“Got it.” I nod seriously, flashing my orange badge like in a bad cop movie. He’s talking as though I am on the team again. I don’t correct him.
“I can’t take you into the actual testing area.” At the threshold of the squat, cement building, Nathaniel pauses to press his badge to the keypad at the door. It beeps and he enters a code. I stay a few feet back and study the tall pines that surround the base tucked into the side of the mountain.
He catches my gaze. “They say there’s hidden labs in those hills. Secret aliens and all that.” He wiggles bushy eyebrows.
“No, not aliens,” I say seriously. “Bigfoot. Everybody knows that.”
He laughs and opens the door. “Come on.” He gestures me in while holding the door open for me.
I brush past him through the small entryway. Close but not quite touching. His warmth tickles down my neck and I flush imagining those long arms wrapping me in a hug.Lordy. Immediately upon entering the test range, I regret this decision. It’s dark. And small. Nathaniel is too close to me by necessity. If I start to lose control in this space, there’ll be no hiding it.
I’m a professional. I take a deep breath in and think about yellowing toenails. If that doesn’t kill the mood, nothing will.
“Lite-Brite is groundbreaking. If everything goes to plan, a satellite will orbit the earth, collect pure solar energy, and convert it for use on earth. It’s technology we’ve only dreamed about, but now we’re closer than ever. Imagine the possibilities. All the lives that could be saved. The pollution curbed.” Nathaniel chats happily and I almost miss it because I’m so entranced in the way his mouth moves.
Focus, you newb.
“Unfortunately, this is as far as we can go,” he says.
We’re in a small hallway, not even ten feet long, and we’ve come to a stop about halfway down. There’s a room behind thick glass that’s so dark a normal person would only see blackness and the occasional blinking light. My mutation allows me to see the shape of every piece of complicated machinery. It’s like looking at something underwater. Not crystal clear, but enough to make out the general shapes. The back wall is covered in blinking servers and the fans are loud enough to be audible through the glass. A row of desks from the seventies sits with computers that look like they run on DOS.
He flicks a switch and the room lights up, showing everything in more detail. Short, squat machines with narrowing tips sit in a circle toward the center of the room.
“Those almost look like Daleks fromDoctor Who,”I say.
He bends lower next to me so that his face is inches from mine, like he’s trying to see things from my height. As he tilts his head to the side a curl tickles my cheek.
“Huh.” He turns to smile at me. “I never noticed that, but they do.”
The action brings our faces too close. My heart is hammering so hard he must hear it. I turn my head to look back into the room and he does the same in my periphery. He shifts to stand up as he clears his throat.
“There are a lot of super cool things happening in there. It’s like magic,” he whispers. “It’s basically a two-million-dollar Faraday cage.”
“Sweet,” I whisper.
Nathaniel’s passion is infectious. It’s clear in his tone. He loves what he does so much. He cares so much. He explained the way his technology might change the world. I could see that enthusiasm as he lovingly introduced the members of his team as though they were his family. A voice in the back of my mind yells about how nice being a part of that might be.
And I have it so bad for him.
I swallow with effort and pretend I don’t feel the heat of him at my back.
His voice is right behind me. I can’t physically touch him, but I long to lean back into him. My body is practically pushing me towards him. He takes up so much space. I want to turn around and sniff his neck, like a freak. Being here in this dark hallway, closed in with his effervescent personality and masculine scent, is physically triggering my illness. It’s like I didn’t just discharge a couple days ago. The low grows deep within me, which shouldn’t be happening. I don’t usually start to lose control until much later in the month.
My heart starts to race. Nervous sweat prickles my armpits. This isn’t right. My attraction to him is not only inappropriate, but extremely dangerous forhim. One glance at my hands and I know I’m getting too close to the edge. I pull my sleeves down and tuck my hands into my armpits.
My breaths come shorter. My chest rises and falls quickly. The tips of my toes start to tingle with panic.
“Julia?” he asks gently. I’m mortified. “Are you okay?”
I can’t speak. I’m afraid if I try to talk I will shoot light out of my mouth. At this point, it’s a real possibility. I shake my head.
“What is it?” He puts his hand on my shoulder. I jump as I feel the flame in me flick up my throat. He pulls his hand back so fast. “Shit. Sorry. I forgot.”
I just shake my head again.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says cautiously. I simply nod in response.
We’re outside a second later. I step far, far away from him. I place my hands on my knees and take deep breaths, gulping in air. Nathaniel gives me space, seeming to understand. I’m grateful for the midday sun hopefully concealing the glow that could be spreading up the rest of my body.
