Chapter Three
Michelle
She turned and headed toward the labs to hide the look of regret—and mixed satisfaction—that was on her face. Michelle couldn’t hide her emotions for the life of her. She was an open book to anyone who could read people. Usually it wasn’t a problem, but with Kase, she’d prefer to try to keep him from knowing what she was thinking or feeling.
It would be easier that way, so when he disappeared again, she wouldn’t be left hurt and exposed like before. It had been a harsh lesson, and one she’d never truly recovered from. Throwing herself into her work in hopes she could find a cure before it was too late for those who needed it, she’d never found the time to date, never quite able to get over how he’d left her.
“I’m sorry about that,” Kase rumbled, suddenly a step behind her.
Michelle didn’t want to talk about it. “Did you win the lottery?”
He cleared his throat. “Pardon?”
“The lottery. Did you win it? I didn’t know you had this sort of money to invest. You certainly didn’t act like it the last time I saw you.”
She heard him take in a deep breath of air. “I just never showed it,” he said. “Does it matter?”
“I suppose not, no. That’s neither here nor there. Though I am curious as to why you want to spend it at this lab. Specifically the one where I work. Don’t you think that’s a pretty big coincidence?” She paused outside one lab and faced him, her arms crossed.
Kase smiled, a big, lopsided thing that somehow immediately penetrated her barriers, putting her a little more at ease. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Holy shit. He was flirting with her! Momentarily stunned by the abrupt brazenness of a man she hadn’t seen in almost half a decade, Michelle stumbled over her response.
“I don’t really care about the specifics,” Kase said. “I’m not from a science background; most of it would be mumbo-jumbo to me.”
She frowned. “What do you want me to say then? Everything in here is science related.”
“Tell me about working here. Is it a good place to work?” Now he seemed genuinely interested.
“Uh, yes. Yes it is,” she admitted. “I’m not sure I’ve had a single thought about leaving, or taking anyone else’s offers, since I’ve started.”
Kase came alert at that. “Anyone else’s offers?’
“Oh, sure. Rival labs ask me to come work for them from time to time, but usually it’s the pharmaceutical companies. They don’t know how to take no for an answer. They can’t seem to understand that I would never work for them.” Her voice grew darker as she spoke, remembering some of the clandestine offers she’d been made, to betray the lab she was with and to bring all her research to theirs. Assholes.
“I see. That’s quite an endorsement to this lab.”
She nodded. “They showed a lot of trust in me. A lot. They hired me as the lead scientist here almost right out of grad school. Do you have any idea how rare that is? Since then they’ve let me run the lab as I see fit. How could I leave that and go somewhere else?”
He nodded. “How indeed. I’m glad to hear that even if you were to leave, it sounds like you would do so in a proper and respectful manner.”
“You mean I wouldn’t just suddenly disappear without warning?”
Kase winced. “Yes, exactly like that.”
“I waited for you,” she said softly. “I waited three hours, hoping you’d come back. Then I started crying. Do you have any idea what you did to me?”
“Yes,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, I had no choice.”
She wanted to bite his head off, but the pain in his voice was undeniable. He’d hurt over it too. If he was about to tell her he was back now, she would knock him out. Nobody made someone wait four and a half years to show back up.
“Right. Well, back to the lab. What other questions do you have for me?” Her Head Scientist persona was back and firmly in place. No sense in dwelling over the past; she needed to look ahead to the future and securing his monetary investment so that they could keep doing their research here.
“What about the rest of the staff?”
“What about them?”
“Do you like them? Are they good at their jobs? Are there any that should go? Any people you feel should be brought on board that currently aren’t?”
“Oh. That.” She shrugged. “They’re good. Jacob and I head up the two teams of researchers, while I’m in overall command. I stay mostly hands off, though—we’re all working toward the same goal. I just decided what the goal was when we started, and since then everyone has sort of fallen into a job.”
“How many staff do you currently have?”
“There are eleven of us, including myself. Ten scientists and Lindsay our receptionist-slash-administrator-slash-personal-assistant-slash-doing-everything-amazing-person.”
