Page 112 of The Scientist
“Hadley, please come with us,” Stuart said, rolling his eyes and guessing what was wrong with Lex. “I can already see Lex is going to be insufferable if you don’t.”
I didn’t realize that was an option, and I grinned broadly.“Could I? I’d love to see you work.”
His eyes brightened. “You’d really want to come?”
“Of course. It’s not often someone like me gets the chance to see the greatest neuroscientist of our time at work.”
Stuart made gagging noises from behind me. “Please don’t make his ego any bigger, Betty.”
Lex grinned at me. “Apparently, you’re the smart one.”
I laughed as we stood to follow the guys out to their cars.
“I can’t believe I’m going to have to share my Nobel Prize with a liberal arts major,” Stuart grumbled as we walked along the sidewalk.
The whole team—including Nicky, who was still shooting me dirty looks—got down to work as soon as we got into the lab. There was a buzz of excitement in the air as they each went to their respective stations and started pulling different equipment and textbooks out. I got a front-row seat to their animated discussion of the problem and why waveforms might actually be the solution.
Lex sat next to me, scribbling furiously on the sheets of paper in front of him. I tried not to bother him as he worked since he seemed to be fully engrossed in it. The tiny furrow in his brow was so endearing to me as I watched him concentrate. He had put his glasses on, which made it even harder for me not to jump his bones. I sat on my hands to keep myself from reaching out to touch him like I wanted to do so badly.
Peter came over and peered over Lex’s shoulder, watching him work out the variables on paper. When Lex was done, he paused to let Peter read it fully.
“Incredible.” Peter smiled as he looked it over. “This is some of your best work, Lex. You solved it in no time.”
“What did I say about his ego?” Stuart shouted from across the room.“Keep it up and he’s going to turn into a real-life Russian doll—completely full of himself.”
Lex smiled at me proudly. “It was all Hadley’s idea.”
“We’re definitely keeping Hadley around from now on,” Louis said, also looking over Lex’s work. “Every great artist has his muse.”
I started to laugh, and Lex leaned over to kiss my temple sweetly. “Let’s get started,” he said to the other guys.
I observed for a while, totally lost, but still fascinated. Lex tried to explain different points to me, but I knew he was wasting time when he could be working so much quicker, so I told him to just let me observe so he could get focused.
Once they seemed fully immersed in the experiment, I slipped out to get them some food.I brought back pizza, drinks, and snacks, knowing it was going to be a late one for them.
“You’re my hero, Hadley!” Dan said, running over to the pizza.
“Inspiration and pizza? Seriously, your girl’s amazing,”Louis said, digging in as the rest of them swarmed on the food.
“Calm down. It’s pizza, not the discovery of penicillin,”Nicky said, refusing to eat a thing.
“We already know how grateful you are for penicillin’s discovery, Nicky,” Stuart interjected. “Its ability to cure most venereal diseases is a matter close to your heart.”
She flipped him the bird before walking away.
Lex came over with a look of amazement, shaking his head. He leaned over and whispered, “I don’t deserve you,” close to my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
I said under my breath to him, “Keep whispering in my ear, and I’ll drag you out of this room and you won’t ever finish this experiment.”
His eyes flared as he looked down at my mouth. I bit my lip, trying hard not to think of every way I wanted that mouth of hison me again. Stuart discreetly cleared his throat, breaking us out of our little trance.
“Alright,” Lex said, his throat bobbing. “Let’s get back to it.”
They worked well into the night, and I ended up falling asleep across one of the tables. I felt warm hands picking me up, and I barely registered that Lex was carrying me back to their car. I fell back asleep immediately once we were in the car with my head in his lap, only coming to again once I felt him laying me down on his bed. I curled up next to him, totally exhausted, and drifted off to sleep in his arms.
Chapter 26
The first thing I did when I woke up the next morning was check my phone to see if Sarah had ever called or texted. She hadn’t, so I was hoping that was a good sign. Lex was still sleeping, his arm draped over my midsection. He seemed thoroughly asleep, so I crawled out of bed slowly, trying not to wake him. Once I got in the hallway, I called Sarah.