“B-because we haven’t h-had des-dessert y-yet.”
“Ah, but I don’t trust desserts around you, especially the brown ones.”
“No f-fudge, m-mud pies, and brownies.”
“No, just kisses.” She leaned toward him. What the heck was she doing? Playing with fire? It could still work out, couldn’t it? As long as they kept their work and their personal life separate.
Did she dare hope?
Amber let Chad’s tongue sweep between her lips, and she closed her eyes, as she let desire swell in her heart. Her Chad was kissing her and he’d forgiven her for her snootiness the day before. And now, he was here, giving her peace offerings.
He stroked her face and hair as he devoured her, and she let another moan slip from her throat. The position on the chairs wasn’t exactly comfortable, and before she knew it, she was sitting crosswise in his lap again, her hands busily exploring the muscles over his shoulders and back.
He showered her with greedy, hungry kisses, then moved from her mouth to her neck, sucking it in a way that vibrated her with the sweet throb of arousal.
“We need to get a room,” she muttered as she heard the program give the finishing alert. “But first, I need to send you your results.”
“It can wait.” Chad’s deep voice drew shivers of delight through her body. He buried his face between her breasts and nipped her through the cloth of her blouse while his hands circled them, massaging her to a frenzy of need and delirious want.
This was definitely one of those dream come true moments. Judging by the smile on Chad’s face, and the adoration in his eyes, and the way he kept checking to see if she was enjoying his ministrations, she could almost relax and let things happen.
Maybe.
The light flipped on, and a male voice said, “Amber, I came to check if you wanted to see the fireworks with me tonight.”
Dr. Forster stood at the entrance to the lab. His jaw dropped along with a bouquet of wildflowers he had in his hand.
Chapter Fourteen
“What are you two doing here?” Dr. Forster scanned the half-eaten meal and the dimming candlelight.
Amber slowly slid off Chad’s lap and straightened her skirt and blouse. A wet blanket of mortification draped over her, and she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. If word got out, she would be viewed as the slut of Sapphire Falls.
She crossed her arms to hide the peaks of her breasts and the wet spots from Chad’s mouth. “I was finishing up the genome sequencing for my coworkers. The report I’m preparing will be on your desk tomorrow morning.”
Chad hadn’t moved and neither did he speak. His expression was a studied blank neutral.
“I gather you’re done for the day.” Dr. Forster gave Amber a lascivious leer. “Looks like I’m due for some special services myself. I’ve a water-borne parasite I’m studying, and I need you to access the databanks to determine if mine is a distinct subspecies. I also need you to isolate the gene that makes it more virulent in the guts of malnourished humans. It’s important for our Haiti project.”
Dr. Forster’s work wasn’t due until the end of the week, and there was no reason for him to want her to expedite it unless he were punishing her for playing around with Chad.
“Sure, I’ll get right to it.” She sat down in her work chair and woke up her computer.
Dr. Forster advanced past Chad as if he were a piece of furniture and hovered over her shoulder. He leaned down, ostensibly to look at her screen and said, “Offer to see the fireworks with me is still open.”
“I thought you said you needed my parasite study first thing tomorrow morning.” She leaned away from him and watched Chad from the side of her eye.
He still hadn’t moved.
“I don’t think I said tomorrow morning,” Dr. Forster’s hot breath was in her ear. “Anyway, I need to discuss the parameters of the study with you. If you’re done here, let’s go watch the fireworks show.”
“I wasn’t planning on going,” Amber lied. “Chad and I still have to fix up his report. The results are in raw form.”
“That’s his responsibility, not yours.” Dr. Forster put a possessive hand on her shoulder, and this time, she couldn’t help cringing. “If you know what’s good for you, you’d prioritize my work over his. I’m the grant holder and have an endowed chair in your area of interest.”
He slid his hand down her arm and grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s go. I’ve a bottle of champagne, a warm blanket, and caviar to share.”
“I-I can’t.” Amber tried to squirm her hand from his grip. “Please, Dr. Forster, I want a professional relationship with you.”
