“I know of a place,” he said carefully. “My mentor’s…out of town. You can use his lab.”
Seriously? She’d hoped for this, but she hadn’t actually believed an undergrad would have access to a private lab.
Before she could second-guess his motives or consider all the reasons why this was a bad idea, she said, “Thank you.”
Derek tapped his finger on the table, his dark blue eyes studying her again.
Her heartbeat spiked, and she broke eye contact. She wasn’t used to attractive guys staring at her, unless they were five foot four and fantasized about dating an Amazon. “So can I go there now? Do I need a key?”
Derek stood, pulled out a cell phone from his pocket, and glanced at the screen. “Give me five minutes. I’ll walk you over.”
He’s going too?
She jumped up and jerked on her backpack, accidentally knocking into Derek’s arm. With her chest.
Not the first time her boobs had collided with an unsuspecting object, just the most embarrassing.
She froze then carefully eased back an inch, only to find that the air between them had changed the way it did before a lightning storm—positive and negative molecules separating, creating the urgency to rush back together. She glared at the empty space between them, as if it, like the liquid anomalies, had betrayed her.
Slowly, Elena scanned up Derek’s broad chest and shoulders, beyond the firm jaw, tangling momentarily with his full lips, and landing on his eyes. He was staring down, his beautiful gaze almost threatening, as though he sensed the crackling and blamed it on her.
And maybe it was her fault. She didn’t know what came from her and what didn’t. Or why strange things kept happening today.
“You don’t have to go with me,” she said. “I can find it. There’s no need to put you out.”
Of course he’d want to go. It was his lab. But she didn’t need a witness. Bad enough her classmates had been around for the incident this afternoon. She’d cleaned it up quickly without anyone noticing, but privacy, a safe place to figure things out—that was what she needed.
Derek’s jaw hardened. “Either I go with you or you can forget about the lab.”
She didn’t like his tone, but how many people had access to a private lab? It was a strange coincidence her neighbor happened to, but Elena wasn’t going to question her good fortune.
Maybe she should have.
2
Derek’s heavy tread on the pebbled path fell silent as he turned up a campus sidewalk and loped up concrete steps to a two-story beige building with steel overhangs. Elena had seen the building before, but she’d never been inside. From what she understood, it housed upper-division professors’ offices.
She followed Derek up the steps, and he held the door for her. As soon as she entered the building, he passed her in two long strides and jogged up a flight of stairs. The air on the second level smelled of formaldehyde and cleaning products, leaving a bitter taste on her tongue. Some of the doors were labeled with professors’ names, while others were numbered laboratories. Derek stopped at the last lab on the right, and Elena’s grip on the padded straps of her backpack tightened.
Her hands had been trembling all day. This morning she’d assumed she just needed caffeine, but the double latte she’d drunk before class had done nothing to minimize the shaking.
Derek opened the door to the lab and flipped on light switches, and Elena’s breath caught. For a moment, she forgot everything—her trembling hands, the liquid crisis…
She stepped inside and spun slowly around. Aside from an odd section of antique devices and bottles—was that a vintage Bunsen burner?—every piece of cool chem equipment she’d ever dreamed of using stood in front of her. Some were so high-tech even her class labs didn’t carry them.
Derek’s gaze narrowed on her face, and his lips compressed.
So maybe she’d been grinning from ear to ear. Who wouldn’t be in the mecca of all labs?
Refocusing, she set her backpack on one of two work islands. “Any special rules you want me to follow?” If she couldn’t figure out a solution to her problem with access to this equipment, she never would.
“Yeah. Don’t use anything you’ve never used before. And don’t blow anything up.”
Haha, funny—if it wasn’t actually a risk. But he didn’t know that. “I’m not an amateur.”
His sculpted eyebrow rose. “Aren’t you? Isn’t that why you wanted to practice?”
