"Two minutes," John said, reminding her of the time limit. The human body could only withstand these sorts of temperatures unprotected for five minutes before things started to shut down.
It felt so good to be in the water again, no matter how cold. She stroked across the pool toward the ladder, reluctant to leave the water.
But there was more water waiting – warmer water, too, and Jean.
Her teeth clacked together as violent shivering wracked her, but Audra still managed to get the words out. "Now for a dip in the hot tub!"
The midwinter spa – an inflatable pool the guys had rigged up with hot water just outside the station entrance in a sheltered spot out of the wind – held only two men and a woman, and none of them was Jean.
Before she could ask, Lesley said, "He's gone inside. He said he had something special to prepare for the Midwinter dinner tonight. Is it true you're going to stream it live on your video channel?"
The competition might be over, but Audra still posted at least once a week. "The beginning, at least," Audra said. "I wanted to film the swim live, too, but Ali said there'd be too much swearing for that. She was right – I'll have to edit a lot of it out before I post the video."
Everyone laughed, which was perfect timing for Ali's appearance with Audra's camera. She filmed them in the hot tub for a minute, then switched the camera off. "Where do you want me to put it?" Ali asked.
Audra waved at the SMQ building, where all the winter expeditioners now slept. "Leave it on my desk. I'll download it when I get in."
Lesley stared at Audra's arm. "Hey, you're not wearing your polka-dots any more. Is that just for the swim, or...?"
Audra smiled. "I got the all clear from the doctor this morning. No more polka-dots. My arm is officially healed. Which probably puts me back on the kitchen roster."
Lesley wrinkled her nose. "Which reminds me I have work to do. Time to go back inside."
Audra rose, too. "I should join you. I have a video to edit and upload before dinner."
She needed to get her body back to normal temperature, too, before she sought out Jean.
FIFTY-EIGHT
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going inside for some antifreeze," Paul said, hefting himself out of the hot tub.
Jean was the first to follow him. He'd had his swim and now he deserved a drink as much as the next man. Besides, once Audra had finished filming, she wouldn't hang around outside. Idly, he wondered whether she'd have gone for a swim if the doctor hadn't insisted that anyone with an injury wasn't allowed in the water. A video of her in the water would definitely go viral, he thought as he traded his soaked shorts for warm, dry clothes.
Probably best that she hadn't, then, Jean decided. He didn't want to share her beautiful body with the rest of the world. Especially not tonight. Midwinter was...special, and he wanted it to be a memorable one. That meant only one drink at the bar, because he'd need his wits about him. Everything had to be perfect.
He drained his beer and excused himself, telling the other guys that he needed to get things ready for tonight. They raised their drinks in salute and wished him luck. Jean knew he needed it.
Part of him wanted to go hide out in hydroponics with the plants for a bit, but he knew he needed to find Audra and thank her for her help in persuading him to face his fears today.
She wasn't in any of the living areas, so he headed for her sleeping quarters. Sure enough, she sat at her desk, frowning at something on her laptop.
Jean knocked on the open door. "Was I good enough to make the cut for your video?" he asked.
Her frown vanished as her whole face lit up. "Hell yes! That was amazing. So brave of you." She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Instant antifreeze, that's what she was, as his body blazed with desire at her touch. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to resist her this long. Even now, he could feel his pants growing uncomfortably tight. Every fibre in his body wanted him to tear off their clothes and thrust himself deep inside her. But he couldn't. Not yet. Not until her arm had healed.
He kissed her with just as much passion as the first time, if not more. God, he loved this woman. More than anyone or anything else in this world. He slid his hand under her shirt, questing upward until he found what he wanted: one of her perfect breasts, quivering under his fingers as her heartbeat raced just beneath her soft skin.
"You're cold," he murmured between kisses.
