Chapter Text
The woman formerly known as Commander Jane Shepard lounged boneless in a reclining chair. The light breeze tugged at her auburn hair while the sun brought even more freckles out on her body. The smell of the salty sea air along with the lapping of the waves around her feet had relaxed her into a state of comfortable bliss. An edge of her mouth quirked upward in a grin at the thought that this whole section of beach had been closed off for her use thanks to an unlikely admirer.
The sound of footsteps had her cracking an eye open, even though she knew who it was. The former turian councilor, Sparatus, had arranged this whole weekend solely for her benefit. How he had figured out that lounging on the beach with unlimited Bahama-Mama’s at her disposal was her idea of heaven, she had no idea although she suspected some of her former crewmates as divulging that information. She wasn’t sure if it was all that open water that made him nervous or if it was being alone with her on this beach, either way she was enjoying his discomfort.
“You know Sparatus, you might be more comfortable in something a little less formal.” Jane stated, a hint of laughter in her voice.
Sparatus’s mandibles twitched, “I thought this was casual.” even as he smoothed down his tunic and slacks.
“We are on an empty beach, hell I might even go skinny dipping later.”
Sparatus wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment. Part of him would be thrilled to see Shepard naked but another part of him was uneasy about his response to seeing her completely unclothed. Not that what she was wearing now left much to the imagination, when she had flung off her robe earlier and he saw what humans considered beach attire he nearly swallowed his tongue. Asari club dancers wore more than she did at this moment.
So he settled for a safer topic, “Would you like another drink?”
“Why Councilor, are you trying to get me drunk?” Shepard purred up at him.
“No, Spirits no! I, uh, just saw it was empty.”
The woman was going to kill him he just knew it. Her green eyes caught his as she stretched, arching her back showing off her hips and waist. Spirits, did she even know what that did to him? Her laughter chased him back up the beach as he retreated to the pavilion he had set up for their use. Turning his back to Shepard, his talons tapped out a comm code on his omni-tool.
“Septimus,” Sparatus hissed at the holo of his friend, “This isn’t working. Have you any other bright ideas?”
“Well if that’s what you are wearing, of course you are failing. You look like you’re going to a business meeting, not a weekend on an isolated beach with a woman. Did you not get the beach clothes I had sent to you?”
“I did, well half of it, there was no shirt.”
Oraka laughed, “That’s the whole thing, just the shorts. That’s what human males typically wear for a sea-side holiday. Don’t tell me you let yourself go soft?”
“Of course not,” he huffed indignantly. “Just, I don’t think a turian in that will attract her eye.”
Oraka sighed, “We’ve been over this, if she wasn’t interested she wouldn’t have agreed to join you there.”
“Well I may have increased my odds, that ship AI, EDI, gave me her extranet browsing history. This was the beach she viewed most often and I made sure to bring plenty of her favorite food and drink.”
“Ha! I like it. Well go change and join her on the beach instead of talking to me.”