Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

their Links out and swapped the contact info. “Right, I’ll call you to arrange something.”

“Okay.” Zach looked a little glum, though. Did he think Adam was blowing him off? With his scientist’s analytical mind, he’d extrapolate meaning from every tiny bit of data, even when there was no meaning to be had.

Adam couldn’t ditch his friends—it was a birthday party. Should he explain that? Or would it sound like an excuse for ditching Zach instead? He was definitely interested in—he grinned—pursuing a romantic relationship with Zach. Words might not convince him, but perhaps actions would.

“See you around.” Adam leaned in and kissed him. Zach was taken by surprise only for a second or two, and then he opened his mouth and thrust his tongue between Adam’s lips. He raised a hand and pulled Adam closer, fingers threading through his hair, grip firm. His intensity rocked Adam back. When Zach broke the kiss a moment later, Adam had to gasp for his next breath.

Zach had lost his awkward and wary expression. The sun had started to dip below the surrounding mountains, and the slanting light shadowed Zach’s eyes deeply. His mouth curved into a satisfied smile.

“See you around, Adam.” He rose and walked away.

“Yes, right.” Adam could only sit and watch Zach leave, afraid his knees would give way if he surrendered to the urge to trail Zach like a puppy. Job done, then—clearly he’d reassured Zach of his interest. After that kiss, he might have to forget about playing hard to get and show up at Zach’s place tonight to offer himself on a plate.

Except he didn’t know where Zach’s place was. The contact details didn’t include his address. He probably lived in the accommodation block in the other one of the two domes which had once been the entire colony and had become the center of the gradually expanding town of Arius. Most shorter-stay people like Zach lived in apartments in the dome. Longer-term people like Adam got a small house, or a larger one if they had a family.

He pulled himself together. He could find Zach’s address if he wanted to, but no, he’d wait. No reason to rush. Adam loved to dance a bit. They had plenty of time.

Chapter Two

Zach arrived in his lab at 07:30 the next morning. He’d taken the long way around again in the hope of seeing Adam in the test fields, but there’d been so sign of him. Probably much too early. Maybe he’d be out there later and they could go eat lunch together in the Institute cafeteria. Or sit outside with sandwiches, just the two of them. Having Adam to himself even for a few minutes the previous evening had been very pleasant.

He got coffee and sat at his desk to check up on the test results he’d left running overnight. He’d run two sets of tests. The ones he was being paid to work on, the analysis of mineral surveys for the Institute’s quarterly reports, and ones he’d confess to finding a little more interesting—a personal project. With a sigh, he opened the mineral survey results first.

He sipped his coffee, winced, and went back to add the sugar he’d forgotten. As he spooned it in, he smiled. He was a little distracted, he couldn’t deny it, thinking of Adam and their kiss. Hoping the kiss meant Adam hadn’t been put off by Zach’s clumsy attempts at flirting. However hard he tried to be smooth and charming, he always made a great big idiot of himself. He sighed. But Adam had kissed him, so he couldn’t have been too turned off by Zach’s awkwardness.

He went back to the desk and tried to concentrate on his work. He had plenty of it to do. His personal project had been taking a little too much time lately, leaving him behind schedule on the mineral survey analysis. Hence his early arrival that morning—though he’d also woken early anyway, mind full of Adam. As if his brain was telling him to wake up and go find Adam right away.

How he wished he could. Was Adam at work yet? Nearly 08:00. He might be on his way. Or he might still be at home eating breakfast, or in the shower. Zach swallowed too big a gulp of hot coffee and coughed, eyes watering. He shifted in his seat. Frowning, he tried to dismiss the image of Adam in the shower from his mind. The Institute didn’t pay him to sit in his lab indulging in sexual fantasies.

It didn’t pay him to analyze minor earthquakes either, but the notification of the completion of the latest tests about the quake teased him from his message in-box. It had happened only a few days after he’d arrived at the colony. Zach had never been in an actual earthquake before—despite the number of vacations in California he’d persuaded his parents to take him on as a teenager—and he’d found it quite fascinating and a fortuitous start to his stay. After he’d come back to Arius following his mineral surveys, he’d begun to study the quake to find the cause. Earthquakes were rare on the island; it would be a good challenge to see what he could find out about this one.

As he glanced at the message about the tests, trying to resist it, another notification popped in the list. Message from Adam Gray. Zach grabbed the Link.

Hi, Zach. There’s a concert in the B dome tonight. Want to go with me and get a bite afterward? Adam.

Zach hit the reply at once.

Love to.

He stopped, erased it and started over, trying to at least attempt not to appear so needy.

I’d like that. He didn’t ask anything silly, like what kind of concert it might be. As if he would say no if it wasn’t to his taste! What time and place to meet?

Adam’s reply came back a couple of minutes later.

19:00 in the Dome Bar. See you later. Adam.

There was a lowercase x under his