Vivienne:Good. Let it burn.
Nate:Who’s your PI again?
Vivienne:Patrick Anderson.
Jackpot.
A wicked smile appears when she unknowingly admits her location. With a few clicks of my keyboard, I retrieve her whereabouts. I'm jumping out of my seat when another text comes through.
Vivienne:Don't you dare use that information to show at my place of work. You are NOT welcome here.
Satisfaction rings through me. At the end of the day, she really had no choice but to A) talk to me when I get there, and B) like me when she sees the pastries.
Okay,that last one is a stretch. She just has to forgive me for standing her up. And maybe she already has, but it doesn’t sit right with me knowing I didn’t make the effort to show it through my actions as well as my words.
Nate:I’m afraid it’s a little too late for that.
Vivienne:Nope. Absolutely not. If you show up, I will scream…and call security on you.
Nate:Screaming? I can find other ways to make that happen for you.
The response is prompt, starting with her classic thumbs-down emoji.
Vivienne:Straight to jail.
I laugh out loud as I read back her text.
Maybe it did cross the boundaries we set in place, but I can never resist a play on words.
Plus, I saw the way she looked at the gym—her appreciative eyes committing my body to memory, the lingering gaze over my semi underneath the towel. I don’t feel guilty about the blatant flirting, since she did worse the day before. And I wasn’t lying when I said it was part of my personality.
If she reiterates the no-flirting rule, I’ll respect it. But for now? I’ll let myself indulge in some fun—hell, maybe even turn it up a notch when I get to the lab.
CHAPTER 14
VIVIENNE
I’m teetering on the edge of insanity—for more than one reason.
The first, and most obvious trigger, is the looming knowledge that Nate is likely to show up at my place of work. The second, and easily, the most unfortunate, is the broken glass pipette that’s embedded itself in my wet, silica-packed column.
With the crude product already loaded and the deep divot in the yellow band, this could only mean one thing—this separation is about to be an absolute disaster.
I let out an exasperated sigh with my gloved hands braced against the fume hood.
For once, my mind is blank.
I’m watching the clear solvent drip from the tip of the column and into its beaker when the voice I least want to hear cuts in.
“Vivienne is messing up her columnagain,” Arjun says from somewhere behind me. “Are we surprised?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath in.
"If you don’t give it attention, people move on,"my parents always said. But Arjun never fails to be the exception to the rule.
“Next time, just ask for help.” He pats my shoulder in a faux gesture of reassurance before walking away.
My head bows down from the exhaustion, truly wondering what I’ve done to the guy to be treated this way.
