Hard Line

by Clare, Pamela

  “He’s pouring water out of his ears.”

  “He’s … what?” She looked completely confused.

  “You don’t say that in English?”

  “Not unless someone has literal water in their ears.”

  “It means that what he’s saying isn’t true. It’s nonsense.”

  “Ah.”

  But Jones watched Thor, a grin on his face. “Did you see that, Segal? Damn! The Viking finally lost his cool.”

  It was then Thor realized he needed a fork and a beverage.

  * * *

  Samantha waited outside the coatroom by the main entrance for Thor, who insisted that he or one of the other Cobra guys accompany her to and from the Dark Sector Lab. She needed to catch up on work and check the telescope. But what she really wanted to do was hide.

  If a woman can’t get laid in Antarctica—

  Samantha cringed to think that Thor had heard those words. True, he’d confronted Jason and had seemed genuinely angry on her behalf. She was grateful for that. But he had witnessed it, as had everyone else in the galley.

  It had been mortifying.

  Sometimes, Samantha didn’t understand the world. Only about fifty people in any given year got to spend austral winter here. It was an honor, and it came with a lot of work and responsibility. Who had time to think about getting laid?

  You only say that because men don’t pay attention to you.

  She ignored that inner voice—or tried to.

  She’d had two boyfriends—one in college and one in graduate school. The college boyfriend, Scott, had broken up with her a few weeks into their relationship by telling her he’d never really found her attractive. Nathan, her boyfriend in grad school, had turned everything into a competition—grades, research, relationships with professors. He’d broken up with her when she’d gotten a prestigious post-doc position at the University of Chicago, insisting that she’d only gotten the job because she was a woman and not because she’d earned it.

  After that, Samantha decided she had better things to do than date.

  She’d come here to work, to do ground-breaking research about relic light in the universe, not to meet men. She shouldn’t care what that idiot Jason said or what anyone else thought about her. Even so, Jason’s words had hurt.

  She spotted Thor down the hallway. It wasn’t hard with his white parka. He was also a lot taller than most men, and he walked with the kind of grace that came from being physically active.

  He saw her, drew his hat over his head, his mask in his gloved hands. “I just heard that the pilot made it back to McMurdo.”

  “I’m so relieved to hear that. Ready?”

  They put on their masks, pulled up their hoods, and walked out into the cold, making their way down the stairs to the ice. A faint aurora danced around the edge of the sky, a small breeze fluttering the flags that marked the path to the Dark Sector.

  “I brought something I’d like you to carry with you until we leave.” He drew a small two-way radio out of his pocket. “This way, you can reach me, Jones, and Segal, no matter where you are, day or night.”

  She took the device from him. “But I already have a radio.”

  “Yes, I know, but we’re not on that frequency. I want you to be able to reach us in case of an emergency.”

  She slipped the radio into her pocket. “You truly believe I’m in danger?”

  “I can’t say for certain, but I want to be prepared. That’s the most important part of any security operation—identifying potential risks and finding ways to mitigate them before anything happens.”

  That seemed logical.

  “I feel very protected, so thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  For a short time, they walked without speaking, their boots squeaking on the ice, Thor’s long stride making her work to keep up.

  “What is the Three Hundred Club?” he asked out of the blue.

  “It’s about putting your body through three hundred degrees of temperature shift.” Samantha had never seen the appeal of that. “First, you sit in a two-hundred-degree sauna and get hot. Then you leave the station naked except for boots, walk around the South Pole marker, and then head back into the sauna to warm up.”

  He chuckled. “That sounds fun.”

  “Why did you ask?”

  “Some people are talking about doing it tomorrow night. I guess it’s supposed to get below minus one hundred. We Cobra guys were invited to join in. Have you done it?”

  “No way.” Samantha laughed. “Patty did. My ancestors are Finnish—Park comes from Parkkonen—so I love the sauna. But streaking in the cold just sounds to me like a great way to get frostbite in sensitive places.”

