Page 18 of Captain's Orders
"It shouldn't be, if you're open to it."
"And yet here we are." Dani smiled. "What about you? If you were looking—and I know you're not—but if you were. What would your type be?"
Jordan considered this. "I've never really thought about it in those terms."
"Try."
"It would have to be someone who understood the job," she said. "Someone who didn't need me to be available all the time. Someone who was already part of this world, maybe." She looked at her glass. "Someone I trust and someone direct. I'm terrible at reading signals, so if someone's interested, they'd need to actually tell me, because I won't pick up on it."
Dani wasn't sure if she was describing a type or describing her, and she didn't trust herself to know the difference right now. Even though she'd always denied it, Lindsay had once told her her crush was so obvious it could be seen from space. So Jordan really was that oblivious.
"And physically?" Dani asked.
Jordan just looked at her, didn't answer. And suddenly Dani was convinced she thought she was fishing—that this conversation had been a setup to find out if she was her type, which it absolutely wasn't, except that maybe it slightly was, and now she needed to fill the silence before it swallowed her whole.
"I mean, generally speaking. Like, celebrities. Is there anyone famous you find attractive? Just out of curiosity. This is just a getting-to-know-each-other conversation. Girls' talk. Totally normal. Like, I think Cate Blanchett is—I mean, everyone thinks Cate Blanchett is—that's basically a universal fact at this point?—"
"Dani, you're rambling again."
"I know."
"Which means you're nervous."
"I'm not nervous, I'm making conversation. This is good, right? We're talking. It's making things less awkward." Dani gestured between them with her glass, nearly sloshing scotch on the bedsheet. "Two colleagues. Chatting. Relaxed."
Jordan raised an eyebrow. "You look about as relaxed as someone defusing a bomb." She grinned. "But to answer your question, physically my type would be…" She stopped. Looked at Dani again but remained silent.
The silence stretched just long enough for Dani to understand she wasn't going to. That she'd chosen, in this moment, not to lie and not to tell the truth either. Dani wanted to make a joke, change the subject, anything. But her throat had gone dry and Jordan was still looking at her with those steady gray eyes.
"You have nice eyes," she heard herself say.
Oh god. Her face was on fire.
Jordan didn't react the way Dani expected. No deflection, no laugh.
"Yours are beautiful," she said quietly.
Then she looked down at her glass like she was surprised it was still in her hand. Her jaw tightened, just slightly. "It's late," she said. "We should probably call it a night."
12
JORDAN
Dani was beside her berth. The lights were off, but the strip of corridor light under the door cut a pale band across the floor, and Jordan could see her clearly enough. She wasn't wearing anything, just standing there as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Sorry," she whispered. "I can't sleep. I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't." Jordan pushed up against the bulkhead and Dani pointed to her berth.
"Can I get in with you? Just for a bit."
This was the kind of thing that only happened in Jordan's fantasies, and it felt surreal, but she lifted the covers anyway.
Dani slid in beside her, aligning her body with hers. She was warm and soft and feminine under Jordan's palm as her hand found her hip. Jordan didn't question what was happening. She draped her arm over Dani and drew her closer, and Dani breathed out against the hollow of her throat.
Her breath on Jordan's skin was doing something to her that she couldn't stop. There was a low pull starting under herribs, spreading down between her thighs. Dani's hand found the small of her back and her grip on her tightened.
And then Dani tilted her face up and kissed her, like she'd been planning this all along. Her mouth opened against Jordan's, and her hand slid into her hair. Jordan kissed her back hard and moaned as she rolled on top of her, pinning her to the mattress.
