He squeezed her tight. He hoped it wouldn’t get that bad. “We will figure this out. Don’t give up hope.”

Her lips twisted and he found himself trying not to stare at her mouth.

“I have a professor who is a jerk and my fellow grad students think I violently murdered one of our close friends. It’s not looking good for my future as a researcher here.” Her lip trembled before she caught it with her teeth.

“Try not to think about it.” Probably the stupidest thing he’d ever said. He kissed her brow to offer some comfort as words failed him. She reared back in surprise.

“Sorry.” He changed the subject quickly, so she didn’t over analyze his actions. He was acting like a goddamn moron. “Were you genuinely thinking about going back to Indonesia next summer?” He was proud at how level his voice was because earlier he’d been raging internally.

“Ah.” She drew her knees up on the couch and rested them against his thighs. “I was hoping you might have forgotten that little nugget.”

“Not in this lifetime.”

“I hadn’t agreed to go back,” she informed him. “I’d agreed to consider the idea of going back.”

He remained diplomatically silent but raised a brow.

“During one of our lab meetings Jim theorized we might get better data if we put a sensor much closer to the fissure vent on the north side of Pulau Gunung Rebi. I agreed, not even imagining he’d actually ask me to go back and set one up.” She shuddered. “At the next meeting he declared he’d secured funding to conduct more research there and wanted to give me time to consider the prospect, which I agreed to. I felt that if I said no immediately, he’d lose respect for me, and I’d lose a big part of my dataset to another student’s thesis.”

“You thought he’d lose respect for you?” Eban could barely contain himself.

She shrugged. “He isn’t all bad. He’s super focused on his research and generally a shitty people person.”

Eban gave an unamused laugh. Darby was way too good a human being for the likes of Professor Jim Nilsson.

“Anyway, I thought about it.” She admitted. “I wouldn’t mind going back for a short period as part of a large team.” He felt the trembling in her frame. “I thought it might help me exorcise some demons.”

Eban wanted to tell her she couldn’t go but it wasn’t his place.

“I don’t trust Jim Nilsson to provide adequate security for you,” he told her honestly instead.

She tilted her face to look at him. “I don’t either. Not now.” Her gaze dropped to his lips and he wanted more than anything to kiss her. But the dark circles of exhaustion beneath her eyes told him how unfair it would be to add another emotional hit to such a terrible day.

“I’m going to check the area around the cabin. I want you to go to bed and try to get some sleep.”