“What I saw wasn’t very professional.” His eyes glinted, and he licked his lips.
“T-take your h-hand off of her.” Chad’s voice was deep and monotonic, surprising her. “She doesn’t w-want to guh-go with you.”
Dr. Forster let go of Amber’s hand and wheeled toward Chad. “Do you want me to pretend I didn’t see what I saw? You had her practically undressed.”
A vein bulged on Chad’s forehead, and a bead of sweat trickled down toward the outer corner of his eyelid, but he didn’t blink. “Am-Amber’s m-my g-girlfriend.”
“That’s right.” Amber’s heart leaped at Chad’s pronouncement, even though he only did it to get them out of this sticky situation. “We’ve been dating since college. I’m sorry you saw what you saw, but believe me, we don’t usually get carried away.”
The senior researcher’s head swiveled her direction fast enough not to catch Chad’s surprised expression. “Didn’t look like you were speaking to him at all.”
Amber wrung her hands and shrugged. “We were fighting.”
“Fighting, and now you’ve made up?” Dr. Forster nodded. “I get it. You used me to make him jealous, didn’t you? Made me look like a fool when you buddied up to me at the softball game.”
“I-I, no …” What could she say? That she was disgusted with him? “I thought you agreed to stay professional.”
“That’s what you say, but the way you kissed me says something else.” Dr. Forster snarled. “Then again, you’re probably passing out favors to everyone. It’s too bad you have such bad judgment. You could have gone far.”
“I will go far based on the quality of my work.” Amber huffed, lifting her chest and chin. “As for your kisses, I couldn’t get away from them fast enough. I thought I told you.”
“You were playing hard to get.” Dr. Forster pointed his index finger at her, lecturing her. “Let me give you a hint. You’ll get a lot farther if you’re more discriminating between a junior researcher and a man like me—top expert in the field.”
“That’s enough,” Chad cut in. “Am-Amber isn’t interested in d-dating any-anyone. The reason w-we were fighting is b-be-because she w-wants to be pro-professional.”
“She’s playing you, young man.” Dr. Forster clenched his fist. “You’re wet behind the ears and you think she really cares about you. She’s using you for a stepping stone, no matter how miniscule. If you want to stay on the project, I’ll expect a perfectly composed report in my inbox tomorrow morning. I can’t take everyone to Haiti—only the most promising investigators.”
He picked up the bouquet of wildflowers he dropped and slam-dunked it into the wastebasket, then kicked it so it went rolling across the lab.
Amber held her breath until Dr. Forster exited and the the door of the lab shut completely.
“Chad! What are we going to do?” She fell into his comforting embrace. “Do you think he’s going to get us fired?”
“He has no c-case.” He kissed the top of her head. “Not if we g-go to Ma-Mason and ex-explain.”
“That we were boyfriend and girlfriend all along? But wouldn’t Mason say we should have mentioned it?”
“N-not if we’ve been f-f-fighting and s-sort of broke up.”
“I need to clue in my family, everyone, so they don’t give it away.” Amber rested her face on Chad’s strong shoulders,
wondering when he’d had the time to bulk up.
“We should t-talk to Mason as s-soon as w-we c-can.”
“Right, before Dr. Forster gets to him,” Amber agreed. “Think he’ll be at the fireworks?”
“Definitely. It’s a tr-tradition he wo-won’t m-miss.”
* * *
Even though they got busted by Dr. Forster, Chad was feeling frisky and excited about taking Amber to the fireworks show. She’d agreed to pose as his girlfriend to get Dr. Forster off her case.
This was way more than he’d expected, but he needed to tread with care. She could turn on him at any moment and accuse him of being a sexual harasser. After all, if she were his assistant, he would also be suspected.
“We’ve g-got this,” he said to reassure her. “L-let’s clean up here and g-go to the fireworks show. Look for Ma-Mason and h-his wife and kids and s-sit with them.”
Fifteen minutes later, he and Amber hitched a ride with Derek and a group of his friends on their way to Klein Hill.
