For the next few hours, Kate did what she always did, and focused on her job. She directed her team and supervised the collection of the alien device. A grumpy Noah from the tech team arrived, his dark hair disheveled. Clearly, he was unhappy about getting pulled out of his bed. One of his technicians, Marin, was with him.

The cute, curly-haired blonde smiled, and when tattooed Ash reappeared out of the darkness to give her a hard kiss, she smiled even more. The badass and the cute tech geek. Kate shook her head. Apparently, alien invasions made opposites attract.

Noah and Marin got busy with their scanners, crawling over the crater. Kate tried not to let her mind wander. To either her injured team members, or the fact that she’d kissed Manu Rahia. Twice.

Noah slid his scanner away. “It appears safe to bring inside.”

“But we brought a strong, explosive-proof box,” Marin added. “Just in case.”

“Thanks,” Kate said. “We’ll take it from here.”

Rob and Miles worked to get the device loaded, and soon whisked it away. Tiredly, Kate made her way back inside. Her leg muscles trembled and her shoulders ached. She needed some sleep.

But as she headed to the locker room to shed her gear, she felt a warm tremble in her belly. She was deathly afraid that when she finally got to bed, she’d be thinking of a certain big man with hard muscles and dark hair, instead of sleeping. Desire surged, energy zinging along her veins.

Dammit, what was wrong with her? She had injured team members in the infirmary, a shit-ton of work to do because the aliens had planted a bomb practically on her doorstep, and she needed a plan to make sure there weren’t more landmines out there.

First things first, she needed to check on Felipe and Kendra. When she reached the infirmary, she nodded at Doc Emerson, who was studying some charts. The lights were low, and Kate spotted Felipe sitting up in his bunk, his face still raw but healing. Kendra was asleep in the bed beside him.

“I gave them both a dose of nanomeds,” Emerson said quietly.

Kate knew the tiny medical machines would be hard at work fixing the pair’s injuries. “Thanks, Doc.”

The woman nodded, her perceptive gaze on Kate. “They’re going to be fine.”

Kate nodded and made her way to her people.

“I’ll be back on duty tomorrow, Captain,” Felipe said.

“You have two days off.”

The man’s face fell. “I’m fine.”

“I know. And you’ll stay that way. Two days.”

He sighed. “Okay.”

They talked a bit more, then Kate left him, awkwardly patting his blanket-covered legs. She moved to the sleeping Kendra, and her insides twisted. She looked so damned young. Carefully, so she didn’t wake the woman, Kate tucked a strand of Kendra’s hair behind her ear.

As Kate headed out of the infirmary, her stomach rumbled, and she realized she was starving. She changed directions and headed toward the kitchen.

“Kate.”

The deep voice made her stop and turn around. She saw Roth Masters, head of Squad Nine, striding toward her. His muscular body was clothed in a gray T-shirt and fatigue trousers.

She and Roth had not gotten off to a good start. She’d imprisoned him once, when he’d first arrived at the Enclave. She’d thought he was the enemy, and instead, she’d discovered she’d been protecting the enemy. Funnily enough, she and Roth were now friends.

“You’re up late,” she said.

“I wanted a status update on this landmine.” He stopped beside her. “And to check how you’re doing.”

She blew out a breath. “I’m fine, but I have two team members in the infirmary. It sucks.”

“Sure does.” He pressed a hand to her shoulder. “They okay?”

She nodded. “Head injury and burns, but healing up nicely. Felipe is itching to get back to duty.”

“You have good, well-trained people, Kate.”

“Some of them are just kids, Roth.”

“No, they aren’t. They might be young, but they are making their choices and fighting for things they believe in.”

She knew it was true, but right now, it just made her chest hurt. “Damn Gizzida.”

Roth crossed his arms. “Niko and Holmes have a meeting planned for the morning.”

She nodded. “I need to work out how the hell the aliens got a bomb so close to the Enclave. And we need to make sure there aren’t any more of them out there.”

Roth grunted. “We’ll get it sorted. You look beat. You need some rest.”

“You know how it is, being the boss.”

His gaze speared into her. Roth was the kind of man who always got the answers he wanted. “I do. And I know it’s important to take some downtime and stay fresh.”

Yeah, and he had the beautiful, smart Avery who helped him do that. Kate shoved a hand through her hair. “Yeah. Right.”

“Get some sleep.”

“I will. Night, Roth. Say hi to Avery.”

Kate’s stomach was rumbling again and she hurried to the kitchen. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d raided the kitchen in the middle of the night.

Inside, she walked through the now-silent and dark dining room. Some bench lighting was on in the neat kitchen, and she made her way to the industrial, stainless steel fridges. She opened one and pulled some things out, setting them on the bench.

Cheese. Bread. Some French onion spread. Olives. She popped a cube of cheese in her mouth.

“I’ll have some of that.”

She spun, clutching the block of cheddar in her hand.

Manu stood there, showered and changed.

Power emanated off him. He was just so damn masculine and strong. His black T-shirt cut into his big biceps, and her gaze fell to the interesting black ink on his left arm. His legs were encased in tan cargo pants.

