He’d picked up on her vibes, her need for control. The fact that he wasn’t afraid to let her be in charge only increased his sex appeal in her eyes.
She glanced at the clock. It was only an hour until his pick-up. He was lying fast asleep in her bed. She ran a finger down his arm. ‘Hey, Bates. It’s your wake-up call. Kazakhstan is calling.’
He flinched and she frowned. Maybe he was just sleepy.
His eyes flickered open. He licked his lips and his dark eyes focused on hers. ‘What’re your plans for the next few weeks?’
She shrugged. ‘Some of the candidates will still be here. I’ll be heading down to Key Largo with the rest of the team for more training.’
He rolled over onto his back. ‘So, I’ll be freezing in Kazakhstan and you’ll be wearing your bikini in Key Largo?’
She smiled. ‘Pretty much.’ She slid her hand across his stomach. ‘What’s the problem? It’s all part of the training. It’s the only way you’ll get up into space.’
His eyes twinkled. ‘Well, that, and sleeping with the WSSA doctor. Can I get a prescription for this?’
She picked up her pillow and thumped him with it. It didn’t take long for him to join in the pillow fight and before she knew it her bedroom was littered with floating feathers that fluttered around them like wedding confetti.
She held out her hands and laughed as they started drifting to the ground. Austin picked up his phone and snapped a photo.
‘What? What are you doing?’
‘I need something to look at for the next four weeks.’ He spun the phone around. ‘This will do nicely.’
It was like a sugar rush going through her body. The weirdest of sensations. She felt happy. She felt relaxed. It didn’t matter that her hair was completely mussed up. It didn’t matter that she was dressed only in her underwear. She felt completely happy in her own skin as the feathers floated around her.
And the glow. The weirdest glow... She’d never had that before.
She thumped back down onto the bed. ‘Show anyone else that picture and I’ll do you a serious injury.’
Four weeks without Austin. She kind of wanted to ask for a picture of him in return.
This was the problem with not having had many serious relationships. This was the problem with spending the last few years being relatively selfish and only concentrating on herself and her career.
This was the first time in a long time that anyone that felt even mildly like the ‘right’ guy had come along. Trouble was, she didn’t know what to do with him.
She didn’t know what came next.
Should she say something? Do something?
Austin glanced at the clock, then swung his leg over her body, putting his hands at either side of her head.
‘Fifty minutes. Fifty minutes until pick up.’ He started kissing around her neck. ‘Any idea what we could do to kill some time?’
She blinked and kept her face straight. But darn...he was distracting her again. Those kisses were setting off little rocket ships throughout her body. She ran her fingers down his spine. ‘We could talk about space modules.’
He lifted his head from her neck and pressed his full body weight against her. There was very little material between them.
I’ll miss you. Those were the words she wanted to say. Those were the words that were imprinted on her brain. But even those three little words would take her another step. Another step away from being totally in control. To leaving herself emotionally vulnerable.
This guy was already peeling back her layers. He made her laugh. He made her heartbeat quicken at the sound of his voice. He made her comfortable.
She’d never have let any of her ex-boyfriends have a picture of her in her underwear. She’d never have trusted them enough.
But with Austin it just seemed...right.
And her head was struggling with that.
He stopped kissing her neck and poised above her again. Those electric-blue eyes were mesmerising. ‘Promise me one thing.’
Her stomach clenched. This sounded serious. They usually kept things pretty light-hearted. Was he wrestling with the same emotions as she was?
The hottest astronaut candidate in the world, virtually naked in her bed...as if she were going to say no!
‘What?’
He started kissing down her body. ‘Promise me, that in four weeks, when I come back from Kazakhstan, I’ll find you in the exact same position as I’m going to leave you.’
She pulled him back up towards her and wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘Well, that depends.’
‘Depends on what?’
‘On what my farewell gift is.’
He grinned. ‘Let me show you.’
And he did.
CHAPTER TWELVE
HE’D ACED EVERYTHING. Every language test. Every piloting test.
Four weeks of complete and utter focus.
There wasn’t much to do here in Kazakhstan. Sure, they had access to computers and the Internet. But the space training centre was out in the back of beyond. There was no chance of visiting a bar and allowing yourself to slip into oblivion for a few hours. Every spare second, by every candidate, was spent studying. If anyone failed here, it was goodbye and go home. And everyone was far too invested to let that happen.
Everyone but him.
He was still ignoring things. Still giving the impression that space was all he’d ever dreamed of. He wasn’t quite sure when that dream had shifted. But it seemed to be right around the time he’d met Corrine. And that bugged him.
Bugged him that he couldn’t work out if it was how he felt about her that was affecting things, or if, by some weird coincidence, he’d let the stuff that had always been there finally come to the surface.
He was becoming someone he didn’t recognise. For the first two weeks they’d exchanged cheeky emails thick and fast. He’d kept bugging her for a picture of her in a bikini at Key Largo. Finally she’d sent one.
It was a selfie. The best selfie he’d ever seen. She was sitting on the edge of a boat, the beautiful blue ocean behind her, wind in her hair and dressed only in a leopard-print bikini. If spontaneous combustion were possible he was right there.
Then, the Internet had crashed.
Most of the candidates thought it was deliberate to make them focus on their tasks.
But Austin had found himself focusing on the photo on his phone.
He actually couldn’t believe how much he missed her. He wanted to know who’d been on the boat with her. And he recognised the little twinge of jealousy in his stomach. It was the second time he’d felt one about Corrine. No other woman had ever sparked the same emotions.
It felt...unnatural. At least for him.
He’d never felt this way about a woman before. And it was driving him plain crazy.
Four weeks. That was all this was. Four lousy weeks.
How on earth would he survive three or six months on the space station?
He needed to sort himself out. He needed to know what he actually wanted before he could make any next move.
Maybe if he told her he was giving up the astronaut training she wouldn’t be interested any more. Maybe she was only keen on a guy who had the same interests as her. A research professor might bore her completely. A hotshot pilot and astronaut would have way more sex appeal than a lab guy.
And what about his family? What about his parents and grandparents? How could he disappoint them after all this time? Would they resent Corrine? Would they think that she’d changed his mind? Would his colleagues think he’d met a woman and decided space wasn’t the dream destination after all? He’d never hear the end of it.
He shook his head. He’d thought being here would make him more focused. Instead, he felt more confused by the s
econd.
But there was one thought that was central in his mind. Corrine Carter. He missed her.
He hadn’t figured on that.
And he’d really missed her. He’d missed her smile. He’d missed her green eyes with little brown flecks. He’d missed her curves and the way she wore her suits so well. He’d missed her matching underwear. He’d missed the smell of her, the touch of her, the taste of her.
Every time he closed his eyes he saw her. Corrine, in her bright blue underwear with her blonde hair mussed up around her face. She was laughing. She was happy. She was sexy as...
Enough. It had to be enough.
If he wanted to stay focused on space he had to stay away from Corrine.
There was nothing else for it. She was like a drug to him. An addictive drug.
And he hated being that weak. He hated the fact that he was thinking about her when he should be focusing on piloting the shuttle.
He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t afford to do that in space. Not having his mind on the job could cost him his life, as well as the lives of the rest of the crew.