LITMIR.BIZ

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“Most don’t realize that I have a team climbing with me.”

      “Honestly, there is something lonely about you, which is how I knew that you needed someone at your back.”

      * * *

      JESSIE HAD HER first inkling that this was a bad idea as she followed Hemi out of the gym and down the trail to the lake. He intrigued her. He was big and brash but underneath that muscled exterior beat the heart of a man who knew how to listen. A man who, despite his self-aggrandizing ways, was more than just ego.

      She liked him.

      That was why this was a bad idea.

      The sex thing she could handle. Lust was just a physical reaction to someone. She wanted him, and if they fell into bed together it would be a physical thing. But if she liked him and lusted after him...she wasn’t ready for that.

      The Bar T Ranch consisted of a sprawling house, barns and two bunkhouses. A good five-minute walk away were the new buildings that housed the Cronus candidates and some of the instructors. Candidate housing was in a series of four converted bunkhouses built around a courtyard. Everyone had their own small one-bedroom apartment with a living area and bathroom, and everyone shared a large kitchen. The apartments weren’t too bad, but Jessie felt lucky that she’d been given a separate cottage.

      All of this did nothing to distract her from Hemi. She should turn around and go to her cottage.

      Should.

      But she wasn’t going to.

      It had been a long time since someone new had come into her life and intrigued her the way Hemi had.

      “You’re awfully quiet,” he said.

      “Just assessing your trail skills.”

      Yeah, like he was going to believe that.

      “How am I doing?”

      “Good,” she said. “I noticed you keep to the center of the path, which is good—doesn’t leave any trail to be followed.”

      “Learned that playing hide and seek with my brothers,” he said. “The spot I was thinking of is right up here.”

      They’d both changed out of their gi into NASA Cronus mission sweatshirts and exercise pants. And she’d put on a pair of well-worn hiking shoes that she’d stored in her locker a few days earlier. The shoes were very different from the ones purchased new for her Everest climb. The one she’d been on when Alexi’s strength had failed him and her skills hadn’t been up to the challenge of saving him.

      She sighed.

      “Here we are,” Hemi said, reaching back and holding out his hand to her. “It’s a little tricky to navigate in the dark.”

      She put her hand in his. She’d learned a long time ago to take assistance in new terrain. Though she’d been out here with Ace a few days ago, she still didn’t know the land as well as she’d like. But she would. Terrain was her area of expertise. A lot of the training she’d be doing with the astronaut candidates would be in temperature-controlled rooms, but she also had a few excursions planned for them. Surprises that she’d tailor to meet the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. They needed to be able to react to any situation.

      The lake was big enough to supply water for the ranch and the neighboring city of Cole’s Hill, and a rough path along the edge joined the main ranch buildings and the Cronus facility. A motion sensor lamp flicked on as they stepped onto the wooden dock that pushed out into the water.

      “Here we go,” he said, drawing her toward two Adirondack chairs positioned side by side on the dock. She stood there with the breeze on her face and the sound of the water in her ears. She could see the moon’s reflection in the ripples as they sat. He smelled of a crisp, expensive aftershave and something masculine, a musk that she was sure was all his own. Something she’d remember long after this job was over and he was gone.

      Her father had taught her to classify everything. Touch, scent, sight. She used all of those things to survive.

      “The first time I came out here... I was surprised at how noisy it was. I expected it to be quiet—and it is quieter than the city, but not silent.”

      She smiled over at him. “City boy?”

      “Born and bred. I’m at home in the water because I grew up in California, and there isn’t a mountain trail I can’t climb, but this...this feels foreign. The cows, the insects. Everything is different here.”

      “I know what you mean. Most of my childhood was spent on my parents’ research yacht or on the island that we called home. I’m good at identifying poisonous insects and avoiding spiky plants that are lethal, but this is different.”

      He stretched his arm out behind her on the back of her Adirondack chair. He wasn’t quite touching her shoulder but she felt his body heat on this cool September evening.

      “What scares you, Jessie?”

      It was an oddly probing question from someone she’d just met, but considering that she needed to know his fears, she was tempted to answer. Her job for the Cronus missions was to find weaknesses and exploit them to see how far the candidates could be pushed until they broke. And making this about her job made it easier for her. It had been a long ten months since Alexi’s death and she wanted to pretend she’d healed, but she hadn’t. She knew it by the way she was simultaneously drawn to Hemi and driven to hide from him.

      “A situation that I can’t control,” she said. “I know that control is an illusion but I have techniques for dealing with most of them. Still, there are a few things that elude me.”

      “Like what?”

      “People.”

      “People?”

      “Yes, you can’t rely on them,” she said. “No one really knows how they will react until they are forced into challenging circumstances. I’ve been in more extreme places than most and there are still times when I’m not sure what someone will do next.”

      “Like what?” he asked again.

      “Like this,” she said, tired of resisting herself and needing to see exactly what Hemi was after. She leaned over and kissed him.

      His lips were firm and his breath minty fresh. She felt the dart of his tongue rub over her lips before it pulled back. She tilted her head, deepening the kiss as excitement flowed through her. It had been a long time since she’d experienced this. She felt alive.

      She’d been running from him since he’d come up to her at the party. Because he’d immediately made her feel again.

      It wasn’t deep—hell, how could it be? They’d just met. But it was something and she wasn’t ready for it. She had to find a moment to breathe.

      Breaking the kiss, she took off her shoes before standing up. She looked at him. He watched her silently with those big, dark eyes of his. They were immeasurably deep, like the sea over the Mariana Trench. And that was okay. He wasn’t anything to her but a man.

      She pulled off her Cronus sweatshirt and pants, leaving her standing in her underwear and bra, before she turned and dove into the lake. The water surrounded her and she found the peace she was never going to find on the land.

       3

      HEMI WATCHED THE moonlight reflecting first off the lake, then off the woman who was swimming in it. She’d been breathtaking in just her underwear. She was complex, and nothing had helped him understand her better. He had pushed a little too hard because that was his personality. He lived right at the edge, always testing the boundaries to get where he needed to go, and he wasn’t about to stop now.

      He stripped down to his boxers and jumped into the water after her. It was cold at first, making goose bumps spread over his body. The

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