Page 26 of Hot Zone

“Yeah, but it’s my desk. Plus, it’s more fun to work together, and you could use a little fun in your life.” He leaned against the workbench, arms crossed, watching me.

“I have plenty of fun.” I put the rag down, turning to face him. “But if you want to help, grab the varnish.”

“Okay, I can do that.” Mars pushed off the workbench and moved past me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from him. He shot me another grin, knowing full well what he was doing. I watched as he bent down to rummage through the box of supplies, his jeans tight around his thighs.

“Found it!” He held up the can triumphantly and handed it over, his fingers brushing mine.

I cleared my throat, taking a step back. “Good. Now, let’s finish this thing, and then I’ll order us some dinner.”

Mars grinned at me, but the spark in his eyes told me we were playing a different kind of game now. A game where we might both win or both lose big. There was a litany of reasons why I couldn’t afford to play, but damn, the boy was tempting.

If he kept this up, I might have to resort to one of his meditation sessions to keep myself centered and my hands to myself.

Chapter 9

Samuel

I’d started my day the very same for as long as I could remember. I got dressed and then settled in for breakfast, coffee, and my morning puzzles. Mars being here hadn’t changed my schedule, but it had given it a totally different feel. Now, instead of being what I did out of habit, I found myself looking forward to it.

He may have insisted that he wasn’t a breakfast eater when he first arrived, but he’d settled into it pretty quickly. Like this morning. He’d wandered into the kitchen, only half awake andlooking cute as hell in his still sleep-rustled state, and the first thing out of his mouth was, “What’s for breakfast?”

“Oh, you want breakfast?” I asked with a smirk, and he just glared at me as he grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee. He inhaled the aroma and let out a sigh.

“It always smells so wonderful. Why can’t it taste as good without all the cream and honey?” He plopped down in the chair that I’d begun to think of as his and poured both honey and cream into his coffee before taking a drink.

“I went for quick and easy for breakfast today. There’s a pot of oatmeal on the stove. I love oatmeal when the weather gets chilly.” He’d told me one night that there wasn’t much he didn’t eat, so I was hoping oatmeal was okay because I didn’t have time to fix him anything else this morning.

“Oatmeal’s good. I’ll get myself a bowl when I get up to get a second cup of coffee.”

“Okay, just so you eat. I’m going to head into work early this morning. Every so often, I try to make it in before shift change so I can be the one to lead the morning meeting.”

“Who leads it on the other days?” he asked.

“The on-coming Captain. I leave a message for them the day before so they can cover anything important and get the guys prepared for the day ahead.”

He looked at me and nodded. “Being prepared is a good idea. And you need to be extra careful today.”

“Oh really? And why is that?” I didn’t believe in all the things he put stock in, things like astrology, crystals, and the daily cards he was always saying he pulled, but that didn’t mean I wanted to discourage him from sharing.

“The planet Mars is square your Sun today, which could mean a stressful day for you. If you were a businessman, I would say not to make any rash business decisions, but you’re not, so I’ll just say stay safe.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said with a smile. I tipped back my coffee mug and drank the last of my coffee. “I was just waiting for you to get up before I left, and since you’re up, I’m going to head on out.”

“You didn’t have to wait on me or cook my breakfast. I could’ve managed on my own.”

“I know, but like I told you, as long as you’re staying here, breakfast is non-negotiable. And I don’t trust you to actually eat a good breakfast on your own. Speaking of which, don’t forget your lunch.”

He rolled his eyes but grinned playfully. He put three fingers up. “Promise I’ll be good and eat a bowl of oatmeal after you’re gone, sir.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Were you even a Boy Scout?”

“Are you kidding me? Hello, intentional community kid here. We didn’t need Boy Scouts. We were living it. I can tie a knot that will hold a bear.” He bit his lower lip and tweaked his eyebrows. “I could show you sometime if you want.”

My mind absolutely did not imagine the things I could do to him with a few well-tied knots, and I figured my best bet was to pretend I didn’t catch what he meant.

“I’ll take your word for it. I’ll see you later, Mars.”

I arrived at the station a few minutes later, and the off-going crew was finishing the clean-up on their truck while the on-coming guys were just starting to arrive.

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