He tasted sweet and chocolatey with a scent of grass and earth. And he was hers—for now, until the cows came home.
On second thought, maybe the cows could stay out all night.
Amber turned and wrapped her hands around Chad’s sturdy neck and closed her eyes, letting all her pent up feelings loose.
Chad was one of the good guys. She couldn’t see him with a woman who didn’t know a phylum from a genus. He was an intelligent man, and he’d appreciate her brains and skills. This could work. It had to, or Dr. Forster would ruin her career if he didn’t back off.
She tugged on his lip and kissed Chad good and hearty before taking a breath. “We should say goodbye to our boss and his wife.”
“Right.” Chad turned toward Mason and Adrianne “Thanks for letting us sit here.”
“Glad to see you two out of the lab,” Mason said, his eyes darting between Chad and Amber.
“We got the raw data done,” Amber said. “But we’ll go back and fix up the reports for tomorrow morning.”
“Mason! It’s Festival Week,” Adrianne said. “Are you going to make them pull an all-nighter?”
“I-I w-woke up late,” Chad said. “All nighter’s o-okay with me.”
“You two need a ride back to town?” Mason asked. “We can get everyone squeezed into the minivan.”
Chad hesitated, probably not truly wanting to end the evening this early, so Amber said, “My sisters are looking for us, but thanks. And thanks again for letting us crash your blanket.”
“Don’t stay out too late,” Mason said, clapping Chad on the shoulder. “Tomorrow evening’s the battle of the bands at the square and the crowning of the Festival King and Queen. Then there’s the 5K Mud race, bonfires, sand volleyball, and street party. Lots of good stuff.”
“I-I’ll be s-sure t-to get my re-report in by the morning,” Chad reassured Mason.
“You two have fun and don’t worry about it,” Mason said, a little stiffly.
Beside him, Adrianne grinned and gave him a peck on the cheek. “He’s not really a workaholic, although he’s been known to get his best ideas when he’s having fun.”
She gave Amber and Chad a friendly wink, then turned to her children who were digging for treats in the picnic blanket.
After Mason’s family packed up and said goodbye, Amber licked her lips and launched herself at Chad’s hot mouth. “I don’t think my sisters are looking too hard for us.”
* * *
Chad and Amber stayed on Klein Hill after most of the crowd had left. Sure, there were other couples scattered throughout the hill, and from the positions of some of them, public sex was a real possibility.
Not that he’d take her out in public—that wasn’t his style, but the kisses had gotten hot and heavy, and he couldn’t help exploring her lush body with his hands while his erection pressed urgently against her thighs.
He shifted position to put some distance between them before he ripped off her clothes. Despite the improvised relationship, they were still coworkers. Even though she enjoyed kissing and cuddling with him, it didn’t mean she wanted to go the next level.
“That was some fireworks show,” Amber said. “I’ve only watched them from afar, never up so close. I thought I was going deaf.”
“In Sapphire Falls, everything is up close and personal.” He rubbed her back, drawing circles and figure eights between her shoulder blades. “By tomorrow morning, everyone will know we’ve been seen together.”
“I hope we didn’t take it too far, especially in front of the boss and his kids.”
Her words chilled him, reminding him they were only pretending to have a relationship to keep Dr. Forster away from her.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I didn’t take too much advantage, did I?”
She shook her head and smiled. “Oh, Chad. I took advantage of you. I needed to get away from the lech. Do you think he’ll tell anyone?”
“Probably not. It’s embarrassing for him. I think he had everything prepared for you—champagne, caviar, a warm blanket.”
Amber shuddered and made a disgusted face. “I had to tolerate his groping all day yesterday, and that first night, when he bid on me, he tried to kiss me.”
“He said you enjoyed it.” Chad’s stomach growled at the thought.
“He’s delusional. I’m still worried, though,” Amber said, biting her lower lip. “What if he gets me fired?”
“He’d have to admit he was after you.” Chad’s knee shook with the jitters. “Then he’d lose face.”
