The pounding on the door wasn’t stopping any time soon.

Alex could only imagine that it was probably Lido or even Serrano himself, backed up by the full gang and ready to fight.

“Nikki, get back behind us,” said Rick as he and Alex moved closer to the door.

“Would anyone like some pleasure?” asked Kristina, the I-Mate, from her charging station. “I have three holes that are ready for use at any time—”

“Shut the hell up,” snapped Alex at the android, making her go silent. He’d almost forgotten she was there, but she picked the most inopportune times to remind him.

Alex grabbed his knife and prepared to use it as he advanced on the door. With a nod to Rick, he grabbed the handle as sweat soaked his palms.

He threw the door open with a start, only to find a startled pair of green eyes behind them as Alex had to stop his arm from following through with the thrust.

He’d never seen Jenna look so scared before.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed, looking out in the hall and then grabbing her wrist to pull her in the room.

Jenna took a minute to regain her composure, mostly by stroking her thick, blonde hair.

“I’m s-sorry,” she stuttered. “I was booted from my room finally. I tried to go back again but now they won’t let me stay there. I have to stay here with you.”

“This is a dangerous place to be now,” replied Alex. “You’re better off in your room.”

Jenna’s brow narrowed. “Well, I can’t exactly go back, so you’re stuck with me. We’re stuck with each other,” she corrected after a moment.

Alex looked back over at Rick, who simply shrugged.

“What do you want to do?” asked Rick.

Alex looked at Jenna, who was now tapping her foot. Judging by her expression, there was something she wanted to say.

And it was doubtful whether she was going to say it in front of Rick and Nikki.

“Go back to your cabin for the time being,” said Alex to Rick. “I’ll come over when it’s time. Let me figure out what’s going on in here and then I’ll come get you.”

Rick gave him a sympathetic look as his eyes raked over Jenna. “Good luck to you then.”

Alex waited until they were gone before he settled on his bed. He’d put the knife down finally and put his hands together, watching Jenna out of the corner of his eye.

The woman was such a mystery.

Alex couldn’t figure her out whatsoever. He’d seen that she was capable of great acts of kindness by the way she treated his wound earlier, even without prompting. Something had obviously made her sign up for the program as well, which had to have meant that she agreed to becoming just like a wife to a man she’d never met.

And yet, she was full of such hostility, most of it for no reason. There was something about Alex that seemed to trigger her, like she had some concrete reason for not liking him or giving him a chance.

But what that reason was, he had no idea.

Alex took a deep breath, causing her eyes to look at him. He returned the stare, silently appraising her. If only things were different between them, he might be quite happy to have her as a companion. There weren’t many men on the ship who wouldn’t give their right arm for a single night with Jenna.

But why did she have to be so frustrating?

“Are you going to say something or are you just going to stare at me?” she asked after a moment of silence.

Alex found himself shaking his head almost from the start. “Why don’t you start speaking? Especially seeing as you’re the one that came back to my cabin and you seem like you have something you want to say anyway.”

Jenna sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder—a move that would have been sexy if she hadn’t been acting like a spoiled brat.

Then she said something that was totally unforgivable.

“Well, the least you can do is make me feel welcome here, since I have to be stuck in your cabin.”

That was the final straw.

Alex found himself dashing to his feet, moving with speed toward Jenna. Her eyes went wide as a look of terror filled her face. She backed into the corner, holding her hands up in front of her body.

Alex growled at her as soon as he saw her hands. “I’m not going to hit you! But you have some fucking nerve coming in here and acting like a goddamn princess! You think I need to be accommodating of you? All you’ve done since we’ve met is be a royal bitch to me for no damned good reason. Why the hell should I change just for you?”

Jenna was shaking now, which started to trouble him on one hand. He didn’t mean to scare the girl but his anger had gotten the better of him at that moment.

And now she looked positively frightened.

“Please don’t hurt me,” she whispered.

All of Alex’s anger melted away at that point. Something just seemed to click inside his head, revealing something about Jenna that he didn’t expect.

Someone had hit her in the past. And right now, she expected him to do the same.

Alex walked away calmly and sat back down on the bed, giving her some space. He looked up at her after a few minutes of silence.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, finding her green eyes fixed on him. “I don’t know what happened to you in your past but I’m not that kind of guy. I’m angry, yes, but I wouldn’t resort to that.”

Jenna nodded and moved away from the corner. She didn’t say anything right away, choosing to look around his room silently for several minutes. She looked at his I-Mate, Kristina, only to find the android offering her some sexual pleasure of her own (which was politely declined). Finally, Jenna moved to the desk in the room and sat down in the chair opposite of Alex.

She muttered something so low that Alex couldn’t even understand it.

“What did you say?”

Jenna met his eyes. “I said I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m being a bitch to you but it’s not because of what you did. It’s . . . complicated. Very complicated. And I find myself regretting the decision to go to Vesta.”

