Bex managed to keep her composure until she and Hackett had retreated to the privacy of his apartment, leaving a slack-jawed Khalisah in the corridor.
The moment the door was shut behind them, Bex slumped against the wall. Hackett finished giving his VI instructions and caught her in his arms before she could wilt to the floor.
He smoothed her untidy hair out of her face. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice and eyes both filled with concern and guilt.
She nodded. “Just did a very stupid thing back there, flaring my biotics like that. I’m sure Dr. Chakwas will be banging down your door the moment Khalisah airs that disaster piece, to wring my neck.”
“And why would she do that?”
“Because I’m supposed to be taking it easy after Therum, meaning no biotics.” She toyed with the buttons on his shirt, avoiding his piercing gaze. “And also because I haven’t eaten since before…”
One arm tightened around her waist as he used the other hand to tilt her chin up so she was forced to look at him. “Before Therum?”
He stared at her a moment but said nothing else, merely scooped her up and carried her to the kitchen, where he set her up on one of the counters and began rummaging through his refrigerator and cabinets. “Pancakes or waffles?” he asked after several minutes of silence, emerging from the refrigerator with a carton of eggs. “Or something else?”
Bex pretended to think for a moment. “Waffles, I think. With a side of what the bloody hell happened back there? Something you want to tell me, Steven?” She fixed him with a pointed stare. “I seem to have missed the proposal and the wedding.”
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