"Hop on up," he said, slipping his hands around her waist to give her a boost up. The move caught her off guard.
"What? Why am I … ?"
Six hopped up alongside her. Literally hopped. He placed one hand on the bed, then before she could figure out how he did it, he was standing behind her and offering her his hand.
"I want to eat dinner with you in a place you are comfortable. There's nobody here in this side street," he said, turning in a circle and gesturing with his hand. "And this," he said, laying the blanket down on the bed of the truck, "is our own private restaurant."
The tightness in her chest that had been plaguing her since she'd first seen him on the street relaxed. He still wanted to have dinner with her. And in a tiny, small way, she loved him for that.
CHAPTER FOUR
Once upon a time, Monday mornings had been the greatest thing ever. It was the opportunity to wake up and start a whole new week of experimentation and research. But today, Louisa wanted to hide under the quilt. Rules were her thing. They'd gotten her through her SATs. They'd gotten her through college. Science and mathematics were filled with rules. The circumference of a circle would always equal pi multiplied by the diameter. The inferior vena cava would always carry deoxygenated blood to the heart. And Louisa North adhered to every rule. Every rule.
So why was she contemplating heading into the lab like a bad Bond villain to secretly discard the dangerous sample that still sat, mislabeled, at the bottom of the refrigeration unit? Although she was more of the good guy. More Moneypenny, less Oddjob. Louisa threw her arm across her eyes. Whoever wanted the sample already had all the notes on how to make the damn thing. Except sometimes, it was better to use a base solution to test from and run more tests on the sample before it headed into any kind of mass production. Though who the hell would want to mass produce a drug that didn't work and that had horrid side effects?
Louisa shoved the covers out of the way with a huff and got ready for work. In the shower, it occurred to her that she might have watched way too many Jason Bourne movies. Not everything was a conspiracy to be thwarted. While eating homemade banana and oatmeal muffins covered in peanut butter, she decided against doing anything. First, she'd check in with Ivan and Vasilii to see what the internal review had found and what the police had said. If this was just some grabby-hand lab tech who wanted to try to make a few bucks by taking an unsuccessful lab sample to another lab, then the sample was fine where it was. Although she was pretty certain that the police would have to notify the FBI if that had happened, and she most definitely didn't want to hand the sample to the government.
Damn. She was back to conspiracies again.
On the way out of the door, she grabbed Six's sweater, the one he'd loaned her as the night had dropped cooler as they had sat in the back of his truck. He'd leaned back on one side of the truck, she'd rested against the other. They'd talked for hours. Well, mostly he'd talked, and she'd asked questions and listened. Talking about herself wasn't high on her priority list. He'd told her about his company and the kind of work they were hoping to do. She wondered if he realized just how animated he became as he talked about Cabe and Mac. It had been entertaining to listen to the mischievous stories of their youth.
Long after they'd finished their meal, they'd stayed in the back of the truck, even though her butt had gone numb. He never touched her again. Not even once. Well, except to help her down out of his truck. He'd insisted on driving her to her car, and they'd listened to Nina Simone, an artist she'd only ever had a passing interest in but he seemed to know a lot about. Now Louisa had her greatest hits on her phone.
Once she got in her car she set it to play. Maybe Nina could help her screw her head on straight. She hated the idea that her lab had been violated and was disappointed that Vasilii had allowed the cameras inside to remain broken. They'd have to discard everything in there if they couldn't guarantee it hadn't been tampered with.
Traffic cooperated, and she found herself at work early. After she'd dropped her bag into her locker, she headed upstairs to Vasilii's office. He was the ultimate early riser and was often the first person to reach the building in the morning. Liz was already seated at her desk.
"Morning, Liz. Is Vasilii in?" she asked.
Liz smiled softly. "He is, and I just took him coffee. Can I get you one, dear?"
Coffee was such a good idea. "Only if you are getting one for yourself. You don't need to go to that effort on my account."
"My pleasure. Go on in. I'll bring it to you."
Louisa knocked and pushed the large wooden door open. "Hey, Vasilii. Can I bother you for a moment?"