Jude knows he isn’t relationship material. The entire population of Mars made it abundantly clear he’s damaged goods, and he agrees. His issues are why he works a remote job flying around the galaxy prospecting for metals, and why he ruthlessly quashes any feelings for Cal, his surveying partner.<br><br>Cal has been looking for an opening to suggest he and Jude could be more than friendly coworkers. When they crash on a tundra planet, the men have a lot of free time, and they put it to good use having sex. It’s fun, but Cal wants Jude as a boyfriend, not a friend with benefits.<br><br>Marooned on a hostile world, with Jude’s demons rearing their heads, Cal’s first task is to keep the two of them alive. His second is to convince Jude that, no matter how much he’s suffered, romance can still be in the cards.

Snowed In: Jude and Cal

Cal shook his head. “Computer says we’re due for a blizzard in the next twelve to twenty hours. Granted, meteorology isn’t its strongest point, but I for one am not inclined to take the risk.”


“Damn,” said Jude. “How long is this storm supposed to last?”


“Not enough data for a prediction.”


“I tried. Not enough data for that, even. I guess we came in too hot for baseline atmospheric scans.”


If it weren’t for the gravity difference, Jude would’ve gone back out right then, but repeated switches in gravity could really screw with a person’s body. “So we’re going to be stuck in here.”


“You mean you’re tired of my charming company? I’m wounded.”


Jude wasn’t tired of Cal’s company. Actually, he was getting a little too fond of it, which was a completely different problem to which he definitely didn’t want to call attention, so he asked, “How am I supposed to find us a bonus lode when we’re too low for orbital scans and too trapped for hand scans?”


Chapter 8