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Rose swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. She’d thought she was prepared for whatever they might discover in the Io.

She’d been wrong.

She faced Finn—the air between them charged. The lab door behind him was ajar, offering a view of Duke ensuring her sister and the rest of the crew were taken to the med bay.

Stress made her shoulders burn. “You want to let go of my hand?”

He glanced down as if he’d forgotten his hold. “Of course. Sorry.”

He skimmed his thumb across the back of her wrist before releasing her. The gentle touch sent a whisper of butterfly wings up her arm and down her spine, but did little to soothe the anger simmering under her skin.

Rose forced herself to step back, desperately needing space to clear her head of the chaotic thoughts crowding her. She hugged her elbows, her hands cold despite the Io’s controlled climate.

Finn mirrored her defensive stance as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. “You want to tell me what’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s your sister back there?” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder toward the biome.

She breathed out, focused on keeping her voice calm. “It wasn’t a secret.”

“No, but you didn’t tell anyone either.” He closed the distance between them, his breathing roughening. “That your sister was down here. And not only that. She’s the scientific lead.”

“It didn’t seem important.”

“And that was for you to decide?” His scent of clean soap invaded her brain, while frustration licked at the frayed edges of her nerves.

“Yes, actually, it was,” she snapped back, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. “I’m here as a scientist, not to air my family’s dirty laundry.” She looked away from him, her neck and ears suddenly impossibly hot. “Besides. It changes nothing.” It was an effort to remain composed. Inside, she was a maelstrom of emotion and his questions were hitting on tender points she’d protected for years.

“It changes everything ,” Finn growled.

She shook her head. “The OSC asked me here because I am an engineer, because my skills are crucial to this mission. Not because of my sister.”

“So it’s just a coincidence your sister is the lead scientist of whatever experiment they were cooking up down here?”

Rose swallowed and shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe. Yes. No. I have no fucking idea, all right?” She hated swearing at him, but his questions needled at her patience, already worn thin by the dive .

Fury radiated off him like a living thing, forcing her to retreat until the base of her spine hit the solid counter behind her. He followed, until they stood toe-to-toe, the sliver of air between them electric. There was nowhere else for her to go.

“What else are you not telling us?” His hands slammed down on the counter, caging her in. The sudden proximity sent a jolt through her body, equal parts fear and exhilaration.

She met his gaze, refusing to back down. “I don’t like what you’re implying.”

He leaned in, drawing her attention to the play of muscles visible at his open neckline. “I’ll rephrase that. What else have you neglected to mention?” His voice lowered to a dangerous whisper, his breath hot against her cheek.

She slapped a hand against his chest, meaning to push him away. Instead, she stalled, scorched by the heat radiating through his shirt. His heart thudded beneath her fingers, matching the frantic rhythm of her own. The man was infuriating. How did he get so easily under her skin?

“She might be my sister, but I haven’t spoken to her in over seven years. You want to know why? Because she sold out her own sister to advance her career.”

Finn’s eyes widened. His anger wavered, giving way to a different intensity. “Then why are you protecting her?”

Rose curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. “I’m not—” Scant inches separated them. “I’m not protecting her.”

“There has to be more.”

She released her hold on his shirt. He still blocked her exit. “Maybe Margaret thought it would be good for the lead to see a familiar face in such difficult circumstances.” Her breath hitched. The closeness of his body was maddening, clouding her thoughts with unwelcome attraction.

“We didn’t even know if we would find survivors.” His eyes narrowed.

“Enough!” Rose exploded, her control shattering. “Are you trying to piss me off? I just wanted to know that my sister was safe, you arrogant bastard!” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, itching to strike out at him.

She bit back the rest of her words, unwilling to reveal that Margaret had threatened her with her job and forced her on this damn mission. But the reasons for her being here remained frustratingly opaque and instead of finding answers, she was drowning in a sea of questions, each more troubling than the last.

“What was your sister working on?”

“I don’t know. I’ve told you, we’re not in contact.”

“You don’t know?” His eyebrows jogged up.

“No, and this repetition is getting old. I don’t need to know what the research was or what’s on the hard drives to bring them to the surface. That’s not my job.”

Finn’s gaze dropped to her lips.

A sensation she couldn’t name burst to life low in her belly.

Without warning, his hands left the counter and gripped her waist firmly, sending shockwaves through her system. “Why did Margaret choose you for this mission? There are countless engineers she could have asked. Some even more skilled. So why you?”

The insult stung. “Fuck you.” She shoved hard against his chest. Enough. She was out of here.

But Finn didn’t budge, instead catching her wrist in his free hand. Her heart raced, torn between the urge to knee him in the groin and the traitorous desire to close the remaining distance between them.

“You know nothing about me.” She was hyper-aware of every point of contact between them—his fingers on her wrist, her palm against his chest, the heated air between their faces. “Let me go. I’m as much in the dark as you are. You’re seeing shadows where there aren’t any. We found the crew, didn’t we? Now we just need to fix the shuttle, grab the lab data, and get everyone topside for treatment. Mission accomplished.”

Her pulse hammered, a toxic blend of fury and attraction coursing through her. She teetered on a knife’s edge—one move away from either punching him or crushing her mouth against his. “Now. Let. Me. Go.”

The silence stretched between them. His fingers uncurled from her wrist one by one, like a reluctant surrender. The absence of his touch left her skin cold, the memory of his grip still burning.

“That simple?” He pinned her with a gaze dark as an ocean rift.

“It can be.” God, I want it to be.

With a soft grunt, Finn turned and stalked from the room, leaving her swaying between relief and loss as the door hissed shut behind him with cold finality.