  The idea of being naked in front of the entire staff didn’t appeal to her either.

  Thor chuckled. “If you’re hot from the sauna, it takes a while to feel the cold.”

  “You’re going to do it?”

  “Yes.”

  She’d thought he was too focused on his job to do something so silly. But some part of her—the part that planned on watching—was excited about this.

  Are you seriously going to gawk at his naked body?

  Yes. Yes, she was.

  They reached the stairs that led up to the SPT control room. She gave him a tour, explaining in basic terms the kind of research she did. “We’re looking at relic light— light from shortly after the Big Bang—by scanning space for a certain kind of electromagnetic energy. My work focuses mostly on galaxy clusters.”

  He asked smart questions and understood more than she had expected, proof that he’d studied the sciences.

  “Can we go up to the roof?”

  He wanted to go outside again?

  “Of course.” She led the way.

  He stared up at the sky, clearly in no hurry to get back indoors. “I’ve never seen so many stars. Even in Greenland, the stars were never this bright.”

  “The cold freezes the water vapor out of the air, and the atmosphere here is stable. That’s why it’s so clear. That’s one reason we do so much astronomical research here.”

  He pointed with a gloved hand. “The Southern Cross. Musca over there. Tucana.”

  She was surprised—and impressed. “Where did you learn your southern constellations?”

  “When I left Sirius, I found I couldn’t go back to my old life. I traveled a lot. I spent some time backpacking in the Himalayas, Australia, and New Zealand. I met a Maori man who taught me how his people saw the sky. I tried to learn more.”

  He hadn’t been able to go back to his old life.

  What did that mean?

  “I’d love to hear more, but I’m freezing my butt off.”

  He chuckled, the sound almost enough to warm her. “Let’s get you back inside.”

  She stayed just long enough to check the readouts, but exhaustion from the day’s ordeal caught up with her. Thor walked with her back to her room at the station, where she thanked him and wished him a good night. Then she brushed her teeth and crawled into bed. The last image in her mind as she drifted off was of Thor staring up at the stars.

  7

  Thor sat in the sauna’s heat with Jones, Vasily, Hardin, and Kristi, the station nurse, all of them naked apart from their towels, their boots waiting outside the door. The warmth felt incredible after the day’s frigid cold, loosening stiff muscles, releasing endorphins, making Thor sweat.

  He had spent the day with Samantha at the Dark Sector lab, reading journal articles about the SPT and watching as she recycled the refrigerators that kept the telescope’s detectors cold enough to maintain the necessary sensitivity. The technology fascinated him. But now it was time for something completely different, something more up his alley—pitting himself against the elements.

  Segal had volunteered to stay indoors to keep a watch on the package. “Go freeze your balls off if you want. I’ve had enough cold on this mission.”

  A small crowd was waiting outside the sauna for the
m to exit, drop their towels, put on their boots, and head outside to the Pole marker and back.

  Vasily scratched his hairy chest. “We Russians have a long history of the banya—what you call sauna. It keeps men healthy and strong.”

  “Not just men,” Kristi replied.

  Thor hadn’t missed the way she’d been looking at Jones.

  “You Americans have so many women here. In winter, we have no women.”

  “How very evolved of you.” Jones met Kristi’s gaze.

  Nå, for helvede.

  Well, damn.

  The attraction was mutual.

  Thor hoped Jones had the sense not to get distracted. They hadn’t come here to get laid. Their mission was to bring the Golden Horde technology back to the US and keep Samantha—Dr. Park—safe in the meantime.

  Speaking of distracted…

  Thor was fascinated by Samantha’s explanation of how she used differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background to map distant galaxy clusters. He didn’t fully understand the science, but he got the basic principles. Samantha had come alive while talking about her work, her pretty face lighting up, her reserve falling away.

  “Am I boring you?” she’d asked.

