Page 52 of Love and the Laws of Motion
“I see.That’s quite impressive.That said, I still have reservations about allowing you to continue working on your thesis without your advisor present.”
“But—”
He held up a hand to silence her.“For the moment, however, since we don’t know how long that will be the case, I’ll let you proceed.But if Professor Finch doesn’t return to work in a reasonable amount of time, we may need to reconsider.”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”Livie’s heart was pounding and her palms were sweating.Could Langley really yank her off Janet’s research?
“I’m sure you’re right.”Langley’s falsely sympathetic smile was back.“But we need to keep an eye on your academic and research progress.We’d hate for this unfortunate incident to hinder you earning your PhD, right?”
Livie dropped her eyes to the carpet, unwilling to look at his fake sad eyes for another second.“Of course not.”
There was a pause before Langley spoke again, his voice shifting into a new register.“Olivia, you know I’d love to have you working on my research.”
She lifted her head and gaped at him, not sure she’d understood correctly.“What?”
He smiled again, but this one wasn’t full of fake sympathy.“You’re a very bright young woman.I’m sure I could make full use of your talents.”
With a clumsy shove, she pushed her chair back and scrambled to her feet.“That’s very kind of you, Professor Langley, but I’m sure Janet will be back soon and I’ll be hard at work on her research.”
“I hope so, Olivia.I hope so.For your sake, if for nothing else.”
She didn’t buy his concern for a second.He was jealous of Janet’s research, of her success, and here he was, looking to torpedo her work the second she wasn’t there to defend it.Well, he’d have to go through Livie first.
“Is there anything else, Professor?”
“Not right now.Have a good day, Olivia.”
She turned and left without another word.
Chapter Twenty-One
“He saidwhat?”Nick looked up from his laptop.
“He wants me to move over to his research group.”
Livie was pacing slowly around the guest room, head down, eyes on the floor—what she did when she was trying to work out a thorny problem.He was on the bed, leaning against the headboard, computer in his lap.They’d been wrestling with the Hubble program but had gotten sidetracked as she told him about her meeting with the new department head.
“That’s not what you said.You said he could make use of your talents.”
Livie waved a hand in the air.“What he meant was that I’m a good student and he wants me on his project.”
This Langley guy sounded like a total asshole, and something about the meeting made Nick’s hackles rise.
“Are you sure about that?Sounds like the guy was coming on to you.”
Livie scoffed.“Oh, please.Why on earth would he even think about me that way?”
Against his will, his eyes roamed down Livie’s body as she paced back and forth in front of him.
That damned kiss.Since that stupid kiss last week, he found himself noticing all sorts of new things about Livie.Like how small her waist was when he caught a glimpse of it under those old flannel shirts of her father’s, or how long her legs were, and how perfectly curved her ass was, even in those shapeless jeans she wore.He’d been aware that Livie was attractive before, but he hadn’t been aware thathefound her attractive.And now that he did, he didn’t have a clue what to do about it.
“No idea whatsoever,” he muttered to himself.
“Whatever.For now, Langley’s going to let me move forward on the Hubble project on my own.I’m not going to worry about it.”
He hesitated before he asked the obvious question, the one Livie didn’t want to face.“What happens if she doesn’t come back?”
It wasn’t an unreasonable conjecture when you were dealing with a woman Finch’s age, suffering a massive heart attack and then a stroke, too, left with damage so severe she was still hospitalized and largely unresponsive.None of it was good.Every day that passed made it more unlikely that Finch—the Finch Livie knew and loved—was going to make it back from this as she’d been before.
