Read Guardian for Free Online Page B

killed us!”
    “Us?” He gave her a sidelong glance. “This was all your doing.”
    She smiled over at him. “I never would have admitted it.”
    He winked and her heart stuttered.
    “Well, he shouldn’t have sent you down here alone, anyway. He hadn’t meant to. Zero was supposed to be here, but he’s pouting in his cabin.”
    “Why?” Though she was thankful she didn’t have to work with Zero.
    “Ocean wouldn’t let him bring a case of juice boxes onboard. Ocean told him there wasn’t room. Zero flipped.”
    “Poor Zero.” How she could go from disliking him to feeling sorry for him so quickly amazed her. But Zero was like a little kid—a naughty little kid with killer computer skills, but still. “Juice boxes are his lifeblood. I can’t imagine him taking that too well.”
    “He didn’t. In fact, he threatened mutiny when Ocean started questioning him about the case of PopTarts.”
    Her hand flew to her face. “No. Ocean didn’t take the PopTarts, did he?”
    “No, but he told Zero mutiny was punishable by death and trying to sneak juice drinks past the captain could end in keelhauling.”
    “What’s that?” Before he could answer, Nikki realized she and Mace were having an actual conversation that wasn’t filled with tension.
    There was a little tension, she had to admit, but not the bad kind. Sitting there, side by side on the floor, legs stretched out before them, she could feel some of the old spark. They both wore shorts, his long, hers a shorter pair Glimmer had chosen for her at the mall. She’d put on her wedge sandals—again, Glimmer’s pick, but they were actually comfy and cute and really did highlight the lean muscles in her calves and thighs. When she glanced at Mace, she saw he’d noticed.
    He looked up, nervously. “Sorry. You don’t usually wear sandals. They’re, um … They look … Are they new?”
    He likes them. A warm pool emptied into her stomach. She refused the warning voice that told her he shouldn’t like them and she really shouldn’t feel all mushy inside because he did. Nothing had changed. He was still a Halfling and she was still a human and that made this all wrong. “I got them at the mall. Glimmer picked them out.”
    “She sure jumped to your defense last night.”
    The whole nasty scene flooded her mind. “I’m sorry about that, Mace. It seems like everything I do ends in a war.”
    He scooted close enough that his arm and hers rested beside one another. When she breathed in deeply, they touched. She angled toward him so they touched on every breath.
    “Don’t apologize for people wanting to fight for you, Nikki. You’re important. More than you know. We all acted like spoiled babies—me especially. You were the one who deserved an apology.”
    “Did you really think I was in danger?”
    Mace’s head fell back to rest on the kitchen cupboard. He breathed in and out, his eyes fixed on the galley ceiling. “No. Do you mind if I explain something to you?”
    So formal. But that was Mace.
    “I’ve always tried to do the right thing.”
    This, she knew.
    “I’ve never been impulsive. I think things through. But with you, I tend to let my emotions run me. And sometimes, they make a mess. Does that make sense?”
    It did, and as Nikki pondered it she realized Mace was a mystery. She’d thought he was the easy one to figure out, but he wasn’t. He was the loose cannon. Whereas Raven could be counted on to do the impetuous thing. Every time.
    His lungs filled slowly as if he were trying to control every sensation, both internally and externally. He smelled like the air outside, fresh and salty. She’d missed the sound of his voice, the soothing vibration of his words. He said something she couldn’t quite make out. “What?” she asked, feeling as though she really needed to hear whatever he’d uttered.
    “I was upset because you’d left and I wasn’t with you. I was jealous, Nikki.”
    Slam! She crashed against the kitchen wall just