  “Not at all.” He admired both her expertise and her passion.

  As far as Thor was concerned, intelligence was fucking sexy.

  “Hey, Viking.” Jones elbowed Thor, bringing him back to the present. “Kristi asked where you got that big scar on your thigh.”

  “I fell on my own knife while on the sea ice in Northeastern Greenland as part of Sirius Dogsled Patrol.” It had been a stupid accident, a tumble on his skis that had cost them hours of travel and put him at risk for infection. “I had to suture it myself.”

  Kristi studied it. “It looks like you did a good job. What are those scars on your wrists and forearms?”

  “Dog bites.” It had been a hazard of the job. “When one of the females on the sled team goes into heat, the males fight each other. I had to break it up.”

  “Ouch!”

  “I have heard of this Sirius,” Vasily said. “You are Danish then, yes?”

  Thor met the man’s gaze. “Yes.”

  Someone knocked on the door. “It’s time!”

  Thor stood, anticipating the thrill of stepping into the cold.

  “Remember, men, cover your genitals with your hands once we get outside,” Hardin said. “A dick can get frostbite pretty quickly at a hundred and two below. Kristi, you’ll want to cover your, uh, chest. Also, don’t run. The cold air will do a number on your lungs if you do.”

  Hardin pushed open the sauna door, and they walked out one by one.

  Thor stepped into his boots, dropped his towel, and moved toward the door.

  “Check out the size of their dicks,” said a woman’s hushed voice. “Who wouldn’t want that inside them?”

  Another moaned. “What about the six-packs?”

  “How long are they staying?” asked yet another.

  Giggles.

  Had they never seen an adult male body before?

  Nudity just wasn’t a big deal in Thor’s culture. People went nude on Danish beaches and in public parks all the time—senior citizens, pregnant women, little kids.

  Samantha stood alone near the door, bundled into her parka. Her gaze jerked from Thor’s cock to his face, a rosy flush in her cheeks. “Be careful out there.”

  Thor couldn’t help but smile, amused. “Thanks.”

  He followed Hardin outside, cupped himself with his hands, and hurried down the stairs to the ice, Jones and Kristi behind him. Steam rose off his body, the cold making his skin tingle. Cheering people in parkas and masks motioned them forward with flashlights, creating a guided path through the dark to their goal several hundred feet away—the ceremonial South Pole.

  “This feels fantastic!” Kristi shook her head. “My hair already has icicles in it.”

  Thor kept a brisk pace, boots squeaking, his breath turning to ice crystals.

  “I’m starting to feel the cold,” Jones said. “How about you, Viking?”

  “It’s …” he searched for the English word for forfriskende… “refreshing.”

  Jones laughed. “Would you listen to him?”

  “What does your tattoo symbolize?” Kristi asked from behind him.

  It took Thor a moment to realize she was speaking to him.

  “It’s just a raven. That’s my middle name. Ravn.”

  Thor smiled up at the sky, the aurora blazing around them, the Milky Way stretching into the distance overhead. He wanted to absorb it all—the stunning beauty of the sky, the scent of the ice, the clean air, the sharp tingle of cold against his skin.

  There ahead, stood someone waving a flashlight, the flags that surrounded their goal barely moving in the breeze. As they drew closer, Thor saw the marker—what looked like a barbershop pole with a silver ball on top.

  The ceremonial South Pole.

  Kristi cheered as they circled it and started back toward the station. “This is crazy. I’ve got frost on my pubes.”

  They walked faster on the way back, the heat from the sauna largely dissipated, the cold growing uncomfortable. Back to the station, up the stairs, and inside again.

  They were welcomed back like heroes with cheers and applause.

  Samantha stood just inside the door, worry on her face. She walked over to Thor, spoke quietly so no one would overhear. “It’s Vasily. When you all left, he got dressed again and went downstairs toward your berthing area with the other Russians.”

  Thor grabbed his towel. “Stay here.”

