Her heart still felt like it was about to thump right out of her chest and around the room, but he made her smile.
“What. The. Fuck,” Rue said, giving her the accompanying look. “Girl, I thought you were about ready to jump her. In fact, I’m pretty sure that for a minute there I went from holding you up to holding you back! What the hell is going on with you?”
“Not now,” she murmured, not arguing against the truth but also not wanting to talk about her homicidal tendencies in front of Sparx either.
“Are you” –he licked his lips as his eyes seemed to take her in— “well?”
Lucy’s stomach flipped at the sound of Sparx’s voice. The rumble eased something in her.
“Now I am,” she answered with a nod. “I mean, my ankle is still out for the count, but other than that…”
Both were silent as they stared at each other.
“What’s going on right now?” Rue interrupted, her brows furrowed as she looked back and forth between Sparx and Lucy. “And don’t be giving me none of that ‘nothing’ bullshit either. Are you a pod person or something now? Do I need to start asking questions only the real Goose would know?”
Lucy snorted, the sound echoing inside her suit.
“Goose?” Sparx asked, looking confused himself.
“Never mind.” Lucy waved him away before she’d have to explain the embarrassing origin of her nickname. “Can we take these off yet? I’m getting a little warm.”
“Warm?” he echoed, his face now concerned. “The suits are supposed to regulate your temperature. You should feel comfortable, not warm.”
“Sorry, but I feel warm.” She shrugged, the bulky suit lifting with the action. “Maybe something got messed up when I fell earlier?”
“You fell? Are you all right?” Sparx asked, moving forward to grip the shoulders of her suit.
“Whoa, big guy. Take it easy there.” The protest came from Rue where she was still situated under Lucy’s pit. “She hurt her ankle. Remember?”
“Oh, of course.” Sparx stiffly dropped his hands, curling them into fists.
“Will you carry me again?” Lucy blurted out before she could stop herself. Her face blushed red at the forwardness, unable to hold back. “I mean—”
“Of course, I will.” Without another word, he stepped forward and lifted her into his arms. “I will need to set you down for a moment to open the doors for Colby, but then I will hold you again.”
“Thank you.” Lucy beamed up at him, feeling more than comfortable in his arms.
“What the fuck?” Rue asked under her breath as she shook her head at the pair. Raising one arm, she pointed at Sparx. “You’re in charge, right? Are we stuck in these suits for the rest of our lives or what?”
“Of course not.” Sparx moved away from the cave wall where he’d been stationed and back to the group where he’d originally set her down. “Inside these crates are the furs that you will need to put on once you’re out of the Phaeton garb. The boots may seem large at first, but the hide will mold around your feet once they begin to warm up.”
“Hmmm.” Rue held up a pair of booties that look similar to what Lucy could remember from the Native American museum. “Rad.”
“Once they have emptied one crate, we will use it as a seat for you.”
Lucy shook her head and gave his pecs a pat. “Go ahead and put me down now. I need to at least get this helmet off before I suffocate.”
Sparx moved quickly at her words, and before she knew it, she was vertical with him tugging off her space suit.
“Why did you not tell me you couldn’t breathe,” he asked, his voice panicked. “Damnit. These buckles are too small for my fingers.”
“Or your fingers are too big for the buckles,” Rue chuckled, pushing his hands out of the way. “And stop fussing, she’s not actually suffocating. She’s just being a drama queen.”
“Oh,” Sparx said on a breath before giving Rue a grateful nod. “Thank you for your assistance.”
“No problem.” Rue lifted up one of her newly shod feet and wiggled it at him. “Quick question…if I don’t end up staying, would I be able to take a pair of these with me? I don’t think I’ve ever felt a more comfortable pair of shoes before in my life, and I’ve even tried the diabetic ones. They sucked.”
“How are shoes diabetic?” he asked.
“They’re not diabetic.” Rue leaned around Sparx and gave her the ‘is he for real’ look. “They’re for people with diabetes.”
