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“Poor baby.”
I listened to her slow breaths, staring at the photo she’d sent me. Now and again, I’d hear quiet mutters, or a sigh. Maybe things werekind ofcomplicated between us, as she would say, but it had been a long time since someone had turned me on this much.
Chapter Thirteen: Ella
Honest truth: Ididn’t finish myself off that night. I really wanted to. Let’s be honest, I could have hung up the phone and jerked off ten times in a row, but in some strange way, I didn’t want to break the spell.
And I didn’t masturbate the next day either, or the next, and then Devin was back at work, and so was I. I was far behind in my reading, and I was expected in the lab by Wednesday at the latest. I decided to get there on Tuesday and start wading into the fray. I didn’t want to give Leo any possible reason to criticize or belittle me—the blackmail was enough.
I dressed in nice, professional clothes to meet my new co-workers. A white blouse and slacks, with a pale gray cardigan sweater. I did my hair and put on earrings, and made sure my glasses were clean. I was trying not to stand out, or perhaps trying not to look like the kind of woman who was late because she’d been fucked by a pilot in the Azores the entire last week.
There were nine of us around the conference table, and I was the only female—not unusual in my field. Unlike Leo, the rest of them seemed like nice guys. Once we said our hellos, they scattered to communal workspaces while Leo showed me around the office and caught me up on the team’s various projects.
I hadn’t seen Leo since I’d gone to Europe two years ago. He looked the same—black hair, compact body, freakishly long arms. I’d forgotten how overpowering he could be in person. He had the gall to act amiable and breezy, enthusing about my decision to “join the team.”
“It wasn’t my decision,” I reminded him. “You didn’t give me a choice.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie. I didn’t know how else to get you on a plane. We need you to do important work here. We need your expertise.”
I looked around the office he’d assigned me, withDr. E. Novatnystenciled on the door. I’d had a nicer desk in Santo Stefano. “I was doing important work at the EGO facility,” I told him.
“Were you?” He scoffed. “Let me guess, your ludicrous time travel project? It was cute when you were an undergrad, but you’re a grown woman now.”
He was bold, bringing up my undergraduate years, when he’d exploited my naiveté to get me into his bondage bed. “I’m atheoreticalscientist,” I said, refusing to accept his mockery. He’d used it to control me so many times, but I wasn’t putting up with it now. “Theoretical scientists are supposed to have unconventional ideas. That’s how discoveries are made. And I’m not the only one talking about time travel since the last neutron collision. We’re getting closer to quantifying the ripples in space-time—”
“Which can teach us about the nature of the universe, but there’s no evidence that man will ever be able to manipulate the direction of time.”
“The lack of evidence means nothing,” I argued. “These waves we’re measuring have been around for millennia, but when’s the first time we were able to perceive them?” I paused, pursing my lips. “Two years ago, right? So how can you be sure about anything?”
“You’ve always asked the wrong questions,” he said, with a critical tilt to his brow.
“You’re the one who wanted me here. Now you have me, and my various scientific interests, to include the plausibility of bending time.”
His eyes rested on me, an uncomfortably heavy stare. “I’ve missed you, Ellie.”
“Don’t call me that. I don’t go by Ellie anymore.”
“You’ll always be Ellie to me.”
This was classic Leo, the way he talked around my requests, and tried to intimidate me with his gaze. It had worked so well on me when I was young and stupid, but it wouldn’t work now. “You used compulsion to get me here,” I said in a quiet voice. “And I’m here to make the best of things with your team and see where we can take the science of gravitational waves, but that’s where it ends.”
“Is it? How can you be sure about anything?” he replied, tossing my words back in my face.
“I can be surewearen’t going anywhere, because I’m…I’m seeing someone.” That wasn’t exactly true, but Devin wouldn’t mind if I used him to make my ex-lover back off.
“You’ve met someone?” he asked as I sat at my new desk. “Someone serious?”
“I’d rather not discuss my personal life with you.”
He laughed—a nasty, short laugh. “Not serious, then. More like what we had, a meeting of the minds and bodies.”
I glanced toward my open office door and hoped no one was listening to his suggestive, snide voice. “I’ll probably boot up my laptop and settle in, if you don’t mind.”
He nodded. “That’s one thing I always loved about you. Your focus and determination, whether in the lab or the dungeon.” He moved toward the door when I shot him a nasty glare. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I can’t just pretend we never ‘happened,’ especially when I haven’t seen you in so long. Maybe one of these evenings we can catch up over drinks, if your not-serious love interest doesn’t mind.”
“Or we could preserve a professional working relationship, especially considering what I gave up to come here.”
He waved a hand. “Trust me, this will end up being the best decision of your career. Those idiots in the EGO lab are mucking about with last year’s interferometer.”
