CHAPTER 44
Jenny was at work, helping to develop a sleeping pill. The company had been waiting years for approval from the FDA on their new sleeping aid when it was reported by a neuroscientist who had reviewed thousands of pages of data that test subjects had been waking up multiple times during the night with dark thoughts. So it was back to the drawing board. There was no way to make a perfect sleep aid without residual effects, but that wasn’t Jenny’s problem.
There was a tap on the lab window.
She looked up, surprised to see Dwayne standing on the other side of the glass.
Jenny removed her goggles, mask, and gloves and stepped outside the lab. Their date night had worked out wonderfully. They had ended up going to the movie first—an action movie with a wonderfully sappy love story woven in. Afterward, they’d had dinner at Tres Hermanas. She had ordered carne asada and he had ordered chicken mole poblano, and then they’d taken turns feeding each other. It had been silly and romantic and fun.
It would have been a perfect night—except that Dwayne hadn’t bothered to kiss her at the door. He’d escorted her all the way to her front stoop and then said goodbye. Worse than that, he hadn’t bothered calling her on Sunday.
He doesn’t like you. You talk too much. He couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Even if he did, you never listen.
Her fingers rolled into fists at her side. She hadn’t heard the voice in twenty-four hours. Why now?
She concentrated on Dwayne. He was wearing dark slacks, a white shirt, and a skinny black tie. His long hair was tied back, but if he let it loose, he would look as if he belonged on stage with a guitar instead of in a research lab.
“I saw your car in the parking lot. You got here early today.”
She nodded. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“I wanted to tell you what a great time I had the other night.”
“Really.”
“Is something wrong?”
Tell him to fuck off and leave you alone.
“The truth is I was disappointed that you left me at the door without a kiss. And then when you didn’t call the next day, I figured I must have imagined the connection I thought we had because—”
He kissed her right then and there, a quick peck on the lips, but still a kiss.
They were standing in the hallway. He looked both ways.
This guy is not the one for you. He wouldn’t kill a spider if it were biting him on the ass. Milquetoast, that’s what he is.
Her adrenaline soared. She smiled up at Dwayne, which prompted him to kiss her again—a little longer, a little better this time. His lips felt soft against hers. His woodsy cologne smelled nice.
He straightened, blushing. “Yesterday I had to go to a family reunion. I thought I told you that at dinner.”
She was losing herself in those blue eyes of his, falling under his spell.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have time to call. My family is crazy. Do you have any idea how much chaos there is when you round up sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews and toss them into one room?”
“No,” she said. “I’m an only child.”
“Really? An only child . . . must have been nice.”
“It was fine,” she said. Another lie, since she had always wanted a sibling. But so what? He didn’t need to know everything about her after only one date.
“I would love for you to meet my family.”
She said nothing. Not because she didn’t want to meet his family, but because she had no idea how to wrap her brain around what he’d just said. He wanted her to meet his family?
He blushed again. “Too soon, right?”
“Not at all,” she blurted. “Not too soon.”
He smiled, the genuine kind of smile that told her he truly enjoyed being around her.
Now that she thought about it, he had mentioned something about having a family reunion to attend. She’d been too preoccupied with taking dainty bites and chewing with her mouth closed to pay attention to what he was saying. She felt like such an idiot. She’d lost sleep over nothing.
He gestured down the hallway. “I’m grabbing a quick cup of coffee from the lunchroom. Want to join me?”
She stared at him. Another awkward moment ensued, and that was putting it mildly. She was a big dork when it came to communicating with another person, especially someone she was falling for. “I’d love to,” she managed.
They walked to the lunchroom together, laughing and talking. A group of three more people was drawn into their conversation about the movie they had just seen. Jenny had never in her life experienced the sort of camaraderie she felt at that very moment.
It felt good. Better than good.
She had always been the loner in the cafeteria, secretly wishing someone, anyone, would sit next to her and strike up a conversation.
For the first time in her life, she felt like somebody.