“Nothing. I just didn’t know you spoke French.” She shakes her head, and we start walking again.
“Not to sound old, but I took it in college, so… twenty years ago? I’m a little rusty.”
“And I thought I was getting away with it for all this time! Why didn’t you say something?”
“It never bothered me.” Understatement of the year. I grin down at her, the world seeming to freeze in time as she returns it with a breathtaking smile. I am so, so fucked.
Corinne follows me up the steps to my cabin, bouncing on the balls of her feet while I unlock the door. I push the door open and gesture for her to take the lead. “Jeez, did you bring the whole lab?” She laughs, surveying the organized chaos of my cabin.
“I was trying to avoid D.C. for as long as possible,” I say, kicking off my shoes. Sitting down at the little desk, I shove the resort stationary pad out of the way and open my laptop.
“How come?” She asks from behind me. I spin in my chair, and the very reason I got out of town is sitting on the foot of my bed, one leg folded under her. She bounces the mattress a little, her eyes wandering the cabin.
My mouth goes dry at the sight of her. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen her relax like that. And with her eyes on everything but me, I seize the moment, memorizing everything about her. The smooth slope of her shoulders, the little dip at her collarbone, and the freckle on her neck that I’ve pictured running my tongue over a million times.
She’s temptation incarnate. What the fuck was I thinking bringing her here? I’ve spent years building a barrier between us, and I’m not talking about a flimsy little wall.
I’m talking medieval castle defense. A stone wall, three feet thick and a hundred feet tall. There’s a moat around it, filled with man-eating alligators, and the needle-sharp knowledge of what the fallout would be if I tried to cross it.
I don’t have time to analyze my own stupidity. The screen fills with the 3D rendering of the lake bed, and the second she sees it, Corinne gets to her feet, coming to stand behind me. I get up and offer her the chair, leaning on the back of it while she leans in, her nose almost touching the display.
“Whoa.”
“Right?” I grin down at her, watching the way her eyes move around the screen. I keep my mouth shut, waiting to see if she spots it. Then her eyes light up, and she sucks an excited breath between her parted lips. Slowly, she turns to meet my eyes.
“There are three possible fissures in the bedrock? That’s insane.”
“Yeah, I—wait,” I turn back to the screen. “Three?” I stare at the screen. “Oh, fuck.” I was so excited about the dark line on the southern side of the lake that I missed two smaller ones on the northern side. “Oh, my fucking God. How did I miss those?” I rake my hands through my hair.
“You would have spotted them,” Corinne laughs. “Eventually.” It’s true. Once I got back to the lab, and blew the imaging up, I would have caught it. But catching it in the field is a game changer. I stand up and pace the length of the room, heart pounding.
“Hang on. I need my laptop.” Corinne bolts from my cabin like it’s on fire, jogging into the dark in her flip-flops.
“Wait, it’s dark,” I call after her, scrambling to put my shoes back on.
“And…?” She’s already out of sight, her voice carrying through the trees. Right. She’s not the kind of woman who tolerates being babied. She’s long gone before I even can get my sneakers on. I stand outside my cabin, watching for her, and crack my neck. I know I don’t get a say in it, but I’d be a lot happier if she valued her own safety a little more.
After three or four minutes that feels like a goddamn eon, Corinne comes sprinting back, laptop under her arm. “Got it!” She’s out of breath, but her excitement practically glows under her skin.
“I wish you’d have waited for me,” I say, trying not to grumble.
“You worrying about me, Dr. Napier?” She asks, striding toward the cabin door. Her tone is teasing, but there’s something about her expression that doesn’t sit right. My hand shoots out, and before I can stop myself, it hooks around the inside of her elbow, stopping her in her tracks.
Corinne looks down, her eyes fixed at on my hand. She wets her lips and raises her gaze to meet mine. She stares at me, eyes wide like she’s never seen me before in her life. I’m just crossing lines one after the other this week.
“Yes.” It’s all I trust myself to say, and it’s still more than I should.
Corinne swallows hard, blinking at me slowly. Thinking. “Then I’ll be careful.” I release her arm, but she keeps staring at me, round eyes searching my face. The urge to touch her again, even just to run a single fingertip over her skin, is almost more than I can bear.
8
CORINNE
What. The. Fuck. Was. That?
Dr. Napier has never laid so much as a finger on me. He’s never spoken to me or looked at me like… that. I can’t catch my breath, and I’m wildly unsure whatthatwas, but I am here for it every day of the week.
My arm is still tingling when he drops his gaze and turns to head inside. I blow a heavy exhale between my lips and give my head a little shake, trying to clear it. Be professional, I chastise myself as I follow him inside.