Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“How do I know you’ll be here the next time?” she asked. “I get that this was terrible for you. I can absolutely imagine how you don’t even look up when you’re in a work panic. But I really, truly wanted to be the person you turned to during all of this. And you said it yourself to me once: Bad things happen all the time. That’s life. So, if something huge happens at work, and you don’t know how to process it, do I have to worry that you’re going to retreat into yourself and not speak to me for eight days?”
“No. I’m going to work on that. I promise.”
Jess stared up at him. Dark eyes, thick lashes, full mouth. That smooth neck she fantasized about licking and biting her way down to the world’s most perfectly muscled collarbones. Inside that cranium was a genius-level brain, and—when he let himself out of the lab for a breath—River Peña had the emotional depth of a man who’d already lived an entire lifetime. He talked stats with her, and the little heart that watched stories with his abuela still beat in his chest. He loves me, and he loves my kid.
“I don’t want to break up, either,” Jess admitted.
He bowed his head, exhaling slowly. “Oh my God. I really wasn’t sure which way that was going to go.” Reaching forward, he cupped the back of her neck and gently guided her forward, into his arms. “Holy shit, about your mom. I … this is a bigger conversation, I know.”
“Later,” Jess said, pulling back and resting her hand on his chest. “Is the company going under?”
He shook his head. “In the end, they only fabricated our score. Everything else reproduced within the standard margin of error.”
The next question Jess had rose shakily to the surface. “Did you ever run our samples together?”
“I did.” Reaching into his blazer pocket, he pulled out a small sealed envelope. “For you.”
A potent mixture of dread and excitement streaked through her. “Do you know what the answer is?”
He shrugged, smiling.
“Is that a yes or a no?”
Nodding once, River admitted, “I do. I didn’t trust anyone else to run it, but I worried someone would, eventually, out of curiosity.”
Chewing on her lip, she fought the internal battle. Should she look? Should she not? Voice tight, Jess told him, “I don’t care what our score is. I never have.”
He laughed. “So don’t look.”
“Do you care what our score is?”
River slowly shook his head. “No.”
“It’s easy for you to say that because you’ve seen it.” She paused. “Does that mean it’s bad?”
Again he shook his head. “No.”
“Is it something wild? Like the ninety-eight was actually right?” He paused, chewed his lip, and then slowly shook his head a third time. Jess blew out a frustrated breath. “Do you feel better about it now?”
“Jess,” he said gently, “all you have to do is open the envelope to know.”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “I don’t want to. I understand that you needed to see the data, but I hate that you needed to see it to choose me.”
He quickly reacted, shooting an arm around her waist. “I don’t. I’m telling you; this score doesn’t matter to me. I love you because I love you, whether or not I’m supposed to.”
Jess squinted up at him, picking these words apart. “Okay, I’m going to assume that we’re a Base Match.”
He nodded, satisfied, and put the envelope away. “Sounds good.”
“Are we?”
River grinned, saying, “No,” and she growled.
His expression softened, and he glanced at her mouth and then back up to her eyes. “Do you want me to tell you or not?”
“Not. You know what we statisticians say: all models are wrong, but some are useful.” He laughed. “I don’t want to know the score, River.”
“I won’t ever offer again.” He stepped forward and wrapped his other arm around her waist. “Can I do this?”
Jess nodded, looking up at him through her lashes. It felt so good to have him this close. When she closed her eyes, she was able to focus on the desire thrumming through her blood like a drug. They had hours before Juno came home.
She reached forward and ran her hand up his chest, along his neck, and traced his lower lip with her thumb. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I missed you.”
“I’ve been here the whole time.” She gently pinched his chin.
“I’m feeling incredibly clingy.” River bent and rested his lips over hers. “I love you.”
Emotion welled up in her throat, and Jess wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, too.”
“FYI,” a disembodied voice said from the iPad, “if you think I haven’t written down every word of this, you’re both high.”
WITH A SMIRK, River turned and walked over to the iPad, ending the Zoom meeting with a quick tap of a finger. When he looked back at Jess, his smile immediately took on a ravenous edge. “Guess I wasn’t the only one who forgot she was there.”