“Why though?” asked Alex. “You knew what this program was for, didn’t you? You knew you’d be paired up with a man to be his companion, which is essentially his wife. I mean damnit, Jenna, they want us to procreate! This program was designed for me to give you children, lots of them. You had to have known what you were getting yourself into.”

“I did,” she admitted. “And I didn’t. Like I said, it’s really complicated. At the time, I just needed an escape plan. I needed away from my life on Earth. This didn’t seem so bad in comparison.”

The next question formed easily.

“You had to get away from Earth?” asked Alex. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you had to get away from the man that hit you, right?”

Jenna swallowed heavily and nodded her head.

The pieces were starting to fall into place now. There was trouble in her past, and it had driven her into this program as the next best option of a series of poor overall choices.

No wonder she was having the reaction that she did. She belonged in some kind of therapy, not tied to another man when she wasn’t even over the last one yet.

At least she ended up with him. Alex couldn’t imagine what might have happened if she’d been assigned to someone like Serrano.

“Listen, if you don’t want to be assigned to me, then I’m sure we can figure something out,” said Jenna after a moment. “I know that I’m going to be a poor companion and you don’t seem like the type that should have to suffer with someone like me. We can see if we can get you reassigned.”

Alex’s answer to her surprised even him.

“This is actually the first time since we met that I didn’t want you to be reassigned to someone else,” admitted Alex. “I can understand bad things happening in your past. My past isn’t exactly spotless either. I have many regrets, including the entire last year of my life on Earth when it all fell to shit. But at least now I can see why you reacted the way you did. And if I can put my life back together somewhat, maybe you can too.”

It was just the thing she needed to hear. Jenna actually smiled at him again—not by accident but because she genuinely wanted to.

And it was a radiant sight to see. Jenna was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen, and the sight of her pink lips splitting into a show-stopping smile was nearly enough to stop his heart.

He would have loved the chance to put the past behind them but at that moment, they were rudely interrupted by a message on his P-com.

“Alex, this is Rick. Are you ready yet? We need to get a move on.”

Alex sighed deeply before looking at Jenna, who was now giving him a confused look.

“Listen, I want you to stay here in my cabin with the door locked,” he explained. “There are some very bad guys afoot that are trying to hijack the ship. I’m going out there to stop them.”

“Stop them?” she asked, looking at the wound on his chest. “But what if something else happens to you? What if they kill you?”

Alex let out a rueful smile. “Lots of better men have tried in the past and I’m still here. I’m just going to have to hope that my luck continues to hold.”

Jenna nodded but she seemed far from pleased at the prospect of him leaving. It was a stunning reversal from even just thirty minutes ago when she first arrived in his cabin.

For the very first time, he felt hope that maybe this could work after all?

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked. “You know, if I’m your companion, I feel like I should be supporting you in some way.”

Alex only shook his head. “Too dangerous. I can’t have you out there. I need you to stay here in my cabin and give me a reason to come back alive, okay?”

Another smile parted her lips. “Okay, I can do that. But you really should come back.”

Alex stood up and checked his knife before moving to the cabin door. He turned one last time to look at Jenna.

“I mean it. Keep this door locked unless it’s me or Rick. And if you hear the alarm about something happening to the ship, I want you to find the nearest escape pod and get off it at once, okay? I’ll try to link up with you on Vesta.”

Jenna nodded. “Good luck, Alex.”

*****

Alex left his cabin feeling a lot better about his situation than he did earlier. At least he was able to get somewhere with Jenna, and now the prospect of being tethered to her for the rest of his life didn’t seem so bad.

He found Rick inside his cabin and ready to go as soon as he arrived. Alex watched as he said a very personal goodbye to Nikki, amazed at how quickly they’d seemed to grow close. After giving Nikki the same instructions that Alex gave to Jenna, the two men exited the room and made for the section of the ship that contained most of their supplies.

It was a room that had very limited access, guarded at almost all times but Alex figured that if they could make it to the bridge, they could certainly get to the supplies as well. And once inside, they could grab pistols to aid their cause (at least by intimidating anyone that didn’t know they couldn’t be fired).

However, it was their arrival at the section that caused some confusion for both of them.

Mostly because there wasn’t a single guard in sight.

“This can’t be right,” muttered Rick. “Where is the security here?”

At that exact moment, the two men were rushed from behind. Alex felt something hard and heavy smash against his head, sending him to the floor, with Rick right behind him. His head started to spin as he struggled to remain conscious.

“That should do it,” said a laughing voice that Alex couldn’t quite place.

“No shit. Tell Serrano that we’ve taken care of these two dipshits. And let’s start putting the plan into place.”

“What about the blonde bitch? What do we do with her?”

“We find her, obviously! Serrano wants her personally. By this time tomorrow, she’s going to have one sore ass.”

Feeling entirely helpless, Alex lost consciousness at that exact moment.