Body Shot (Last Shot)(20)
“If you think that, why do you live here?” He turned to face her. His tone of voice was gentle but his gaze was sharp as he waited with what appeared to be sincere interest in her response.
“It’s convenient. I work long hours. I don’t need something fancy.”
“Huh.” He tipped his head. “That’s why you’re shut up inside working on a beautiful Sunday afternoon like this?”
“Yes.” She gave him a lopsided smile. “Right now it’s pretty much seven days a week.”
“That’s not good for you.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Whatever. I love it.”
He tilted his head, his steady gaze unnerving her. “What is it you do?”
“I’m an associate professor at UCSD, and I have a small biotechnology company.”
“A professor?”
“Yes. In the Biochemistry and Cell Biology faculty.”
“Huh. And your company does…what?”
“We research and develop protein therapies based on a new kind of messenger RNA technology.”
His forehead creased. She recognized that look—the blank expression, followed by a perplexed frown and then utter disinterest. She prepared for his Oh hey, look at the time…
“Don’t worry about it.” She held up her hands and smiled. “It’s not that interesting.”
Strangely, he wasn’t making a speedy exit. “I don’t even know what you just said, so I can’t say it’s not interesting. When you say you have a company…you mean you own it?”
“Yes.”
“Impressive.”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “It’s a lot of work.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“What?”
“What you said you do.”
“Oh. Basically, we’re trying to cure cancer.”
“Oh. Is that all?”
She laughed at his dry humor. “And a few other diseases.” As usual, she felt that lightness in her chest and her heart rate accelerating when she talked about her work. “The possibilities are huge with the progress we’ve made.”
His lips curved into a smile and the corners of his eyes crinkled. “You look excited.”
She rolled her eyes. “I do tend to be passionate about it. But it bores most people to tears.”
He gazed at her for a long moment, his eyebrows pinched together. “I think you’re the opposite of boring,” he said slowly. “Like I said last night…you’re fascinating.”
A hot tingle swept up from her chest into her face and she dropped her gaze to her bare feet.
“Hey.” He moved closer, close enough to lift her chin with his fingers. “Now you look embarrassed.”
She pressed her lips together. “I’m not fascinating.”
“Clearly you are, because I’m fascinated.”
“You probably say that to all the girls.”
He laughed again and she loved the rumbling sound of it. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever said that to a woman before, honestly. Look, this is why I’m here.” He held up the glossy black-and-white shopping bag.
Her eyes widened. “Oh. Right.”
“I guessed you’re a size medium.”
More heat flooded her cheeks. She was probably breaking out in blotchy hives too, which happened when she got embarrassed. She was no doubt a red, sweaty mess. How on earth could he think she was fascinating?
“I’ll, uh, open this later. Thank you. Again, you really didn’t need to do that.”
“I’m a man of my word.”
She eyed him doubtfully. He seemed like such a smooth charmer, words and compliments coming easy to him. In her experience, people like that lived on the surface, using charm and glamour to win people over. But once again, she sensed more to him than that surface charisma.
“You’re analyzing something again,” he murmured. His dark eyes studied her.
“You,” she blurted, then closed her eyes as more mortification swept through her.
He chuckled. “Yeah?”
“You’re the one who’s fascinating.”
“Well, hey, we have a little mutual admiration happening here.”
“Along with that explosive chemistry,” she added. Gah! What was she doing? She shouldn’t be encouraging this! She should be thanking him for the underwear and showing him the door.
“That too,” he agreed. “So if you’re a bio…uh…are you a biologist?”
A smile tugged her lips. “Actually, I’m a biochemist.”
“Jesus.” He blinked. “Okay, then, I guess you probably know something about chemistry.”
“A little.”