Page 92 of Body Shot

“You . . . touch yourself. Make yourself come.”

“It’ll take too long.” She bends over and kisses me, slow, with a drag of tongue over my bottom lip. “I don’t need to come.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Fuck yeah, you do.”

She grabs my face in both hands and gives me a hard, fast kiss. “Don’t make me fake it,” she whispers against my lips.

“Jesus.” Has she ever faked an orgasm? I don’t think so, but . . . “We’ll have this conversation later. Right now . . . I’m gonna come . . .” I grit my teeth to fight back the shout that rises in my throat as white-hot heat explodes, blazing up my dick, searing up my back, blowing out my mind.

21

HAYDEN

“In pre-clinical, in vivo, proof-of-concept studies, our messenger RNA agents induced the production of dozens of effector proteins, and have actually repaired and regenerated damaged tissue to achieve long-term therapeutic effects.” I look around the boardroom table at the executives from Bäcker Inc., to whom I’m pitching. “What’s more, we may be able to cure hundreds of diseases that aren’t treatable today. Current technologies target only secreted protein, but our agents can produce both secreted and intracellular proteins. This means we can develop new medicines to treat diseases that can’t be touched with today’s therapies.” I pause and make eye contact around the room. “Our messenger RNA agents have the potential to usher in a new era of medicine.”

The men at the table nod.

“Do you have any questions?” I smile at them.

“I do.” One man lifts a hand with a pen in it.

I handle their questions for the next half hour, until the meeting concludes. When I walk out of the building onto Ash Street, I heave a huge sigh of relief. That went perfectly.

I drive to UCSD to teach one of my biochemistry classes, then head back to my lab to check on progress there. With my lab coat on and hair tucked up under a cap, I enter the lab. “How’s it going, Hamir?”

Hamir sighs and turns to face me. “I’ve been injecting pre-RNA splice-blocking morpholinos into zebrafish embryos. I saw potential phenotypes in the morphants versus the controls at 26hpf, but when I try to confirm whether the morpholinos targeted their specific splice sites by RT-PCR, I’m not getting an additional band.”

“Did you observe a decrease in the band intensity of the morphants in the gel?”

“No.” Hamir shakes his head.

“Well, morpholinos aren’t completely reliable, whether splice blocking or start site targeted. Maybe try doing a dosewise injection of the MO between one and two cell stage and then verify through RT PCR. Which stage are you using for your RNA prep?”

“I used 20ss and 26hpf.”

“Try preparing RNA from earlier stages and check for MO knockdown. Different MOs have different half life in the cell.”

“Okay, yeah.”

I love helping my staff and students solve problems like this. With a smile, I continue on to check in with others.

Finally, I have a chance to grab something to eat. I sink into the chair behind my desk with a plastic container of kale salad open in front of me and start going through emails. I smile to see one from Beck, sayingI want to do this,with a GIF of a couple about to have sex against a wall.

I admire the sexy video clip, then type back a response.That’s hot.

I watch the short clip a few more times, imagining Beck taking me like that. I shift in my chair. Ahem. I have work to do.

I clear a few more emails then notice the one from NHI. I straighten and blink. My heart picks up speed. I click open the email and scanned it.

No.

I frown.

That can’t be . . . I re-read it, slower . . . oh my God, no. We’ve been turned down for the grant.

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