Audra grinned up at him. "Well, it was cold outside, and I did stay out there for a while. The Midwinter Pool is only open for one day of the year. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
"Let me warm you up." Jean kicked the door shut as he advanced into her room. He'd planned to do this much later in the day, but adrenaline still buzzed in his blood, egging him on to thank her properly now. Not later.
She let him pull her to the bed, helping him divest her of her shirt and that bothersome bra. Those breasts. He could worship them for hours, and Audra would probably let him, too, but he had other things in mind now.
Jean dropped to his knees before her. "I know it's too soon," he began, feeling his voice crack with nervousness. How could this be scarier than jumping into icy water? He didn't know; just that it was. "But...Audra, I love you so much. Will you...?"
FIFTY-NINE
"Will you...will you..." Jean stammered.
Oh hell, he was kneeling at her feet. He could only be asking her for one thing. Audra's mind went blank. Would she?
Jean swallowed and tried again. "Will you...let me go down on you? It's something I've never done before, but I think I understand the theory well enough to do a decent job."
Audra nearly burst out laughing. "Yes!" she cried instead, half out of relief and half in panic at not having an answer to the other question she thought he'd ask.
With his help, she shimmied out of her jeans. Before she could add her knickers to the pile of fabric on the floor, he lifted her up and set her on the bed. He joined her, kneeling between her feet as he pushed her bent knees apart. The way he stared at her sent hot shivers deep inside her, where she wanted him to be. Soon. Tonight, if she had any say in it. She'd hook her fingers into those boxer briefs and drag them right down to his ankles, just like he was doing with her knickers now.
For the first time, she lay completely naked before him, and the blue fire in his eyes told her he liked what he saw. She glanced down. The tent in his pants confirmed it.
He leaned forward, his face so close to her that she could feel his breath warm inside her when he exhaled. He traced her folds lightly with his finger, so light that it tickled. She shivered, and he ducked his head between her thighs. Next, she felt what could only be his tongue, rougher and more sure, following the same path as his finger. Slow and delicate, always exploring, always tasting. Using just that wicked mouth of his, he'd worked out that he could push her over the brink of an orgasm by working his magic on her nipples alone. If...no, when he tried the same technique lower down, she'd be utterly, utterly lost. The whole station would hear her scream.
Jean must have felt her stiffen, because he raised his head to meet her eyes, no longer teasing her. "Did I do something wrong?"
Audra shook her head. "The more you touch me, the more I want to feel you inside me. And the spot you're looking for, that you probably heard about in your theory? It's right here." She sucked in a breath as she touched his thumb to her clitoris.
"You are nothing like any other woman I've ever met before." Jean's thumb circled around the spot he knew drove her wild, as Audra held her breath. "And inside you..." He pushed a finger slowly into her, watching her as she took quick, shallow breaths.
He could make her come using just his fingers. Audra knew it, but she still wanted more. "Please," she said.
"How can I refuse?" With two fingers this time, he pulled in and out of her, his eyes never leaving hers as he maintained a slow, steady pace. "How am I doing so far?"
Oh, it felt good. To finally feel any pa
rt of him inside her was better than good. But she wanted... "More," Audra moaned.
Then his mouth was on her and Audra could think of nothing else. There wasn't room for anything else in the universe except his body and hers and the pleasure he gave her filled every inch of it. Of her body and her mind. Any more and she'd explode into a million tiny shards, flying in all directions like the blizzard she'd forecast for tonight.
"Oh, Jean, Jean, Jean..." How long had she been sobbing his name? Long enough for him to be wearing his biggest grin.
Jean eased his fingers out of her and licked them clean, before he took one last, languorous lick of her lady bits, making her gasp.
"Did I do all right?" he asked. "I meant it to be a thank you for helping me find the courage to go back into the water today, but I enjoyed myself so much I got a bit carried away." His eyes widened in alarm. "You're not...crying, are you? Shit, did I hurt you? I knew I should have waited. I knew it!"
Audra seemed to have lost the ability to talk. Or to think, really. "I'm fine," she started to say, but Jean cut her off.
