‘Woman, you have no conception how gone I am right now,’ he drawled. ‘No way in hell I’d attempt a getaway. I’m a paltry bounty hunter with zero idea what planet I’m even on. I’d be lost with you.’

The irony of his words was not squandered on him.

His reassurance, however, didn’t work, as her body remained rigid.

‘Hurry,’ she said. ‘We’ve only got a few hours before we need to trek again.’

He sighed. ‘It’s clear you’ve no notion of howfokkin’ uncomfortable it will be trying to sleep with manacled hands and feet. I won’t be able to rest at all.’

‘I don’t care, Ribau, just do it. The only alternative is for me to knock you out. I don’t want to do that.’

‘Your magnanimity is astounding.’

He grimaced, rose, and handed his cup to her. Impatient, she threw it into the cargo pallet that was now acting as a barrier at the entrance to the hollow.

She then dangled a second pair of energy manacles at him.

He took them from her with a quirk to his lips, bent over, and eased his boots off. Barefoot, he strapped the restraints to his ankles.

He slumped onto one of the sleeping pallets, where he squirmed around until he found some comfort.

All the while, she studied him, gaze narrowed.

He eyed her, wondering how far he’d push her. ‘A blanket, perhaps?’