A mixture of pheromones and adrenaline was coursing through her body. It was addictive. She could so get used to this. So get used to the feel of his body next to hers.
He leaned her back just a little, moving away from her mouth and concentrating on the delicate skin around her neck and behind her ears. For the first time in her life she actually felt her knees tremble. It was like being a teenager all over again and dreaming about kissing that movie star from the latest film. Except she wasn’t dreaming. She was living the whole experience.
And it was even better than she could have imagined.
His hands started to move. Leaving the back of her head and tracing little lines down her back and round to her hips. One moved lower, touching the bare skin at the back of her thigh, hovering around the edge of her shorts.
She pressed a little closer. It was awkward. There was a railing directly between them both. She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. She wasn’t quite sure how far she wanted this to progress. Her body might be acting one way but her brain was definitely holding a little in reserve.
He was a candidate. There might not be official rules about them dating but she was sure it wouldn’t go down well.
His hand swept around towards her stomach and she sucked in a breath and laughed. It was automatic. He laughed too and pulled his lips apart from hers, pressing their foreheads together.
It gave her a few seconds to catch her breath.
His fingers tickled around her belly button. For a minute she wondered if they were going to make an attempt to go lower. His other hand was now cradling her bum. If there hadn’t been a railing between them she would have been able to feel every inch of his body against hers.
And the more she thought about that—the more she craved it.
His fingers moved along her bare skin, skirting upwards towards her breasts. It was like butterfly wings dancing against her skin. They hit the jackpot. Cupping her breast and playing with her hardened nipple. A wave of sensations swept over her body and she let out an involuntary moan.
It was like a firework going off in her brain.
Her body took a step back, her forehead still connected with his. She sneaked her hand under her T-shirt and closed it over his, gently pulling it down and out, resting it on her hipbone.
He didn’t object, didn’t make any attempt to persuade her to change her mind. And somehow she knew, deep down, that he wouldn’t. That made him almost perfect.
‘This could get complicated,’ she whispered, her breath ragged.
He smiled. ‘Yes. It could.’
After a few seconds he leaned back, then jumped down from the railing, standing on the ground beneath her. He grabbed his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.
The confidence was still there. He still had that assuredness that drove her crazy.
She didn’t want to admit what it did to other parts of her system.
He gave her a wink. ‘We’ll talk exercise programmes some other time, Dr Carter. In the meantime, let’s see if we can come to a compromise about another kind of exercise.’
The implication was loud and clear. She couldn’t have expected anything less—but he still shocked her.
She shook her head as he started off running again, moving quickly across the ground in the direction he’d come.
Her legs had gone all spongy and she half staggered back against the wall of the house, one hand across her belly, the other up next to her throat.
The skin that he’d touched was still tingling. It was on fire. Craving his touch again.
No one had ever kissed her like that. Ever.
She fixed on his figure as he disappeared into the distance, pressing her lips together to stop her calling him back.
Austin Mitchell was bad news.
Very bad news.
And she would have to keep telling herself that.
Over and over again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CORRINE STARED AT the records in front of her. She had the oddest feeling.
She stood up and walked over to her glass window. The candidates were on the other side of it, in the computer tech room learning about some of the equipment on the space station.
It didn’t matter how hard she tried. Her eyes went first to Austin. He was talking to Lisa Kravitz, the school teacher. They were laughing and joking as they tried to repair something wearing the biggest pair of gloves imaginable. They would do the same exercise over and over again in the next few months, eventually trying it in a zero-gravity environment. Lisa threw back her head and laughed at something Austin had said.
Corrine felt a little surge of jealousy but shook it off immediately. She’d spent the last two weeks avoiding Austin. It hadn’t been too hard. The candidates had spent most of the last two weeks in lectures and learning from manuals. People really had no idea how much equipment was in use in space, and how many things could go wrong with it. Every member of the team had to be able to maintain, repair and rebuild essential equipment if necessary. It wasn’t easy to find spare parts in space and they often had to improvise.
