Page 65 of Rogue Starfighter

“Neither are you.”

“I have combat medical training.”

“Of course you do. Is there anything irritating you can’t do?”

“No.”

She laughed again, then winced. “Do not do that. You’re going to have to stop being funny.”

“I am never funny.”

I left my palm against her side. Her skin was warm from the heat cell. The opening of her flight suit exposed the curve of one breast beneath the thin underlayer. My attention moved there. Priya noticed.

“Is your medical inspection complete?”

“Yes.” I did not remove my hand.

“Vesh? What are you doing?”

“I need to tell you something.”

Her expression changed and she sat up, tried to shove my hand away. I would not let her go. She drew the flight suit closed over my wrist but could not seal it. “You said that earlier.”

“I intended to wait to speak of such things until we were home.”

“But?”

“I have learned not to postpone important things during a war.”

She went very still. I had prepared several ways to confess my feelings. All of them sounded like mission reports or funeral declarations. The truth required fewer words. “I love you.”

Priya blinked. “What? Now? You tell me this now? Just like that?”

“Did you want a flowery speech?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” She looked down at my hand on her ribs, then back at me. “Say it again.”

“I love you, Priya Anand.”

The bond flared hot between us.

“For how long?” she asked.

“I wanted you when you were just a voice in your training recordings. I knew I was in trouble when you woke in my arms on the journey here and argued with me before you could stand. I knew I loved when you were on my lap in the training sim. I held on to my grief and hurt you. I'm sorry. I hope it's not too late.”

She pulled one knee up and wrapped both arms around it. “I spent most of my life making sure nobody could leave me again. My dad abandoned me. My mom was a mess. Gina and Alisha got through my defenses because they refused to take the hint. Everyone else stayed at a safe distance. My whole life I've been lonely on purpose instead of by accident.”

I understood that too well.

“Then you showed up,” she said. “You were real, and annoying, and standing in my tower like I belonged to you.”

“You do.”

“Wait your turn.”

“I have been waiting six days.”

“Tragic.” She put her hand over mine. “The point is, you scare the hell out of me. This bond between us scares me, too. Not because I think you’ll hurt me. Because I don’t want to be alone anymore. I don’t want the locked door, or the empty apartment, or the safe version of my life. I want you. I want a life with you. All of it. Even the war, and the terrible food, and Captain Asshole.”