He wouldn’t believe her if she told him about class and the water at home. She had no one to confide in. Reese had become her closest friend since starting Dawson, but their friendship was new. Elena wasn’t ready to even share this with her, let alone a guy she hardly knew.
She ignored the question and let out a slow breath. Act normal. “Who else uses this place besides you and your mentor?”
“No one.”
“You have it all to yourself?” She peered around. The lab was large enough to support several scientists. “How’d you get so lucky?”
Derek unloaded books from his backpack onto a desk in the corner. “I published in a major medical journal in high school.”
Elena chuckled, then noticed his serious expression.
Holy crap. Only kid wonders published in scientific journals, the rest of the authors were seasoned experts. “So you’re, what, some kind of genius?”
“I’m not a genius. My memory’s—” He stacked the last book on his desk. “Advanced,” he finally said.
“What do you mean advanced? Are we talking photographic?”
He shrugged. “Something like that. I took extra classes during high school at the nearby university. My dad’s a cardiologist. With his help, I researched proteomics and immunization. Professor St. Just, who’s now my mentor, heard about my project and asked me to work with him at Dawson.”
Most high school students weren’t far enough along in school to take college courses. Even so, the chemistry class Elena had taken at the junior college near her podunk farm town was nothing compared to what this guy had done. His accomplishments made her look average.
“If that’s the case, why did you choose Dawson? Why not attend Harvard or Johns Hopkins?” Not that she was putting down Dawson. It was a top university. But there were top schools and then there were elite schools.
He shrugged, tucking his backpack beneath the desk. “Marlon—Professor St. Just—offered something those programs couldn’t.”
“A sports car?”
His gaze slid to her. “Funny.” No hint of mirth crossed his handsome face. “He offered exclusive anytime access to his lab.”
“I would’ve taken the car,” she said, though it wasn’t true. She would have taken the lab as well because it was kick-ass. But for some reason, she needed to ruffle this guy’s steely exterior.
Derek’s mouth twitched. “Don’t make me regret bringing you here.”
Grumpy with no sense of humor. But beggars couldn’t be choosers and all that. She needed his lab. For her sanity, if nothing else. Still… “Why did you bring me?”
He shrugged and paced to a locker. He pulled out a lab coat and other protective equipment. “You seemed desperate.”
She hadn’t said anything to that effect, which meant he’d read her without words. And that was unsettling.
She didn’t want this guy reading her and discovering the truth.
Stupid, Derek thought. Why had he brought Elena? Because she’d seemed desperate? Partly true. He wasn’t sure about the complete answer, didn’t want to think that deeply. All he knew was that the minute they stepped into Marlon’s lab, he wanted to take it back. Tell her she shouldn’t be there, that he couldn’t help her. He couldn’t risk ruining what he’d built with Marlon, and he’d had his reasoning rock-solid in the kitchen, totally prepared to say no. Then she’d smiled.
Blinded by a pretty girl.
Derek wasn’t normal under any circumstances—why he’d gone and done the most stereotypical guy thing
and given in to a pretty girl’s smile, he hadn’t a clue. It was annoying as hell.
Elena didn’t explain outright why she wanted the lab, but she wore her fiery emotions like a neon sign. He could tell she wasn’t giving him the whole truth. He couldn’t decide whether getting involved had been smart or stupid, but he was leaning toward stupid.
Derek couldn’t risk distractions from his work. Not if he wanted control over his life.
He pulled out his notebook, attempting to relax. So far, Elena had done things correctly. Worn the proper safety equipment, laid out her tools in the order in which she’d use them, and retrieved chemicals he deemed safe for a rudimentary chemist. She was pretty methodical about the whole thing, which surprised him. Maybe he hadn’t watched his neighbor closely enough. She knew her way around a lab better than he’d expected.
Tapping his finger, he stared at her hands. He couldn’t be sure from this distance, but he thought they might be trembling. If they were, that wasn’t a good sign. Measuring chemicals requires a steady hand for precision. Still, she seemed competent enough, and more important, the chemicals she had before her were harmless.