“You have a point.” She touched his knee. “Are you still nervous around me? You’re not stuttering that badly.”
“Uh, w-well, I-I …” Once she mentioned his stuttering, it came back with a vengeance. “N-not ner-nervous.”
“Let’s keep kissing.” She rubbed her nose on his. “Your tongue does wicked things to me.”
“Yeah.”
And boy could he think of a whole lot more wicked than that—but it would require privacy, less clothes, and much more intimacy.
“But what?” Amber asked when he didn’t return her kiss.
“The st-stutter-ring.” He blinked, hating that the more he thought about it, the worse it got.
“Don’t think about it.” She tapped his lips with her finger. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
He swallowed and moved his mouth and tongue, trying to relax them. Fortunately, his cell phone chimed with a received text.
It was his mother.
Fireworks on Klein Hill already? You’re moving fast.
He chuckled and Amber leaned over to see, so he showed her the message.
“What does she mean fast?”
Chad texted his mother, She wants to know what you mean by fast.
That let his mother know Amber was still with him and reading the messages.
Why, I believe it’s Ferris wheel first base, then Haunted House second base, and well, by the time you get to Klein Hill, you’d better be ready to propose.
“Mom!” he exclaimed. “That’s TMI.”
“So, we’re doing this backwards?” Amber sounded amused. “Then you’re going to have to take me to the Haunted House and the Ferris wheel tomorrow.”
He hurriedly texted his mother, Talk later, and put his phone away.
There was a whole lot more than talking he wanted to do with Amber, and now that it had gotten very dark and quiet, he could take his time explaining himself to her, and maybe, just maybe, his tongue wouldn’t get all tied up.
Unless it was tied up with hers.
Chapter Sixteen
“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Ginger said as soon as Amber stepped through the doorway of her apartment later that night.
She and Chad had taken a long, leisurely walk back from the hillside. Warmth lingered from the hot summer day, and it was a perfect evening to wind their way back from the outskirts, through quiet lanes and past bucolic pastures.
“What’s there to explain?” Amber took off her boots and plopped herself on the sofa bed. “I couldn’t find you guys and had to walk all the way back.”
“You never answered our texts or phone calls after the fireworks show.” Ginger put her hands on her hips. “Don’t tell me you and Chad were making out on the hill.”
“We talked,” Amber said. What she and Chad did and said to each other was too precious and private to share with her inquisitive sister. “All you need to know is that we’ve been going out off and on since college. We had a major fight right before graduation, but we made up tonight.”
“All I need to know?’ Ginger stalked to her side and sat on the sofa bed next to her. “You act as if I’m not your closest sister. Need to know? I need to know everything.”
“There’s nothing else to know.” Amber stood and walked toward the bathroom. “We’re dating now, and that’s that.”
“Did you forget last night when he got drunk? Or the softball game where you were all cozy with that older guy?
Or the Dance Auction where he bid on the cheerleader?”
“Every couple has problems.” Amber kept her voice calm. “We solved them.”
“Then I’m happy for you.” Ginger followed her to the bathroom and stood behind her as she uncapped the toothpaste. “So, is he a good kisser?”
Amber’s heart fluttered at the memories of Chad’s hot and ardent kisses. “Yes, but I’d like to hold onto this privately.”
“In other words, you’re not going to dish on him?” Ginger heaved her chest and sighed. “After I told you everything about Marsh and the hayloft?”
“Sorry, but the magic’s lost when you talk about it.” Amber started brushing her teeth, hoping Ginger would respect her privacy.
Besides, the more her sister probed, the more likely she would be to find holes in her story. Right now, she needed Dr. Forster and the entire town of Sapphire Falls to believe she and Chad were close.
Hopefully, Dr. Forster would back off and turn his attentions to another woman.
Ginger squeezed her shoulder. “Okay, I’ll buy it. For now. I can tell you have feelings for Chad, but you’re not telling me everything. If you two are truly together, then I think it’s great. You work together, and you can help each other out. Plus, he turned out kind of hot after his country boy makeover.”
