"What was that?" she said with enough innocence to almost sound convincing.

"I said you're going to kill me."

67.

Jenna laughed. "No, I'm your perfect match, remember? Now where's the food?"

She watched as Ben's lips curled into his wonderful slow smile. The scar on his cheek pulled tight when he did. She reached out and touched it as she had last night.

"Amazing how much things can change in a few hours."

Ben nodded once, dropped to his knees and opened the fridge. They sat in silence and quietly consumed their breakfast. Jenna was thankful they had been on their date when the explosion happened. The feelings she was having for him would have been too much, too soon. She would have blamed the device and not trusted that there may be something to them. Amazing that the dating service was that accurate.

"I meant to ask you. Do you own Perfect Match? It didn't strike me as the sort of company you'd use unless you had something vested in it."

"No. The only reason I tried it was because of Matt. He lectured me one night over a drink. Told me I couldn't hide behind my desk anymore and needed to rejoin humanity."

"Good for him."

"You'd say that," he said. "After I'd made some discreet inquiries, this service came up as the best."

"Well, if our device is what I think it is, maybe we can use it to start our own dating service."

Jenna trailed off, her hand stopped in midair. No, it couldn't be.

"What's wrong?" Ben turned in his seat to fully face her.

It couldn't be that obvious. "If my theory is right, then the device pulls separate elements together for a perfect combination. Unlike you, I've had my name go through these dating services before. Trust me when I say they are normally far from perfect on the first match."

"We got lucky?"

Jenna shook her head and leaned in close to Ben. "According to Rhonda, Perfect Match has only been operating for the last four months. That's about the time my team set up camp. We only discovered the device a few weeks ago. Didn't know what it was until last night though."

"You think that the people running Perfect Match have the other device? That seems a bit of a stretch."

"Why? With all the people out there, why did the program tie the two of us together? We don't move in the same circles or have the same economic status.

Honestly, would you have personally involved yourself with this if we hadn't been on a date?"

Ben frowned but didn't answer.

Her heart began to pound and her hands grew damp. "Both the program and the device put us together. It has to be the other half."

68.

Jenna crammed the last bite of her food into her mouth and fished her PCD out of her pocket.

"What are you doing?"

A quick tap of her speed-dial button and Rhonda's number began to ring. "Getting answers."

"Hello?"

"Rhonda, I need your help."

Without giving her a chance to interrupt, Jenna told Rhonda as much of the story as she thought was relevant. On the chance that the people who had the other device were dangerous, Jenna didn't want Rhonda to get too close.

"I tried to find as much information on the company as I could when I was planning your party, but there wasn't much. Mostly testimonials as to the success of the program," Rhonda barely managed to say before she yawned.

Shit.

"Any info on who owns the company?"

"Nope. The only name I could dig up was a lawyer, and I think that's a dead end too. They are based on Earth."

"Earth? Why the hell would someone want an Earth law firm to look after a dating service on Mars? It's not like they will be able to pop right over to help with lawsuits."

Ben sat bolt upright in the seat, and snatched the PCD.

"Hey!"

"Rhonda, this is Ben Hawthorn. What was the name of the lawyer?"

Jenna tried to grab it back from Ben, but he blocked her attempts. She hit his arm, once lightly, but the second time she put as much as she could into the punch. He didn't flinch.

"I promise."

"Promise what?" She tried to lean in to hear what was being said.

Ben listened for another minute, before thanking Rhonda and offering the communicator back to her.

"She wants to say goodbye."

Jenna glared at him and plucked the PCD from his open hand.

"Hello?"

"I like him a lot. You need to keep that one."

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Right. Goodbye, Rhonda."

"I'm serious."

"Goodbye, Rhonda."

"Okay, but let me know how things turn out."

The loud beep of the power button filled the limo. Jenna closed her eyes and took a 69 deep breath.

"Your friend is very...energetic."

Jenna half looked at him and shook her head. "You have no idea. What did you promise her, by the way?"

"She knew you would ask," he said and leaned forward.

"Of course I'd ask. My best friend was talking to you. And I know what you're both capable of."

Ben didn't stop moving closer until Jenna was forced to lean back against the seat.

With barely any room between them, he brushed his lips across hers.

"She told me the name of the lawyer. Then she made me promise to keep my eye on you."

The air between them thinned, making it hard for Jenna to breathe. She couldn't keep her eyes from his mouth as he leaned in closer and closer.

"We need to talk to that lawyer," she said the words quickly. The heat from her breath warmed her face as it came out in shallow gasps.

Ben slipped his hand around the back of her neck and tugged her close. His lips found hers, capturing them in a light kiss. With his thumb stroking the muscles of her neck, Jenna felt her body relax against his. Her fingers found his chest, slipped between the buttons of his shirt and teased the curls of hair that covered it. He moaned, pulling back.

"I thought we weren't going to do this?"

Jenna laughed. "I believe you were the one who kissed me."

"Yes, but I promised your friend I'd kiss you if you got too nosy."

Jenna dropped her head to Ben's shoulder.

"I'm going to kill her."

"She wanted to make sure you were having a fun date. Even though she knew you were working."

He rubbed her back in long, slow strokes, sending small shivers down her back and across her skin.

"I know enough about women to know you never become enemies with the best friend. So I obliged."

All of her earlier desires began to come back, her body awakening under his touch.

Desire pulsed in her causing her hips to grind against him. She looked hard at his face.

He was trying to fight it too. The pull between them was getting stronger.

It wasn't until Ben gave his head a shake that the spell broke.

"We need to talk to the lawyer, get to his office and figure out what the hell is going on," he said and placed a last kiss on her lips.

It was then she realized this wasn't going to work.

"Ben, I think we need to split up. We can't go five minutes without mauling each 70 other. That's the last thing we need in order for this investigation to work."

"No."

She half pushed him away. "No? What do you mean no?"

"No."

This time she shoved him hard enough to move him off her and onto the seat.

"Look, I thought we'd moved past the arrogant boss attitude. It doesn't make sense for us to stay together. We can get more accomplished on our own."

"Trust me on this. The lawyer your friend mentioned is a front. He works for a man named Rick Jennings."

Even though Ben was lounging against the seat, Jenna could tell his body stiffened.

His normal casual air evaporated instantly.

What the hell?

"Who is he?" Damn, why the hell did she sound nervous? It's not like anything had changed from a few minutes ago.

The muscle in his jaw jumped. He looked at his fist and slowly unballed it.

"He's a mobster. A killer. And he used to be a close friend of mine."

Her eyes grew wide when it hit her. "Rick. He's the man who attacked you?"

"If he's involved then you're not going out of my sight. Knowing Rick, he's got some power play going on behind the scenes. The last thing we need to do is stick our collective heads in the way. He's likely to cut them off."

"But he can't keep it!" Jenna sat up and pulled her arm away. "He could use it to blow up half of Mars. We need to find the second half of the device and get it someplace safe. Who knows what someone like Rick would do with it."

He looked out the window. "Trust me, I'm not going to let you anywhere near him.

He'd tear you apart."

Jenna couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So you want to do nothing?"

"I plan on doing something. But I want to know you're safely far away from where he can get you."