Tamar and Hayley were both looking at her as she straightened up.
"Are you ever going to break up with Ed?" Tamar tilted her head to the side.
"It's on my to-do list."
"The longer you leave it, the worse it'll get."
Lexie knew that, but once again had to push Ed to the back of her mind. She wished she could push Sam there too, but he always seemed to resurface when she tried.
Chapter 10
He'd watched her every day. Or, rather what he could see of her from his office.
Sam noticed that Lexie rarely ever left the lab. She'd only leave to get food a few times in the day, and she was here until late. In fact, most evenings when he left he noticed that the lights were still on in her office. It was like that the last two nights when he'd left at around seven.
"Enjoying the view?" Zane came inside with a bunch of files tucked under his arm.
"I'm just taking a break," Sam answered. It wasn't entirely a lie he'd been looking through the documents the investigation team gave him, and now he was taking a break.
"By watching the object of your affection from afar?" Zane laughed.
Sam moved away from the wall and sat down in his chair, pulling himself right up to the desk.
"Why don't you just go see her?" Zane asked.
"I will when I get a chance." And the courage. It was laughable. Him building courage. He was Sam St. John, courage flowed through his blood. Except when it came to her.
The problem was, even though he knew she was mad about the whole thing with her project, he wouldn't just be going to see her for work purposes.
"You have a free half hour at two."
"She might be busy then."
Zane laughed again. "I'm sure you've noticed that she's always busy."
Zane came over with the files and set them in front of Sam. "These are the new investor contracts. Everyone is legit. But you can glance over them again for comfort."
They'd attracted a number of new investors as their share prices had stabilized. In just two weeks Sam had seen some changes that would definitely put them in a better position in just a few weeks' time. That had come from his firm hand on the place. It was good, but he'd upset a lot of people, not just Lexie.
The other people he could deal with, but when he thought of her, it bothered him. And since it bothered him, what he needed to do was get his ass in gear and just go see her. Maybe he could go later. Like maybe just before he was ready to go home.
The rest of the day was spent in meetings that kept running over. He didn't even have time for that half hour break. It was typical that that would happen the day he decided he'd see her. At nine that night he found himself seated behind the desk with another bunch of files in front of him from the investigation team. They were doing some serious work and had gotten everything back to him that he'd requested. Now it was just a matter of looking through their findings. Probably not at this hour though.
"I thought you were leaving." Janine came into his office without knocking. Her sugar syrup voice enunciated each syllable of her words. He groaned inwardly as he lifted his head and regarded the bright smile that lit up her face.
He was hoping she'd left. Last Friday she'd stayed back with him till late. He didn't know what the hell she thought was going to happen between them but she actually seemed surprised when he left after they finished going through all the documents.
His time with her just got more irritating with each day that passed. And her clothes had gotten shorter, and more revealing, too. To him, it had reached a point where he was seriously considering speaking with human resources to revise the dress code to make it more work appropriate.
Today, Janine wore a mini skirt with a zip that went from the bottom to the top. When she sat, there was no question on whether or not she wanted him to see what kind of underwear she wore. Sam looked away before he could. He was sick of it now. Her and her clothes. The blouse today was just as bad as the skirt with its sheer white lace that revealed an electric pink bra. Everything was so low cut that he didn't know why she'd even bothered to wear clothes. And, now she was giving him that seductive look again, and it was so blatant that he had to look away.
"I'm leaving in a minute," he replied. The files could wait till tomorrow. He wasn't in the mood for her tonight.
She smiled at him with her glossy red lips. "We should have dinner." She suggested moving closer to him.
"I have plans."
"Well, maybe tomorrow."
"I'm busy tomorrow too." He got up and shrugged into his jacket.
"And the next day?" She chuckled. Maybe she thought he was enjoying this game of hers but he'd really rather she didn't try.
"Janine I'm not going to have dinner with you." His flat tone surprised her. Up until now he'd been nice and accommodating of her feelings, but this had to stop.
"Why not? I'm sure one little dinner wouldn't hurt you." She cooed. "I promise I'd make it all worth your time." There was that blatant sexually suggestive look again.
That was it for him. As good as she'd been at her job so far he decided that he'd have to get a new secretary the first chance he got. The clothes were one thing but practically throwing herself at him was another.
"Good night Janine," Sam said, completely dismissing her. It was better not to say anything else. He grabbed his cane and left, leaving her to her thoughts.
On his way out he noticed again that the lights were still on in Lexie's lab and he hoped that she wasn't still here. He stopped by the elevator and gazed ahead wondering what to do. There was no way that he could justify leaving when there was a chance she was still here. It was after nine now.
On that thought, he took the elevator down to her floor and made his way to the lab. As he pushed the door open, he saw her sitting in front of one of the computers on the upper deck by her private office. She rested back against her chair and held an ice pack to her head.
She didn't hear him come in because she was talking to Tim on a video call. Sam could see Tim's image on the larger monitor just in front of her. Not wanting to interrupt, he hung back and stood by the steps where he waited till she finished.
