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“That’s because I was here.” She kept her gaze forward. She wouldn’t take a peek at those muscles.

“Did you start without me?”

“Something like that.”

He nudged her. “You can’t get away from me that easily.”

And she knew it. Georgia gave in to her desire and glanced up at Ash. He was brick wall solid and had close-cropped dark hair. His piercing eyes glimmered purple as they locked onto her.

She swallowed and looked away, ignoring the slight tremble in her limbs. There had to be a way out of this partnership before she did something dumb. But she was damned if she knew what that way was.

***

There was somethingmagnetic about Georgia Tobino that stirred a heat through Ash he’d never felt with another woman. It was part frustration and part longing. The human female was stubborn, bull-headed, and sometimes rude, but those qualities kept her alive and made her the strongest warrior in the human contingent of this crew.

Ash hadn’t worked with any humans until he’d joined the Apocalypse. He’d heard rumors about them, few good, so he was shocked by how determined they were for an alien with no natural defenses or special survival adaptations.

It had taken him about five minutes of being with Georgia before he realized he was in trouble. And it was trouble he was so tangled in that he didn’t know how to escape, or even if he wanted to, even though a headstrong, complicated female didn’t fit into his future.

He tugged his gaze from Georgia and focused on the boss. “What’s the job?”

Cleo brought up an image of a barren landscape, dotted with stunted trees. “It’s a recon mission on Sysal.”

“Recon! I can definitely do that on my own,” Georgia said.

Ash turned to her. “Why say that?”

She still didn’t look at him. “I can do recon in my sleep. It’s what I’m trained for.”

“Sure, but why go alone?”

“Georgia.” The warning note in Cleo’s voice made it clear to Ash he’d missed something important.

He kept focused on Georgia. “What’s going on? You’re thinking of ditching me?”

“No one is being ditched. Georgia had suggestions about maximizing team efficiency,” Cleo said. “I said no. We work in pairs. It’s safest that way, especially when going to a place like Sysal.”

“Agreed. It’s a rocky hellhole.” Ash kept his gaze on Georgia. She rarely gave anything away. That came from her training, too. Five years in military intelligence left its mark. But he knew her tells, and her mouth was pressed together like she wanted to argue with Cleo.

“Sysal has a breathable atmosphere, but the bog networks make travel slow and dangerous,” Cleo said. “You need to watch out when you’re on the move.”

“And don’t forget the poisonous plants and biting insects.” Ash continued to watch Georgia. She wanted him off this mission?

“Those too. It’s not a place to go it alone, no matter what training you’ve had,” Cleo said.

“I agree again,” Ash said. “We go as a team, or we don’t go at all.”

Georgia glared at him, and anger sparked in her large dark eyes. He’d looked into that sharply pretty face so many times, trying to find a chink in her armor. She wore layers of the stuff. Maybe she didn’t have a softer side to discover. Even when they screwed, and it was always just sex for her, she kept herself locked down tight and in control.

His gaze traveled over her uniform, and the all-too-familiar figure with her compact curves and muscles that lay beneath the fabric. Georgia wasn’t soft and sweet; she was dangerous. He loved that in his women. Not that she was his, but a guy could dream.

“If you won’t work with Ash, I can always assign you lab tasks. We’ve had an intake of fifty animals that need processing,” Cleo said.

“Damn it! Fine, we’ll take the mission,” Georgia said. “But it’s a waste of resources.”

“I never waste resources,” Cleo said. “I protect assets. And you two are expensive assets.”

Ash hid a smile as Georgia grumbled under her breath. That was why Cleo was in charge. She bent to a degree, but when someone challenged her, she stood her ground. No one pulled any shit on Cleo and got away with it.