Page 30 of Conspiracies and Chemistry

“Oh. Um, yeah.” I winced. This was my best friend. I could tell him what was going on. “No, not really. The results are good, but they’re not great. I feel like the perfect biomarker is out there, barely out of reach, and if we had longer, I could discover it. I’m terrified that we’re going to have to go with what we’ve got because of that fucking March first deadline, and it’s not good enough. Plus, Tessa is always on my ass, pushing me to work faster and take risks. Last week she asked me to halve the sample size so we could finish the validation faster. That’s insane, right?”

“Is it?” He flicked the switch to light up the sun at the center of the model.

“Of course it is. If we don’t run enough samples, we could make incorrect assumptions and think our marker shows correlation when it doesn’t. If we then take it to clinical trials and get a ton of false positives, it’ll set us back months.”

“Or…” He tipped his head. “It could put you ahead of schedule, and you’d get the test to market faster. You could catch someone’s cancer before it’s too late.”

“That’s what Tessa says. And yetshe’sthe one distractingmystaff with a separate project.”

“Another project?”

“Yeah. She pulled all the women aside and got them working on a different test. For endometriosis.”

“I’ve heard of endometriosis,” he said, “but I don’t think I understand what it is.”

“It’s a condition where uterine tissue develops outside the uterus. It can grow on the bowels or ovaries or elsewhere in the abdomen. And when that tissue is shed during the menstrual cycle, it causes pain and inflammation.”

He grimaced. “Every month?”

“And sometimes at different points in the cycle, like at ovulation. Plus, it can cause pain with bowel movements or during intercourse.”

“And Tessa’s trying to diagnose it earlier so women can get treatment sooner?” He stopped fiddling with the solar model.

“She’s trying to diagnose it, period. There’s no test for it other than laparoscopic surgery. Often, people with the condition are sent to gastroenterologists or urologists or even psychiatrists for testing and treatment of other suspected conditions. There’s a disappointing lack of awareness in the medical community.”

“Women’s health, am I right?” He rolled his eyes. “Carly’s tried, like, three doctors to find one who knows anything about perimenopause.”

“Exactly. Medical schools are getting better at teaching about women’s health, but a lot of experienced practitioners lack training.”

“So, it sounds like a good thing Tessa’s doing,” he said.

Tipping my head back, I glared at the ceiling the way I wished I could glare at Tessa. “Of course it is. But does she have to do itnowwhile I’m trying to getmytest done? The one that’s going to save the company?”

“Maybe her test can save the company too.”

“Maybe. Which makes it really hard to hate her.”

“Do you?” he asked. “Hate her? Because you talk about her a fucking lot for someone you hate.”

“She’s the bane of my existence. She’s Lex Luthor and Darth Vader and Hans Gruber rolled into one—” I barely stopped myself from sayinggorgeous.“One supervillain.”

But it was like he’d heard me. “She has really pretty eyes too.”

They sparkled like sunlight on shallow water. And god, her hair. I’d imagined touching it dozens of times. How silky it would be. How it’d feel wrapped around my fist. Or tickling my face as she straddled me?—

“Thought so.” Andrew chuckled.

Realizing I’d said at least some of that shit out loud, I groaned. “Fuck off.”

“Maybe you should stop fighting it and ask her out.”

“Yeah, because dating someone I work with is a good idea.” Even if I did get up the courage to ask, she’d never say yes. She was way too smart to risk damaging our delicate working relationship. And so was I…I hoped.

“You two are peers who both report to Dr. Perrell, so there’s no conflict of interest. If you finally admitted you’re attracted to each other, you wouldn’t be repressing all these…feelings.”

“It’s not ‘feelings,’” I insisted, not sure if I was trying to convince him or myself. “It’s lust, pure and simple.”

“Or obsession.” He didn’t even bother to lower his voice.

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