Amber rinsed her mouth and wiped it. “I’m so glad you gave me a matching makeover. Otherwise, he’d be way out of my league.”
“I always thought you two were made for each other, even when you were both shy, bumbling wallflowers,” Ginger said. “Does that mean Chad’s going to be your escort to Candi’s wedding?”
“I haven’t asked him yet.” Amber’s pulse ratcheted up at the thought of attending a wedding so soon. It was one thing to date and go around town holding hands, but attending a wedding together spoke of a much deeper commitment—especially if parents were around.
“He’s going to want to meet Mom and Dad, I suppose. And of course, the rehearsal dinner Saturday night. We’d better make sure Candi has a place setting for him. Actually, let’s ask him to come along when we pick up Mom and Dad at the airport. It might be awkward for them to meet for the first time at the rehearsal dinner.”
“I-uh think Chad has to work,” Amber said. “So do I. We’re both new hires and don’t have any vacation time.”
“Sure you do,” Ginger said. “It’s festival week. I’m sure Mason’s letting you off early.”
“Yeah, but we still have to get our work done. In fact, I need to go back to the office to help Chad finish his report.”
“Thought you were going to bed.” Ginger raised an eyebrow. “You seem awfully jumpy.”
“I’m not.” She couldn’t help a tiny jump as she rushed from the bathroom. “Can I borrow your car to go back to work?”
“Why are you going back to work right now?” Ginger chased her to the living room. “Or are you thinking of sneaking out with Chad?”
“I, uh, never mind.” She took out her phone. She should text Chad instead of bothering him. He was pulling an all-nighter to get his proposal done, and the last thing he needed was her freaking out over a wedding and getting their stories straight.
“You’re acting really strange,” Ginger said.
Her sister was always too perceptive and street smart. Amber was sure she could smell fear and anxiety a mile away.
“Actually, I’m going to sleep.” She pulled back the covers on the sofa bed. “I’ll talk to Chad tomorrow. Everything’s okay. Work’s going well. We saw Mason and Adrianne today at the fireworks show. We’re cool. Everything’s great.”
She rattled on and on until Ginger left the living room, shaking her head and giving her the “I know something’s up but I’ll smoke you out later” look.
* * *
Chad was hunched over his computer, typing as fast as he could. The results Amber gave him were extremely promising. Who knew that a small change in diet could result in such massive changes in the types of bacteria inside an animal’s gut? Even more exciting was the possibility of environmental changes affecting the expressions of microbial abilities despite no changes to their genotypes.
Fact was, no plant eating animal could thrive without gut bacteria doing the heavy lifting of digesting the cellulose, lignin, and toxins plants used to defend themselves against being eaten. This applied equally to domestic animals like cows and sheep, as well as agricultural pests like aphids, locusts, worms, and mites.
The report was coming along well, and Chad had another proposal he wanted to run by Mason. It had to do with agricultural pests which have not only incorporated microbes into their arsenal to attack plants, but have actually acquired genes from those plant-infiltrating microbes to mount their own attack. The trick was to turn off those bacterial-acquired genes by environmental means—perhaps change their expression in the presence of other microbes.
His cell phone chimed several times with text messages, but Chad ignored them. He couldn’t lose his focus. He’d played hooky with Amber and had had an enjoyable evening on Klein Hill, but in the morning, the only thing that mattered was making sure his proposal and report were in his boss’s inbox.
He re-read Amber’s note about the methodology she used and the parameters she’d inserted into the analysis. She was brilliant and beautiful at the same time. What good fortune for him to have her as his coworker.
The memory of her kisses and the way she felt against his body gave him a warm glow, and he took a moment to savor the feel of having her in his arms at the fireworks show. He closed his eyes and let the sights and sensations of the evening loop through his mind and heart.
His cell phone chimed again, startling him.
Someone must really be trying to get in touch with him.
