fabric of her wet bra, her eyes bright, blond hair a halo in the light of the waning moon, was burned into his mind. It was all he saw when he closed his eyes, and the effect on him was definite, immediate and pronounced. Even running and pushing himself to his limits, his body had reacted to the thought of her. He had been in lust before. Hell, who hadn’t? But this was different. And he didn’t need lust messing up his focus.
He’d worked so hard to get where he was. He didn’t want to lose his chance to be second-in-command on the first Cronus mission because of the power of the boner. He needed to get his head back into the game.
One cold shower later he felt more in control. He leaned over the sink in his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He looked at his face and tried to remind himself of everything that was important. Everything he wanted and needed to be happy in his life.
He touched the birthmark that bordered his right eye. His mother had called it his good luck charm, and this morning he’d take luck. Though he had earned everything he’d achieved, every once in a while he’d take his mom’s belief that his ancestors had marked him for greatness.
He rubbed his hand over his jaw, deciding he didn’t need a shave, and then got dressed for the day. They had a schedule that was packed with lessons and training. The Cronus team would be using a spacecraft that had been designed for the lengthy mission and they all had to learn how to repair it. They’d be traveling a long way before assembling the way station.
The way station was halfway between Earth and Mars. Each mission would add to the station, but initially it would be just minimal living quarters to support a five-man crew. The mission would last twenty months. Eighteen months would be spent just traveling to and from the station. They were tentatively scheduled for two months to assemble the station and live on it before returning to Earth.
Of course, he also had an extreme survival class in the afternoon with Jessie. Hopefully he’d be focused on the course and not the instructor. He needed to be. He’d seen how close his good friend Ace had come to being dismissed from the Cronus team because of his health, and had almost been moved into an administrative role. Dennis wasn’t taking any chances with this. They all had to be in top shape.
And that meant not lusting after a tall, cool blonde.
Shaking his head, he headed out of his quarters. The apartments weren’t too bad and Ace had recommended that all of them bring stuff that reminded them of home.
Hemi hadn’t brought much. His home was up there in the stars, so he had tacked up a poster of the area where Cronus would deploy the way station. Then he’d hung a list of his own objectives on the wall at the foot of his bed so he would see them every morning.
He ducked into the kitchen and grabbed a protein smoothie from the fridge. Walking down the hallway, he found Izzy Wolston locking her door. Her call sign was Bombshell, but behind her back some of the guys called her Ice Queen. She was a little cold at times, but she was built like a pinup girl, with a curvy body and heart-shaped face. A lot of men, himself included, sometimes got distracted by the curves and missed the keen intelligence in her eyes.
“Ready for this?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’ve been ready since we got here. The party last night felt like one big tease,” he said.
She nodded. “I heard the higher-ups wanted to give us a chance to acclimate before we got started training.”
“More like they were sizing us up,” Hemi said.
“Agreed. I think we’ve been under observation since our names were announced,” she admitted.
“Probably.”
They walked over to the training facility in silence, past the lap pool and chin-up bar in the open courtyard.
They entered the main auditorium, which would be used for all general sessions. Everyone had been given a schedule for training and it was vigorous. Hemi glanced over his, making sure he’d been given dedicated time in the observation room to analyze data being sent back by the explorer satellite from the region where they would build the way station. Part of Hemi’s role was to ensure that there were no anomalies that would interfere with the safety of the station.
The scent of fresh mountain flowers drifted on the air and a second later he spotted Jessie standing a few feet away talking with Ace and one of the nutritionists. He watched her for a long moment before forcing himself to turn away.
Down, boy, he thought, but the truth was that he really struggled not to go over there and make small talk, just to hear her voice again.
She’d gotten under his skin.
A part of him thought it had happened too quickly, but his father had fallen for his mom in a second. That was what his dad always said, that he’d seen her at a Pacific Culture Festival doing a reading of Maori mana wahine poetry. Her voice had been compelling and his father had been drawn to her. She had exuded confidence and power, and his father said he’d known she would be important to his life.
It had sounded like bullshit to Hemi. He didn’t doubt his father loved his mother, but that any woman could floor a man before he even spoke to her had sounded...well, like a tall tale. But then he’d seen Jessie last night.
At first he’d thought maybe it was because she’d been his crush as a teenager, but then, as they’d talked, the crush had disappeared and it had become about Jessie.
Jessie.
He heard her laugh and turned toward her again, took a step in her direction before he realized what he was doing. He turned on his heel, leaving the auditorium to get control of himself.
* * *
“WELCOME TO SURVIVAL TRAINING 101. I’ve read your files and seen the training you’ve already had, so I know some of you have learned some of this already. But I promise that is just the beginning.” Standing in a classroom in front of twenty-four candidates wasn’t Jessie’s ideal situation.
She felt claustrophobic, the back of her neck itchy in the nearly windowless room. Most of the facility was fortified with heavy walls. The work took place in simulators and specially designed modules. The Cronus trainees also practiced teamwork through practical ranching sessions. Jessie had seen the setup in the barn—Ace had the teams take turns every day riding the roundup, driving cattle from one pasture to another.
She glanced through the one small, heavily tinted window, trying to see the sun, and decided to put up some posters of outdoor scenes. It was the only way she’d tolerate being inside for any amount of time.
“Because of the nature of what I’m teaching you to react to, there will be times when you will be...well, surprised is the best word I can think of. And you’ll be forced to react to a situation,” Jessie said. “I can’t tell you when that will happen, but over the next six weeks there will be a number of unexpected activities that will test a myriad of skills. Some of them will be the ones I’ve taught you but they will also include standards from some of your other classes, as well.”
“Let the fun begin,” Hemi said, and the candidates in the room grinned.
“Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready for something to happen,” another candidate chimed in. From her files, Jessie knew she was Isabelle Wolsten, call sign “Bombshell.”
There were mumbles of agreement.
