did her best with four rowdy boys.”
“Four boys? That must have been some household. Where did you fall in the siblings?”
“Guess,” he said. Most people thought he was the firstborn because he had a strong type A personality, but all the Barrett boys did. There wasn’t one of them who didn’t think he could accomplish whatever he wanted.
“You’re confident, but I’m guessing from what you said about your parents that all the brothers are. You’re spoiled, too...so youngest.”
“Spoiled? What makes you think that?” he asked.
“You expect to get everything you go after,” she said.
“Well...that’s just because I’m good. Has nothing to do with being spoiled.”
“Yeah, right,” she said. “Was I right?”
“You were,” he said. “Most peg me for the oldest.”
“I can see that, but you don’t have that mantle of responsibility. I think if you were the oldest you’d never go to space and leave your family behind.”
“Wow. That cuts a little close.”
“I always tell the truth, too. Plus, I already know you’re a man with his future up in the stars.”
“I am. Did you want something else?”
“Like you said, that’s a little intense for a first date.”
“So this is a first date?” he asked with a wink.
“It might be.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yeah. If there’s a first date, that means there’ll be more.”
“Let’s see how this one ends before we go making assumptions,” she said.
He liked her.
More than he’d expected from someone he had a fanboy crush on. He’d just seen her in the corner, standing alone, and he’d almost let her stay that way. But there had been something about the quietness of her that had drawn him across the room. Her long, gorgeous legs had helped him make the decision but he hadn’t imagined she’d be so real, so genuine, and when she looked up at him with those wide blue eyes, her pretty pink lips parted, she made him think of tangled sheets and long nights spent in each other’s arms.
“But I don’t think another date is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
As the music ended, she said, “Because I’m your instructor, so I think we should keep our relationship strictly professional. Thanks for the dance.”
He didn’t agree with that. Not at all. There was no reason they couldn’t be more than student and teacher. She stepped back as someone called his name. He turned to see who it was, and when he turned back she was gone.
JESSIE LET OUT a breath as she entered the gym that had been set up for martial arts training. She was happy that she’d escaped the party and the lights and music. She took her shoes off and let the feel of the mats under her feet ground her.
It was September, and this was just like starting school. When she’d been a kid she’d always wanted to go to real classes, but her parents homeschooled her from their yacht. She was excited about the prospect now.
She’d have preferred to go outside, but she wasn’t familiar enough with the terrain at the Bar T. She’d gone on a few hikes to plan survival training exercises for the candidates, but she wasn’t ready for a shoeless midnight run.
She left her high heels by the door and crossed to the locker room, where she changed into her white gi and fastened her well-worn black belt around her waist. Already she felt like she was breathing more deeply.
She could socialize, but it tired her out. Drained her.
Hemi. Thor. She loved how these astronauts all had call signs. Probably because so many of them had military training. Although Jessie knew that some of this batch of candidates weren’t military—weren’t even NASA qualified. The missions were a joint effort between NASA and a civilian organization called Final Frontier.
She left the changing room and set her internal timer. She had learned to be very good at monitoring time over the years. She jogged around the perimeter of the gym, keeping her breathing steady and letting her mind drift.
For once her thoughts didn’t go to Everest and Alexi. Instead, she pictured Hemi. His face as it was tonight. The smooth confidence of a man who had trained and achieved as much as he had, but also the passion in his eyes. He loved his job. That had been clear.
But she wasn’t analyzing him as a trainee right now. She saw, instead, the birthmark under his eye. Thought about the meaning and how Maori folklore suggested he’d been touched by the gods.
She stopped running after fifteen minutes and started going through the different tae kwon do forms that she had learned as a child on her parents’ boat, kicking and punching her way through routines that had Korean names like taegeuk sam jang and taegeuk il jang.
“So this is where you got to.”
She finished her forward slicing kick and dropped back into ready position before turning to look at the shadowy doorway. Hemi.
“I can only do parties for so long,” she said.
“Me, too.” He stepped into the light.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I have to attend a lot of them because of my job but I haven’t shut one down in years. You practice tae kwon do?”
She nodded.
“Mind if I join you for a little sparring?” he asked.
Sparring...
“Sure. I’m a third-degree black belt.”
“Fourth,” he said with a cocky grin. He toed off his dress shoes and tugged at his tie as he walked toward the locker room.
She put her head down, focusing on getting back to her center. Hemi rattled her. She’d come here...who the hell knew why she was in the gym tonight. What she’d thought she wanted to find had eluded her until he’d walked in.
She knew part of her was still grieving. Losing Alexi had been like losing a chunk of her soul. Her parents had said to give herself time. But how much? A part of her would always feel the emptiness of a world without him. But that was her old self. The woman who had found exhilaration in the next new adventure. Her father suspected she’d lost her courage, but her mother feared she’d lost her heart and soul.
Why, then, was she getting that old tingle from being around Hemi? He wasn’t doing anything overt...well, he had tracked her down and now he wanted to spar with her.
Was it sex?
Wouldn’t it be convenient if this feeling was just lust? Maybe she could have a fling with him. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t against the rules, though a part of her did feel like her judgment would be compromised slightly if they slept together. But it might be too late—he was already different from just any student in her mind. He had those big muscly arms and that laugh. She couldn’t forget that laugh.
She heard him reenter and he gave her a salute as he started jogging around the gym, loosening up the same way she had.
The last time she’d been alone with a man like this, she’d been with Alexi. The realization hit her hard. He was gone. She wanted to leave.
She turned and was halfway to the door when Hemi caught her wrist and drew her to a stop.
“I