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

name. A kiss. Zach didn’t get many messages with those on, except from his mother. He grinned. One from Adam meant something different than the ones from his mother. Both precious.

He put the Link down with the message still open on the screen, enjoying glancing down to see that little x as he worked on his survey results for the quarterlies. He drank his coffee; he worked; he kept glancing at the Link. Silly of him. They’d arranged their date. Adam had no reason to send him another message. But every time it chimed with another notification, he hoped it might be Adam, with another x after his name. Every time he saw that x, he thought again of the kiss last night.

Would there be more of those tonight? And perhaps… Well, he should try not to expect too much or rush into anything. People were always telling him not to be so eager, so impatient. But surely any sane person would be both eager and impatient to take Adam Gray to bed.

The morning wore on too slowly for Zach, who was desperate for the day to be over. Every time he glanced at the clock, he recalculated in his head how long it was until 19:00 and chided himself for acting like a schoolgirl. What next? Would he start doodling hearts with both their names inside them? Lunchtime approached, and he thought of going to the cafeteria and “running into” Adam, but he decided to stay here in the lab. Adam probably ate with a group of friends or colleagues. Anyway, the test results about the earthquake called to him. Since they were a personal project, he shouldn’t use any more department time to work on them. He’d eat at his desk and check them.

By the time his lunch break ended, he was scowling at the screen, absently polishing off the last of a candy bar. These results couldn’t be right. Zach glanced at the clock. He should go back to work on the reports. But he left them to one side and kept working on the earthquake project. He just had to double-check the results. He’d obviously made a mistake.

An hour later, he hadn’t found a mistake—which didn’t mean he hadn’t made one. But he needed to get on with the reports. Professor Phillips would have his ass—and not in a good way—if they weren’t ready to send with the Institute’s quarterly reports for the Terraforming Authority. The Authority had to make plans to guide the development of the planet going forward. Right now, Arius was the only town, and a few dozen people lived at two tiny outposts elsewhere on Ethris, but the planet was close to being ready for mass colonization, and the Institute had to report back to the Terraforming Authority where to start developing for the first wave of settlers. Zach’s work would feed into that decision, and he had to finish it.

But the results from the earthquake project worried him. They were probably nothing. Errors. But if they weren’t… He started a message to a colleague only a little senior to himself, who’d been quite friendly since he arrived.

Dr. Palmer, I know you’re busy, but can you take a look at the attached results when you have time? I’m sure I’ve made an error somewhere.

He stopped, hating writing that. He didn’t make many errors, and when he did, he always spotted them quickly when checking his results. The fact he hadn’t found one this time worried him. Maybe he was distracted from not getting enough sleep and from imagining kissing every one of Adam’s freckles. He smiled. That was a possibility.

If you could review them and see if you can spot what I’ve done wrong, I’d be very grateful.

He attached the work and sent it. Her answer came back a few minutes later.

I’ll try to check them out as soon as I’ve got a minute.

Zach sent her a thanks and turned back to the quarterly reports while mentally calculating the time to 19:00.

* * * *

Adam arrived at the bar at 19:10, finding Zach sitting at a corner table. He slid onto the bench beside him and placed two beers on the table.

“Sorry I’m late. Got talking to someone.”

“That’s fine.” Though the look of intense relief Adam had seen when he arrived suggested Zach wasn’t as cool about it as he tried to appear. “I haven’t been here long.” The beer glass he had sitting in front of him when Adam arrived was almost empty, but maybe he’d been thirsty and drunk it quick.

“Nice and warm today,” Adam said. “Funny to think it’s winter back home.”

“It’s definitely odd to have no real seasons here. I’m from Boston; I think I’ll miss fall and winter.”

“California boy, myself, so we don’t have much of a winter. But yes, it’s strange even for me. The constant climate makes agriculture much easier, though.” He shook himself. “But hey, that sounds like work talk, and it’s against the rules.”

“Rules?”

“My rules. No work talk on a date.”

Zach smiled. He clearly liked the confirmation that they were on a date. Unless he thought it silly. Adam had met guys who thought dating was what you did with women and considered it a waste of valuable sex time. He didn’t agree. He loved dating. He intended to date the hell out of Zach Benesh.

“All right, no work talk,” Zach said. “So, what about this concert? I was going to check up about it, but I got too busy.”

“Quarterly reports, huh?” Adam knew the answer from the pained look on Zach’s face. It would do him good to forget about them for a few hours. “Okay, no work talk. Right, the concert. It’s more of a recital, really. Kids from the school.” Zach’s false expression of enthusiasm amused him. “I know, it will probably be awful, but it gets me out of the house.”

“I don’t see you as being someone who has a problem there. You seem very social.”

“Too social.” Adam would