Derek appeared surprised when he saw them together as a couple. “I thought you hated each other, especially when you hit that home run.”
“We got over it,” Amber said, giving Chad an affectionate hug. “I’m just glad Chad’s head isn’t up his ass any longer.”
“Me?” Chad raised his eyebrows. “What did I do?”
“Oh, you know, the entire makeover thing.” Amber chuckled. “I kind of liked the caveman look, but no, you went ahead and shaved off your beard and cut your hair.”
“He’s hotter that way,” a woman they didn’t know said. “Helen says she has first dibs on you, but now that you’re taken, she’s going to be so pissed.”
“Oh, yeah, especially since she’s nominated you for Festival King.” Derek chuckled and slapped Chad’s shoulder.
“W-what’s F-festi-ti-v-val K-king?”
“You’ll see.” Derek waggled his eyebrows.
They parted ways as Derek and his friends joined a loud group of young people, and Chad scanned the hillside for Mason and his family.
“Do you think Mason might be upset at us disturbing his family time?” Amber asked as she slipped her hand into Chad’s. “Earlier, he sounded pissed when I asked him whether I should prioritize your work.”
“Oh, w-we’d b-better explain w-why we were fighting.”
“Obviously it’s because he made me your assistant,” Amber exclaimed. “He told me I was an independent researcher and key to the team. I report directly to him.”
“M-maybe I-I mis-misunderstood,” Chad said. It was worth giving up his privilege to make her feel better.
Besides, if they were playing at being a couple, the other coworkers could worry that Amber would give him priority.
“Y-you did misunderstand,” Amber said. “Mason said your work has priority, but that doesn’t make me your assistant. I have the same degree you have. I also interned at a lab in DC last summer, and my senior thesis was voted best in the class by the professors.”
What could he say? Maybe Mason had stretched the truth to get him to come to IAS instead of taking that job with the genetic engineering firm in California. Everyone knew microbial research was the hot moneymaker in terms of funding, but he didn’t have to rub it in.
Especially since he’d rather rub something else into Amber.
Yikes, what a naughty thought.
Chad and Amber zigzagged past groups of people sitting on blankets. Her sisters and their dates waved at them.
“Oops, I forgot to text them,” Amber said as they made their way over.
“You and Chad are holding hands?” Candi blurted and clambered off the lounge chair. “I thought you—”
“We made up.” Amber leaned closer to Chad and shrugged. “It just happened.”
Ginger and Honey stared at them as if they had two heads and four arms each. Obviously, he was the last guy they’d expected Amber to be paired up with.
“Auntie Amber,” a little boy said. “Is he as smart as you?”
“Candy!” the little girl said. “I want candy.”
Amber gave her nephew and niece a hug, but unfortunately she didn’t have any candy.
“You’ve had quite enough,” Honey said to her children. “Let’s make room for Amber and Chad.”
“Actually, we’re going to sit on our own,” Amber said, lifting her and Chad’s conjoined hands for them to see.
“Wow.” Ginger shook her head. “I never knew. You and Chad? No way.”
Uh oh. Ginger, Amber’s closest sister, would know they’d never talked or dated. After all, she and Amber were raised by their dad across the street from him.
“It only started our last year,” Amber lied glibly. “We were both busy with our master’s thesis.”
“Oh, so you’re keeping secrets from us.” Ginger’s eyes narrowed. “Then what was the deal with the makeover? I thought you were looking at turning over a new leaf.”
“I was,” Amber said. “I was upset Chad got a job here and didn’t tell me.”
“Oh?” Troy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “That’s never a good thing in a relationship. Why wouldn’t you have told her?”
Chad glanced at the sun. It was already dipping down below the tree line. “W-we’d better f-find Mason be-before the fireworks start.”
“Yes, we’d better.” Amber waved to her family and they hurried off.
He spotted Mason and Adrianne and their three children, two boys and a girl, sitting on a blanket with a large picnic basket.
“W-we shouldn’t in-intrude,” he said, looking for a place to spread their tiny square table cloth.