Kase smiled. “Sounds like she needs a raise.”
“We could all use raises,” she admitted. “The budget has been the same since we started here, and the cost of living and of research equipment has gone up in that timespan. I’m assuming that’s why the board has you in here taking a look. They want to see if they can up our yearly budget.”
Kase nodded, looking deep in thought. “Yes, that’s probably it, I’m sure. Well, maybe something can be arranged then,” he said cryptically.
“So, who’s working today? I see some people in the labs here.”
“Right. Well, you met Lindsay. Jacob was the gentlemen you scared off to the toilets. In there, looking at our long-term results cages, are Jenny and Clark. Miles is around somewhere, but he’s a bit of a recluse, doesn’t like to talk much, so we probably won’t see him.”
Kase was looking around, nodding. “Is he the tall workout buff?” he asked with a smile.
Michelle frowned. “No.” Miles was short and rotund. “There’s nobody here besides you who would fit that description.” Was he attempting to make some sort of joke? She was quite confused by it all.
“You’re positive? Tall, golden-blond hair? Kinda rough on the looks department.”
She kept shaking her head. “I’m telling you, there’s nobody here who matches that description, Kase. They would stand out like a sore thumb around the rest of us.”
He frowned and started walking deeper into the labs.
“What is it?” she asked, scurrying after him, trying to keep up with his long legs.
“I saw someone like that through one of the windows back here,” he said, approaching the last room.
“Impossible. There’s nothing back here. It’s literally just an empty room that we’ve not needed to use yet. It’s kept permanently locked.”
“Nonetheless,” he said. “I did see them.” He sniffed at the air, wrinkled his nose.
“Ah, yes. This room adjoins the specimen room. It, um, well, the mice leave a certain odor, shall we say.”
“Yeah.” Kase tried to open the door, but it was locked like she’d said. “Do you have the key?”
“Not on me, it’s back at my desk. I’m telling you, though, there’s nobody here by that description.”
“Can we check the cameras?”
She shook her head. “No cameras in the labs. The only ones are outside the building.”
Kase frowned. “You have nothing inside?”
“No, why would we?”
“What if someone breaks in?”
“And does what? Nothing in here is sellable on the open market. Only specialized places could even understand half of what we keep here, Kase. That sort of stuff makes it very easy to track.” She shrugged.
“Right.” Kase was still looking through the windows, as if expecting someone to pop out and say “Boo!” at any moment.
“What else can I do for you?” she asked. “If you don’t want to see the actual experiments or anything. Do you want to meet the other staff?”
“Maybe later,” he said, turning his attention back to her so strongly she felt the urge to take a step back. Or forward. Either seemed like it would be the right move.
“I see. Well, is there anything else I can do then to secure your investment?” Michelle worked as hard as she ever had to keep her face neutral, hoping she wasn’t failing too miserably. What the hell was she doing? Had she seriously just propositioned him with sex in exchange for money? Because that’s certainly what it sounded like to her!
Kase seemed just as taken aback by her wording. She watched him, noting the extra rise in his chest as he breathed in. Was that a swelling of his biceps? Were his knuckles looking whiter than before? She saw him struggling to choose what to say, and hoped like mad that he would take her up on the offer.
Wait, no! That he would decline it. Decline the offer! That’s what she meant. Michelle wasn’t about to give herself to him. She’d done that once before, and he’d run out on her.
Anger burned brighter. How was it that after so long, this jerk could just waltz back into her life and reignite the flame she’d held for him? All with barely more than a snap of his fingers to make her his again. She was falling for it, too—and the worst part was, she was aware of it!
“No,” Kase said, his voice surprisingly flustered. “No, I think you’ve done everything you can for me. I’ve, um, I’ve heard all that I need to hear. I’ll show myself out.”
Then just like that, he walked away, his legs moving at a pace she couldn’t hope to keep up with unless she ran. Michelle was far too dumbfounded by what had just happened to chase after him, though. Instead, she stood where she was, and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
This was twice now he’d done this to her.
“Is it me?” she asked the empty space, not coming up with a satisfactory answer that satisfied her.