Blown Away by Stephanie Julian Page B

smiled. Yeah, he thought the same thing. He was a lucky son-of-a-bitch. Not many scientists, crazy or otherwise, could boast running their own lab at his age. And he’d been running it since he’d completed his doctoral work in chemistry at MIT.
    “I can see why you’d never want to leave. Your parents built this for you?”
    “Yeah, after the second time I nearly blew up the house downtown. I’d been working out of the basement there.”
    “So why aren’t you working at Livermore or Southwest or teaching at MIT?”
    He paused but not because he had to think about it. He’d been approached by both highly respected laboratories and several others, but he’d still been reeling from Barbara’s attempted suicide. His parents had encouraged him to come home, take a few months, and give his decision time.
    “Because I don’t have to. Because I’ve got everything here I need to do what I want and no one to answer to.”
    No one to get hurt when he didn’t call her for five days because he was buried in work. No one to drown him in regulations or argue with him about why his theory was shit.
    When he made mistakes, they were his own, not some other idiot’s.
    No, he didn’t play well with others and he knew it. But at least he didn’t kid himself about it or make other people’s lives miserable because of his failings.
    Yeah, he was fucking lucky as hell that his parents had been able to subsidize him until he’d gotten his business off the ground. And he made damn sure he repaid them. Not in cash, which they refused, but in services.
    That was another good thing about working for himself. He could work on as many projects as his brain could process.
    “Don’t you get lonely?”
    He laughed at her obvious, genuine confusion. “No. It’s not like I never come up for air. I’ve got friends. I go out. I’ve got a family I actually enjoy hanging out with.”
    “So are you… Do you have a girlfriend?”
    He leaned back against the table, wondering what that look on her face meant. “Do you think I’d be kissing you if I had a girlfriend? No, I’m not seeing anyone.”
    Her expression lightened immediately and he shook his head. He didn’t get a chance to say any more though because she began to close the distance and he lost that train of thought in her smile.
    The only thought that stuck was that he wanted to wrap his hands in those curls and pull her close enough for another kiss.
    When she was only inches away, he wondered if she’d freak if he just did it.
    Turned out he didn’t have to wonder.
    She didn’t stop until only centimeters separated them. And when her hands curved around his neck and tugged him down, he didn’t hesitate.
    Their lips met harder than he’d expected, but her mouth opened immediately. Her tongue flicked against his upper lip and made him groan at the heat that exploded over him like a down draft.
    His arms wound around her and closed the remaining space between them. She came willingly, letting him take over the kiss and devour her.
    His hands spread across her back, one moving up to cup her head, the other moving down to curve over her ass and press her hips to his.
    His erection thickened as she moaned and rubbed herself against him.
    Maybe no one would notice if he locked the access door and they didn’t emerge for a few hours.
    Then he remembered that Annie had ordered him food.
    No need to worry about that yet though.
    Not when she kissed like she was starved for him.
    When she broke the kiss, he had one hand beneath her shirt, stroking the soft skin of her side, and the other tugging on those curls, forcing her head back so he could kiss her deeper.
    “Jimmy. Either your phone’s beeping or something’s about to explode.”
    That last would be him, though he knew she wasn’t talking about how close he was to coming. But she was right. Annie was calling from upstairs. That was her tone.
    He asked the question on the tip of his tongue before he decided it was a