“Enough to almost be murdered, apparently,” he said. A glint of dark humor in his eye, there and gone. “Your partner said you’re in love with her.”
I reared back. Gabriel and I needed to have a conversation, apparently. “Does she know howyoufeel about her?” I asked.
If she didn’t, it would surprise me. His pheromones went into overdrive every time she passed close to him, or looked at him, or spoke to him. It was exhausting.
“No. It was never appropriate to… I was her superior in the lab.”
His face had fallen back into its usual stern expression. “So, what, she just thinks you’re risking your life out of the goodness of your heart? Are you some kind of saint?”
“Obviously not,” he said, exasperated. “I think she suspects how I feel, but she’s just too kind to break my heart.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her,” I said, cruelly. I hoped he was right, even if my instincts said otherwise. I’d seen the wayshe reacted to him, too, even though I didn't want to. “I still think you should tell her. An Alpha secretly lusting after her seems like something that she’d want to know.”
Nathan huffed. “Don’t make it sound so… sordid.”
“So your interest is totally innocent? Purely intellectual? You’re just in love with her big, beautiful brain?”
He took another small step back. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
I raised my hands in mocking surrender. “Your choice.”
“I wasn’t being disrespectful earlier. At least not intentionally. I think Bridget knew that, too,” he said after a moment. “It’s an inside joke, I guess.”
“Wow. Sounds hilarious,” I said while jealousy burned in my stomach. Now I wanted an inside joke with Bridget almost as much as I wanted to kiss her. “But I probably shouldn’t have been so intense.”
We studied each other for a moment.
“Truce?” he asked.
“For now.” I stuck out my hand for him to shake.
The tension faded slowly. He looked absolutely shattered, and I reminded myself someone had tried to kill him in the last twenty-four hours. “Come on, man,” I said. “Sit down. I’ll make you a coffee.”
I checked in with Gabriel down the bond. He was amused, probably at how we’d acted, and sent reassurance back to me. Bridget was okay.
“Where are you from?” I asked when he had a coffee cup in front of him.
Nathan sat quietly for a moment, turning the coffee cup slowly in his hands. “The Philippines — Manila — originally. But my father was American, so we moved here when I was ten.”
“To Fairview?”
“No, I came here for college. My mother is still back in Virginia,” he said dully. “I should call her. She probably thinks I’m dead. But I don’t know what I’d say.”
What would I say to my mom if I were being hunted by persons unknown? It wasn’t a question I’d ever considered. “The truth won’t work?”
“No. She’ll be furious I involved myself in any of this. This will be just another disappointment among many,” he said. “Sorry. I don’t usually complain this much.”
“Nah, you’re entitled to it. She’s always been hard on you, though?” Parental pressure was something with which I was intimately familiar.
“Yes. Even more so since my father died, though, in my senior year of undergrad. She’s been trying to get me to move back home and get an adjunct teaching job at the university there for years.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked, genuinely curious. If I had a chance for a better relationship with my mom, I would jump at it.
Nathan met my eyes with a wry expression. “Bridget, of course. When I met her in my postdoc lab… I am aware it’s insane to make career decisions based on a woman,” he said defensively.
We lapsed into silence. I couldn’t judge. I was also making insane decisions based on my feelings for Bridget.
“What about you?” Nathan asked, like he wanted to be polite. “Are you from Fairview?”