"So I have good news and great news," Tim announced. Sam watched him run a comb through his green hair. Since he'd been here, Tim had had his hair every color of the rainbow. Zane called him The Joker, and the name was fitting as he did tend to look a little DC comic bookish.
"I could really use either of those right now," Lexie replied. She sounded exhausted, and ... "I think I'm sick."
Sick. That was exactly what he thought.
"Gee, I wonder why. Lexie, did you even go home last night?" Tim chided.
"I was too tired to make it to the door, and right now my head feels like its gonna fall off." She groaned.
Guilt pulled at Sam's insides to hear that. He'd heard she worked hard, but under no circumstance was it okay for her to be so overrun that she had to sleep at work.
"I'll come and pick you up," Tim offered.
"No. There's too much to do," she replied weakly. "Hit me with the news. It'll give me energy."
Tim sighed eyeing her with concern and set his comb down. "Okay, the good news is Nordstrom are having a sale and Gina managed to reserve that cute dress you wanted last time you guys went shopping."
Lexie laughed at that. "That's amazing news. I'll have to get the shoes to match. Is the great news that the shoes are on sale too?"
It was nice to see this side of her. He'd never heard her talk about everyday things she might like, like clothes and shoes.
"Nope. The great news is that you are an absolute genius. We did some scans on my batch of patients, and the images show quite conclusively the early stages of tissue rejuvenation. I did some comparative tests with the results from last week and I'm happy to conclude that our hypothesis was right. Correction, your hypothesis." Tim laughed.
Lexie sat up straighter and gasped. "It worked?"
"Not just worked. Lexie at
ten percent extra the tissue starts to rejuvenate, repairing themselves. My theory is that a higher percentage of nano bytes could assist in full rejuvenation of collagen and other proteins allowing the tissues to repair completely. I've never seen anything like this. We have to definitely push for the fifteen percent, if not more. This could be some kind of mad breakthrough Lexie. Think Alzheimer's be gone. If we can rejuvenate tissue in the heart. Think about the brain. Actually, forget that, think of the future. How about those super humans we talked about?" Tim's excitement reverberated across the sound system.
Sam was excited too. He'd never heard anything like that before, and he was already thinking about what their research could mean.
"That is truly fantastic." Lexie beamed.
"It is. I'm doing the reports today. I suggest you go home and get some sleep."
Lexie rested back against the chair rubbing the icepack over her forehead. "I'll just finish what I'm doing then I'll go."
"You better. You look terrible."
"Okay doctor." She laughed.
"Get yourself better doctor." Tim smiled then he was gone.
Lexie groaned as she rolled her head to the side. The movement made her accidentally drop the ice pack. She leaned forward to try and retrieve it but struggled. Sam left his cane by the barrier on the stairs and rushed up to her to pick it up. It was only then that she saw him.
The heavy lashes that shadowed her cheeks flew up as surprise filled her face. She looked sick. And drained out. Shadows darkened the soft skin under her eyes and her usually vibrant bronze skin was ashen and pale.
"Thank you," she said as he handed her back the ice pack. "Please don't tell me you're here to usher me out of the building for being here so late." A cautious expression filled her face.
"Being here late, or never leaving?" He gazed at her. "And you're sick."
"I'm too weak to argue Sam."
"We don't have to argue. We can talk." He offered a hopeful smile. She gazed up at him with those warm eyes and pulled in a soft breath. "If you were having problems you should have told me."
"You knew I was down by eighteen people from the start. You must have known I'd have all sorts of problems."
"But I arranged help to assist you." He did that straight away.
She grimaced shaking her head. "Five admin staff, Sam? I had eighteen scientists, graduates from MIT and Colombia, some of whom were doing their Ph.D's. I didn't just need help with paperwork. I needed replacements."
"Okay, I'll get you replacements."
"Why couldn't you have done that in the first place?" She straightened up.
Because she rendered him unable to think straight and make sensible decisions. That was what it boiled down to, but he would never tell her that.
"There was a lot going on Lexie. When I first got here, everything was a shamble. Anyway, we can talk about replacements another time. Right now you need to go home and take care of yourself. Your health comes first, and is more important than being at work."
"I have a lot of work to do." She rested the ice pack down on the desk near a notebook and a pen.
"Well, I'm your boss, and I'm telling you, you need to go home and rest. And don't come back until you're all better." He didn't know what made him think it was okay to say that. He found out all too quickly that it wasn't by the sharp look on her face.
"It certainly is nice to know you care about your employees." She shot back in a flat tone and turned away from him as she gathered the notebook, pen and some other pieces of paper that were nearby. "I'd certainly better do as I'm told, or else I might not have a job in the morning."
Sam groaned inwardly, mentally kicking himself. He deserved that. He did. That was exactly how he'd treated her. Like an employee, and that was what was wrong here. "You aren't just an employee."
"Yes, I am."
He held her gaze for a moment when she looked back at him. "No." He refused to allow her to think that. "Lexie -"
"Sam it's fine." She interrupted him and shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter anymore. We're good here. See look, I'm taking my stuff, and I'm going."
