Melt

“Me, too, but we get to go out at night if we want. That’s the good thing about the sun.” He turned to stare at the view beyond. “Intense, isn’t it?”

“The whole place is,” Emma agreed.

“Strangers telling their most intimate secrets within earshot of anybody,” she whispered, inclining her head to the couple lounging on the sofa.

“It’s like some science experiment all of its own,” he joked. “Never mind the actual science projects that most of them are here for.”

“Like a reality TV show?” she asked.

“Exactly,” he said. “With an interesting mix of people. ‘Big Brother’ all the way.”

She glanced about. “Where do you think the hidden cameras are?”

“Actually, there are a couple,” he said.

“Really?”

He laughed at her expression. “You know there’s a live webcam on the base website, right? On the corner of that building over there.” He pointed to one of the outbuildings.

“Got it.”

“So what’s your bunkroom like?”

“That’s subtle,” she mock drawled. “You’re wanting an invitation?”

“Well, now that you mention it…” He winked.

She shook her head slowly. She recognized the deliberate provocation, but she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of snapping. “Not going to happen.”

“I’ve already been briefed on where all the lockable bathrooms are. And saunas.”

“Already?” They’d only been on the ice a couple of hours.

“You mean you haven’t?”

She shook her head mock-woefully.

“Come on.” He grabbed her hand. “Follow me.”

His grip was firm and his palm swallowed her fingers. He led her a few paces along the corridor, turning into a narrow doorway.

“You’re taking me into a bathroom?” Okay, now this was dodgy.

But he just laughed and opened the cupboard beneath the sink. “See this?”

The blush burned through her skin. Staring at the large plastic container filled to the brim with square foil packets, she wished she had her balaclava and goggles to hide her heated reaction. “And your point?”

“You know they ship almost twenty thousand of these to the base at the start of each summer?”

“Do they?” she asked faintly. Why on earth would they need twenty thousand condoms?

“They leave them here for free where anyone can grab them and not have to buy them and be embarrassed. They don’t want any unexpected arrivals.” He winked again.

Emma bit the inside of her cheek to stop her laughter. Seriously, the guy needed to control his outrageous mouth and lock up his arsenal of babe-magnet moves. Risqué comment closely followed by the wink, dimple, and slayer smile? If he weren’t so damn handsome, he’d never get away with it.

“I guess people need something to entertain themselves during those long, long winter days,” she said, trying to play it cool.

“Not to mention those endless summer nights.” He waggled his brows at her. “People like to have fun here, you know?” He led her back out to the lounge and kept up the tease. “But if you didn’t want to use your share of those little items, you could join the three-hundred club.”

“What would I have to do to join that?” she asked warily.

He laughed at her expression. “You need to go through three hundred degrees Fahrenheit. You do that by boiling up in the sauna for a while, then rolling naked outside in the ice on a particularly cold day, and then going back to the sauna.”

“Naked rolling on the ice?” She shook her head. “I can’t see that happening.”

“No?” He shrugged. “Pity.”

“Are you a member?” she couldn’t resist asking.

He just smiled. “Come on, I’m starving.”

…

Their first meal was a mouth-flaming chili served with rice and vegetables and followed by apple crumble. Hunter sat at one of the long tables a few chairs away from Emma, but he kept a vague eye on her as she quietly introduced herself to the others seated among them. Nice people—a mix of beakers and support staff and a few media types—he chatted away, sharing common tales of Antarctic life and reliving that horrific landing with laughter. Years of itinerant overseas projects, of meeting many new people and having to work with them in close, stressful quarters, had made him an expert in sharing enough and holding back what he didn’t have to give.

Not long after dinner, Hunter rose when he saw Emma slipping toward the door.

He caught up to her. “You’re not going to stay and socialize a little?”

“I need to get some things prepared.”

“That’s very conscientious of you,” he said lightly.

“That’s because I don’t have long to get my work done here.”

“Yeah, but you know they stock really nice beer in the bar?” He wanted her to stop for a minute and enjoy the scene.

That got a good smile from her. “I’m sure they do, but I really need to do some work.”