Unfortunately, they were late and the entire hillside was covered with people with barely enough room to navigate between.
“We should get out of everyone’s way,” Amber said, as the sun dipped. “Maybe it’s good enough that they see us walk by them holding hands.”
“Excuse us, excuse us,” Chad mumbled as they tip-toed between the groups of people spread on the hillside. In his mind, he heard them say, Keep moving. No place here. Keep going. This is our spot. Keep away.
“You guys need a place to sit?” a man hollered.
“No, so-sorry,” Chad replied, holding Amber close. “W-we’ll be out of your way.”
“We got plenty of space. You’re welcome to join us,” the woman who was sitting with him said. She turned to her four boys and told them to scoot over.
“Thanks, but we d-don’t want t-to block your view,” Chad said.
“Show’s about to start, better sit down,” the man said.
All the commotion caught Mason’s attention, and he waved at them. “Chad, Amber, we got room over here.”
“Oh, well, then, if you know Mason and Adrianne, they’ve got sweets in their basket,” the woman said as her boys greedily licked their fingers and dug into their peach cobbler.
“Thanks, anyway,” Amber said, smiling at them, right when the first fireworks flashed up into the sky.
Chapter Fifteen
Amber liked Adrianne immediately. Mason’s wife was down to earth, friendly without being phony. Since the fireworks show had already started, Mason and his family quickly made room for Chad and Amber and left them alone, after plying sweets into their hands—chocolate turtles and coffee toffee bars.
She leaned back into Chad’s warm arms and rested the back of her head against his chest, feeling protected and safe between his legs.
The red, white, and blue fireworks made quite a show as people oohed and aahed at the dazzling display. A warm summer breeze fluttered her hair and Chad’s breath in her ear made her dizzy with delight—that and the sweet chocolate tantalizing her taste buds.
Life, right now, was perfect—even if half of it was a charade.
She snuggled against Chad, and her heartbeat amplified when he tightened his arms and legs around her, rocking her slightly and kissing the top of her head.
Oh, yes. What had she done to deserve this moment? All she’d been do
ing the past few days was treat him with suspicion, been green with envy and jealousy at his popularity, and resented him for saying she was his assistant.
True, he was the town favorite, and he’d gone from cave bear unapproachable to hot and studly. She’d noticed quite a few women gawking at him while they walked around looking for a place to sit. She should be happy for him, that he was finally popular and coming out of his shell.
But she was jealous and insecure. Everything had always been an uphill fight for her. In a world of science, dominated by men, she had had to overcome stereotypes—of men asking her to bring coffee at meetings, or assuming she was taking notes because she was a subordinate.
Even worse were the married men who thought she’d give them a little side action at conferences.
That was the reason she hid behind her unattractive clothing and thick glasses. And now, wasn’t it still the same?
Dr. Forster acted like he was doing her a favor by paying attention to her, and even Chad had pushed her into helping him when he was late turning in his samples. Meanwhile, Harrison, Kiran, and Samantha would be pissed off when they found out about her and Chad’s supposed relationship.
As for Mason, he’d raised an eyebrow when he saw them walk over, hand in hand, no doubt surprised.
“They’re getting ready for the grand finale,” Chad spoke in her ear.
The bangs and cracks of the show grew more and more intense as rockets whistled into the night sky, followed by double and triple explosions.
Smoke blew toward the tree line as every last rocket and flare lit the sky purple, red, blue, white, and interspersed with green. Three loud blasts finished the show, and then the strains of the Star Spangled Banner could be heard from the bottom of the hill where the high school band had gathered.
“That was awesome,” Amber said as Chad said, “I forgot to take a selfie.”
“Hurry before the smoke’s gone.” Amber nudged him, and then smiled at his phone. “Your mother’s really keeping track of this?”
“Yes, she is.” He grinned and texted the selfie, then surprised her with a wet kiss.
“Mmm …”
Sapphire Falls: Going Gets Hot (Kindle Worlds Novella) (My Country Heart Book 4) Page 9