Perfect Chemistry (2 page)

She spotted Jane and Marissa parked at their usual table. Signaling that she’d be right over, Sidney joined the clusterfuck of a line already backed up past the sandwich station. Damn it. This is what she got for dillydallying with inappropriate fantasies of her bosses. Grumbling, she snatched a tray and plopped a bottle of water on top of it. Truthfully, if it were up to her they’d check out the new sushi joint in the Sterling Complex across the street. But Marissa’s obsession with the hottie exec from the suite adjacent to hers meant they were on reconnaissance every day at noon. And since best friends supported each other in covert stalking missions, Sidney wasn’t about to fail in her duties.

The line crept forward at a snail pace. By the time she snagged her ham and cheese rollup and paid at the register her stomach was bitching up a storm over its empty state. She slid into the available spot next to Jane and ripped off the sandwich wrapper. Several bites later she came up for air and returned Jane’s and Marissa’s stares with a squint. “What? I’m hungry.”

Jane’s expression turned shrewd. “You’ve been having dirty thoughts about Leo and Devlin again.”

“No,” Sidney replied automatically.

“You are such a crappy liar.” Marissa scooted closer to the edge of the table and plunked her elbows down on either side of her tray. “The only time you attack your food is after being around them. And it’s been getting worse lately.”

Sidney dropped her sandwich onto her plate. “First off, it’s completely weird to pay attention to my eating habits. And second, what the hell does it have to do with my bosses?”

Marissa rolled her eyes. “
Hello
. Your repressed desires are clearly being transferred onto food. Have you noticed that everything you order these days is basically phallic shaped?”

“Yeah, Sid.” Jane waggled her eyebrows. “And you particularly seemed to enjoy that big, juicy bratwurst yesterday.”

“You two are nuts.”

Jane glanced at Marissa. “Now she’s thinking about nuts. She’s in worse shape than we thought.”

Scowling, Sidney grabbed her sandwich. She started to take a bite but instead gaped at the suggestive way she was holding the rollup. It wasn’t exactly like she was full on fondling it, but close enough that she was garnering interested stares from businessmen the next table over.

Oh Lord. Jane and Marissa were right. Uncertain whether to laugh or cry over her pathetic condition, Sidney settled on a groan. “Guys, what am I going to do? I can’t keep having all these sexual thoughts about Devlin and Leo. It’ll drive me insane.” And likely gain her a lucrative side career in food fetish porn.

“I say you show up at work naked one day and show them what they’ve been missing out on.” Jane raised her bottle of iced tea in a mock toast.

She gave Jane a droll look. “Right. That will get me that raise I’ve been hoping for.”

“Maybe it will. You do have a great rack,” Marissa supplied helpfully.

Sidney gave her friend a pointed look. “You spend way too much time watching me eat and inspecting my boobs.”

Jane snorted. “Cut the girl some slack. She needs something to fill in the gaps in between visually molesting her McHottie’s buns of steel.”

Marissa’s coloring rivaled a lobster’s. “I don’t stare at his butt.” She averted her gaze when Sidney and Jane chuffed in response.

“It’s a damn wonder you two Pollyanna’s ever get laid,” Jane quipped, snatching a grape from Marissa’s fruit cup. “A tortoise makes faster moves than you both.”

“Pollyanna? Seriously?” Sidney shook her head. “Do you not remember who you’re talking about here?”

Jane jabbed her fork in Sidney’s direction. “If you bring up the
one
time you had sex in the backseat of a car, I will reach across this table and bitch slap you. That barely qualifies as public sex, for fuck’s sake.”

“Does that mean I have to return my Slut of the Year tiara?”

“Hell yes. You’re an embarrassment to the crown.”

She grinned at Jane. “I love you, Skankarella.”

“Love you more, Spunk Pocket.” Jane blew her a kiss.

Not about to leave Marissa out of the affectionate name calling, Sidney and Jane christened their friend with a suitable moniker before gifting her with obscene tongue gestures that earned giggles from Marissa and more wide-eyed appreciation from the businessmen at the neighboring table. Sidney cleared her throat. “One of these days we should probably tell them that we’re not lesbians.”

“Nah. I see it as our civic duty to keep providing them prime jerkoff material. Especially the scrawny one. You
know
he’s not seeing any action. Poor turkey-necked bastard.” Jane licked her fork lasciviously, causing the guy in question to choke on his burger.

Sidney grunted. “You are far too easily entertained by your superhuman ability to ruthlessly tease every man on earth.”

Jane twitched her nose before tossing her fork down. “Not
every
man, remember?” Although she used a breezy tone, there was no missing the flicker of vulnerability in her eyes. It was clear that she hadn’t completely recovered from Jack Brewster’s rejection.

Feeling like a jerk for not considering her words before letting them spill free, Sidney curled her fingers around Jane’s. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” The tight line of Jane’s mouth softened and she smiled as she squeezed Sidney’s hand. “Thank you for asking though. I’m not wasting another breath on Jack. But
you
are another story. You’re right about it not being healthy for you to continue obsessing on your bosses. I worry it’s going to stop you from pursuing a
real
relationship with a dick.”

