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“Your dedication to defending your sovereign is admirable, but I assure you, I’ve only got the best intentions at heart when it comes to Grace.” He slipped his hand into hers and tugged her close.
“Is that so?” Karen crossed her arms, and Grace could tell from the set of her shoulders visions of her next lab-fueled prank danced through her mind like deranged sugar plums.
Grace loved her minions so very,very much.
“It is. In fact, she’s made a semi-honest man of me,” Anton replied, turning and giving the room the same smile that Grace could imagine on the covers of newspapers and gossip rags alike. The man was in full charming mode, and from the softening look on Karen and the gathered team’s faces, Grace could tell it was working.
“What’s that mean?” another physicist asked.
“It means we’re dating,” he said with another thousand-watt smile. “I even took her to brunch and let her shop for antiques. It’s all on the up-and-up.”
Karen’s mouth dropped open, and a particularly loud snore by Elisha punctuated the shock that rippled through both teams.
“Really? That’s what the bouquet was about?” Karen pressed.
Grace nodded and leaned into Anton’s side. “Don’t worry, I’m not a fallen woman—at least, not yet.” She tapped her chin. “But, like, what’s actually wrong with being a fallen woman? It seems pretty fun.” She shook her head when she saw Karen tilt her head in confusion, and focused on getting the science horde to back down. “But if you could all keep this quiet, well, I’d appreciate it.”
“We’ll be good, for now,” Karen huffed, before turning her eyes on Anton. “But if you hurt her, we will rain holy terror on you and yours.”
A murmur of agreement went up from Grace’s team, which made her simultaneously want to roll her eyes in annoyance and hug each and every one of them within an inch of their lives. She would end the caffeine embargo immediately,andbake them cookies.
Anton dipped his head in acknowledgment. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Get back to work,” Grace sighed. “But thank you. It just means a lot that you had my back. You all get cookies tomorrow.” A cheer went up from the group—even Anton’s lab rats joined in—and Grace turned away, a smile tugging at her lips.
“Just an appendix, hmm?” he asked, dark eyes dancing at the blush that swept over her cheeks.
“No one likes a gloater, Mr. Kovalev,” she whispered to him.
twelve
“It's the great tragedy—peopleemployed in ways that don't fully tap everything they do best in life.”—Neil deGrasse Tyson
“Where’s Grace?” Anton blinked, looking around the lab—which looked utterly sideways. That morning, Grace had kept up a steady stream of flirty texts, some of them even downright scandalous. Just the way Anton liked them. But then Grace had gone radio silent.
Silence wasn’t something Grace did often, and it concerned him.
Anton had pulled himself away from fine-tuning the new batch of lenses he’d had shipped in from New York months ago. Normally, he would oversee the work on the telescope via teleconference or detailed notes, but now that he was here the opportunity to do the work himself was too tempting to pass up.
There had been the problem of overcoming Geneva’s less-than-suitable altitude for infrared tech. Higher was better for infrared telescopes, and the paltry 1,200-foot elevation of Geneva was unfit for what Lou’s research demanded. Unable to change her research appointment location, Anton had devised a way to make up for the limited elevation. The work he’d done with RED applied in a variety of elevations and conditions. It was just the thing they needed to make this work.
He lived for this. Taking apart a problem, and fitting it back together after he’d perfected it, made his blood sing. But he suspected that might be how anyone would feel when making something capable of glimpsing the farthest reaches of the universe. It was like the sci-fi novels he’d read brought to life, and so much bigger than anything on earth.
The stars had been one of the main reasons for him cleaning up his act. They’d always been there, shining through each and every one of his fuck-ups. Anton had set them as his course to a better version of himself, for a life that meant more than just partying and fleeting pleasure.
And yet even with his team around him and the lens fittings going well, that familiar feeling of excitement at seeing a project come together was overshadowed by Grace’s absence. What was the world really coming to, if this was the state of affairs?
Of course, ensuring Beta’s final retrofit was complete was of the utmost importance, but then there was Grace.
What had happened to her?
You didn’t just send the string of emojis she had sent to him and then disappear. Or at least, Grace didn’t. She wouldn’t. That meant something had happened. And anyways, Anton Kovalev wasn’t used to women going silent. Especially not when he was their boyfriend.
It prompted him to give everyone an early lunch on the pretense of seeing if Grace would like to join him. His feet had brought him to the one place he knew Grace would be. The labs. But upon seeing the disarray, Anton wondered if he’d guessed wrong.
It looked like she hadn’t set foot in the labs in a month, let alone that morning. Something very, very wrong had happened.
“Where’s Grace?” he tried again, and sidestepped a puddle of unknown substance.