In any case, whenever she closed her eyes her brain went into overtime. It was almost as if the memory of that kiss was haunting her. To say nothing of the buzz that flared in her skin or her lips.
The last thing she wanted to do right now was to be face to face with Austin Mitchell.
But Lisa Kravitz was another story. She folded her arms across her chest. The candidates were monitored regularly and Lisa had lost a little weight. She looked tired. It could just be that she was excited about her training and was eating differently from normal. But was she also looking a little paler?
Some people didn’t believe in gut instinct. But in Corrine’s experience it had always served her well.
It was time to call Lisa in for some blood work. As she moved away Austin looked up and caught her eye. This time there was no smile. No wink.
Instead, for the first time since she’d met him, he put his head down and carried on with his work.
* * *
Darn it. One glimpse of familiar dark suit was enough to distract him from the task at hand. His screwdriver slipped from his hand and landed on the mat below. Opposite him, Lisa gave the air a punch. ‘Yes, I win!’
He grimaced. He hated losing—at anything. This was no different.
But what smarted even more was the fact that he hadn’t even caught Corrine Carter looking.
By the time he’d run the six miles back to camp after that kiss his body still hadn’t returned to normal. He’d had to stand in the coldest shower known to man to try and still the blood pumping around his body.
This was driving him nuts. From the moment he’d heard those heels clicking across the hangar towards him and Corrine Carter had come into view every sense in his body had been on fire.
This wasn’t him. This wasn’t the kind of person he was.
He couldn’t be. He had a goal. Space. And he’d long ago realised that to get there everything else had to be sidelined.
He’d excelled as a navy pilot. He’d been top of his class when he’d studied microbiology. He’d loved the job as a Top Gun instructor. But it had all just been part of the bigger plan. The one that took him to the ultimate goal.
And he’d seen many colleagues fall by the wayside. Serious relationships were off the cards. Sure, he dated—but never for too long. A few months tops. He couldn’t afford the distractions. He’d seen other pilots and RIO’s affected by months away from their partners and children. One of his good friends had blown a test flight after finding out his kid was away for emergency surgery. It had taken two days to find him in the Arizona desert. All because he hadn’t been focused on the job. And that was what was driving Austin nuts.
He closed his eyes at night and images of Cor
rine Carter danced around his brain. The way her skirt hugged the curves of her backside. The way he permanently wanted to pull her shirts from her waistband. The fact that those long shapely legs and killer heels always caught his eye. It didn’t matter that she was always dressed appropriately and slightly demurely. The thing that was killing him was that he wanted to know what lay beneath.
The flirtation was obvious. She was attracted to him. He was attracted to her.
But she had reservations about acting on it. Whereas he had none at all.
Because he needed to get Corrine Carter out of his system.
The other night had been pure impulse. He’d been about two minutes into his run when he’d decided exactly where to go. The sight of Corrine in her skimpy T-shirt and shorts had made him realise he’d done exactly the right thing. Seeing her sitting in her old rocker on her wraparound porch, sipping wine, had almost made him think that she’d been waiting for him.
He was surprised when he’d checked out her address. He’d expected her to stay in some serviced apartment on the outskirts of the city. The pale yellow clapboard farmhouse had been more than a little surprising. He only wished he’d got to see the inside.
It seemed odd. Corrine was a stunner, with her own place and a great job. He was more than a little surprised that some guy hadn’t completely swept her off her feet already. But there was something there. Something a little different. At times, she could seem a little detached. As if there were an invisible barrier just in front of her that stopped anyone getting too close. Why would she be like that?
He frowned and picked up his screwdriver from the floor. Lisa was still bouncing around the place. He fixed her with a stare. She’d been good company since the start of training and they often joked together.
‘Right, lady. First time was a fluke. Ready for a rematch?’
She spun around and put her hands on her hips. ‘Totally. But if I win again you have to go and find me a chocolate-frosted, custard-filled doughnut.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Interesting choice. Very specific.’