Kate felt a flash of heat over her skin and a pulse throbbed between her legs. God, she needed to get a grip on this.

She swallowed and set the cheese down on the bench. She pulled two plates closer, dumped some food on both, then nudged the second plate across at him.

He leaned a hip against the bench and they ate in silence. Strangely enough, it wasn’t awkward.

No, awkward would be if she leaped over the bench and jumped him. She choked, an olive catching in her throat. She coughed.

“Okay?” he asked.

She nodded, thumping her chest.

“How are your people?”

“Recovering. Nanomeds are fixing them up.”

“That’s good.”

“Did my guys bring you the alien parts?”

He nodded. “I have a couple of my people sorting through them. After I grab a few hours’ sleep, I’ll start analyzing them.”

She saw him rub his left thigh. “It hurts?”

He stiffened a little. “Only sometimes. It’s tied right into my nerves, so after a long day, I get some pain at the connection site.”

He didn’t go on and she figured from the tight look on his face that the discussion was closed. Manu had always struck her as adjusting to the loss of his leg and his prosthetic with ease. Looking at him now, tiredness lining his face, she saw shadows in his dark eyes. Now, she wondered if that was the entire truth.

She grabbed a cracker. “If you don’t want to talk about your leg, that’s fine.”

He looked up. “We can talk about the kiss instead.”

She froze. “No.”

He gave her a slow smile. His smile was gorgeous, his teeth white against his bronze skin. “We need to talk.”

His sexy voice rumbled over her. No, no. She didn’t want to talk. Especially when Manu’s dark-velvet gaze was on her, like she was in the cross-hairs of a laser-guided target.

* * *

Manu skirted the bench. He saw Kate straighten, and her muscles bunch, readying to move.

He pressed his hands to either side of her hips on the bench, caging her in. But she didn’t try to escape. No, Kate Scott had too much courage to make a retreat, even when she wanted to.

“Why?” he asked.

She looked up. “Why what?”

“Why not talk about the kiss?”

“Kisses.” Her face twisted like she hadn’t meant to say that.

He smiled. “Kisses. I’m going to kiss you again, by the way.”

She frowned. “No.”

Manu tried to hide his smile. Had no one ever flustered the sensible Captain Scott before? “It is happening again.”

“God, you’re bossy. It isn’t.” Her voice was matter-of-fact. “Neither of us have the time for it.”

He smiled. “I’ll make the time.”

“I have a job to do, keeping the Enclave safe—” She pressed her hands to his chest and pushed.

He didn’t budge. “That’s not a one-woman job. The squads have lives, Kate. It’s important to remember why we’re fighting.” He reached up and stroked the stubborn line of her jaw.

She did a poor job of hiding her shiver. “This isn’t me. I’m not…”

He leaned down, his nose pressed to her cheek. “Not what?”

“Like this. Needy, out of control—”

He pressed his lips to hers. She made a small moan and slid her hands into his hair. Her long body pressed against his and Manu changed the angle of the kiss to go deeper. Damn, she tasted so good.

She moaned into his mouth and Manu cupped her firm ass. He felt her hands slide up under his T-shirt, her short nails biting into his skin. Damn, she was hot. He tugged her closer and felt the edge of her teeth catch his lip. She moaned again.

Then her mouth was on his neck and her hands traveled down to grip his ass. He slid his hands up her body and felt her shiver. She was so damn responsive. Desire was like a battering ram inside him.

“I don’t like pushy men.” She nipped his neck.

“Then this is going to be really uncomfortable for you.”

She looked up at him. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I want you, Kate. I want to strip you bare, and run my hands and tongue all over you.”

Her chest hitched.

“And I want what you’re hiding inside.”

She shook her head. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“I want the fire inside you. That fire you hide from the world.”

Her eyes widened. “I’m sensible, practical, and boring.”

He snorted out a laugh. “No, you aren’t.”

Something flared in her eyes. “I am. My ex-fiancé told me. Repeatedly.”

Manu frowned. “Then he was an idiot.”

She quickly pulled back, shoving against him.

It had been a long day, and Manu was tired and off balance. His prosthetic leg went out from under him and he stumbled. With a curse, he caught the edge of the counter before he embarrassed himself and landed on his ass.

Kate was reaching for him. “Manu, I’m sorry—”

He fought off the mass of uncomfortable emotions that reared up. “Don’t touch me.”

She froze.

Fuck, he realized how harsh his tone was. But the ugly emotions swelled inside him. Here he was, trying to seduce a woman for the first time since he’d lost his leg, and she got to see him almost topple over like a toddler.

“You don’t want to be with a cripple, just say it.”

Her head jerked like he’d slapped her. “Don’t you put words in my mouth.”

Gut still churning, Manu took a step back. He just wanted the blessed darkness and peace of his room. He didn’t want this strong woman who he desired looking at him with pity.

“You know what, Kate, just forget it.” He pushed off from the bench. “Because you’re right, this isn’t gonna happen again.”

Without looking at her, he walked out of the kitchen, horribly aware that he was limping, and she was watching him.