“What gives you the right to act as her executor?”
Thor came up behind Samantha, his presence making Lance take a step back. “Samantha was Patty’s best friend. She’s known her longer than anyone else here.Thatgives her the right.”
“Patty and I were lovers. That has to count for something, even here on station. I feel like I’m being erased from her life.” Lance grabbed a small silver ring off Patty’s shelf—the ring with the horseshoe that she’d worn on her pinky finger. “I’m taking this.”
Thor blocked Lance’s attempt to leave. “Samantha?”
“That’s okay. He can have it.”
Thor stepped aside, watched him go. “Is he always an asshole?”
“No. Just since Patty died.”
* * *
Thor watchedas Samantha carefully arranged Patty’s belongings on the Skua table alongside other items people had given away—electric razors, gloves, socks, hats, earbuds, unopened toiletries.
Samantha stepped away from the table. “Now, she can still be a part of life down here, even if the people who end up with her things never knew her.”
“That’s a good way to think of it.”
Vasily and four of his friends walked by, probably on their way to the B1 Lounge, Vasily’s gaze fixing on Samantha.
He stopped. “Good to see you, Sam. I am sorry about Patty. Who would think that one so young would die?”
Samantha crossed her arms over her chest—a protective posture. “Thank you, Vasily.”
“You must join me sometime for a drink in her memory.” He held up the bottle of vodka in his left hand.
“I would like that.” Samantha watched them walk away. “I would never have imagined that he’d be involved in something like this. Vasily, a spy? We had so much fun with him and the others on station at McMurdo.”
“Most spies don’t seem like spies.”
Samantha looked up at him. “Have you met real spies?”
“Yes—a few.” Holly Andris and Gabriela Marquez, both Cobra employees, had once worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Elizabeth Shields had been an Agency counterterrorism analyst. “If you met them, you would have no idea that they’d once worked for the CIA.”
“Wow.” Samantha gaped at him. “You’ve led a more interesting life than I have.”
That made Thor laugh. “I don’t know about that. Mapping distant galaxies, working at the South Pole—that seems pretty interesting to me.”
They walked back to Patty’s room, where two taped and labeled boxes waited to be moved into storage.
“I had planned to put these down in the LO Arch, but what if someone finds them? I don’t want Lance taking Patty’s journal.”
Thor wouldn’t put it past Lance to steal it. He’d already tried to grab it from Samantha’s arms twice. But Thor knew how to handle this. “I can keep them secure. I’m good at that, you know.”
Flirter du med hende? Are you flirting with her?
Maybe he was.
This afternoon when he’d held her, he’d meant only to comfort her. She was grieving, and she was more or less alone with fifty people she didn’t know well, people who, from what Thor could see, weren’t going out of their way to show her sympathy.
But then she’d rested her cheek against his chest, relaxing into him. Damn, it had felt good. She was soft in the right places and smelled sweet, her hair like silk beneath his hands. He hadn’t wanted it to end.
You’re an idiot, man.
Samantha was vulnerable. She was grieving. The last thing she needed was to get physical with a guy who’d be leaving as soon as Tower could land a plane.