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Heidi smiled for the first time since Emery had been introduced to her. “I don’t mind if I do,” she said, biting into one and moaning in pleasure. “What a great add-on to renting from them. You’ve got your log on and password. Dr. Payne is running late, but I think you have plenty of reading to do. He’ll stop by as soon as he arrives. I’m going to head back to HR, but if you need me just call me at extension seven-four-two.”
“Will do. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Thanks, Heidi, for all your help. I’m sorry it was such a pain to get me onboarded.”
“You were never the problem, Emery.” It had taken Emery months to get her to call her anything but Dr. Smoak. “And everyone agrees, especially Dr. Perkins. It was my pleasure.”
“Well, thank you again, and take another Kleina and a cup of coffee.”
Heidi grinned sheepishly. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Emery plugged her laptop in and logged on to the system. She began reading synopses of the work done not only by the team to which she’d been assigned but the other teams on whose research they were basing their own.
People wandered in and out of her cubicle but were careful not to disturb her. They were friendly and smiled, but only spoke if she looked up. Someone entered her space, but she was engrossed in a particularly interesting analysis of some genetic testing they were doing with what seemed to be a highly volatile substance.
Crumbs from Kleina fell onto her shoulder. Whoever had come in was standing behind her. She looked up to say something about getting bits of the pastry on her when she was stopped in her tracks. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Nothing at all.
It was him! The man from her dreams and fantasies, and unless she was mistaken, he too was a shifter. Terry had been right; she wasn’t alone.
He put his coffee cup and the pastry down on the lateral file. “Please excuse me. Look what I’ve done,” he said, taking his napkin and brushing away the offending pastry that still decorated her shoulder. “I’m Carson Payne, and you must be Dr. Smoak. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. Terry and the boys are quite enamored of you already.”
He extended his hand to her, and she stood up, taking it in her own. “Emery, please.”
He grinned. He had the perfect smile—symmetrical lips that looked made for kissing over perfectly even, white teeth. She’d bet there was a fortune in orthodontia in that smile.
“Intelligent, nice, and provides coffee and pastries. I knew I was right to challenge the EnGen guys to a duel to have you on my team.”
He was nice but Emery couldn’t help but feel her hopes dashed as his eyes—while beautifully dark and kind—showed no recognition of having ever seen her before. None at all. While she knew they hadn’t met in reality, it hurt to think that somehow his soul didn’t recognize hers from the dream and fantasy planes where she knew him so intimately. She was glad of the sweater she’d worn, as it was a thick, loose knit and there was no way he could detect the way her nipples seemed to stiffen as if his chest, under his casual V-necked sweater, was steel and they were magnets. In fact, her whole body wanted nothing more than to melt into his.
Oddly detached, Emery had to admit that while her body was wildly attracted to and recognized his, that’s all it was: a kind of animal magnetism; a primal physical response but nothing more. It was as if they were in some kind of black hole where no feeling or intellectual connection could escape. It made no sense at all.
Shaking his hand, she hoped all that had gone through her head had done so in far less time than it had felt. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Payne.”
“Carson,” he said with a smile.
“Carson,” she acknowledged. “Don’t worry about not being here. I have plenty to catch up on and everybody has been very kind and welcoming.”
He leaned into her and she worried that maybe she had misread something, and he might try to kiss her. He didn’t. Instead, he said in a stage whisper, “It’s just the great coffee and pastries. Soon enough you’ll find out how rotten they all are.”
She was shocked and was about to defend her new colleagues, when all kinds of paper airplanes, rubber bands, and nerf balls came flying out of nowhere aimed at him. He sidestepped them neatly, grinning.
“See how I got you ammunition?” Her expression must have registered that she didn’t get it at all. “We work in a high-pressure field, and some of the other teams give new meaning to the terms intense and spooky. So whenever one of us gets a little too big for their britches, we all take aim to bring him or her down a peg or two.”
Emery grinned. Maybe he was downplaying what he felt.
“I think I’m going to fit right in,” she said.
“I think so, too. Another tradition: when we get a new team member, we all head to our favorite watering hole, which also has the best shepherd’s pie. We have dinner and drinks on yours truly. I hope you can join us.”
“And if I don’t?” she teased, feeling very comfortable with him.
“We’ll go anyway. Trust me, this lot is not going to let you ruin their shot at running up a huge bill at my expense.”
More nerf balls, paper airplanes, and rubber bands came his way—one of the latter smacking him in his gorgeous ass. It looked like some Renaissance sculptor had carved it out of marble and then covered it with denim.
With a laugh, Carson left her office.
She spent the rest of the day going through reports and flagging things she had questions about. At lunch time, she found the team had another tradition: a potluck for the new person. They had their own table and chairs, and sitting and eating with them made her feel like she belonged in a way she never had before. She managed to cast several furtive glances at Carson, but he didn’t seem to notice.
That evening at the pub, it was more of the same. He was friendly, but nothing more. In some ways it was frustrating and in others it made things simpler. The last thing Emery needed was a hot, torrid affair with her new boss. It was sad, though, and when she finally parted company with the team, there was a hollow feeling deep inside.
