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Alex pulled back from him with an effort, her chest still rising and falling as she shakily hitched her strap back over her shoulder, her eyes barely able to hold the glittering heat of his. “Sorry,” she mumbled in embarrassment. “I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression. I’m not a sleep around sort of person. I don’t even kiss on the first date.”

He brushed back his hair with the fingers of one hand. “No harm done,” he said with an attempt at a wry smile. “That is unless you’re involved with someone back home. I would hate to be stepping on anyone’s toes.”

Alex compressed her lips but she could still taste him. “No, I’m not involved with anyone,” she said. “I know it sounds pathetic but my last official date was nearly a year ago.”

“It doesn’t sound pathetic at all.” His grey-blue gaze softened. “Was it a nasty break up?”

“No, not really,” she said. “Although it took a while to convince him I was serious about ending it. That’s sort of why I came out here. I wasn’t in love with him, far from it. At the start we went out occasionally, more for the sake of convenience. When we progressed to a physical relationship I realized I was deluding myself about our suitability.”

“So there was no spark?”

Alex felt her cheeks coloring. “No not even a flicker.”

He turned back to look out at the sliver crescent of the moon on the horizon. “I don’t want to give you false hope,” he said. “That kiss—” he paused as if he was revisiting it in his mind, “—it was one of those things that probably shouldn’t have happened and wouldn’t have on a different day.”

“Probably...”

He swung his gaze to look at her again. “You can’t stay here, Alex, surely you can see that.”

“I don’t see why not,” she argued. “You said it yourself— I handled things well out at the Ellis’s. I don’t see why we can’t share this job for six months.”

Mack could think of some very good reasons they shouldn’t share anything, much less a house and a job. “You might not be here past the weekend,” he reminded her. “Tony Hallum might withdraw funding.”

She leaned forwards on the railing, her slim arm brushing against his, every hair on his forearm lifting in response. He could smell her perfume; it was filling his senses, making him think of passion-filled nights with his body erotically entwined with hers.

“Do you really think both of us staying here would be a problem?” she asked. “Being so isolated it would be safer as Shirley said, and we do work well together. You could help me build up my confidence a bit.” She smiled up at him and added, “And you could even give me map reading lessons.”

“I don’t know,” he said looking back at her. “What do you think?”