Page 55 of Hired for Research
Usually when she came down early it meant she wanted to stop for breakfast before heading to the hospital, but she shook her head. Maybe her stomach was churning the way his was.
“No. No time to eat anyway. There’s a lot I need to finish up at the hospital.”
Nodding, he held the hotel door for her. She was silent for a while before commenting about the better weather. He tried to talk to her as if it was any other day, but his eyes kept going back to the bag rolling along behind her.
When she’d left the exam room to do whatever it was she need to finish in the lab, Jett sat on the chair, staring out the window, wondering how he’d let himself fall so hard. It was ridiculous. She’d been in Eden for exactly two weeks, yet somehow he felt as if her leaving was going to change the place forever.
That he needed to leave too.
He shook his head, running his hands through his hair. It didn’t help that her scent lingered in the room, her coat a potent source of the vanilla sweetness plaguing him. As much as he’d hated the thought of cupcakes when he’d woken from his dreams, he suddenly craved one more than anything.
Moving to the doorway, he leaned against the wall beside it, watching the foyer for any sign of her coming out of the lab, or any alphas coming in to leave samples. He selfishly hoped none came because he didn’t want her attention on any other male, but if they didn’t, she’d likely spend the whole day locked away in the lab.
His phone vibrating in his pocket shook him out of the morose tangle in his head, Commander Cirlee’s name scrolling across the screen.
“Sir.”
“The doctor still leaving today?”
A fist wrapped around Jett’s throat, trying to prevent him from speaking. He swallowed, forcing it down.
“Yes.”
“Any incidents I need to be aware of so they can be addressed before she goes?”
Jett sucked in a breath, casting his mind over the past two weeks to be sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“Nothing serious. It’ll all be in my report.”
He should have been writing a daily report while on the assignment, but he hadn’t thought about it. The flirting and typical alpha bullshit might have irritated him, but none of it had been serious enough to follow up on.
“Good. I want your report tonight, then you’ll have the weekend off and return to your regular patrols on Monday.”
Two whole days with nothing to do felt daunting, but Jett knew better than to argue with the commander. If he said he’d rather work, the commander would want to know why, and that was an issue he didn’t want to discuss with anyone. Even his partner wouldn’t understand and would just use it to make fun of him.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Any idea how it’s gone? Did she get what she needed?”
He shrugged at the empty foyer. The last he knew she’d said she was happy with where she was with the research.
“As far as I know. She’s had a few hundred alphas volunteer for the blood and pheromone samples, though less than twenty for the MRI if I remember right.”
The commander grunted.
“Hopefully that’s good enough. Find out more if you can. I’ve got others asking me for the info.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good job, Comanne.”
The line disconnected before he could say anything else. He obviously hadn’t done good if he’d fallen for the doctor, but that washisproblem.
Time passed slowly as he waited, and it almost seemed like he was going to get his wish for no one to come in. Evelyn poked her head out to check in with him at one point, but it was almost time for lunch before a group of alphas showed up. She must have been watching from the lab, or the tech saw them come in and told her, because she came out before he had a chance to go get her.
Jett stood against the wall, eyes locked on Evelyn as she drew blood and swabbed their necks. It was a struggle to keep himself still as he watched her touching them, and from the glances he kept getting he knew his agitation was obvious. Thankfully it seemed to keep them from taking the chance on doing something that might set him off, and the last of them left before he lost his temper.
“Jett.”
