Fresh Chemistry: Back In The Day by Haley Travis

Author:Haley Travis [Travis, Haley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

8

MARK

I can't believe that I'm waking up with Nicola's soft, delicate body cradled in my arms. Her breath is an airy hum when she sleeps, which I find deeply peaceful.

Slowly extricating myself from her grasp, I manage to slide away without waking her so that I can twist and check my phone. Thank goodness I turned the ringer off last night, because it's blowing up.

Thumbing through the messages, I'm still blinking myself fully awake when Nicola rolls over onto her elbow. "What's up?"

I lean in to kiss her forehead. "I sent your notes to my team last night. They love them."

Her face lights up. It's as if a sunbeam suddenly appeared. "That's awesome!"

"They've already got a few combinations that they're going to start testing immediately. A handful of the cousins are already being rounded up for the preliminary rounds."

"Cousins?" She sits up all the way as the sheet falls down, barely covering her nipples.

It takes a moment to bring my eyes back to hers. "Yeah – our products are all natural, and even though all of the ingredients have already been approved for use on skin, we still do volunteer human trials. One of our techs comes from a family of folks with sensitive skin. They help with the tests in exchange for a small honorarium, and lots of free products." I chuckle. "They love having bragging rights about it. It's amazing."

"That sounds fantastic."

"It really is win-win." I reach out to cup her face with my hand, running my thumb along her cheekbone. "I wish I could have you working on our team. They're efficient now, but you could probably whip them into even better shape."

Her head falls back with a twinkling laugh. "Does your lab have windows?"

"Mostly, yes."

"And decent coffee?"

"I think so, yeah. There's one of those pod things in the lab, and a proper espresso machine in the main break room."

Her eyes widen. "Wow. Your lab sounds like heaven."

Tossing my phone aside, I pull her against my shoulder to wrap my arm around her. "What kind of hellholes have you been working in?"

She rolls her eyes and sticks out her tongue. "Before my current job, they were all basements. Almost dungeons. I interviewed at one place that had a jar of instant coffee set out on the counter. Instant!!!"

"Ugh. That's horrible."

"Yeah."

Her hand traces lazy circles around my chest. "Some places only hire women for the grunt work, and as far as aesthetics go it's more like a morgue than a workspace. I'm so grateful that the place I work now is…well…adequate."

Tipping her chin up with my finger, I ask, "Only adequate?"

Her narrow shoulders half shrug. "They expect everyone to be instant best friends. So I'm an outsider, because I don't want to go out socializing every single week. But it's okay. I like the work itself." Her eyes twinkle. "When Mom demands to know every single detail of what I'm doing, I start using a bunch of technical terms she doesn't understand until she changes the subject."

"Speaking of changing the subject…" I pause while she giggles at me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.