“You have diabetes?” Sparx’s expression was one of concern.
“Nope.”
Lucy snorted. She snorted at the way Rue was enjoying herself, but also at the look on Sparx’s face.
He was so adorably confused.
He had no idea if Rue was joking or not—which she wasn’t—and looked as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her—which was the way people normally looked at her. But he had said thank you, which ticked off a mark in the plus column, as far as Lucy was concerned.
So far, he seemed perfect.
Chapter Fifteen
Four hours later…
Lucy frowned at Sparx’s back as he walked away from her.
Maybe he wasn’t so perfect after all.
“What was that all about?” Rue asked, pushing the hood of her leather cloak back. “One minute you two were making goo-goo eyes at each other, and the next minute he was acting like you had crabs.”
“Rue!” she half yelled, angry at Rue for hitting the nail on the head.
“What?!” Her bestie exclaimed, appearing too innocent for her own good. “All I’m saying is that from the moment he picked you up and began carrying you—through jewel-encrusted caves that you paid literally no attention to might I add—the two of you were undressing each other with your eyeballs. Then, after he offers to bring you to your room, he’s suddenly colder than the cave we walked through to get here.” Rue shot her some side-eye. “Well, all of us but you walked through to get here.”
Lucy flopped back on the bed Sparx had unceremoniously deposited her on before hightailing it out of there. “I don’t know what happened.”
“Those were some mixed signals for sure. What were you talking about while he helped you get your furs on?” Rue climbed on the mattress and crossed her legs as if they were teenagers again having a sleepover. “Come on, tell me. I was too far away to properly eavesdrop and you know it.”
“I can’t even remember,” she said on a sigh, thinking back to the nervous chatter that had spilled out while he was helping her get the boots on. “He said something about how small my feet were, how small I was in general actually. Which was totally weird to hear, right?”
“Compared to them, we are small. Even the two of us,” Rue said, patting Lucy’s thigh. “They’re so big they even make me feel like a fragile flower, and you know that’s crazy. I’ve always been one of the biggest people in the room, and that’s counting some of the men. I don’t know, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having someone under me I’m not worried I’ll break in half.”
“I know what you mean,” Lucy agreed. “You remember the last online date that I had, right? Tim?”
“Tiny Tim,” Rue said while sputtering laughter. “I totally forgot about that little fella.”
“Don’t call him that,” Lucy admonished, immediately feeling bad for bringing him up for Rue to pick on. “He was nice.”
“He was also a liar, Goose. L-I-A-R.” Rue shook her head. “I still don’t understand why men will list one height on their profile and then show up minus a few inches. I mean, you were expecting 5’11’’ and you got 5’5’’ including the lifts he was wearing.”
Lucy shrugged, wrinkling her nose at the memory of Tim and the awful date that followed. It wasn’t that he was short. Seriously. Coming in at just over five feet tall herself, Tim still was taller than she was. It had been more than his height that had fallen short; it had b
een his attitude. He’d blustered and complained almost the entire evening. His rudeness to the waitstaff had been an immediate turnoff, but that wasn’t where it ended. The moment he’d started negging her, she was over and done with the entire sham of an evening. She didn’t care if he was suffering from little man syndrome or not, he wasn’t going to get by with being a dick the entire night.
“These rooms are nice.” Rue bounced a couple of times on the mattress. “Not bad.”
“You’re just next door, right?” Lucy asked, scooting on her butt until she was lying down with her head on the pillows. Snuggling her face in, she took a deep breath. “You’re right,” she said without lifting her face, the words muffled.
“Huh?” Rue grunted, flopping down next to her.
Turning her head to the side, she blew the hair that wafted down out of her face. “I said you’re right. These are nice.”
“You look rough, Goose.” Rue touched her forehead briefly before booping her on the nose. “How about I leave you alone so you can take a nap? You can just put your foot up and chill. I know you didn’t sleep very well last night, and the time change is only going to make it worse.” Climbing off the bed, she propped her hands on her hips in a mother-hen pose before grabbing a pillow and stuffing it under Lucy’s bum ankle. “Keep this elevated.”
