Authors: Joni Hahn
Maybe, he just didn’t have the mind muscle she needed to consider him a serious candidate.
He thought he’d put the doubts behind him. That qualifying for D.I.R.E.’s super agent squad had squashed the voices in his head. His father’s words telling him he didn’t have what it took to be a Marine. His mother telling him he’d have to learn to
sit still
if he wanted to make the Corp. His grandfather telling him he’d surely get himself shot before he saw him again.
Staring down at the water droplets on his bare feet, Dylan knew he was good enough for the D.I.R.E. squad. He would give his all two hundred percent of the time, and would protect his teammates until his dying breath.
He just wished the people he cared about knew it, too.
In the meantime, what did it matter, really? There were dozens of available women at the compound. Why would he beat himself up over one that couldn’t see beyond the dramatic, upward slope of her nose?
“Fine by me, Dr. Hamilton.” Turning around, he walked backward. “And for the record, if my gut is right, we won’t be working together long, anyway.”
Sitting on her balcony, Teague took a sip of wine as she stared at the desert sunset. “How are things going at the lab, Amy?”
She knew D.I.R.E. listened in on her conversation, but she didn’t give a rat’s ass at the moment. She’d just rejected the most brave, beautiful, vibrant man she’d ever met. Nothing could make her feel lower than she did at the moment.
“Chaotic. Boring.
Weird
.” Amy sighed into the phone. “I miss having you around, T.”
She missed Amy, too. Around her best friend, she could say anything, do anything and she would never judge her.
Taking another sip of Merlot, she pulled up her legs on the chair. “I miss you, too, Amy.” She tried to lighten her mood, though her heart felt like someone had put a lead weight inside it. “So, start with chaotic. What’s going on?”
Her sigh sounded like gale force winds blowing over the airways. “No one realized how much you did until you left. Dr. Capri’s been delegating duties right and left - when he’s not hiding in his office.”
Frowning, Teague said, “Hiding in his office? Why?”
“That’s the weird part,” she said. “A couple of days after you left, he got a phone call that upset him. He even came and asked me if I knew whether your mobile number was still working.”
Holding the phone away from her ear, Teague checked the call log. No missed calls. D.I.R.E. must be blocking access.
“The reception is bad here. They didn’t go through.”
“In Hawaii?” she said, crunching on cheese puffs. Teague had learned the sound well over the years.
She had no idea if Mitchell wanted her to reveal that she now worked for D.I.R.E. They’d never discussed it. Then again, he’d probably assumed she had no friends.
“Tell Dr. C I’ll try to call him tomorrow.”
“Good,” she said, on a sigh of relief. “He’s making all of us a nervous wreck.”
Working with Dr. Capri for most of her life, Teague had learned to counteract his conniptions with calm reasoning. He always seemed to work like the devil snapped at his tail, on the go and always behind. If she hadn’t found a way to offset his fits, she would’ve been on Valium at the age of sixteen.
“How have you been feeling, T?”
Tonight in the pool, the double vision had worsened. Her diaphragm had tightened in a painful grip, leaving her dead in the water. Despite her medication, she knew her symptoms came and went with anxiety. Dylan’s strong hold had brought her momentary peace and given her a chance to ride out the initial storm.
Fatigue always plagued her, while the MS hugs and double vision dropped in on her at will, but never more persistently as since her arrival at D.I.R.E. She had to find a way to reduce her stress. However, until she corrected her DNA and put distance between her and Dylan, the self-induced pressure would remain.
Her long nights in the lab were paying off. She was close to perfecting her genes. However, the sleep deprivation wasn’t helping matters.
“I’m tired, Amy, but okay.”
“Are you getting enough rest, T? Or, are you working twenty-two hours a day and sleeping two?”
She hesitated. “I’m… sleeping… About four hours a day.”
“
T,”
she said, her voice laced with exasperation. “You
have
to get eight hours of sleep a night. You know that.”
“I’m busy, Amy.” She took another sip of wine.
“Lame, Hamilton.” Her voice turned light with humor. “Now, if you told me you were out with some hot guy, then I might consider that a good excuse.”