Chad scanned through the report and hit send, then picked up his phone.
It was his mother. Had something happened? New York was an hour ahead of Nebraska, and it was already close to midnight. But then she was always a night owl.
He read her accumulated text messages.
You back from the fireworks show?
So, I counted the number of women in your selfies, and I must say, you’re turning into quite a player.
The brunette in the fireworks selfie looks familiar. Do we know her?
I looked her up in your yearbook. Amber Myers. She’s also a researcher. She looks sweet, but who were all those other women you were with?
I can’t believe you’re not answering my texts. Are you out drinking again?
If you’re with a woman, I hope it’s Amber. She’s classy, unlike those drunk ones at the bar.
Seriously, I can’t believe you’re out this late.
Your father and I are coming to Sapphire Falls this weekend. We want to make sure you’re okay.
Chad slapped himself on the forehead and texted back, I’m at work. I just finished sending off my report.
His mother must have been staring at her phone because she immediately texted, Oh, good. I’m so glad you’re not out drinking. So, tell me, is Amber the one you’re sweet on?
Yes.
Then we want to meet her. We fly in Saturday afternoon. Let’s plan on brunch Sunday morning. Invite her so we can get to know her.
Okay. Now, can I go to sleep?
Yes, son. Here’s a kiss for you. I can’t wait to meet your girlfriend. Xox
Chapter Seventeen
Amber entered the lab bright and early, hoping to be there before the rest of the crew. She swung her way through the double doors, dragging her things in a roller bag and bumped into Samantha.
“Whoa, watch where you’re going,” Samantha said. “I almost splashed coffee all over you.”
Harrison and Kiran looked up from their workstations, but Chad was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably packed it up after his late night and was still in bed.
“Is it true?” Harrison asked with a frown darkening his face.
“Is what true?” Amber strolled quickly to her side of the lab.
Samantha, Kiran, and Harrison assembled themselves around her. Somehow, their presence felt ominous and not friendly at all.
“You and Dr. Forster? Or you and Chad Powers?” Samantha narrowed her eyes. “Are you doing both of them for a slot on the Haiti team?”
“I’m not, wait, what are you talking about?” Amber fanned herself. “Have they picked the team already?”
“Kiran’s out because he didn’t turn in his report,” Harrison said. “But Samantha and I turned ours in before Chad.”
“So? That’s good, right?” Amber unzipped her roller bag and removed her laptop. “They’re not picking the team until tomorrow, after Mason and Dr. Forster go over everything. I can work up Kiran’s DNA samples right now if he wants.”
She looked over at the Indian man, but he wore a nasty scowl on his face. “Forget it. It’s rigged. Can’t you guys tell?”
“Unh, unh, unh.” Samantha crossed her arms and shook her head, causing her beaded braids to clack together. “We might as well tell her because she hasn’t checked her email and Chad’s probably still sleeping off his late night.”
“Tell me what?” Amber wasn’t interested in their bullying. “All I know is, your comment about doing Dr. Forster and Chad is way out of line. I was home all night with my sister, Ginger, not that I need to have anyone vouch for me.”
She opened her email from Mason and her jaw dropped.
From: Mason
To: Chad, Amber, Samantha, Harrison, Kiran
Cc: Vic
Re: Haiti project selection
Remember when I told all of you that timing is always important, especially when dealing with government agencies?
Last night, the Haitian Agricultural Minister informed me that a key piece of funding has come in. We’re in competition with various other researchers for the funds, so I had to submit our proposal this morning.
Dr. Forster and I have been up since three in the morning looking over everyone’s proposals, and we’ve decided to concentrate on water-borne parasites and diseases caused by an imbalance of microbes in the human and animal gut.
Chad Powers’ proposal of looking for ways of altering genetic expression with environmental factors as well as his expertise in microbial adaptations, symbiosis, and HGT is the direction we decided to take.
Sapphire Falls: Going Gets Hot (Kindle Worlds Novella) (My Country Heart Book 4) Page 10