“Yes, Mother,” Lucy said with a snicker.
Rue thumped her in the face with a spare pillow. “Don’t tempt me to hold it down.”
Pushing it off, Lucy let out a yawn to rival all yawns. “Jesus Christ. I didn’t realize how tired I was.”
“I figured as much.” Walking to the door, Rue turned around to point a finger at her. “Get some sleep. Colby said the healers will be on call if you need them. My guess is we have at least an hour or two before they send escorts to take us to the dining hall for our formal introduction.” She snickered, unable to hide a grin. “Gah, that sounds so cheesy. Formal introduction. Like we’re a group of eighteen-year-old debutantes instead of man-hungry women approaching thirty.”
Lucy nodded, having heard a snippet of that particular conversation after they’d treated her sprain immediately upon entering the city. It was one of those situations where she remembered talking to the healers but had no clue what they’d said when it came to the actual details.
Because her focus had been on Sparx the entire time.
“Your eyes went all dreamy again, so I’m going to take that as my cue to vamoose.” Rue let out a deep, wistful sigh before pulling open the door. “Don’t forget that I’m right next door if you need anything…mostly likely trying to figure a way to chip some of these stones away.” Running her hand over the wall next to the door, she dug her fingertip into the edge of one. “You think they’re gonna check our bags when we leave? I mean, they won’t mind a few missing pieces of wall, right?”
Lucy shot her a narrow-eyed look.
“Geez, Louise. I was only kidding.” Rue laughed, holding her hands up. “Get some sleep. I’ll make sure our escorts take us to the dining hall for our formal introduction together,” she said, finishing with a fake French accent that made Lucy giggle.
“Thanks, Rue.” Lucy blew her bestie a kiss. “For everything.”
“Sweet dreams, Goose.”
Lucy watched the door close before flopping back onto the pillows Rue had practically fluffed underneath her. Staring up at the ceiling, she studied the sparkling slope, her eyes tracking each individual mark that showed where the Djaromir had carved something out of nothing.
Now that she was alone, she had nothing to cloud her thoughts as she tried to work through the pickle she found herself in.
Her ankle wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as she’d worried it would be. In fact, it was essentially a non-issue. The healers said with rest she’d be fine in a few days, a week tops, which was a lot faster than she’d expected. The worry that she was going to be sent back to Earth went up in a puff of smoke, giving Lucy only one thing to fixate on.
Sparx.
She hadn’t been lying to her friend when she said she had no clue what was going on with her. She seemed to be running hot and cold simultaneously, unable to adjust to the temperature around her. Lifting her hands to her cheeks, she palmed the hot-to-the-touch skin.
It was odd for sure.
Emotionally, she felt like a live wire, skipping and hopping all over the damn place with no rhyme or reason as to where she was landing. One minute she was laughing with Rue, and the next she’d been so full of rage, she’d felt like the human torch. She’d never been the type to attack first, talk later, but when she’d seen Tabitha touching Sparx, she’d mentally envisioned breaking every single one of the woman’s fingers.
And enjoying it.
Which was crazy, right?
Lucy rolled onto her side, making sure to keep her bad ankle on the pillow. Staring at the door, she fixated on the grain of the wood as she tried to piece together what the hell was happening to her.
No wonder Rue had asked if Lucy was a pod person…
She kind of felt like one.
Chapter Sixteen
“What is wrong with you?”
Colby’s voice broke into Sparx’s thoughts.
“What?” Narrowing his eyes on his second in command, he grunted. “Nothing.”
So far, he’d been able to somewhat pretend that things were unchanged, and that was how he intended to continue. Everything was normal. Completely normal.
“If you say so,” Colby mumbled barely loud enough for Sparx to hear. “Warlord Matrix is waiting for you in the command center.”