Teague furrowed her brow, stifling a wince. Dylan had been a distraction she’d never considered. When he wasn’t around, he consumed her thoughts and her dreams – when she slept.
Which proved she was a monumental fool. She may have told him to leave her alone, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t bug her, distract her… arouse her. When she was in his arms, she believed she was beautiful. Her MS faded into nothingness, her DNA and goals, back burner.
Teague laughed it off. “Yeah, no such luck, Amy. Maybe my next life.”
“Come on, Teague,” she said, as though mustering patience. “We had this discussion. Don’t tell me you’re hiding behind your electron microscope and MS? Do I have to order you to tape your Miss July picture to the mirror again?”
“Amy,” she said, with a shake of her head, “that was twelve years ago and pre-MS. Plus, they did a lot of airbrushing on that picture.”
“You’re the only person in the world that thinks you’re homely, T.”
Not everyone can have brains and beauty…
Dylan’s words floated through her semi-foggy brain. He’d said the words, but she didn’t believe him at the time. Flirtations were his specialty. How could she take them in the literal sense? He came onto women like other people waved hello.
Amy let out a deep breath. “I have to go, T. Believe it or not, I have a date.”
She couldn’t have been more shocked if Amy had said she was pregnant. “A date?”
“Remember Dr. C’s stockbroker - the good-looking blond?”
The man was GQ gorgeous. Amy used to fantasize about him while they ate sad PB&J’s and cheese puffs in the break room.
“
Yes..
.”
“He asked me out last weekend. We’re going out again tonight. Can you believe it? Me and…
him
?”
It hit Teague that maybe their comfortable friendship had made it too convenient to sit at home instead of branching out and taking risks. She was so proud of her friend.
“Amy, that’s wonderful.”
“And the sex, T… oh, girl…”
Swallowing down a sip of wine, she gasped. “You already slept with him?”
“T, it’s like the man was made to pleasure me.” She laughed aloud. “Mind blowing. Just,
mind blowing
.”
Teague sputtered a chuckle of disbelief. Could she do that with Dylan? Her heart told her Dylan wouldn’t only be about pleasure. If she slept with him, she would give up a part of herself, a part of that solitary comfort zone she had created.
It would mean more to her, but would it mean anything more than another conquest to him?
Does it matter, Teague? As soon as you correct your DNA, you’re taking his sperm and leaving
.
No matter how you look at it, there is no future with him.
“I’m so happy for you, Amy.”
“Oh, I don’t know if it’s anything serious, T. But, I told myself I couldn’t sit around, waiting for things to happen. I’m buried in a lab all day.”
Teague holed up in a lab all day, too. Dylan wanted her, and God above, she wanted him. What did one, one-night-stand matter?
Hanging up with Amy, Teague went to her computer and pulled up her calendar photo. Miss July.
Taken when she was eighteen, the photographer made her look like a swimsuit cover model. He’d made her appear tempting and sexy, turning a simple bikini into barely-there snippets of fabric, her makeup dramatic and her hair messy.
Closing her eyes, Teague pictured herself as the girl on the beach. She was young and carefree then, away from the girl’s home, away from Dr. Capri’s lab. The calendar had made her and her male classmates semi-famous, earning them thousands of dollars to make the trip to Germany. She’d garnered male attention she would’ve never received otherwise, and had even gotten her a few dates.
Of course, they never segued into more. The men weren’t interested in an intelligent woman that could carry on a conversation. They were looking for someone that wanted to jump into bed a half hour into the date so they could go back and brag they’d bagged Miss July.
Once she’d graduated with her PhD, she quickly learned that she had to alter her appearance once again. No one in her field took her seriously once they learned her age and saw the calendar photo. So, as quick as she’d gained some confidence in her personal appearance, she’d had to stifle it for her professional career.
Walking into the bathroom, she peeled away her swimsuit and studied her body in the mirror. With more flaws and cellulite than she cared to stare at for too long, it wasn’t bad. She worked hard at her dance workouts, when she could do them, and tried to eat healthy.