Anymore. Hearing that grabbed at his heart and it was like he felt the magic in the connection they'd shared slip away from his grasp.
"It does matter." He attempted, but she was just shaking her head.
"I'll just go." She picked up her bag and was just about to walk away when he caught her arm. He didn't want her to leave believing she didn't matter to him.
"Lexie, you aren't just some employee. I didn't mean it like that. I care about you." He released her arm allowing it to fall to her side.
"Where've you been Sam?" She held his gaze with that look again. "I can totally understand how busy you must be, but if you cared, and if I wasn't just some employee I would have seen you before now. Especially since you knew how unimpressed I was at our meeting."
"Lexie." That was as far as he got. He honestly didn't know how to respond to that. Nothing in what she said was wrong.
She looked away from him, walked over to the coat stand to retrieve her jacket and left without another word.
His heart sank as he watched the empty trail she left, long after the swinging doors stopped moving and settled back in place. A new anguish seared his heart as the emptiness he felt before coming to San Francisco returned and it was only then that he realized that the happiness he'd experienced in finding her had kept him going. Even if he hadn't seen much of her, she'd kept him going. If only he'd been able to tell her what she meant to him.
* * *
Lexie rolled over and brushed her nose against the soft satin of her pillows. She snuggled against the comfort and relished the coziness. She was in her bed, her own bed. Not perched up against the desk in her office, or curled up on the floor.
She reached for the pillow and hugged it, enjoying the lavender and citrus scents of the new fabric softener she went wild with weeks ago when she washed her bed linen. This felt good, and she could stay here in this comfort forever.
Pointing her toes out made her realize she still had on her tights. She never went to bed with her tights on. She usually hated the way they'd feel once she'd snuggled under the covers. She lifted her head and forced her eyes open.
It was still dark outside, and it was raining. Lexie glanced at the red neon digits of her alarm clock and saw that it was six. Then a strange thought occurred to her. Was it six a.m, or p.m? And... what day was it? She felt like she was missing parts of her memory. Like that time when she drank too much at her cousin's wedding.
When she sat up and saw that she was still dressed in her work clothes the memories all came back to her, and she remembered she'd seen Sam.
When she got home that night, she was so sick and burning with fever that she'd just retreated to her bed. She was in such a bad way that she couldn't even think about the look of despair that filled Sam's eyes as she'd spoken to him. But, now she remembered and she felt a twinge of guilt for what she said.
Maybe it was because she wasn't feeling well and had such a bad day until she'd spoken to Tim. She'd been at work since she left her parents on Sunday and was feeling thoroughly annoyed. Maybe it was all of it and when she saw him and he told her he cared she just couldn't imagine that to be true. Yes, it was her own fault for deciding to never leave the lab, but things were so busy that she'd had to take drastic measures.
Despite all of that she had to remember what Sam had done for her, and if it weren't for him, she probably wouldn't have had those goals today. On that thought, she sat up and reached for her bag on the nightstand. She retrieved her phone from the side pocket and gasped in utter shock when she saw it was Friday, and it was six a.m. How the hell had she been asleep since Wednesday night?
How ridiculous. It was madness that she could have been so tired, and she didn't even feel that hungry. Her body must have taken on some sleep for survival mode. At least she was feeling tons better, and there was no trace of whatever fever had taken over her
days ago.
On her phone were messages from Tim, Gina, her parents, and sisters. Her heart sank when she saw ten missed calls from Ed and a couple of voice messages she knew would be from him too. This was getting harder with him. His calls were increasing, and she was so engrossed with everything that she didn't have the brain capacity to think about how she was going to break up with him. She'd have to call him tomorrow or better yet go see him. Right now she had to sort herself out then head to work.
She thought that maybe she'd go see Sam today too, and just talk to him. Of course that was if she could see him with his busy schedule. She wanted to talk about Tim's discovery also and see what sort of flexibility he'd allow with the project. From what Tim had said she was certain that even Sam would see the need to continue their research for a longer period of time.
She got to work just after ten because she wanted to take it easy and not rush. She was eager to talk to Tim and Gina to see what else they'd come up with. Hopefully, they'd have some spare minutes to have a good catch up session.
Lexie opened the door to the lab and stopped in her tracks when she saw them both sitting at their desks. And, from the looks on their faces, she knew without asking that something was wrong.
"Guys. Hey. I'm so sorry I was away." She thought an apology was in order first.
"No apologies needed. You were sick," Tim replied. She noticed his hair was normal black today and he looked ordinary.
"How are you feeling?" Gina asked with concern. She came up to her and gave her a quick hug.
"I'm better, but I can see something's going on here. I thought you'd be at the clinic," she said tentatively.
Tim nodded slowly and glanced over at Gina, whose face clouded with uneasiness.
"What's up?" Lexie asked as casually as she could manage.
"You should sit," Tim stated grabbing a chair and wheeling it over to Lexie.
Being told that was never a good thing, she'd prefer to stand, but since he'd brought the chair over she sat.
Complete Me Page 13