“Um, got news for ya. I’ve had plenty of relationships with dicks. That’s a large part of my problem, if you’ll recall.”

Jane waved a hand dismissively. “I wasn’t speaking figuratively. I meant an actual dick.”

“You should have used penis to clear up any confusion,” Marissa pointed out.

“Thank you, Boner Nazi. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“I was just trying—” Marissa broke off with a resigned exhalation. “Oh forget it. The important thing is you’re right on the money with this one. Sid does need to move on from her fixation with Leo and Devlin.”

“Jeez. Thanks for making me feel like an obsessive loser.” Well, on the bright side, at least having it pointed out to her in no-nonsense terms had officially killed her appetite. Which was a blessing, considering she’d been eyeing the cannoli at the desert counter. No doubt Jane would have given her major shit for that choice.

“You’re not a loser.” Jane squeezed her in a one-armed hug. “But you said it yourself—you can’t continue going on this way. And living like a nun because you’re afraid of constantly attracting the wrong men isn’t the answer either.”

“I know.” Sidney picked dejectedly at her napkin. “I need to pitch the life jacket and dive back in the dating pool.” Saying it was one thing, following through on it a whole other matter. Because it wasn’t just that she was scared of repeating the same mistakes over and over and over. She also had zero desire to go out with the majority of men she knew. Sure, she could do the blind date thing. Or sign up for one of those online matchmaking services. But the thought of wading through what would most likely be a long string of toads in search of her prince made her nauseous. Especially since the only
princes
she was the slightest bit interested in getting naked and horizontal with remained so tauntingly within reach...and completely off limits.

Right on cue, her stomach rumbled. She shot a longing glance toward the dessert station and started to lift from her seat. Jane grabbed Sidney’s wrist and shook her head.

Gusting a weary breath, Sidney plopped her butt back down. Great. No Leo and Devlin. No sex. And no cannoli.

This wasn’t going to end well.

CHAPTER TWO

“Smooth move pretending to lose that file in order to get Sidney to yourself for five minutes.”

Rubbing his nape, Leo tried his best attempt at a confused frown. “What?”

Devlin grinned. “Nice try, but you’re the shittiest con in existence. Not that I blame you for being a sneaky conniving weasel. Her ass looks fucking incredible in that skirt.”

He didn’t need Devlin to point out the obvious. Every time Sidney bent over, Leo damn near busted out of his briefs. And if her lovely posterior wasn’t enough to torture him with, her breasts were a distracting fascination all on their own. Too many days he dazed off at his desk or in the lab imagining the full weight of her tits filling his palms and his tongue running slow, teasing circles along her areola and nipples. How sensitive would those luscious ripe berries be? That was the taunting question front and center in his mind on a daily basis. It didn’t lessen the fact that he respected and valued her as an employee. But it certainly
did
complicate matters. Eighteen months ago Sidney had walked through the doors of Phenom Laboratories, and Leo had instantly been smitten by her intelligence, charm, and yes, brick house body. As had Devlin. They’d debated the wisdom of having that kind of temptation under their noses day after day. But none of the other job candidates had offered the same qualifications as Sidney. And bottom line, they liked her. It’d seemed like a no brainer.

In the meantime, Leo continued suffering through the longest documented case of blue balls known to mankind. Not that there hadn’t been other women. He was no damn eunuch. By any means. He loved women and enjoyed the hell out of sex by regularly sating his admittedly kinky appetites with those of a similar persuasion. But those females weren’t Sidney.

He’d give his left nut for just one taste of her. The enticing scene unfolded effortlessly in his mind. He’d take his time tying her to his bed. He’d take an even longer time charting every inch of her creamy skin with his mouth, until she was quivering and shaking with need underneath him. Usually he enjoyed slowly building a woman’s pleasure to the absolute peak with a vibrator before he got her off with his tongue, then again with his cock. But with Sidney he’d gorge on her like a ten course feast immediately from the start. There’d be no centimeter of her pussy that wouldn’t know the feel of his tongue, fingers, and cock. And when she was seconds away from coming, he’d loosen her from the bindings, flip her onto her stomach, and—

Devlin’s chuckle shattered the idyllic fantasy. “You’re going to need a cold shower before she gets back from lunch, you damn horndog.”

Leo followed his partner’s knowing smirk down to his fly, and grimaced at the obvious tenting going on there. If it’d been any other guy checking out his package, he would have knocked them flat on their ass. But seeing how he and Dev had shared more than their fill of women, nothing was sacred or secret between them. Including their raging boners for their personal assistant. “Guess I’ll have to count baseball stats since I’m SOL for the shower.”

“Here, got something even better for you.” Dev handed over a sheaf of papers. “I ran the comparisons on batch 25 and 38. Results are even more disproportionate than we originally thought.”

Leo scanned the top readout and cursed under his breath. “I don’t understand why the results are jumping around to this degree. We’ve kept the ratios consistent. Contamination isn’t a factor. What the hell is going on?”

“At first I thought it might be a natural variation with the individual test subjects, but almost a quarter of these results are from the same people.”