Hunter frowned as she left the room. He was the first to work extra-long hours, but this was her first night on the ice… She didn’t want to stay and mingle with the other residents at all? She was too quiet, too reserved, only observing when she should be having even just a little fun. He wanted to show her some fun.

Her determined retreat bothered him more than it should. Why did he have this urge to chase her and bring her back to appreciate what she was missing? Hell, there were plenty of other women to talk to and tease in the base bar if he wanted. But it wasn’t merely the tease he liked. He wanted to know what was behind those walls she was building—and why. Worse, he wondered why it was only her laughing response that warmed him the way it did.

He glanced out the window at the bright white scene. A slow smile curved his mouth. Surely she was too smart to be able to resist that view for long.

…

Emma escaped the crowds, needing some alone time and knowing that five minutes in the bunkroom was probably all she was going to get, for tonight anyway.

She picked up her e-reader but soon discarded it for her sketchbook. She needed to get her head in gear for working hard over the coming days. But she couldn’t settle to that either with her blood zinging around her body like she’d had fifteen coffees in a single sitting. No way was sleep hitting anytime soon. How could it when she was in Antarctica and it was broad daylight in the middle of the night?

She pulled back the thick curtain and stared out the window until Bridget came in, eager for an early night, given she was going to the camp ultra early in the morning. Emma went back to the lounge so Bridget could sleep. She could at least keep her eyes on that amazing view—thanks to the unending light—and she figured most of the other residents would have gone to bed by now, too.

She walked back along the corridor, peeking out every window she passed. So busy absorbing the brilliant landscape she didn’t see the figure waiting at the door to the lounge until she was right next to him.

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to sleep.” Hunter grinned at her startled jump. “First night on the ice, first chance to experience midnight sun. Come on.” He jerked his head toward the view and started off down the corridor. It wasn’t any darker than when their plane had landed in the late afternoon. It was weird.

“We’re not allowed out, are we?” she whispered, half scandalized as she scurried to keep up with him.

“Not without our decent gear on.”

“No, I mean at all.”

“You’re allowed to go five paces down the path. In fact, once you’re done with your safety training, you can go hiking for miles around the recreation areas. Do you want to?”

Of course she wanted to. She was dying to get out there.

“Come on, put on your jacket.”

She put it all on—gloves, trousers, hat, big jacket—but not her goggles or her sunglasses. She wanted to see this world with bare eyes for a few minutes.

Stepping outside and breathing in the sharp air was a painful pleasure. She walked alongside him over the stomped snow path toward the boundary markers. He bent and scooped up some snow, flinging a ball in her dir

ection.

“I’m not play fighting with you.”

He looked like a little boy who’d been told he couldn’t have pudding. She ignored him and looked at the sky, unable to walk as she tried to take it in. It was indescribable. She closed her eyes, wanting to blink and blink to ensure it wasn’t a dream.

“You’re supposed to be looking at the view,” she heard him say. “Not standing there with your eyes shut.”

“I’d open them if I could.” She swiped her face with her gloves. “But my eyelashes have frozen together.”

“They what?” He laughed.

She raised her eyebrows and knew she’d be looking like some physical comedy act, given the way she was contorting her face to try to pry her eyelids open. She abandoned the facial stretches and rubbed her hands over her eyes again.

“You’re going to give yourself two black eyes if you keep doing that.” Footsteps crunched closer. “Let me help.”

It wasn’t like she had much choice. Shaking her head, hot from the combination of embarrassment and amusement, she waited.

His hands framed her face, tilting it up.

“Your gloves are wet and cold,” she half grumbled, covering up her mortification.

“Snowball,” he murmured.

Emma went still, because that’s when she felt it. The jet of warm air as he blew over first one, then the other eye. Very, very close, she could almost feel his mouth.

“I’m really glad I brushed my teeth already,” he joked. “So you don’t have to cope with a face full of chili breath.”

She laughed and her eyelids pinged open.

He was unbelievably close.

Still so much bigger than her, but he’d bent so his face was only inches from hers. His clear blue eyes filled with laughter and heat. More than her frosty eyelashes melted in that moment, as they stood too close for a little too long.

Emma forced herself to swallow. The first step in breaking the frozen minute. But all that faint movement did was draw his attention slightly farther south—to her mouth.