Katherine Garbera - Pushing The Limits

She was his trainer; he wanted to seem like the only one who was overqualified for the mission. Not someone who doubted himself.

“I bet they do,” she said. “Well, it’s time for me to hit the showers. Thanks for sparring with me.”

“We aren’t done,” he said.

“Sadly we are. I beat you, Thor. So this is where I leave you.”

She had beaten him. “Rematch?”

“Not tonight,” she said.

It was then that he noticed the sadness that clung to her. She had hidden it well at the party. In her icy blond looks, most men—himself included—would just see the beauty. Not the woman beneath it.

Maybe it was the gi and the fact that she looked tired with her hair falling out of its elegant twist. But he saw that there was something she was running from. Maybe she needed a friend more than a lothario.

“You okay?”

She wrinkled her brow. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugged, then went to the water cooler and filled two paper cones. “You look...”

Sad? He knew he couldn’t say that to her. He wasn’t dumb when it came to women; he’d watched his parents interact most of his life. They were the strongest couple he knew.

“Like...?” she asked.

“Like you need a friend. Like maybe you want to talk.”

She seemed startled by that. And inside he smiled. He didn’t want to be predictable, and he realized that he had been until that moment.

“Sorry about earlier. It’s just that you’re drop-dead gorgeous and for a moment I reacted like a guy and not the gentleman I was raised to be.”

She shook her head. “You are smooth, Hemi. I’ll give you that.”

She called him by his name when she was being real with him. When she wanted distance she used his call sign. Interesting.

“So, want to talk?”

“Not really,” she said. “I’m just...”

She took the cone of water from him, downed it and then crumpled the paper in her hands before meeting his gaze again. Her gaze was direct and he thought for a moment that she could see clean into his soul. What did she see in there? He’d been ignoring that part of himself for a while now. Concentrating on working out, doing everything he could to be physically ready for the fight for a spot in Cronus. But he wasn’t spiritually ready.

“Can you keep this between us?” she asked.

“Who would I mention it to?” he countered. “I’m not a gossiper.”

“I mean...can this just be us, not trainer and trainee?”

He nodded. “I’ve got your back. Always, Jessie.”

She looked over at him. “You surprised me again.”

“I did?”

“Yeah. Most people don’t think I need someone at my back. They see me on television venturing to extreme places, and think I’m the ultimate loner,” she said. “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.