Long, dark lashes shadowed the smooth skin on her cheeks as she focused on the flask over the burner… This was totally distracting. He needed to stop staring.
Elena didn’t realize it, but he knew who she was, had noticed her months ago. Not that he had any intention of telling her that.
He attempted to study his notebook, but his attention, if not his gaze, was still on his neighbor. From his periphery, he saw her glance up and turn her back to him. He peered over. Was she waving her hands?
The flask in front of her rattled, and Elena lurched back. The solution hissed and spurted, shooting everywhere—including onto her—right before the container holding it crashed onto the floor, piercing the room with the sound of shattering glass.
Derek’s heart stopped, then pumped double-time as he careened across the room, knocking over a stool.
Elena pressed her hands to her face, her eyes wide. The strange liquid glowed fluorescent across her lightly tanned skin, dripping down her chin.
He yanked off her lab coat and pushed her toward the emergency shower.
She followed him blindly for a moment, then pulled back, wiping the solution off her face with her sleeve. “I’m fine. I just used too much heat. I’ll clean up the mess right away.”
He stared in disbelief. “What are you talking about? That stuff’s all over you. We’re taking decontamination measures.” He wasn’t sure how she’d managed an explosion with the materials in front of her, but he wasn’t taking chances.
“It’s not necessary. I wasn’t using anything dangerous.” She tried to walk past him, and swayed as though she was lightheaded.
Derek caught her by the shoulders. He studied her face and the skin of her neck. Whatever that fluorescent crap was, it had scorched her flesh a light shade of pink. “You’re taking a cold shower.”
“No. I don’t need it.” Her tone came out adamant, but her body shook.
Chemical accidents were nothing to mess with. She could be in shock, and he didn’t trust her to make sound decisions right now. She attempted to duck around him again, but he reached under her knees and swept her into his arms. She weighed nothing. But with his unusual strength, everything weighed nothing.
Elena glanced around, her eyes widening. “What are you doing? Put me down!”
He set her beneath the shower and turned on the nozzle before she could wiggle her way out. Water drenched her hair and clothes in seconds. She sucked in a startled breath.
If Elena couldn’t think clearly right now, he needed to. “Take them off.” He gestured to the long-sleeved shirt and jeans she wore.
Water poured down her face, her eyelids fluttering beneath the onslaught. “No way. You’re being ridiculous. I told you, the chemicals were harmless.”
He sighed in frustration. “The chemicals you started with were harmless, not the fluorescent stuff that ended up all over you. I don’t even know what that shit was. This is for your safety; we don’t have time for modesty. Take them off.”
Her body trembled and her teeth chattered—the water pouring over her was cold. Her eyes darted to the side as though she were considering what he’d said. “I was wearing a lab coat. No—nothing got on my clothes. Only a little on my skin where the coat didn’t cover. I could have flushed my face beneath the faucet.”
She had a point. “At least remove your shirt. That solution was dripping down your neck.”
Elena huffed out a sigh of annoyance, then reached down and whipped off her top.
It landed with a splat on the shower floor. Or at least, he thought it did. He wasn’t looking at the piece of fabric on the ground.
This was bad. Worse than he could have imagined.
Her skin was fine. No scorch marks below her neck, just like she’d said, but he could see everything down to her toned stomach.
Beautiful didn’t begin to describe Elena. She was…more.
Derek’s mouth went dry. He tried not to look at her curves beneath the pale lace bra that had become transparent with water, but—yeah, that was impossible.
She shivered as she rinsed her face and hair, her technique choppy and not nearly thorough enough. “Happy?”
“No.” He kept his eyes above her neck and shoved up the sleeves of his shirt. “Hold still.”
