Page 16 of Enemies to French Kisses
“Enough!” Vincent jumps up. “The past proposals aren’t in the public domain, but they would be available through password-protected government RFP sites.”
“Exactly,” Laura says with a self-satisfied smile. “Including certain universities, such as the Central Texas State University Portal. And Central Texas just happens to be my alma mater.”
She stands taller, her hands on her waist with her hips thrown to the side, her riding boots suddenly the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I just might melt in a puddle of a former-man if I stare at her any longer.
Vincent pulls out a handkerchief and wipes his forehead. “Now that the source has been cleared up—”
“—and is legitimate—” Her eyes are on fire. I’m melting, someone save me.
“—can we all just work forward from here, please? I have three possible prototype structures that are more likely to fit the current regulations, but this might need to be adapted based on the insights from the alignment exercises.”
I can’t take my eyes off of her. She can’t take hers off of me. The energy between us is real, it has to be. This kind of intensity can’t be faked. Running through her veins is that same magnetic attraction, the one that makes me fill with anticipation as I walk through the door of Innov’ Biotech. This is the perfect moment to ask her about the engagement party, except—
“Well?” Vincent stands between us, waving his arms, and then buries his face in his hands. “I’ve lost them.Mon dieu,comment as-tu pu me mettre avec ces deux-là.”
“Du calme, du calme.” I manage to break free from Laura’s gaze, but only just. My heart is racing faster than I remember it capable of. But Vincent is right. We have two weeks and a common goal. “Let’s take a brief pause and come back to go through these points of alignment.”
“Thank you.” Vincent says it to the heavens, not to me, and marches out with his electronic cigarette in hand.
Laura sighs and turns back to the white board. I saunter to her side, hoping to regain a bit of that confidence I felt a moment ago, enough to ask her out.
What was I going to say?
She presses her hand against the white board, but doesn’t write. I wait for her to get her idea down on the board. At least, that’s my excuse. Meanwhile, I need to figure out what I was going to say.
“Do you have to stand there?” Her knuckles are white on the marker but she doesn’t turn.
“I was waiting to see what you were going to write.”
“You can wait from the other side of the room.”
“Or you could come with me to an event that promises adventure but more likely will involve grandstanding and too much champagne.”
Smooth.
“What?” she snaps at me like I just asked her to tap dance naked as Vincent enters the room smelling like passionfruit. Laura crinkles her nose. “Vincent, did you just take a trip to the tropics without us?”
“I ran out of chocolate mint.”
And the moment is gone.
Grandstanding and too much champagne? It sounded witty in my head, and is dangerously close to the truth, but that’s about the least enticing way to sell being an engagement party date.
“Listen, gents,” her voice is firm, but she avoids my eyes, “what I’m about to write here will define the boundaries of our proposal to the Dutch. We cannot replicate the errors of those who came before if we have any hope of getting this through their Ministry of Health. Buckle up.”
Buckle up. No truer words having ever been spoken. Watching her from behind as she madly scrawls on the white board makes me wish I were born a marker. She is perfectly created from head to toe and most definitely from behind.
The stakes of this project just keep going up.
CHAPTER7
Laura
“A year is a long time.”
The text from my brother is like a homing beacon.
“Why don’t you all come back for a bit and then return to Paris after a break?”