"I'll see you at the dinner tonight," he said, hurrying out of the room.
Audra sighed. To the ceiling, she said, "Like I said, I'm fine. So's my arm. My tear ducts do this weird thing where I cry when I'm happy. Or if I have mindblowing sex. Which was both until you left."
She glanced at the arm brace sitting on the desk. Evidently she'd have to tell him the good news after dinner.
SIXTY
If he'd stayed a moment longer, he'd have completely lost control. Jean crouched in the corner of the hydroponics lab, hidden by the green things he grew to help sustain the station, and buried his face in his hands. She deserved more than the out of control asshat he'd been the day they met. He couldn't live with himself if he hurt her again. And he couldn't go through with his plans for tonight, even if that's where he'd pinned all his hopes and dreams for the future.
He needed to get himself under control, and do things right, or this wouldn't work.
What if he'd used up all his courage on this morning's swim, so he chickened out of the most important part of the celebration? What he needed now was someone to tell him he was being an idiot, and he could conquer two fears in one day.
If only the best person for the job wasn't Audra.
Jean almost laughed at himself. If he had to ask her for help, he'd screw this up for sure.
A light on his tablet flashed, so he reached up to the counter to grab it. Probably just a routine email.
He was surprised to find it was an incoming video call from none other than Jay Felix. He still didn't know how Jay had managed to track him down, but Jean imagined a man with his wealth could do things ordinary men like himself could only dream of.
Which made Jean only feel more inadequate for what lay ahead.
"Are all Canadians as crazy as you?" Jay demanded before Jean could even say hello.
"Probably not," Jean admitted. "You Aussies are corrupting me."
"If everything goes well tonight, you'll have to come up for a round of golf on the roof with me. I already told Audra she can have a villa on the island for a month any time she wants, as thanks for what she did to help me win my wife. We could all go jetboating through the whirlpools. And whatever else we can think up that my lovely wife says is okay." Jay frowned. "She might veto the roof golf, come to think of it."
The rock star was married now, Jean remembered – Audra had showed him pictures in the news.
"Congratulations, by the way," Jean said. "I think you broke the hearts of half the women in the world with that wedding."
"I know one that didn't break," Jay said.
So did Jean, which gave him hope. "She's really happy for you. For you both, I think. She said she met your wife once, and she liked her. She's British, right?"
"Yeah, but she's Aussie now, too. Been here long enough." Jay's eyes narrowed. "Don't distract me. I want to make sure you're not backing out."
From thousands of miles away, this man Jean barely knew was reading his mind. Jean forced out a laugh. "She turned you down. More than once, you said. What makes you think she'll say yes to me?"
"Have you cheated on her?"
The question caught Jean by surprise. "Of course not. What kind of man cheats on the woman he loves?"
Jay coughed. "Yeah. Uh, she's still going to do that live video of the dinner tonight, right?"
"I think so," Jean said.
"I'll be watching," Jay said. "Me and probably a million other people who want to watch you propose to the Penguin Weather Girl. No pressure, of course." He grinned and ended the call.
Jean snorted. No pressure at all. The rock star and his million other people could watch and think what they liked – they didn't matter. The only person in the world who mattered was Audra. And Jay's talk of penguins had given him an idea.
SIXTY-ONE
"Are we ready?" Ali asked.
Audra checked one last time to make sure her camera captured the whole table. It did. Satisfied, she took her seat, laying the remote control beside her plate so she could start recording on Ali's command. She absently smoothed the skirt of her dress, wondering once again if she'd dressed too formally for the occasion.
A glance at the blokes, all clad in suits and ties, reassured her. Lesley and Ali wore dresses, too, but still she worried that she'd been silly to buy silk when a simple cocktail dress would have done. But the pattern on the fabric, which reminded her of one of Monet's garden paintings, had caught her eye every time she'd walked past the shop until one day, she hadn't been able to resist buying it. Jean hadn't said anything to her yet. In fact, he wasn't even here.
