Samantha’s hair was down for the first time since Thor had met her, her pale blond strands hanging to the middle of her back. Thor shouldn’t have noticed or cared—but he did. He wanted to touch it, to run his fingers through it.
She looked up but didn’t quite meet his gaze. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” He sat, sipped his coffee. “Did you sleep well?”
She nodded. “You?”
Thor met Jones’ gaze. “Well enough.”
Just then, Jason walked by, wearing his kitchen uniform, phone in his hand.
In one move, Thor stood and grabbed it from him. “Hardin told you to quit taking photos of people without consent. I’ll give this to him when I see him later. We’ll see what he has to say about your latest blog post.”
The kid’s face turned a furious shade of red. “Give it back!”
Then Lance, who was sitting at a nearby table, got to his feet. “Jason, it’s your own damned fault. Hardin warned you. Don’t you have more eggs to scramble?”
Jason glared at Lance and walked away. “Fucker.”
Lance stepped forward, held out a hand. “I haven’t introduced myself yet. Lance Barclay. I’m the winter IT guy. Sorry for how I acted when you first got here. I’ve been pretty torn up by Patty’s death.”
Thor shook his hand. “No worries. I understand.”
“What was that about?” Samantha’s gaze followed Jason back to the kitchen.
“He posted nude photos from last night.” Thor didn’t mind being seen naked, but he worked in global security. He didn’t need his face all over the Internet.
“Nude photos?” Kristi pulled out her phone to look. “Hey, that’s me! He posted naked photos of me! Jason, you ass! You need to take this post down—now! Shit. I need to go. See you later, Sam. You, too, Malik.”
Jones watched her walk away, making Segal roll his eyes once more.
With Kristi gone, Thor went through the plan for the day. Segal, as the only Russian speaker, would get to know their new friends. Thor would accompany Samantha to the Dark Sector Lab this morning, while Jones joined her in the afternoon. This arrangement wasn’t just about Samantha’s security. It was about mission priorities. Thor needed to get some distance where Samantha was concerned, and Jones needed something to do besides Kristi.
It was time for all of them to focus on their jobs.
* * *
Samantha had madea mental checklist of what she would say this morning. She needed to set things straight with Thor, restore her sense of dignity, and convince herself that she didnothave a crush on him. But so far, she hadn’t said anything, trudging in silence toward the Dark Sector Lab, Thor beside her.
It didn’t help that Kristi had shared explicit details of her night with Malik—or that Thor was so damned good-looking. He’d walked into the galley, and her thoughts had scattered, attraction hitting her like a jolt of caffeine. She’d been able to see the outline of his pecs through his dark blue Henley, for God’s sake!
Okay, maybe that had been her imagination. But who could blame her? The memory of his naked body was fixed in her mind.
Just start with the apology.
She drew in a breath. “I want to apologize. I’ve been struggling to cope with everything that happened this past week and have been out of sorts. I’m not usually as unprofessional as I was last night.”
“You don’t owe me an apology. Who said you were unprofessional?”
“Uh… Well, after what I said …I’ve said a lot of stupid things since you arrived.”
“Like I said, you’ve been through a rough time. Cut yourself some slack.”
“Thanks for understanding.” Next on her checklist was mentioning her extra workload without Patty and her need to focus and not talk to him while in the lab.
She led the way up the stairs, unlocked the door, flicked on the lights, and began to remove her layers. “There’s not a lot of things to do here, I’m afraid, especially now that Patty’s gone. I should have suggested you bring a book so you won’t be bored.”
“You do what you need to do.” He hung his parka by the door, tucked his mask in its pocket. “I don’t need to be entertained. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s keeping myself occupied.”