"He is not going to run twenty miles on this steep road, particularly as slick as it is — no way." Put your money..." Yeah, yeah, I know," Mayfield ...nterrupted. "I just don't want to take that much money from a trooper." There's nobody but me, Lieutenant. You won't be taking it away from my family or anything," Carter offered, hoping."It's a bet. If you just insist on throwing your money away, I might as well take it. He'll turn back before the ten-mile tree, and ... he has to run back. No. She pleaded her case and never once asked the welfare of her boyfriend.Second, anything that required a diaper had to be bad. Qi had no desire to acquire the experience of the cliche "scaring the shit outta' me". He had done spacewalks before but only as a tourist. Those tethered, kindergarten-safe trips probably had little resemblance to workers in a vacuum storage yard. He had been hoping for one of those two seater putter carts with a driver.His deepest fear was the constant TSC paranoia. "The chief minister bowed. "Yes my lady," and he hurried off to do as she asked.Minara turned as the ship landed in the now deserted square, crushing many of the market stalls not yet packed up. She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, fighting back the anger rising in her chest. Why did they have to find this place now, how had they found it at all? The child moved again, making her feel uncomfortable, but at least it helped her anger to abate. She had to control her violent mood swings. ”Rory stood and turned, unsure of what he planned.“Drop your shorts,” he instructed.“I thought you were going to help me, not give yourself a show.”He laughed. “Drop your shorts, Rory.”She pushed them down. They fell to her ankles. She kicked them off while pulling her panties back up over her ass.“Now sit on my lap.”Glancing over her shoulder, she saw his eyes twinkling with mischief. She settled slowly, her legs forced to the outside of his.Ethan reached around her and pulled her back to lie.