Page 11 of Falling for the Enemy

I walked a few feet away to gather myself, then turned back to him. “All right, new rule. You don’t exist to me, and I don’t exist to you. We don’t talk or look at each other or so much as take a breath in the same place.”

Jack shrugged. “Sounds like a good plan.”

“I’m sorry that you didn’t get to take your daughter wherever you were supposed to take her, but that has nothing to do with me, and I would have rather taken a bottle of nitroglycerin with me on this trip, cradling it in my arms and hoping it didn’t blow up, than have to spend the next two weeks with you.”

Jack rolled his eyes up. “I like that visual.”

“I’m done here. And if you’re going to be on that phone, just leave. I don’t want you in my lab.”

“Sounds good to me.” He walked away.

“I don’t think I’ve ever hated anyone as much as I hate you, Jack.”

He lifted his hand and waved over his shoulder. “I’ll wear that as a badge of honor, Lo.”

I was so angry, I was close to tears. I took some deep breaths, fanned my face to cool the heat of rage and opened the door to the lab. Robyn was going over the list of essentials as I walked in. Everyone looked up when they saw me.

Pam stretched up higher. “Where’s Professor Sinclair?”

“He had to use the little boys’ room,” I said to snickers. Pam didn’t care for the comment.

“I don’t understand,” she said with a sour lemon purse of her lips.

Ian laughed. “Well, see, there’s this place called a men's restroom?—”

Pam huffed and stood up. “Are we through? I have a lot of things to finish before tomorrow.”

I looked at Robyn, since she’d been in charge when I left. She shrugged. “Guess we covered the important stuff.”

Pam had scooped up her laptop and was off before Robyn finished. She swept out the door as if being chased away. I looked back at Milo, figuring he’d be able to explain her departure.

Milo grinned. “Pam has a major thing for the professor.”

“The professor?” I asked and then it hit me. “Professor Sinclair?” I had to tamp down a smile. Maybe I wouldn’t be the one to lose my position. The university frowned greatly on relationships between teachers and students. “Does he return the affection?” I asked and got some surprised and somewhat admonishing looks from the others. They didn’t realize I was in survival mode when it came to my position, and the only thing standing between me and possible future tenure was Jack Sinclair.

Milo shook his head. “Nah, he tries to avoid her as much as possible. He always makes me stay late in the lab if she’s still working. Even pays me with coffee gift cards to make sure the two of them aren’t left alone.”

I should have been fully disappointed that my evil scheme of slipping past Jack’s seniority because of scandal wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I felt some relief. Maybe I had more of a soft spot for the man than I realized. Nah, impossible.

“Well, Milo, thanks for sticking out the meeting. We’re glad to have you on the expedition.”

“Sure thing. Not like I can afford a vacation with all my student loans. It’ll be nice to see a new slice of the world.” He stood up and stared longingly at the last cherry Danish on the plate. He’d been the only good sport on the other team.

“Go ahead, take it with you,” I said. Norm released one of those “not fair” sighs that I hadn’t ever heard from a fully-formed adult.

Milo grabbed the pastry and headed out the door. I looked at my team. “Finish up whatever you’re working on this morning, so we can clean up and get out of here early. We’ve got a big few weeks ahead of us.”

Chapter Eight

JACK

“Daddy, it’s all right now that we’re not going to look for shells on the beach. Sutton is having a slumber party, and I get to use the Sleeping Beauty sleeping bag you gave me for Christmas.”

“Wow, Peanut, that sounds amazing. I’m glad, and don’t forget, we’ll plan the seashell hunt when I get back.”

There was a knock on the door. “Listen, sweetie, Daddy’s got to go. Have fun at the slumber party. You can tell me all about it when I get back.”

“Okay, Daddy, hope you find a lot of pretty mushrooms. Bye.”

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