Sitting through supper with Nate and his daughter was agreeable. His daughter was a young red head who would probably still have been in high school were it still in session. She had an infectious smile, but something seemed off about her. Edward couldn’t put his finger on it, but her sweet daughter act would slip at moments and her scornful glares would peek through.

Edward retired back to his room, exhausted from a day at work. He grabbed a glass of water out of his sink that came from a natural water source in one of the nearby caves. There was enough infrastructure to pump it all the way to his room, which was far easier than raiding stores like he had been doing for weeks.

A knock sounded from outside his door, which was a bit confusing as he didn’t know more than a handful of people here. He looked through the peephole to see a familiar face with her black hair pulled tightly back into a bun. Her red shirt and tall boots were replaced by a plain blue shirt and crisp black pants.

He opened the door with an eyebrow raised. “Is this what you look like outside the field, sarge?”   

“Yes,” she said as she brought a brown coloured bottle out from behind her back. “This is a token of our appreciation, for accepting the position.”

Edward accepted the bottle with a smile, looking down at the label. He began to laugh. “Felt bad about the bourbon after all, did you?”

“You never really got to finish it.”

“I’ve heard that it’s best shared, if you want to join me.” He tried to add an inviting smile, but he feared he looked like a predator.

Olivia shrugged and entered his room. He had to contain his excitement, only turning around for a brief moment to bring his clenched fist up to his chest and pull it down quickly to indicate success. He couldn’t believe a beautiful woman was about to sit in his room drinking gifted bourbon with him.

“This isn’t a trap, is it?” he joked.

“Why would we need to trap you? You’re already here and terrified of heights so I can’t imagine why you’d begin to run.”

“It was a joke, Olivia,” Edward said, chugging his water and grabbing another empty glass for her. He poured a couple generous glasses and handed her one. She smiled in response, making the blood rush down below his belt. “So, are you always the welcoming committee?”

“No, they rarely give me this job.” She took a small sip. The silence hung in the air for a few moments. “Did you mean what you said when we jumped?”

“You mean my ‘last words’?”

“Yes, did you meant to say that I was a bitch.”

Edward choked on his bourbon, spitting it back in the glass with the class of chimpanzee. “I, uhm, I was afraid of dying.”

Olivia nodded as she took another sip. Her posture was stiff, and she stood with her shoulders back. He wondered if she ever grew tired of acting the way she did. He motioned to the chairs on either side of a small wooden table where they could set down their glasses. She sat down but looked no more comfortable.

“What do you do for fun, Olivia?”

“Fun?” she asked, placing the short glass on a coaster he didn’t even know he owned. “I have a few pastimes. I do a fair bit of jogging, self-defense training, some reading. I also enjoy a nice glass of bourbon,” she said, raising the glass again. Edward let out a laugh.

“You forgot pushing people out of planes,” he added with a wink.

A slight colour rose to her cheeks and she covered it with a quick drink. “Only when they act like small children.”

Edward just began to laugh, figuring that his own embarrassment served no purpose here. He doubted that any details of this visit would leave her lips around others. He figured she wouldn’t want to give off the impression that she was sociable. He took a large sip of his drink to help his next question slip past his lips. “Do you date anyone?”

“Date, socially? No, it seems impractical right now. Do you?”

Edward laughed and met her eyes. “You had me under surveillance for at least six months, you tell me.”

“Well, you’re certainly well acquainted with... yourself.”

Edward had doubled over in deep laughter at this point. That had to be the kindest way anyone had ever described his self-stimulation techniques.

“You may want to consider getting a partner,” Olivia added, completely serious.

“Oh, I’ve tried, Olivia, believe me. Partners are hard to come by given my state of affairs,” Edward said, indicating his less than toned physique and chubby face.

“You don’t lack the motivation to perform, so what’s the obstacle?”

He just laughed for a moment, a bit surprised that a woman like her hadn’t noticed her own gender’s tendencies. “I’m not that ideal specimen woman are drawn to.”

“Neither are most woman, so I hardly see why they should expect reciprocated feelings from attractive men.”

As he continued to laugh, he realized that he was wrong about Olivia’s sense of humour. She had the best kind, the dry brand that toed the edges of serious and sarcastic. She wouldn’t crack a smile either, making her the ideal comedian.

“I wish the world worked based on your views. You should have a hand in this new one,” he said with a smile.

“It’s simply logic.”

“Yes, well in my experience, women’s logic goes out the window when a man like Williams walks into the room. I wouldn’t doubt that half the women in this colony, regardless of their looks and charms, are seeking him out.”

“So you blame hormonal women for your inability to find a partner?”

“Easy there with the blame game. I’m just trying to defend myself here. It’s not every day that beautiful women start asking me why I’m not getting some.”

There was a moment of silence between the two of them where Edward thought he might have offended her with one of his comments. Although she seemed thick-skinned, he found women extremely hard to read. “What if I offered myself as a partner?” Olivia asked in all seriousness.

Edward had to blink a few times to make sure that this was actually happening, and he hadn’t drifted off into a fantasy-state. It must have been the bourbon. It had to be. “I don’t think I heard that quite right.”

“We could be sexual partners. I haven’t had a chance to establish any liaisons in this environment, and from your statement I can see how asking someone like Williams could be challenging, with finding a regular time if he were otherwise occupied.” She was so calm as she spoke while Edward’s heart was beating away like Joey Jordinson at a Slipknot concert. A woman had just rationalized sleeping with him over a far more attractive man, and it worked out in his favour. He bit his lip so he could snap back to reality, but the room remained the same. Olivia’s inquisitive gaze was still upon him.

“So my empty social calendar makes me an ideal partner? To be clear we are talking about having sex with each other.”

“Yes.”

“Regularly?”

“Ideally, I understand if other events come up.”

“Sex with me?” Edward asked again, still not willing to believe his good stroke of luck.

“Yes, haven’t you been listening? We’d have to have a trial run before we set up a schedule.”

Despite this feeling very much like test driving a car or filling out a deposit slip at the bank, Edward would never turn down regular consensual intercourse with a beautiful woman. “When should we start?”

He had to stop himself from laughing as she pulled out a pocket calendar. Limiting the glares she so fondly shot his way would now be in his best interest. “How is next week for you, perhaps a week from today?”

 “Sounds good, Olivia.”

“Great,” she said finishing up the rest of her bourbon. “Thank you for the drink. This has been wonderfully productive, Mr. Drest.”

“You can call me Edward, now that we’re sleeping together,” he said with a wink.

“Don’t get the wrong impression. This is purely physical. The human body has needs and we’re meeting them practically without the time consuming effort of social dating.”

“It’s just a joke. I understand the agreement.”

“Ah yes, you do have that fondness for humour,” she said, setting her glass on the counter near the sink. She picked up her handbag and proceeded towards the front door. “Until next week, Mr. Drest.”

Edward smiled. He quite liked the sound of his name rolling off her sweet lips. Jumping out of that helicopter was turning out to be one of the smartest decisions he ever made.