Touch of Lightning (Lightning Touch Book 1) - Excerpt: First 4 Chapters

Chapter 3: Nothing But the Best for My Girl

I couldn't think about Malvolio now. I had to concentrate on work. I tucked those thoughts away for later and thought about the park again.

After a few more minutes of noisy rock-breaking, Javolo began scooping out the rubble from the hole he'd created. "I can see the rest of the vein. It goes off to the right. Just need to collect this lot first."

"Okay."

I felt myself relax a little. I needed to concentrate on the job at hand.

I encouraged him to tell me what he could remember of the 'perfect' woman and it turned out that he'd only seen her for a brief moment as the door to the grav shaft slid shut near the entrance to the Golden Palace restaurant.

I gasped when I heard the name. The restaurant stood on the border between the Diggers' Section and the rest of Perseus Station and was divided into two separate establishments. One for the Diggers and one for the rest of the space station. I'd been there the night before with Malvolio in the main section where he'd had his little tantrum. Javolo had obviously been in the Diggers' Section.

A strange feeling crept over my skin as I thought about the fact that we'd been within fifty metres of each other and neither of us knew it. The sad part was that even if we'd come face-to-face, we wouldn't have recognised each other. Diggers and Navs lived in separate sections of the space station and were never allowed to meet. That way they couldn't get personally involved and it couldn't affect their job performance. I had no idea what Javolo looked like.

I tried to shrug off the feeling.

I was amazed that Javolo could give me so many details about the girl after such a quick glance, and I suspected his mind had filled in some of the blanks. If he saw her again, it would be a different story. Maybe her eyes weren't even blue, but I loved his poetic description of them.

It took Javolo the rest of the morning to extract the Amakio from that location, having to make more than one trip with his floating tub in tow. I was always amused when imagining the floating rectangular tub harnessed to the Mech-suit, hovering along behind him at mid-thigh level wherever he went. I'd seen them on the training videos. It was a strange sight.

My mind wandered again. It was almost time for lunch and I had to force myself to stop thinking about food and focus.

"Hey, Cal, how's What's-his-name goin'?" Javolo asked.

A weird sensation flowed through me at the question, like all the air had left my lungs, but I responded automatically. "It's not What's-his-name — it's Malvolio."

I heard him snicker. "What kind of name is Malvolio anyway?" he jeered. "Do you call him Mal for short, or just Vol?"

Of course, Javolo couldn't pass up an opportunity to tease me about him.

"No," I answered flatly. "Neither. He wouldn't appreciate his name shortened like that." I tried to imagine Malvolio's reaction if I called him either of those names. A cringe. Or maybe an eye roll. But I didn't want to be thinking about him right now.

"Oh, too good for the good ol' nickname, 'ey?"

"Lay off him," I warned. "He's a nice guy."

I grimaced inwardly and frowned. He was far from nice last night. That poor waitress.

How did things change so much? He was such a gentleman when we'd met. He'd somehow managed to make me break my promise to myself that I wouldn't get involved with anyone while I was working here.

I wasn't sure what to do or what I'd say when I saw him. I would have to deal with that later. Right now, we had work to do.

The Nav Computer spewed out our next location. "Okay, we have our next place..."

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I'd just sat down at an empty table with my lunch when I heard a familiar voice.

"Lennina, darling. How are you?"

My stomach dropped and I looked up to see Malvolio smiling at me. I forced a smile onto my face. "Oh, hi."

That's not the reaction I should have felt. I should be happy to see him. What was wrong with me?

He sat across from me and grabbed one of my hands in both of his. I felt something small and rectangular against my palm and turned my hand over to find a small gift box.

"Oh! Um, thank you!"

I didn't know what to say. He never listened when I told him not to buy me gifts all the time. It was nice to receive them, but I didn't feel comfortable when he spent so much money on me.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?"

I sucked in a breath. Why was I just staring at it? I pulled the tiny ribbon and opened the box to find a sparkling pair of diamond earrings sitting neatly inside. "Oh, wow... They're beautiful..."

I was lost for words. They were beautiful. And expensive. Something I could never afford. I had to keep reminding myself that he had a high-credit position as the MIC of a company called Galaxy Mech, the company that made the Mech-suits for Katoa, and he probably didn't consider them to be expensive.

I didn't think I'd ever get used to receiving such expensive things.

I looked up at him again. He was smiling and his grey eyes were so intense. He was good looking in a sophisticated sort of way and I knew all the women drooled over him. It felt good knowing he was mine and that they were jealous.

"Nothing but the best for my girl," he said. When I didn't respond, he said, "Aren't you going to put them on?"

"Um. I thought it would be better if I waited till I got home."

He frowned. "Why? Don't you like them?"

"Yes, of course I do. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"I'm at work."

"And?"

"I don't want anything to happen to them. They're too expensive. I don't want to lose them."

"You'll be sitting in an office in front of a computer. How could anything happen to them?"

I squirmed in my seat. How could I explain? I wasn't even sure I understood what I was thinking. "Uh, I just don't think I should—"

"You don't want them, is that it?"

"No! I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. Actions speak louder than words." He rubbed his jaw for a few seconds. "Who is he?"

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Author's Note: What do you think of the story so far? Tell me your answers in the comments!

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