He traced her cheekbones with the tips of his fingers, making circular motions over her face, careful to reach the places she’d missed. He rubbed her stubborn chin and down her long, delicate neck, moving the necklace she wore aside to reach her skin. Working his way farther south, his hands stilled above the slopes of her breasts.
Sweat beaded on his temples, the room suddenly burning hot despite the cold water that was still running. Derek dabbed his forehead with the sleeve on his upper arm and looked at her face. Big mistake.
Liquid hazel depths stared back, the pupils dilated to half the iris.
Elena slapped his hands away. “We’re good. You got it all.”
He stepped back and thrust wet fists into the front pockets of his jeans. He had to get a grip. She had caused a damned explosion in Marlon’s lab. He needed to distance himself from her, not feel things for her.
She turned off the water and swayed as she bent down for her shirt.
Derek’s jaw clenched. He went to steady her again, but she stepped around him and wrung out the fabric. “I’m fine, just cold.”
She didn’t look fine. The scorch marks had gone away—surprisingly fast, actually—but she looked pale and ready to pass out.
He peeled off the long-sleeved shirt he’d worn over his tee and handed it to her.
“Thanks.” She slipped it on, and the material draped her like a dress.
Wrapping her arms around her waist, she turned and walked toward her work area, her legs moving stiffly in the damp jeans.
“What are you doing?”
“Cleaning up,” she said without looking back.
“Do not take another step. Matter of fact, grab your things and walk out the door. You’re done.”
Elena’s back tensed. She looked over her shoulder, blinking several times. “It was an accident. It won’t happen again.”
“You’re right, it won’t,” he bit out. “I need this lab. I should never have brought you here.”
Elena couldn’t have caused an explosion with the materials she’d been using, and yet somehow she had. She was trouble, and she wasn’t coming anywhere near his lab again. He had enough to worry about with his mentor missing. “Leave. Now.”
A flare of fire turned her hazel eyes deep emerald. She stormed to the locker, grabbed her things, and slammed the door shut. When it didn’t catch, she slammed it again.
Why was she so pissed? He was the one with the contamination zone to clean up. “Wait outside. I’ll walk you home when I’m finished.”
Elena grabbed her folder from the island, water trickling
off her jeans in a wet trail as she swept out the door without slowing.
Of course she wouldn’t wait.
He assessed the mess and rubbed his forehead. If Marlon suddenly showed up and walked in on this, he’d be pissed, but Derek couldn’t let Elena walk home by herself in the dark. He’d become paranoid since his eighteenth birthday. He didn’t take chances.
He strode out of the room and spotted her at the end of the hallway. She shot him an icy glare he interpreted as Stay the hell away.
Change of plans. He’d follow her to make sure she got home safely, but she wouldn’t know he was there.
No one saw him once he Blended.
3
Elena stared at the PowerPoint slide on the large screen in the physics auditorium. What the hell was going on? She didn’t need her reading glasses today—a first for her. But it wasn’t just her eyes. The percussion of hundreds of fingers flying over keyboards as students took notes sounded like a million tiny mice scampering across a wooden floor, each key pounding into her skull.
This morning, she’d hoped things would be back to normal, that yesterday would be some weird dream she’d wake from. But the liquids were real, her hands still shook, and now her senses were in hyper mode.
She hunched in her seat and winced. After gaining access to the most amazing chem lab she’d ever seen last night, she was no closer to explaining how she made the liquids boil. She didn’t dare experiment at home after the mess she’d created in front of Derek. Which had been followed by one of the most embarrassing shower scenes ever.
Elena had been so shocked by the explosion she’d lost all sense of safety. Derek was right to throw her in the shower. Harmless chemicals or not, they hadn’t reacted as expected. But when he helped her remove the solution, she wasn’t thinking about the danger of the chemicals on her body. She was too busy being stunned by the effect his touch had on her.
Her attraction to him should have been the last thing on her mind, but her breath had quickened and her heart raced in her chest. She was sure he could tell what he was doing to her.
Fates Divided Page 2