Other than college, this was the first time in her life she’d been away from the lab. Shouldn’t she be ecstatic and living life to the fullest? Who knew how long it would be before her symptoms worsened and she couldn’t work like she did now?
Depression came with the MS territory, but she really had no reason to feel depressed. There were others that suffered more than she, people that had good health but struggled with other issues. The episodes caused her to stumble, but she always got back up.
Just like Dylan.
She smiled, recalling his arrogant words.
I don’t plan to start now.
His fearlessness and persistence inspired her. She’d always lived behind her microscope. He’d always lived in front of… life, daring it to slow him down, daring Cyrus Matheson to stop him.
Daring her to trust him.
Stepping into the shower, she ducked her head under the warm spray. What scared her so much? Sleeping with him, knowing it would mean nothing? Telling him about her MS? Stealing his sperm, leaving herself vulnerable to a rejection she would surely receive, anyway?
She pounded a fist against the tile wall. Her feelings for Dylan could not interfere with her ultimate goal. Carrying a baby of her own, feeling life grow inside her, had always been a dream. She wouldn’t jeopardize that now, when it stood so close.
I don’t know if it’s anything serious, T. But, I told myself I couldn’t sit around, waiting for things to happen. I’m buried in a lab all day
.
She’d never considered herself a coward. Yet, compared to Amy and Dylan, she could step into the role of the lion in
The Wizard of Oz
without need of a script.
Time was not on her side.
It’s do or die, Hamilton
.
Picturing the Miss July photo in her head, Teague took a deep breath and let it out.
Do
, it was. She would
do
Dylan McCall.
***
Dylan nursed his fourth beer as he sat alone on the compound roof. He’d avoided the pool crowd, uncertain whether Teague had returned to the party. If she had, he didn’t want to be there. If not, he didn’t want to face Rose and St. James.
He knew he could get on people’s nerves. His energy level hummed at elevated most of the time, which some people just couldn’t handle. When he sensed that in someone, he tried to tone it down.
That’s what baffled him about Teague. She’d seemed to take his boldness, his impulsiveness in stride. His energy didn’t seem to intimidate her. In fact, she seemed to counteract him with her own, calm logic, leveling out the plane.
“McCall, pick up Rose and Saint and meet me in my office.” Mitchell’s voice rang over his armband, echoing in the inky darkness.
“Roger, that.”
Dammit. He’d have to face them, after all.
Extending his arms, the nanobots assembled a ladder down the side of the building. Climbing down, he ignored the partygoers staring at him as the nanobots trailed back into the channels. Meeting his teammates at the table, he nodded toward the door leading inside.
“Teague okay?” Jaydan said, as they made their way through the fitness room.
Dylan shrugged. “I guess so. I haven’t seen her.”
Saint said, “Did she hurt herself earlier?”
Stopping short, he turned around to face them. “Look, I don’t know anything about Teague, and I don’t want to know anything about her. Okay? If you want a field report, ask her.”
He stormed to the elevator and pressed the button. The doors opened right away. The others followed him inside.
“I’ve been where you’re at, man.” Saint’s voice echoed in the small chamber. “It sucks.”
Dylan glared at the elevator buttons.
“Yeah, Hope and I were on a damned bungee cord for a while,” Jaydan said. “Drove me crazy.”
Shaking his head, Dylan said, “Teague and I aren’t in a relationship.”
“You’re in a relationship,” Saint said. “Trust me.”
Jaydan clapped him on the shoulder. “Denial gets you nowhere.”
The elevator doors opened. His teammates followed him out.
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he said, as they made their way down the administration wing to Mitchell’s office. “I haven’t known her long enough to be in a relationship.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Saint said, opening Mitchell’s door. “You’re snagged, McCall. Face it.”
“Are you talking about Teague Hamilton?” Mitchell’s voice held an irritated edge.
Dylan stopped in the doorway, while the others sat in Mitchell’s guest chairs. Shit. He was not in the mood to discuss his lack of a love life with Teague Hamilton.
“Shut the door, McCall,” Mitchell bellowed, before releasing a sigh.
With a soft click, Dylan stepped over to an adjacent chair and plopped down. Mitchell’s razor-sharp glare zeroed in on him.