Higher Ground

by Becky Black

He followed her back to the farmhouse and petted her dog while she made coffee and pulled the tray of cookies from the oven. They sat in the kitchen, warm from the oven, the door open for a breeze. Chickens scratched around outside. The dog gave Adam mournful looks to encourage him to feed it cookies.

  “How long have you been here, Eva?”

  “Twenty-three years coming up.”

  “You came with your husband, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” She sighed. “But it wasn’t for him. He went back to Earth after five years.”

  But she’d stayed. Chosen the colony over her husband. She’d worked this farm for years, dedicating herself both to growing food for the town and to working with the Institute to test new varieties. There were a dozen such farms, not to mention vineyards and orchards, around the town. Visiting them had quickly become the favorite part of Adam’s job. He loved hearing the history of the colony from the people who’d built it. Would some young whippersnapper one day be talking to old Dr. Gray about the contribution he’d made to the colony? Or would Adam go home after his contract ended?

  Plenty of time to decide.

  * * * *

  As Adam studied the menu, Zach tapped his fork on the table, a scowl on his face. Adam frowned at him. Zach’s menu lay in front of him; he’d given it only a cursory glance. Maybe he already knew what he wanted.

  “Are you hungry?” Adam asked.

  “What?” Zach dragged his attention back from a long way off when Adam spoke.

  “You seem impatient.”

  “I didn’t get any lunch.” He still tapped the fork, the rhythm speeding up. Adam reached over and took it out of his hand, laid it back on the table. “Sorry. Can we order?”

  “You okay?” Adam asked after the waiter had been and gone. “You’re on edge.”

  “I’m sorry.” Zach ran his hands through his hair, making it look worse. He’d come right from work, Adam thought, clothes rumpled, a hint of beard shadow. For their date last night, Zach had clearly been home first to shower, shave, and put on fresh clothes. Not this time, and Adam should feel offended that Zach hadn’t made an effort for him, but instead he felt only concern.

  “You worked late? Quarterlies?”

  “Yes. Professor Phillips is starting to get on at me about them. But there’s this other thing… Just some personal work I’m not even supposed to be spending time on, but you know…” He gave a half smile, half grimace. “Sometimes something seems more urgent and important than the work they’re paying you for.”

  “I hear that,” Adam said. “I could never get my professor to agree with me about spending department time on the cactus tournament.”

  “The what?” Zach had picked up the fork again, but it froze in his hand.

  “Just a tournament we have going in the lab as to who can make their cactus bloom first.”

  “Don’t those things only bloom every few years?”

  “It’s not a short tournament, I’ll admit.”

  Zach sighed and rubbed his eyes. “If I could just get someone to check my results, I’d probably be able to drop it. I think I’ve made an error somewhere. I must have.”

  Adam almost asked what this other project was about, but the waiter was heading their way.

  “Here comes the food. Right, I’m invoking The Rule!”

  “No work talk on a date. Right.” Zach gave a feeble smile. “You’re right. I need to forget all about it for a few hours.”

  Adam did his best to make Zach forget. They ate, split a bottle of wine—a nice white made at a winery attached to a vineyard Adam had visited that afternoon, which made him smile. When the waiter started giving them meaningful looks as more customers came looking for tables, they split the check and took their leave.

  It was dark out, and they strolled, Adam slipping his arm into Zach’s, until they found a bench to sit on in a quiet spot sheltered by some trees.

  Zach wrapped his arms around Adam’s waist and pulled him close, kissed him. Desire surged in Adam, and Zach’s hand on his thigh made him want to give in to a suggestion he felt sure would come any moment. But he remembered what he’d decided—to date the hell out of Zach. No rushing into anything. Relish the anticipation. Bring it to a fever pitch.

  Zach pulled away from the kiss and whispered into Adam’s ear, breath warm against his skin, stirring his hair. “Will you come back to my apartment?”

  “Not tonight.” Adam tried to bring Zach’s mouth back to his, wanting the taste of those lips again. But Zach pulled away from him. There was just enough light to read the stricken look on Zach’s face.

