One Dirty Night

Lucky things.

I sighed and glanced up at Kate, my fellow scientist and friend. “Anything on your end?”

She shrugged and tucked flaming red hair behind her ear. “Nope. You?”

“Lots of bumping and grinding but nothing spectacular to report.”

“Bumping and grinding, huh?” She giggled. “Sounds like my lacklustre night last night.”

“Another one?” I smirked, leaning back in my chair. “Seems like Tinder isn’t the place to find a man who knows what he’s doing.”

“Ugh, tell me about it.” She rolled her eyes and made a few notes on her tablet before scooting away from the bench and putting her petri dish into the incubator. “I held out until date three to make sure he wasn’t a murderer, as you do. And…he was nice. Good conversation. Great smile. He even booked a hotel, so I felt more comfortable than going to his place or mine. And…” She sighed dramatically. “It was so bad, Ella.”

I winced on her behalf. “What happened?”

“He never really got super hard, you know? I’ve heard that some men can’t get fully erect ’cause of blood flow issues and what-not. And I feel for them, I do. It’s not their fault. But…I’ve never been the recipient of one. I went down on him; he seemed super into it. He even almost came in my mouth, but…when it came time to do the deed, I…” Her cheeks went a vibrant red.

Clipping toward her in my heels, I took her by the shoulders and looked her square in the eyes. “You…?”

She flinched. “I barely felt him.” She ducked her face into my shoulder. “That makes me sound like I have a giant twat, but…I don’t. I swear!”

“A giant twat?” I burst out laughing just as the door to our lab swung open, and Nicholas appeared.

Oh, good lord.

The sight of him after a week of nothing stunned me silent.

Kate shot Nick a look, noticing the way my face drained of all colour.

A full week since Nick had come down my throat and we’d yelled our truths at one another.

A week of split shifts where we didn’t see each other very much.

A week of returning home to either find him out or locked in his room.

He no longer made me smoothies in the morning. He still followed me when I went for my run, but he didn’t come close enough to make eye contact. He ate out. He didn’t answer my texts checking in on him. He completely cut me out of his life, and living with him was a thousand times worse than anything I’d endured before the big top.

If I could rewind time and refuse to let him join me and Hunter, I would.

At least if we never slept together, he’d still talk to me. Coldly and with distance but at least I wouldn’t feel as if I’d lost someone ever so dear to me.

God, that night was a massive, massive mistake.

He froze as he noticed my hands on Kate’s shoulders, and her blushing cheeks bright enough to set the lab on fire. “Eh…did I interrupt something?”

Ripping my hands from Kate, I shook my head. “Nothing. Definitely nothing.”

Kate snickered. “Just telling Ella about my latest failure in the dating scene.”

“Ah.” Nick nodded, his white coat clinging to his muscular arms, unbuttoned and hanging over his black shirt and slacks. He still wore his glasses from whatever work he’d been doing, and his hair was neatly smoothed back, thick and begging to be messed. “Dr. Fitzgerald…can I speak to you for a moment?” He shot Kate a look. “Sorry to steal her away.”

“Not at all. I’m sure you have far more interesting stories to tell her.” Kate grinned, winking in my direction.

I frowned as Nicholas raised an eyebrow then slipped back into the corridor, closing the door behind him, obviously expecting me to follow.

Doing my best to get my jangling heart and racing pulse under control, I asked, “What’s with the wink?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Her mouth dropped open. “Everyone in the staff room is talking about it.”