Sparx turned around and began walking in that direction, knowing that the healers would be able to speak with him at any time versus Matrix who most likely would need to leave for Gunninng sooner rather than later.
“He has requested quarters be readied for him.”
Colby’s words made Sparx stop in his tracks and frown.
“Where would you like us to place him?” Colby asked, waiting for Sparx to continue walking before he began again. “We have extra quarters readied off of the kitchens—”
“No!” Sparx snapped shortly. “He can have one of the smaller rooms off the storage caves.”
“But why?” Colby asked, his expression one of confusion. “Those halls are much colder than the areas that we’ve already planned to keep warm for the females.”
Sparx didn’t have to wait long for Colby to understand why he’d wanted Matrix given a room so far from the center. The other warlord had already interfered enough. Granted he had been helping instead of hindering; however, Sparx still wasn’t about to place him next door to the females they’d received.
“Oh.” Colby nodded. “I’ll have the men put fresh furs in one of those rooms and let Warlord Matrix know of your decision.”
“I can let him know myself,” Sparx said as he pushed through the double doors that led to the command center. The men bustling about inside acknowledged his entrance with a small bow.
“Go about your business,” he said, nodding for them to resume their duties.
Monitors and displays covered the walls, permitting a watchful eye over all off Djaromir. The displays showed radar imagery of the Djaromir surface, as well as all activity in the space surrounding their planet. The Phaeton spacecraft were shuttling off the screen, returning to Phaeton One minus their female passengers.
“I heard you’ve already broken one of your females, Sparx?” Matrix teased as he stood up to greet him.
At the mention of Lucy, the smile that was on his face fell. He’d hoped to use the meeting as a distraction from his female obsession. But his wishes had been dashed within seconds. He worried that he would never find a moment’s peace to unravel his thoughts.
“Her injury occurred in the care of the Phaetons, ‘Trix,” Sparx answered nonchalantly. “The healers have already tended to her, and she will be fine with some rest.”
“Good.”
&
nbsp; “I’ve learned you wish to stay for a while?”
Sparx sank into one of the large carved stone chairs in the center of the room as he changed the subject. Five of them were positioned in a circle with a low table in the middle, serving as an area where the warlord and others could gather for meetings. Holding out his hand, he gestured for the other warlord to join him. Colby positioned himself over Sparx’s shoulder and waited at attention for his next task.
“I do,” Matrix answered, taking a seat. “I assumed I would be welcomed.”
“As long as you don’t plan to interfere with the volunteers or my men, I see no problem with that.” Sparx forced a smile as he delivered the rest of his news. “My men are in the process of preparing you quarters in the storage tunnels.”
“What?” Matrix said, his face surprised but also amused. “Do you plan to freeze me out?”
“Not necessarily.” Shaking his head, Sparx chuckled. “I’m simply not eager for you to get comfortable.”
“My stay will be short and sweet. Do not worry,” Matrix agreed with a nod. “I’m simply curious as to how the initial meetings will go. You have to admit that, if Gunninng were the first city to receive their bounty, you would be just as curious.”
“True,” Sparx conceded. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his leather-clad knees. “Do you remember when K’hor and his lady first mated?” The question had been one of many he’d planned to ask the healers before Matrix interrupted those plans.
“Yes, why?”
Sparx took a second to think on what he was prepared to say to his friend. He wasn’t the type to share with others, so he was already venturing into uncharted territory. But he had questions. A lot of them. Starting with the physical symptoms, which he hadn’t thought important enough to pay attention to when the healers were going over it with his men.
Sparx knew Lucy had been feeling warm and some of her vitals were elevated, but the healers who had looked over her foot had not seemed concerned. Once her helmet had been removed, she’d leaned against him and breathed deep. He’d waited, almost holding his own breath to see if she said anything about his smell, but nothing happened. Lucy didn’t seem to react at all to him after that initial show of possessiveness when Tabitha was all over him.
Miners of Djaromir: Sparx Page 8
