way into the lecture hall and down the stairs and sat at the end of the second row. Public speaking wasn’t Samantha’s favorite thing, and he knew it reassured her to see him.
A familiar voice. “Excuse me, but is that seat taken?”
Thor looked up. “Holly?”
Holly Andris stood there with Gabriela Marquez Cruz and Elizabeth Shields. It was the Cobra brain trust—the three former CIA operatives.
Thor raised an eyebrow, stood. “What are you three doing here?”
Holly scooted by him. “I love astronomy.”
“Since when?”
“Since it became an excuse to meet Samantha.”
Gabriela went next. “You haven’t introduced us to her yet, so we had to take matters into our own hands.”
Elizabeth scooted by. “You almost died for her, Thor. I have to meet her.”
Thor was about to explain that Samantha had been busy moving when she and an older man stepped through the side door below.
She took his breath away, her skirt suit looking sleek and professional, her blond hair done up in a twist. She searched the crowd for him, smiling when she saw him.
He raised a hand, smiled back.
Elizabeth leaned over. “Oh, Thor, she’s cute.”
“What a sweet face,” Holly said. “I was expecting someone older.”
Gabriela turned to Holly. “She looks like a ballet dancer, no?”
Then the older man walked up to the microphone, and the lights went down.
“Thank you all for joining us tonight. I’m Dr. Rick Newton, the chair of CU’s Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences. It’s a tradition for new professors to share their research at a public lecture. The scientist I’m about to introduce comes to us from the University of Chicago. Dr. Park did groundbreaking research on the Cosmic Microwave Background in Antarctica, working with the South Pole Telescope. But I’ll let her tell you about it. Please welcome the newest addition to our astrophysics faculty—Dr. Samantha Park.”
Thor clapped along with the audience. Beside him, Holly and Gabriela cheered like they were at a rock concert.
“I can’t take them anywhere,” Elizabeth whispered.
Samantha took a drink of water from a bottle on the podium, then clicked a remote to load her presentation. “Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am Dr. Samantha Park, and I’m happy to be with you tonight.”
She shared a little bit about her background and gave the audience a basic explanation of her work in Antarctica. “In scientific terms, the South Pole Telescope measures the faint, lingering emissions from the Cosmic Microwave Background left over from the Big Bang. Variations in these emissions help us understand early matter in the universe and help us find distant objects, like faraway galaxy clusters.”
She broke that down for her audience, using examples they could understand. Then she explained how the telescope worked, keeping it simple, showing images of scans and explaining how to read them.
Thor couldn’t help but smile, the passion that had captivated him when she’d explained the SPT to him shining on her face, her excitement contagious.
“This is a rare elliptical double-ringed galaxy—our biggest discovery last year. As some of you know, my research partner was murdered early in that research season, and I fought to get the galaxy named after her. In the end, the committee decided to name it after both of us. So, I’m honored to say that this is the Holcomb-Park Object.”
Thor applauded with the rest of the audience, love for her filling his chest. He was probably the only one who’d heard the catch in her voice just now. When she’d gotten the news a few months ago, she’d run into his arms and sobbed. They’d booked a weekend flight to Berkeley so she could visit her parents and Patty’s and give them the news. They’d all visited Patty’s grave together. It had been a hard day, but it seemed to have brought Samantha some closure.
Elizabeth leaned in close. “Damn. That chokes me up.”
“Me, too.”
She’d done it.
Relieved that her first public lecture at CU had gone well, Samantha looked around the auditorium for Thor. She’d spotted him in the audience, looking hot as hell in a suit, and she knew he had to be here somewhere.
“Samantha. Behind you.”
She turned and saw him standing about twenty feet away with three beautiful women—one with platinum blond hair and crazy curves, a tall, slender redhead, and one with long dark hair, a beautiful face, and big brown eyes. She’d noticed them sitting beside him, but she hadn’t realized they were together. Refusing to feel insecure or jealous, she put a smile on her face.
“Hey, hon. I see you brought friends.”
“I didn’t