Page 73 of Drown Like Heaven
“What you did.” He gestured to the half-finished report up on my laptop. “The tests you chose.”
“Analysis of Variance for storage modulus, loss modulus, and phase-shifted response. And then Tukey-Kramer for all three as well.” I had to force my voice to remain confident, had to focus on not letting my nerves show.
“Why?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, attempting to keep my breathing steady. He’d leaned closer at some point. Notclose, but closer. I could smell him now. It wasn’t strong enough for me to place the scent, but I knew it smelledgood.
The darkness of the room seemed to intensify, magnifying the privacy we were in. There wasn’t another soul on this entire floor.
Nobody to witness anything.
“ANOVA to see if there’s at least one significant difference between the values of each variable for the six polymers. There is.”
“At what level of significance?” he pressed. The way he was sitting was so distracting. Spread knees, forearms draped over his thighs, chest leaned forward, like he actually had interest in what I was saying. Or maybe he was trying to make me nervous.
It was working, either way.
“P-value of 0.05.”
“And then the Tukey-Kramer tests? Why did you do those?” His brows were pulled together, sharpening the look in his eyes.
“To determine which materials had statistically significant mean values for each variable, by comparing them in individual pairs,” I answered, not letting myself look away from him.
“What conclusion did you draw?”
“That comparing the phase-shifted response yields the most meaningful results, and that PET is the most different compared to the other samples. It tends to store energy more than the other polymers.”
There was a pause, then he nodded, once.
“Good,” he said firmly, the single word sparking heat in my belly. My thighs tensed. “It doesn’t sound like you need my help at all. Your analysis is perfect.”
“Thank you,” I said, my voice suddenly soft. Shy.
Good. Perfect.
The words lingered in my head, drifted between my legs.
“My only feedback would be trying to gain some confidence in your work. That—” he gestured to my statistical analysis portion on the screen “—is going to be the best one I’ll read for this lab. Most groups don’t take it seriously, which is fine because it’s not a huge portion of the grade, but I like that you did it well. Thoroughly.Thoughtfully. It makes a difference.”
His praise was warm on my skin, adding to the lust growing hot in my core. I fought the urge to cover my face, my shyness only getting worse now that he was being so generous.
“Thanks,” I said again, even softer now. He looked at my mouth whispering the word, then away.
Dr. Killshaw started to get up, my breath stalling in my lungs at the way his pants had bunched, clinging to his muscular thighs. Outlining his bulge.Jesus Christ. I swallowed. The fabric straightened once he was fully standing.
“Do you live on campus?” he asked.
I shook my head carefully, making sure not to look down at his body again. I was still sitting and the positioning was making me think of… “No.”
“Do you have a way of getting home?”
“Um—” I paused, my mouth half-open. What if I said no? What would he do?Don’t be stupid.“Yes. My friend is going to drive me.”
I couldn’t tell if he was relieved. His following nod was noncommittal.
“Be safe. I’ll see you in lecture, Dakota.”
“I will. Bye,” I said lamely as he strode across the room and disappeared into the hallway, tension in his shoulders.
