Page 10 of Radiant Exception
There wasn’t a speck of dust visible.
He had no personal effects, other than his extra uniforms, hung and pressed neatly in a slim cabinet in the wall, or the standard-issue Starlane toiletries, arranged in an orderly fashion in a drawer in the bathroom.
My large pack was tucked into a corner, where Rion had likely placed it. Truth be told, I didn’t have much either, and I had been trained, like Vaughn, it seemed, to leave little behind of yourself in spaces that were accessible to others. But still, I could tell plenty about Vaughn with what wasn’t present.
Like me, he had no family. An article I’d read labeled him as an orphan, although I wasn’t sure if he’d been raised as such, or if he’d lost his family in adulthood, as I had. His attention to detail, extreme cleanliness, and hyper-organization spoke to his military background, and I assumed, a need for order.
Understanding this about him, it was easy to see how me showing up and throwing his world into chaos was probably the absolute worst-case scenario for him. But given that he was an experienced military leader, he also had to know how to adapt to change. There were always variables in the field you had to account for and move around. Maybe captaining this ship for the last eighteen months had made it easy for him to control most things.
But he couldn’t control me. And he certainly couldn’t control the Phoenix. So he was going to have to be flexible in his approach and execution.
Lucky for him, adaptability was my middle name, and if I could find a way to work with or around him, I could adjust where he was unable or unwilling. It was that very skill that had allowed me to succeed while working at IA, and why I’d become one of their most valuable field assets for a time.
I could feel myself getting back into the swing of things, loosening stiff joints and disused muscles from years out of the field. While I had felt discombobulated upon running into Cassidy, the longer I was alone in Vaughn’s room with my thoughts, the more I felt like I was actually back in my element.
While I snooped and figured out where to put the few things I’d brought with me, I tried to run through likely outcomes for how to better partner with Vaughn, seeing as working together would be the most ideal situation. I hoped that if I had the opportunity to at least tell him about my experience that he would be more open to collaborating voluntarily.
If he refused to give me a chance, given how gruff he’d already acted, considering both his military background and leadership status on the ship, I could easily pivot and play dead. If he wanted a complacent little wife who would agree with him and stand down from contributing to the mission, then that’s what I’d do…outwardly.
Behind the scenes, I’d conduct my own investigation. I was well used to people, men in particular, underestimating me, so what was one more? I would take a lot of joy in proving him wrong, completing the mission on my own.
The choice would be his to make. Would he play nice or force me to show him up?
The only catch for either path was that I needed to learn more about Vaughn to discern the best way to coax him into trusting me. My greatest strength as a covert operative was finding the best ways to get under people’s skin and manipulate them to do what I wanted them to do. I wasn’t naive enough to think that Vaughn would be an easy mark, given his own experience in the field, but if he didn’t realize I was using his weaknesses against him, did it really matter if I was taking advantage of them to my benefit, especially if it meant the mission was completed quickly and without casualties?
I didn’t have much to unpack, and Vaughn barely used any of the ample storage space built into the relatively spacious captain’s quarters. I tried to keep my things far from where he kept his, assuming that the more inconspicuous I was, the easier it would make things between us during the transition. If nothing else, it would show him that I respected his space. The jury was still out on whether Irespected him, seeing as I’d barely talked to him for more than two minutes before he’d stormed off like a child.
The door snicked open and I froze, coming face to face with Vaughn once again.
Neither of us moved for a long moment, each observing the other and wondering who would break first. Just like with Darren, I knew it would be me, and all the better for Vaughn to believe that he had the upper hand.
“I’m sorry Darren left us both in the dark,” I offered, taking a step backward, wincing when my back met the wall. Nowhere to go.
Vaughn continued to silently stare.
And I continued playing the part of a desperate colleague…okay, maybe it wasn’t such a stretch. “You understand there’s no way out of this. The exception was approved, regardless of whatever paperwork Darren forged and favors he called in. If we don’t at least try, it will look worse for both of us in the long run. Do you really want to go out there and tell your crew this was some sort of mistake?”
“After what you did in front of Officer Reese, you made that option impossible,” Vaughn growled, his tone laced with venom.
But was that a hint of pink across his cheeks?
Let’s find out, I thought.
I took a step toward Vaughn. “Listen, I’m not exactly happy about it either, but we have a common goal.” Tentatively, I reached out and placed my hand on his arm, a pale, blank canvas over the dark scales starting from his wrist, trailing upwards and ending somewhere beneath his uniform. “Surely we can find a way to work together.” My voice was soft as my gaze met his.
And for a moment, I had him.
His blush deepened before he realized his mistake and recoiled from my touch. However, something inside him didn’t want to. And I could use that something, but only if I needed to, as a last resort. I wasn’t the kind of operative to seduce men for the sport of it, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been forced to, if for nothing else than for self-preservation, though I didn’t enjoy it.
At the very least, it confirmed my suspicions that Vaughn had enjoyed our first kiss. You can’t fake a physical response like that. And there was something so cute about this big, buff, rough-and-tumble military man being shy and embarrassed about enjoying a great kiss.
Maybe fostering a little crush would be a way to get him to open up and start to trust me. That was all I needed—just a tiny crack to break the whole thing wide open. Still, I was going to have a challenge with building trust, seeing as Vaughn was a man of few words and clearly would do everything in his power to stay away from me. Getting revenge on the person and group responsible for killing my family would certainly be worth the trouble.
“Listen, I talked to Darren. I know I’m stuck with you, but I don’t have to like it.” He glared at me, beginning to pace across the room, getting as far from me as possible.
Oh, he really likes me, doesn’t he?
Well, if he was intent on taking the harder path, I knew what I had to do. I sat down on the edge of the bed, demurely crossing one leg over the other as I leaned back on my palms. Letting him feel like he was in control of both the situation and of our physical distance would ease his nerves. Sitting literally below him wouldsubconsciously communicate submission, although I had no intention of doing anything of the sort…unless he wanted to use that grumpy captain voice under more salacious circumstances…