  * * *

  Samantha took off her parka, draped it over her arm, waiting for Thor and Malik to step out of the men’s changing room. She ought to have followed Vasily or at least asked him what he was doing. Instead, she’d stood there, watching him walk away in his towel.

  Vasily isn’t going to steal the components.

  What would he do with them? It’s not like he could run out the back door and thumb a ride to Moscow. He was likely stuck here until November, just like the rest of them. The most he could do was hide the package somewhere in the station and hope no one found it.

  Thor emerged, wearing jeans and that navy-blue cable-knit sweater, towel in hand, radio clipped to his waistband. “I’ll get you back to your room.”

  “What about Vasily?”

  “I know exactly where he is.” Thor held up his radio.

  “Oh.”

  The two of them walked toward the second-floor A1 berthing area, the image of him naked burned into her mind. She’d known he would be hot, but…

  Damn.

  He was a Nordic god come to life. Broad pecs. Muscular arms. A six-pack. Obliques. A huge, beautiful, uncircumcised dick. And then there was the rear view. A raven tattoo on his upper back, the tips of the bird’s outstretched wings reaching his shoulders. The tight globes of his perfect ass.

  The sight of him had put flutters in her belly, made her ache.

  Forget it. He’s not interested, and you have work to do.

  She waited till they were out of earshot of the others. “Is everything okay?”

  “Our Russian friends were outside our rooms having a friendly chat with Segal. It seems they got lost on their way to their berthing area.”

  “You don’t believe that.” She could tell from the tone of his voice.

  “Do you?”

  “No.” It wasn’t a big building. Different parts of the station had different color tiles on the walls making it hard to mistake one area for another. “You think they tried to steal the, uh, package?”

  “I think they took advantage of the distraction to do some recon.”

  “Recon?”

  “Reconnaissance.” He explained. “Before anyone tries to take it, they have to figure out where it is and what obstacles stand in their way.”

  “Oh. Right.” She clearly didn’t think like a military guy. “I almost followed them, but I knew you’d be back s
oon.”

  “You did the right thing, waiting to tell me. I don’t want you putting yourself in harm’s way. You’ve done enough already.”

  Why his words left her feeling flustered, she couldn’t say.

  She changed the subject. “You did it. You’re now a member of the world’s most exclusive and insane club. How was it?”

  He grinned. “It was good—inwigorating.”

  He’d gotten the V mixed up with a W.

  “I think you mean ‘invigorating.’ With a V sound.”

  “Really?” Thor held the door for her as they moved from the hallway to the berthing area. “Invigorating.”

  “Patty said the same thing.”

  “And you’ve never thought to try it?”

  A part of her had wanted to, but no way was she going to run around nude in front of everyone. “I guess I’m a little more self-conscious than the rest of you.”

  They reached the door to her room and stopped.

  “That’s too bad. It really is fun.”

  “If I had a body like Kristi’s, maybe…” The words were out before Samantha could stop them.

  Oh, God.

  She had just bared her insecurities to him, which was a thousand times worse than being naked. She would have disappeared inside her room to wallow in humiliation, but he made no move to leave.

  His gaze moved over her, a faint smile on those lips. “Kristi is pretty, but so are you. Trust me. From where I stand, Kristi doesn’t have anything on you.”

  Samantha’s cheeks grew warm. She stood there for a moment, staring up at him, her brain going blank, some part of her wishing he would kiss her.

  Your key.

  She fished it out of her pocket. “It’s late.”

  “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable just now.”

  She looked away. “No, I did that to myself.”

  He tucked a finger beneath her chin, lifted her gaze to his. “You’ve had a rough week, Samantha. Go easy on yourself.”

  There was no judgment in his eyes, only concern.

  Some of her embarrassment melted away. “Thanks.”

  “What time should I meet you tomorrow?”

  “I usually get breakfast at around seven. I try to get to the lab by eight.”