Her fingers responded instantly, running up his chest and starting to undo the buttons on his white shirt. She hadn’t even known her fingers could move that quickly. He didn’t object. Not when she unfastened the last one and pushed the shirt back off his shoulders.
He took a tiny step closer. ‘Hey, this is getting a little unfair.’ His warm breath touched the skin at the bottom of her neck.
‘Then make it fair,’ she whispered. He gave her dress another tug, loosening the ties and letting the jersey material fall back and crumple to the floor.
She’d thought she’d feel self-conscious. It was hard not to around Austin. The guy didn’t have a single muscle in his body that wasn’t defined. But Austin seemed far more interested in her curves than how flat her stomach was.
His lips moved from hers, edging around the back of her ear and down to her throat. She released a little whimper and stepped backwards, pulling him with her towards the bed.
They hadn’t stopped to turn on any lights, but the tiny gap at the French doors made her white full-length gauze drapes flutter next to them. It was like a movie scene. All she needed was the smoke machine to finish setting the mood.
She felt safe. She felt safe with Austin.
Her hands moved towards his jeans. He lifted his head and closed his hand over hers. ‘Last chance to change your mind, Corrine.’
She smiled. His voice was bathing her with a wave of sensations that she didn’t ever want to end. She undid his belt buckle and pulled it sharply from his jeans, tossing it onto the floor.
His hand caressed her red bra as they fell back onto the white duvet laughing. ‘I think we’ve passed the point of no return,’ she said softly as she put her lips on his.
* * *
Austin woke up a few hours later, curled around the warm body of Corrine Carter. Her pale curtain was billowing in the wind again. The handyman in him wanted to offer to fix the draft around the door, but he knew that Corrine would refuse.
Something in his heart squeezed a little. This was the point where he should retrieve his clothes and head for the door. It wasn’t as if he had any transport, but he’d run between the base and Corrine’s house before and he could do it again.
But something felt weird. He didn’t want to climb out of the bed and disappear. Even though he knew he had to.
He had to be focused for tomorrow. The T-38 supersonic jet trainers were the start of his pilot training for piloting the spacecraft. It was a million-dollar programme. He had to be on point. No distractions. So why was he still here?
Corrine groaned and her warm body shifted back towards his. It was impossible. There was no way he could not react. After a few seconds she rolled over, smiling at him.
‘Hey,’ she said softly, her hand coming over and resting on his bare chest.
‘Hey,’ he replied, his hand connecting with her bare behind.
She was staring at him with those big green eyes. Up close and personal he could see tiny flecks of brown in them. Her skin was perfect, with only the tiniest hint of colour and not a single blemish. Her curves were even more perfect.
‘I liked the red dress.’ He smiled. ‘You should wear it more often.’
‘Seems to me you liked it better off than on,’ she shot back.
His fingers trailed along her soft skin. ‘Okay, you got me. I definitely liked it better off.’
‘Austin...’ Her voice tailed off. He sensed her muscles tense under the palms of his hands. This was it. This was the don’t-call-me-I’ll-call-you chat.
He’d never actually had anyone say that to him before. It had always been him doing it to someone else. He was usually the dumper rather than the dumped.
His stomach twisted uncomfortably.
She reached up and ran her fingers through his short hair, licking her lips as she did so. She was thinking of what to say. He could tell. She was trying to find just the right let-down words.
But then she surprised him.
‘You could get addictive,’ she with a sigh, then rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.
Not what he was expecting and his heart did a little jig. It didn’t matter that he’d decided he should get Corrine Carter out of his system. It didn’t matter that he had no intention of starting any kind of relationship that interfered with his ultimate goal.
Those things didn’t seem so crystal clear right now.
His phone beeped behind him.
‘Who’s that?’
He shook his head. ‘I was waiting on an email. It must be that.’
He leaned out of the side of the bed and fumbled around his jeans, retrieving the phone from his pocket and pressing the button. It only took a few seconds to read the email.
‘What is it?’ She didn’t bother to hide her curiosity.
Now it was his turn to sag back against the pillows. ‘It’s the offer of some research. It’s been in the pipeline for a few years. It’s just taken a long time to actually arrive.’
She leaned her head on her hand. ‘What kind of research?’
‘Cellular stuff. Looking at zebra fishes, in particular the Hedgehog signalling pathway and how it controls cell growth in human cancers.’
Her eyes widened. ‘That sounds fascinating. And really worthwhile. They offered you the research?’
He nodded. ‘They want me to head up the team. I did some preliminary research a few years ago and contributed to developing the theory they want to explore.’
‘But what about WSSA?’
He didn’t hesitate. ‘WSSA comes first. It always will.’
There was a little flare of recognition behind her eyes. As if she understood he wasn’t just talking about the research. He was talking about everything. His whole life.
‘Will they give the project to someone else?’
He let out a long slow breath. He’d always known these two parts of his life could collide. He just hadn’t expected it to be right now. ‘Probably.’
‘And you can’t find any way to do both?’
He frowned. ‘How on earth could I do that? I’ve got intensive training for the next eighteen months. I won’t be able to think about anything else but that.’ It came out a little sharper than he intended and she pulled the duvet closer to herself.
‘You should speak to Jack Carson, who oversees things. There are all sorts of research projects done by WSSA. You don’t know what they might be planning for the future.’
He shook his head. This conversation was making him uncomfortable. This was the first time—ever—he’d had reason to question going into space. This research was important. If they could find out how that pathway really worked and find a way to switch it off, it could affect every single person with cancer.
He swung his legs around out of the bed and picked up his jeans.
She didn’t seem surprised—didn’t do anything to stop him. He pulled on his jeans and walked over to get his shirt. She sat up too, pulling the duvet around her. ‘Do you want me to drive you back to base?’
He shook his head. ‘The walk will do me good. I’ve got a lot to think about. I need to work out how to turn them down.’
She gave a nod. ‘You’ll be on the other side of the base for the next few weeks. Good luck with the pilot training.’
His footsteps kind of faltered but he didn’t turn around. He didn’t let himself turn around. Last thing he needed right now was to see Corrine with her mussed-up hair, all wrapped up in a duvet, looking sexier than hell. He’d never be able to get that picture out of his head—whether he was on earth, or in space.
‘Thanks,’ he muttered quietly as he left, thinking about all the things he’d just done wrong.
CHAPTER NINE
CORRINE STARED AT the blood results in front of her and felt numb.
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She hated it when her gut instinct paid off. Particularly in this kind of way.
Lisa had abnormal blood counts. Nothing that could be diagnosed, but something that would require further investigations. She had a horrible feeling this was going to be out of her league.
There was a knock at the door and a pale-faced Lisa appeared.
‘You wanted to see me.’
Corrine nodded. ‘Take a seat,’ she said, gesturing towards the seat beside her.
Lisa looked nervous. She was dressed in her blue flight suit and covered from head to toe, but even as she sat down she involuntarily scratched her arm.