  “Adam, if you’re not interested in me that way, please let me know where I stand. Please don’t lead me on.”

  Adam grabbed his hands, pulled him closer again.

  “I was just getting closely acquainted with your tonsils, Benesh. Does it seem likely I’m not interested in you that way?”

  “I don’t have tonsils. They were removed when I was ten. Um, but that’s not strictly relevant.”

  “No,” Adam said with a grin. “I’m just saying, relax, I’m definitely interested in you that way. And I promise, when we take the next step…” He moved closer and whispered in Zach’s ear, so close his lips touched the curves of it and Zach’s hair brushed his face. “Then I’m gonna blow your mind.”

  He’d bet Zach blushed, but he couldn’t see it in the dark. He certainly made a weird little sound in his throat, almost a squeak. He spoke in a hoarse voice. “Are you trying to drive me insane?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh. Well, you’re doing a good job.”

  “I’ve practiced. I’m a master of the art.”

  “The art of teasing.”

  “Just enjoy it. Kiss me again.” He could be straightforward too. Zach filled his arms again, and Adam felt him trembling as he sought to restrain his passion. When Adam let him unleash that passion, he suspected his own mind would be blown too. He came close to weakening and giving Zach what he wanted, right there on the bench, but Zach was the one who stopped eventually.

  “It’s getting late,” he said, pulling away. “And if you’re not coming up, I’d better go home.”

  “You do look like you could use some rest,” Adam said, his breathing and heartbeat slowing back to normal. Wow. He tried to comb his hair back into place with his fingers. “Get some sleep, and I’ll see you tomorrow, if you want.”

  “Yes. I mean, of course I want to. I’ll call you.”

  They parted with one more kiss, and Adam watched Zach until he turned a corner before heading off into the night too. Perhaps tomorrow night? Or should he try teasing Zach for another couple of days? He was a lot of fun to tease. No, tomorrow night. He had Zach primed.

  He started making plans. It would be perfection.

  Chapter Three

  “Benesh, where are your quarterly reports?”

  “Ah, Professor Phillips.” Zach tried to unobtrusively slide the papers he’d been studying into a file. They were not about his mineral survey analyses but rather his personal project. He’d printed them out to see if looking at them on paper would help him spot the error he must have made. But the latest analyses had all reproduced his first results. He’d started to get nervous. “I’m almost done, sir. I’ll have them to you soon.”

  “Yes, you will.” Phillips scowled at him, and Zach tried to look innocent. “You’ve been logging a lot of computer time lately—not on your survey work.”

  “That’s…just something else I’ve been working on. After hours, of course.” And it had been. Mostly. “Actually, I wonder if I could talk to you about that. Some of the results I’ve been getting—”

  “The reports, Dr. Benesh. They’re due in two days.”

  “I know, sir. But I’d appreciate it so much if you could check the results of my scans. I’m worried that—”

  “You know I don’t have time. And neither do your colleagues—yes, I know you’ve asked them.”

  Zach grimaced. He’d asked several
colleagues, not only Dr. Palmer, hoping one of them would have some time. Asking Phillips himself could be counted as an act of desperation.

  “Get your reports finished; then we’ll take a look at this other thing.”

  “Oh.” That would be soon enough, surely? Nothing was going to happen in the next couple of days, was it? “Yes, I suppose that will be okay.”

  “Glad you approve,” Phillips said, eyebrows raised. “I want a progress report on my desk by seventeen hundred.” He strode out of Zach’s lab. Zach glanced at the folder with the quake scan results in. He glanced at his screen, which sat waiting for him to work on the quarterly reports. He sighed and turned to the screen.

  ZACH SENT A progress report to Phillips at 16:58 and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. God, he needed some sleep. He’d been awake worrying half the night. But he wouldn’t get his head down anytime soon. He was off the clock, so he could either turn to his own work or he could put in some overtime and get the damn reports done and out of the way. Get Phillips off his back. He sat for a moment trying to decide, when a message popped into his inbox.

  Adam.

  I just finished work. Any plans tonight?

