Page 34 of The Admiral's Daughter

I totally rear-ended her plans this morning.

“I can wait until lunch,” she replies, stepping into the lounge.

“No. It’s hard enough navigating all the ladders and walkways on a full stomach. You need fuel. Please let me fetch you breakfast.”

The ship is huge, and if we end up doing any amount of exploring, she’ll get tired fast without food in her.

“Fine. I’ll get set up.”

Bolting out the door, I set out to do a bit of hunter-gathering. Suddenly, the only thing I want to do is make sure Cleo is taken care of. It makes no sense to me, and I should probably question my sanity or go for a full physical to make sure I’m not ill or anything.

This isn’t me. I don’t fetch breakfast for women. I don’t worry about whether they’ve eaten. I don’t…care.

Except I do. With Cleo, I do.

With every step I take, I feel my confidence return.The weird mood I’ve been carrying around lifts. For the first time in days, I don’t feel like I’m drowning.

Cheddar is waiting to grab her breakfast, so I piss everyone off and cut in beside her. “Morning, sunshine.”

She looks at me with questioning eyes. “Morning. You’re…chipper.”

I shrug and smile. Yes, I’m still a little freaked out by the arrangement Cleo and I have made, but not enough to douse my mood.

“It’s a nice day. Benson can suck a dick, and Grey can gobble a bag of balls. I’m off night shift. Got a relatively stress-free day ahead. Yeah, I’m happy.”

Grabbing a tray and two plates, I stack eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. Followed by two mugs of coffee. That will keep us going for the day.

“Hungry much?” Cheddar chuckles.

“I’m taking a plate for Cleo. We’re doing the interview today. She didn’t get breakfast.”

Cheddar eyes me a little more. “You good, Riv? Last night—”

“I’m fine. I promise. Just had something to work through, but I’m all squared away.”

“It’s more than just last night, mate. You’ve been off for a while. Anything I need to worry about? Anything you want to talk about?”

Cheddar knows me better than anyone. She knows it’s unlikely I’ll want to talk. But I appreciate the offer anyway. Maybe further down the line I’ll tell her what’s going on. But not now. I promised Cleo to keep things just between us. No way I can fuck things up this early on. It feels wrong, keeping this from Cheddar. We tell each other everything. But I can’t fuck this up before it even starts.Cleo needs to trust me, and that means keeping my mouth shut.

“I know where to find you,” I reply. “Up for some Xbox tonight?”

Her concern is replaced with childlike joy. “Hell yeah. Kit and Boot are on nights, so it’ll just be the two of us.”

“Perfect. I’ll see ya later.”

The food is almost cold by the time I get back to Cleo. I should’ve just asked the officers’ chef to prepare something for her. No doubt she gets the perks of her dad’s station.

Shit. I should’ve thought of that. Some “date the shit out of you” I’m turning out to be. Can’t even manage to get her a hot breakfast.

The food temperature doesn’t seem to bother her though, because she’s tucking into the bacon like it’s the last batch on Earth.

“Bacon fan?”

While I’m laughing, Cleo stops mid-bite and blushes. It’s cute.

Something in my chest loosens. This is easy. Natural. Just two people eating breakfast and talking about bacon. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it doesn’t have to be complicated.

“Sorry. Bacon is my downfall.”