Page 63 of On The Beach

"So…you're a Lord?"

He sighed. "Probably, but I don't use the title."

"Bottom is a weird name to pick." I removed his hands from touching me and took a step back, ensuring there was some distance between us.

"I didn't want to be Nicholas Augustus any longer, and my stepfather raised me so…." He looked sad. I wanted to probe further, but Iwasn'tinterested in Mick Bottom or Dr. Augustus or whoever the fuck he was.I didn't care.

"Whatever," I muttered.

"I'd like to attend your lab meeting and join the team."

I folded my arms. "We don't justallowanyone to be part of clinical trials."

"I'm still listed as an officer of the company," Mick said in a playful tone, which irked me even more. "It might be hard to kick me off a project I want to be part of, especially when you're using my patent."

I shook my head. "Mick, I don't want you here."

"I know, Babycakes, but I'm staying 'cause I want to woo you."

"What the fuck does that mean?" I asked, exasperated.

"To woo, according to the dictionary, means to try to gain the love of someone, especially with a view to marriage."

I blanched at the word marriage.

"You're certifiable."

"No doubt about it."

"What on earth is wrong with you? We barely know each other, and you want us to get married?"

He smirked. "No, Babycakes, that's the dictionary definition of the word woo. I'd like to…ah…courtyou."

"And what's the dictionary definition of that?" I askedsarcastically.

"I believe it is topay flattering attention to someone in order to win favor."

I wanted to screamagain. "Why would you want to win my favor, Mick?"

He looked me in the eye. "Because I'm in love with you."

I screamed. And then, because I was behaving like a crazy person, I took a deep, bracing breath to calm the fuck down.

"Let's go to the fucking lab."

"Good idea."

CHAPTER 21

bottoms alert

MICK

"Team, I'd like to introduce all of you to Dr. Nicholas Augustus," Belle announced blandly.

She was pissed off with me, and she had every right. I'd played her and, in that process, had ended up playing myself. Couldn't she see that? Couldn't she see what it had taken for me to come to her inherworld, my old one—the one I had left behind because I couldn't face it any longer?

Cato had warned me that Belle wouldn't see my coming to Cambridge as some grand gesture—she'd see it as just another way I was manipulating her. He was right. She had distrust written all over her face—as if she was waiting for theothershoe to drop, for me to do something unexpected, something shocking and not in a good way.

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