  Yes, Zach had planned to spend another evening and then—he hoped—a night with Adam, but he could no longer spare the time. Damn. Maybe they could meet after he finished for a very late supper. If he wasn’t asleep on his feet by then. Regretfully, he replied to the message

  I’m sorry, I can’t make it. I have to put in some overtime.

  A reply came back a moment later.

  Okay, I understand. Call me tomorrow.

  Adam would have plenty of other things to do anyway. He seemed to have many friends here. Zach felt a ridiculous surge of jealousy for those friends. He got up and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee, hoping it would keep him rational as well as awake. He had no reason to be jealous. Adam was the one keeping him waiting for sex. He wasn’t likely to run off and jump into someone else’s bed because Zach couldn’t make it for a date this evening. But Adam had made more than one excuse of his own. After that first kiss in the bar and after the concert and their dinner date. It did look like a pattern. Was Adam seeing someone else?

  No, that couldn’t be true. He wouldn’t be seen out in public with Zach if he had. And he wouldn’t keep Zach waiting either. He’d want to sneak around away from prying eyes and grab the chance to have sex.

  Unless he was playing some other more complicated game.

  So much for staying rational, Zach thought wryly. He put the coffee on his desk and continued working on his reports. At least he could legitimately claim that as overtime work.

  AT NEARLY 20:30, a new message came through from Adam.

  You’re not still at work, are you?

  Zach wished he could say no. He’d moved on from the reports to the earthquake scan results after only an hour, and the time had flown since.

  Still here for at least another couple of hours.

  He had to stay. He’d have to take these results to Phillips in the morning. The implications were becoming frightening.

  You work too hard. Nothing more came through from Adam. Zach stretched and then slumped in his chair, remembering how good it felt to have Adam in his arms. So strong, so fit, skin so firm and warm. His cock stirred at the memory of Adam’s lips against his, tongues exploring, their hands exploring, but, annoyingly, stopping short of going further. Zach had to learn patience. Adam had said unequivocally he wanted to have sex with Zach, so it was only a matter of waiting, and he should try to enjoy the anticipation. But anticipation had only ever meant frustration to him. Adam liked to tease. Zach didn’t like it, but he’d have to put up with it. He’d put up with a lot of teasing, because he’d never had a man as gorgeous as Adam interested in him before.

  Adam was so attractive that Zach could hardly believe he was interested. Sometimes he feared Adam only wanted to play with him, lead him on, and have him worshiping at Adam’s feet before allowing him the privilege of sex with him. Then Zach would be a notch on the bedpost, and Adam could move on to teasing another man into begging for his favors. No. It couldn’t be that way, could it? Adam was a nice guy.

  But even a nice guy could abuse the power good looks gave him. Did Zach dare to believe Adam’s interest in him was entirely sincere? And if it was, then he wondered about what Adam had said about having lower standards with a smaller pool of potential lovers to choose from. Did Zach count as lowering his standards? He thought he had a reasonable body; he tried to stay in shape. But he had his father’s nose—a nose which someone once said entered the room half a second before he did. And his hair had been called a disaster area. He’d experimented with wearing it cropped, but when he wore it too short, his mother said he looked like an escaped convict. Still, Adam seemed to enjoy running his hands through it…

  He derailed that train of thought and turned back to his terminal. Work. Stop thinking about Adam.

  Twenty minutes later, not thinking about Adam became impossible as Adam walked into the lab. The sound of the door opening in the otherwise silent building startled Zach, and he looked up to see Adam emerge from the dimness into the pool of light around Zach’s desk. He had a bag over his shoulder, a cardboard tray in his hands, and a big smile on his face.

  “Evening. I brought dinner.” He stopped by the desk and put down the tray and his bag.

  “Adam! You didn’t have to do that.” Zach had been getting hungry and toying with the idea of going to raid a vending machine, but this looked much more enticing—and made him feel bad for his suspicions about Adam earlier, thinking he was screwing with Zach’s emotions. If he wanted to retain a keen edge on Zach’s frustration, he wouldn’t do this; he’d leave Zach to get more and more frustrated. Unless the charming gesture was a move in the game. He jumped up and grabbed his coffee mug. “Let me get us some coffee.”

