Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(6)

The woman lifted her head. He could barely see her eyes through her bangs, but the snatches he could see were as brown as the Negra Modelo beer he'd drunk by the bucketload in Mexico the week before. Plump lips and defined cheekbones, both with minimal makeup, added a softness to a strong nose and brow. Not hot, like the women he usually went for. More interesting. And he got the feeling she'd hate that word.

"Crap," the woman said and lowered her head to her hands, not quite putting her head between her knees.

"You sure you aren't going to pass out?" he asked. At a loss, he placed his hand on her back, wanting to bring her comfort. She was definitely shaking.

"You need help, Six?" Cabe whispered in his earpiece.

"Nah. I got this," he replied.

"You got what?" Her words were mumbled.

"Oh. No. I was just talking to my partner," he replied. "I'm Six. I'm part of the security team tonight."

"Louisa," the woman said. "I'm part of the dog-and-pony show."

The med-geek researcher. "You're the presenter who's up in a few minutes?" Six placed his finger under her chin and raised her face until he could just about see under her bangs to her eyes if he crouched low enough.

Her eyes found his for a moment, and then they looked away quickly. "Shit. Is it time already?"

"It's getting close. I'm sure you are going to do great." Though he was pretty certain he was going to have to crane her out of the seat when it was showtime, he needed to say something to encourage her. Abject fear pulsed from her, and he could have sworn he felt the chill of it.

Louisa stood suddenly. "Hardly," she said, walking to the balcony.

Now that she was standing, he could see that she'd topped the tulle, knee-length skirt with a fitted white waistcoat with very little underneath as far as he could see. It was quirky and so unlike anything he'd seen inside of the room. Part of him assessed her as outdressed by the attendees, but there was something very unique about her.

"The last time I did this, on the way back from the stage I puked into a large, potted Dieffenbachia fortunensis."

Six laughed, and she turned to face him.

"It wasn't funny," she said, but her pout turned into the makings of a grin.



       
         
       
        

"I wasn't laughing at the puking. I was laughing that you knew the plant and its  …  make or whatever."

The sound of someone testing the microphone drew Louisa's attention to the door, and she shook her head. "Its species and genus," she said casually before taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. "And I guess it's showtime." She walked toward the door and reached for the handle, but turned back before she opened it. She blew her bangs out of her face, and he finally got a good, straight look at her. "Pretty" was the first word that came to mind. "Compelling" was the second.

"Thank you for rescuing me, Six," she said.

The door opened and the lights shone brightly through her skirt, making it ever so slightly transparent. From the silhouette, he could see she had legs that went on for days.

"You're welcome," he said as the door clicked shut.





CHAPTER TWO

Goddamn. Why couldn't she get that blond hair and those eyes that were the color of a frozen lake out of her mind?

Louisa pulled her car to a stop outside the lab and rested her head on the steering wheel. It had been five days since she'd survived her presentation, and he was still there in her head, front and center.

In high school, she'd laughed at the girls who'd gotten distracted by boys. The ones who'd spent their lunch breaks pretending to be Britney Spears running through a high school gym as they'd practiced their dance moves, or debating the relative merits of *NSYNC versus the Backstreet Boys while sitting on the bleachers hoping to attract the attention of their latest crush. Instead, she'd sat in the shade and focused on the relationship between the DNA polymerase binding site and start and stop codons. They'd called her a geek, a nerd, and often, a loser. But her father's symptoms had been getting worse, and she had been determined, even back then, to find the cure that would fix their once-perfect family. Plus, she was simply happier in her own company.

Confusion over a man was a new thing. Louisa had tried dating when she was younger, but the calling of her laboratory had always felt more interesting than going to the movies or dinner to waste two hours of her life getting to know a man she had no intention of staying with for the long term. It was time that could be spent doing something important, and eventually the relationships had fizzled out. Any remaining desire to date had been killed by her dislike of being around people. Social outings, family gatherings, and getting to know strangers took so much effort.