Leo frowned. “Xtacy is losing potency?” He didn’t want to consider it. Not after the year of hard work he and Dev poured into this project. And especially not when they were a month out from presenting the formula to the big wigs at Scentual Sensories. If they landed this deal, it would mean huge things for him, Dev, and the rest of the Phenom team. Professionally, it’d put them on the scientific map. But it was so much more than that for Leo. Xtacy was a means of helping countless couples rediscover intimacy in new, powerful ways. There were plenty of aphrodisiacs and sexual enhancers on the market, but none of them came close to the potential of their miracle product.

Only it looked like their Wunderbar wasn’t so full of the wonder juice these days.
Son of a bitch.
“So what do we do? Scrap the last several months and focus on tweaking the ratios?”

“Even with the degraded results, we’re
still
a better product than any of the competition.” Devlin held up his hands defensively when Leo pinned him with a hard look. “Damn it, I’m just trying to stay positive about this.”

“By suggesting we deliver an inferior product?”

“That’s not what I fucking said, and you know it.”

“So we’d be a notch up from everyone else.” Leo shook his head. “That isn’t good enough. Not when we’re better than that. I refuse to settle, and I
thought
you did too.”

“I did.” Dev rubbed his forehead wearily before meeting Leo’s gaze. “I still do.”

“Good. Then no more talk of being second best—even if it’s only in reference to our own product.”

Dev’s mouth quirked. “I see that the bedroom isn’t the only place you’re bossy.”

“Damn straight. Someone’s gotta keep you in line.”

“As long as you don’t get any fucking designs on my ass.”

Leo grunted. “You could be so lucky.”

His laugh trailing after him, Dev headed for the door. “I’ll be getting everything set up in the lab. See ya in there when you’re done choking the chicken.”

Snorting, Leo crumpled the top printout and lobbed it at his partner. The quick-reflexed jackass ducked from sight without getting pelted. Resting back in his chair, Leo drummed his fingers restlessly on the upholstered arms. This setback was the last thing they’d needed to deal with. Even if he, Dev, and possibly Joe and Margie logged in some extra hours, there still might not be enough time and sufficient data to take to Scentual next month. Maybe they should just bite the bullet and request an extension now. While he was mulling that option, a shadow fell across his doorway. Figuring it to be Dev back to harass him, Leo growled. “You can stop skulking out there trying to eavesdrop, you damn pervert. I’m not choking the chicken.”

Dead silence met his surly response, followed almost immediately by the stealthy tread of footsteps beating a hasty exit. Leo froze in place.
Aw shit.
He shot to his feet and booked it around his desk. He dashed out into the hall just as Sidney scrambled into her chair. Her cheeks blazing red, she began furiously typing away on her keyboard despite the fact she was half sprawled out of her seat and the casters seemed determined to roll her in the opposite direction of her monitor. Her awkward position revealed a mouth-watering glimpse of her thigh thanks to the hiked status of her skirt. Apparently unaware of the peep show she was awarding him and his riveted response to it, Sidney blew at the temperamental chestnut lock of hair that’d fallen into her eye and flashed him an overly bright smile. “Hey! Fancy seeing you here. I thought I was the only one around. You know, in this immediate area. Where I haven’t moved from in the last two minutes. At all.”

“You were outside my office a few seconds ago.”

“No.” She drew the word out with a strained laugh. “Where would you get that crazy idea?”

“I saw you running back to your desk.”

“Crap.” She returned her focus to her computer and stared at the screen intently. “I’m sorry. I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping...on anything you swear you weren’t doing.”

“Of course you weren’t. I thought you were Dev. That’s why I said what I did.”

She jerked her gaze back to him. “Oh.” Another laugh fell from her lips, this one the genuine article. “That sounds like something me and my BFFs would do.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You’d tell each other to scram because you’re choking the chicken—or not, as the case may be?”

“Pretty much. We’re, uh, rather uncouth.” She blinked rapidly. “Not that I think you are, or anything. I was referring entirely to myself, Jane, and Marissa. Seriously, you should hear some of the perverted crap that comes out of our mouths. Totally crude, disgusting, and...I should probably shut up now.”

Leo grinned. “But it’s just getting interesting.”

She snorted. “Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. Don’t need my boss knowing precisely how lacking I am in common social graces.”

The reminder of their working relationship immediately sobered him up. He’d never do anything to violate her trust in him or make her uncomfortable. It was one of the main reasons he refrained from overindulging his desire to spend as much time with her as he could. He wasn’t about to give her the impression he was one of those lecherous bosses who invented excuses for getting to ogle her cleavage. And he sure as hell didn’t need to put himself in a position where he was sweating any more for her than he already was. So as much as he was enjoying getting treated to this new faucet of her personality, he needed to watch his step.

Bitter regret weighing on his chest, he inclined his head. “I should be helping Dev out in the lab anyway.” He stared down at her upturned face, battling the magnetic draw of her soft blue gaze. Everything about her called to him. The direct openness of her nature and the sexy sweetness she exuded. Every damn bit of it hit him square in the solar plexus and clanged warning bells in his head. Because if he stood there one second longer, he was going to give in to the devil whispering temptation in his ear.

Pivoting on his heel, he made fast tracks for the lab.