"Where's Jean?" she asked.
Everyone glanced around the table, as if expecting him to magically pop up beside them.
All except Ali, who said, "He's been in the hydro lab for most of the afternoon, but when I last saw him, he was on his way to his quarters to get dressed. Chris, Bruce...does someone want to go see where Jean is?"
"I'm here," came the deep Canadian voice that made Audra's core clench. Especially after this afternoon.
Her breath caught in her throat as he came into view. Dressed in a suit, Jean could have graced the cover of a romance novel about kinky billionaires. One look at him and she understood the appeal. She wanted to leap into his lap and go to town on him like the sexiest secretary ever.
"Take a seat here, then." Ali pointed to the chair beside her, and opposite Audra.
Jean barely glanced at Audra. He turned his attention to Ali, who had risen.
Audra hastened to switch the camera on. She was sure only Jay and the other expeditioners would be watching live, but she kept her promises. The Midwinter dinner would be broadcast live, even if she was distracted by dirty thoughts about Jean.
Ali launched into her speech, welcoming them all to the dinner and reminding them about the explorers who'd first come to Antarctica, and all the hardships they'd faced. She raised a toast to the darkest day, for it truly was the darkest day of the year. The sun wouldn't rise at all at Davis in June – it wouldn't even peek over the horizon until July. They all drank in thoughtful silence.
"It might be the darkest day of the year," Ali continued, "but it's been a particularly bright year for us. So much light in the darkness." She made Jean stand up. "The first we heard about Jean-Pierre was when we got a request for an emergency medic. Audra volunteered and took good care of him all the way to Casey. No one thought he'd manage to pass a medical and return, but he surprised us all by turning up here at Davis on his way to Heard Island. Of course, this time he took Audra with him." She waited for the laughter to die down before she went on: "He not only finished his PhD, but he submitted his thesis in record time, and it's been accepted, he found out this week. So first, I'd like you all to congratulate Dr Jean-Pierre Pennant."
Enthusiastic applause erupted around the table. It wasn't just polite, either – people looked genuinely happy for Jean.
Ali pr
oceeded to go around the table, listing each person's achievements, from academic and research milestones and projects completed, through to Lesley saving Bruce from an angry penguin that had popped up in the pool this morning. Lesley couldn't stop laughing, but Bruce just looked embarrassed.
"And last, but not least, even if she is the youngest here at Davis, there's Audra." Ali gestured for her to stand up, which Audra did. "It's her first winter here, which she almost missed, after she ran afoul of a volcano and then took a cruise back to Fremantle with the Aurora Australis. She graduated at the top of her class for her meteorology degree, which is why we welcomed her back here for her second tour of Antarctica. Her innovative new video project has been shared all over the world since she first called Davis home, and it's earned her both the coveted, inaugural Bureau of Meteorology graduate research scholarship, and a research grant from the University of Washington, where she's just been accepted as a PhD candidate studying the evidence of climate change at Heard Island."
Audra blushed at such a paean of praise. Sure, it was all true and her PhD candidacy had only been confirmed this week, but it still sounded far too ambitious for a girl who'd been nothing but a hotel maid two years ago.
"Normally, this is the point where I'd officially open the dinner, but Dr Pennant asked to say a few words, so I'll let him have the floor." Ali sat down.
Audra tried to do the same, but Ali signalled to her to stay where she was. As Jean started to speak, Audra began to realise why.
"I came here six months ago, chasing the only two things in the world that mattered to me: penguins, and my PhD," Jean said. "I already knew Antarctica was dangerous. It had nearly killed me once, on my first expedition to Heard Island, but like many of the old explorers, I refused to be beaten. Some people called me dedicated. They were the polite ones." He pointed at Audra. "She called me stubborn, and she was right, though I didn't see it at the time. It took a volcano, and another accident, to make me realise that there might be more to life than my PhD. Something more important than penguins."
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