Page 66 of A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love
“Yes, Taekwondo.”
“I don’t think you’d survive a kick.”
“Nori.” He let out an exasperated sigh.
“Vir.” She grinned, cupping her chin in her palm, her elbow resting on the table. “Got it. Communicate,” she added with a serious face.
Going slow was fine. And so was working on better communication. But what was she supposed to do with the gutter-brained, horny menace she was turning into?
It was hard for Vir to stop? The more important question was, did she even want him to stop?
Zooming out from the memory and back to the book in her hands, she glared at yet another mention of “growls” and “thrusts” and snapped the paperback shut before chucking it across the room. She pulled the covers up to her chin and squeezed her eyes shut.
Vir’s grip tightened around her as his rough hands explored every inch of her body before his fingers slowly slid under the elastic of her panties. Moaning at his touch, she looked up to find his bloody fangs elongated and all three of his eyes blinking in unison.
An older man, as if straight out of a black-and-white movie reel, stood in a far corner of the room: Carl Jung—she remembered him from pictures in Vir’s books.
“You dare mock my work as pseudo-science, woman,” he growled ominously.
Nori looked at vampire-Vir, who blinked his three eyes together again. “You knew this was never going to last,” he said before vanishing with a pop.
That’s when Jung rushed at her with a knife.
“Aargh!”
“Nori? Nori!”
She blinked to find Vir nudging her awake. Her hands flew to his face to sweep his hair aside before patting his forehead, looking for a non-existent third eyeball there.
“Were you having a nightmare?” he asked, his voice laced with concern.
“No.” Nori shook her head. “Just something… weird.”
“Would you like some chai?” Vir asked, smoothing her hair.
She instinctively leaned into his hand before nodding a quiet yes.
As the subtle notes of cardamom and ginger soothed her nerves, Nori made a mental note to throw the novel far into the sea later.
“Vir?” she called, glancing around the living room after a while.
She got up and searched through the studio. He wasn’t in the garden or the bedroom. The cardboard sign outside the bathroom was still set to VACANT.
Pushing the door open, she marched inside.
“Whoaaaa!” she whelped, slipping on a puddle of water, before slamming face-first into Vir’s bare chest.
His arms flung out to catch her. “Are you okay?” he asked.
He was wearing only a pair of black, baggy track pants, with a white towel draped over his head as if he’d been drying his hair, right before Nori unceremoniously crashed into him.
“Yes,” she mumbled, taking an awkward step back. “Sorry, the sign said vacant.”
She bit her lip, only reluctantly aware of her gaze as it scanned over him.
Vir pursed his lips as if trying not to laugh, and she knew, by the amount of heat radiating from her cheeks, her face was already the color of beets.
Stop ogling, you perv.She squeezed her eyes shut and spun around to leave.