  “Wait.”

  When he turned back to see what Adam wanted, Adam pulled him close and kissed him. The handle of the coffee mug slipped around Zach’s fingers, dripping some dregs onto the floor. Wanting to melt into Adam’s arms, he began to relax against him, but Adam let him go and stepped back, grinning.

  “Oh yes, you’re a hungry man. Go get the coffee.”

  Zach hated to tear himself away, but the aroma of the food had left him unable to deny his hunger was the most urgent problem. He brought two mugs of coffee back to his desk, where Adam had distributed the food from the tray.

  “These are from the Dome Bar.” Zach recognized the bar’s logo on a napkin. “I didn’t know it did takeout.”

  “It doesn’t usually, but I asked nicely.” Of course—who could resist Adam asking nicely for anything? “Here, hot steak-and-cheese sandwich. Get that into you.” He pulled up a chair, sat across from Zach, and tucked into another of the sandwiches.

  “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this, but I’m glad you did.” Zach quickly demolished his sandwich and a piece of cake—a dense chocolate-and-walnut loaf. Satisfied, he leaned back in his chair, drinking coffee and enjoying watching Adam finish his cake. This distracted him for a while, but a glance at his terminal reminded him of why they were having a picnic in his lab, and he sighed.

  “Was that a sigh of satisfaction?” Adam grinned.

  “In part. Thank you again for bringing the food. You must let me reimburse you.”

  “Don’t even think about it.” Adam tasted his coffee, then added more sugar to it. “I’ll be insulted.”

  “Then I pay the next time we go out.”

  “Good plan. Hmm, shame we’ve never introduced lobsters around here, or I’d take serious advantage of your higher pay grade.”

  Zach grimaced. “Ugh. You like lobster? Aren’t lobsters basically giant bugs?”

  Adam snorted. “That’s a myth.”

  “They’re segmented. They have exoskeletons. They have far too many legs. What is that if it’s not a bug?”

  “I think I know more about biology than you, r
ock-botherer. They’re arthropods, but they’re not insects.”

  “Very well, I bow to your superior knowledge. But why do they have to bring them to your table whole like that? They don’t being you a steak with the horns still on.”

  “That’s what I’d call a very rare steak.” Adam finished his coffee. “Okay, what now? Is there something I can do to help you out?”

  He’s going to stay? Zach’s stomach fluttered. The next best thing to going home with Adam would be having Adam stay here with him. But he shouldn’t have to do that.

  “I don’t think you could do much with my data. It’s too specialized. No more than I could do anything with yours,” he added hastily, hoping he hadn’t offended Adam. Adam just nodded, not appearing bothered. He took a portable terminal from his bag.

  “In that case, I’ll hang around and catch up on some work myself. That okay with you?”

  “Of course! But you don’t have to stay for my sake.”

  “No problem. I’ve got a ton of messages to reply to. If I go home, I won’t get any of it done.” He started clearing up the debris left by their supper.

  “Are we breaking the rule about no work talk on a date?” Zach asked, helping with the clearing up.

  “We could reverse it. We’re working, so no personal talk.”

  “Is arguing about whether lobsters are bugs personal talk?”

  “Certainly not. Legitimate scientific discussion about taxonomy.” Adam dumped the debris in the garbage and settled himself across the desk from Zach. “Now if we’d been discussing the way you looked so delicious eating that sandwich that I wanted to bite you, that would be personal.”

  Zach blushed and tried to keep a ridiculous grin off his face. He wanted to break the rules so badly, tell Adam how much he wanted him. Wanted him naked and reclining on this desk, welcoming, inviting. Seeing Adam in the T-shirt and shorts he’d been wearing the first time they met had shown him Adam had a superb body. He’d been far too modestly clothed every time since then, and Zach longed to get back to the shorts and T-shirt and then peel those from him too.

  A ping from his terminal told him another analysis had finished processing. Adam was already working on his terminal, a small frown of concentration making a crease between his eyebrows, a crease Zach wanted to smooth away with his lips. Instead, he turned back to his work.