“Marvelous,” he said quietly, watching them approach.
“Yeah,” I agreed, but my attention was not on my research subjects.
Sam was serious by nature. It was just his personality — it had always been like this since I had met him ten years ago. But with me, when we were away from other people, he showed a different side.
And this was one of those rare instances where I got to witness the beauty of his smile. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen. Granted, I was biased — but I had asked Daniel about it once, and Daniel had agreed, and that man was married. So there I had my objective data point.
Damn. My plan of getting over him was not starting well. But how was I to blame? If he was going to produce devastating smiles like that, how was I supposed to enforce anything?
“Let’s launch it before we get ambushed,” Sam said as he turned away from the chicks — the smile still on his face, an added twinkle sparkled in his dark eyes as he winked at me.
My heart did an odd thing. Was he trying to derail my plan? Could he somehow read my mind?
I pulled the throttle and we both watched the drone risesteadily into the air. I pulled out the iPad and confirmed we were receiving data as the drone flew over the island and began collecting colony numbers and movement patterns.
The crèche had reached us by then. Penguins were a curious lot. The chicks watched us with their black eyes, heads turning this way and that, while making sounds continously. In the background the constant motion of the colony carried on — adults shuffling from nest to water, some leaving, some returning, others standing watch over newly hatched chicks. And then there were the few couples whose eggs had still not hatched, patient and still among all the mayhem.
“Ready for getting their stats?” I grinned at Sam as one of the chicks waddled so close I could see the matted clumps in its down.
“Ready.”
“Hey bud,” I said to it as we set up my study supplies. “You are covered in all the gunk, huh? Don’t worry — soon you will be all grown up and you will be jumping off this island and getting a nice clean bath in the ocean.”
The chicks clustered around us, peeking at our equipment and making their sounds.
“All right, buddy.” I scooped up the first one gently but firmly while Sam held the bag open. I dropped the unsuspecting victim inside and Sam twisted the mouth shut.
Sam set the bag on the weighing plate and let the penguin’s weight settle. I read the number aloud and entered it into the tracker. We did the same with all the bold ones who had wandered close. Chick study was a separate project and needed specialized permission.
We spent the entire afternoon tagging adult penguins and pulling off previous tags. By the time evening rolledaround, we were both tired and hungry but it had been a productive first day. I had already collected more data than I had expected and couldn’t wait to get back to the station next week and sort through all of it. Slowly, we made our way back to the tent, weaving through penguins like pedestrians on a busy St. Petersburg sidewalk.
Inside the bright yellow tent, we took stock of the situation. The tent had been set up at the start of the summer, and since then several research groups had come and used it and moved on. That was just how fieldwork operated at remote stations like this.
But as I was standing in the middle of the tent and I was not sure I was seeing what I was seeing.
“Are you seeing what I am seeing?” I whispered in horror.
“I think so,” Sam replied from somewhere behind me, busy unloading our gear while I stood frozen in shock.
“The second sleeping bag is damaged,” I said.
Unnecessarily.
“Yes,” he replied, seemingly unbothered. “We have one working one. Should be plenty for both of us.”
One sleeping bag. Sharing with Sam.
Fuck.
I would not survive this.
5
Chapter 5
Images of Sam standing bare-chested from yesterday morning flashed through my mind exactly the way people described near-death experiences. This was it. I was screwed.
I had spent a lifetime jerking off to thoughts of Sam. How was I supposed to sleep while he was literally right next to me and we were wrapped up together in this cocoon? I must have been standing there staring for too long, because suddenly Sam was right in front of me.
