“Fine. You can have a say.”
The warmth in her voice, the teasing smile on her face, and the trusting way she looked up at him were suddenly too much to resist. He bent his head, brushing his lips against hers. Her mouth was warm and soft and utterly enticing, and he didn’t think he’d ever tasted anything more perfect.
“What are you doing?” she murmured, her hands resting against his chest.
“Having a say,” he whispered.
She laughed, a low, husky sound, and kissed him back, her arms sliding around his neck. The feeling of her surrender made his entire body tighten. He wanted her with an intensity that frightened him, an intensity he’d never experienced before, but before he could deepen the kiss, Roland chirped impatiently.
He reluctantly lifted his head.
“We can’t. Not here.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s dangerous. I won’t take any chances with your safety.”
“Don’t worry, Zach,” she said softly. “I know you’ll protect me.”
Her confidence in him filled him with happiness, and he smiled down at her.
“Come on, let’s get you back to the surface. Then we can continue this conversation.”
CHAPTER NINE
Cass’s mind was still reeling as she climbed back up the ladder to the hangar.
Life on Mars. Actual Martian life forms. The impossibility of it made her head spin. Her parents’ faces flashed unbidden in her mind—her father’s perpetual look of distracted disappointment, her mother’s tight smile that never quite reached her eyes.
“Adequate work, Cassandra, but I expected more from you.”
How many times had she heard some variation of that phrase? From her first science fair project at age seven to her doctoral dissertation, nothing had ever quite measured up to the Winters standard of excellence.
And now? What would they say if they knew she’d just discovered alien life forms on Mars? Would they finally look at her with genuine pride? Or would they find some way to minimize her achievement?
“The data is preliminary, Cassandra. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
She could almost hear her father’s dismissive tone and see her mother’s arched eyebrow.
No.She shook her head, banishing the imagined conversation. It didn’t matter what they thought. This discovery was hers—hers and Zach’s.
Zach.The thought of him sent a different kind of flutter through her stomach. She touched her lips, still feeling the ghost of his mouth against hers. The intensity of those kisses had surprised her—not just his passion, but her own response. She’d never had much time for dating, and she’d certainly never responded to anyone that way before.
“Focus on the data,” she told herself firmly as Roland scampered out of the shaft. This was what she’d trained for—to observe, analyze, and understand. The personal complications could wait.
Zach followed close behind and despite her resolution to focus on the data, her heart still skipped a beat when he emerged. The storm was still raging outside the station, and Phantom huffed softly in greeting.
“We need to secure the entrance to the shaft,” he said, already looking around the hangar.
The passionate lover of moments before had disappeared, replaced by the stern ranger.
“Are you sure? That creature wouldn’t fit in the shaft. Its body is a lot wider than yours and it’s a tight fit for you.”
“Unless it can cut through rock. Or has smaller offspring.”
She shuddered at the thought of a horde of the creatures and stopped arguing. He pulled a metal barrel filled with thestation’s emergency water supply on top of the entrance. The barrel must have weighed five hundred pounds, and he gave a satisfied nod.
“Between the weight and the fact that it’s made of metal, that should prevent any unwanted visitors.”
