Page 11 of Don't Bite the Botanist
He eyed the drink for a second before taking it from her. His fingers brushed against hers, and he jerked his hand back, spilling a bit of the coffee on his bed.
“Sorry,” Tressa blurted out, glancing around for a napkin or towel.
Stupid Spark. It should be toning down by now.She knew she’d always feel a slight toe-curling tingle from touching Ethan, but it shouldn’t be quite so shocking anymore.
“Don’t worry about it,” he grumbled, mopping up the worst of the spill with the corner of his blanket. “It was my fault. I think there’s a lot of static electricity in here, combined with the fact that I’m still a little jumpy.”
Tressa nodded and sank down into the chair beside his bed. “That’s understandable after your ordeal,” she replied, letting just a tiny hint of her soothing Gift slip into her words. She didn’t want to abuse it too much when it came to her mate, but a small hit of calm wouldn’t be too intrusive. “Would you like to talk about it?”
Ethan took a sip of the coffee and let out a moan. His eyes rolled back, a nearly orgasmic expression crossing his face, and Tressa was more than a little jealous that it was the coffee and not her causing that reaction in him.
“I see what you’re doing here,” he said, tapping the lid of the to-go cup as he settled back into his mound of pillows. “Trying to trick me into opening up. I’m seriously not interested in counseling, but I guessI wouldn’t mind chatting a bit. It’s not like I have anything else to do.” He gestured at the wires and IV keeping him tethered to the bed. “Plus, you did bring me the best latte I’ve had in three months.”
When Ethan’s lip quirked up, Tressa wished she could freeze time just to study all the nuances of his wry grin.
She held a hand to her chest in feigned shock. “Ethan Ambrose, did you just make a joke?”
His grin dropped away, and Tressa would have given up her eternal life to bring it back. It felt like every time she managed to put a crack in his wall, it immediately sealed itself up.
“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” Ethan said, picking at the heat sleeve on the to-go cup. “I’ve never exactly been the life of the party.”
An ache settled into Tressa’s heart at hearing the sadness behind his words. That wasn’t an ‘I dislike people, so I keep my distance’ comment. It was a ‘life hasn’t been kind, so I’ve lost my sunshine’ comment.
“And why is that?” she asked, hoping her coffee bribe elevated his mood enough for him to start talking. She might need to invest in pickaxes, but she was going to get his wall down one way or another.
Ethan shrugged and took another sip. Sadly, the orgasmic face didn’t return.
“It’s not important,” he said. “Look, I understand why you think I could benefit from counseling. Fuck knows the TV shows don’t accurately portray life after being in a coma. Because I have no family or friends to pay my bills, I woke up to my landlord telling me three months of unpaid rent meant my stuff got put into storage and he already leased my apartment out to someone new. Not to mention my position at work has been placed on an ‘indefinite hiatus’”—he made air quotes with his fingers—“which probably would have occurred even without the coma since thelaboratory I was working out of burned down. So I essentially have no job and nowhere to live. But that’s not the kind of shit that’s easily cured by a couple of hour-long sessions, no offense.”
Tressa sat back in the chair, carefully evaluating Ethan’s expression and body posture. His little speech had been more or less completely dispassionate given his situation, and it tugged at her heart—how he had so little left that he couldn’t even summon rage or sorrow as he idly poked through the charred wreckage of his life. Did he really have no family or friends? And nowhere to live? She wanted to dive into the bed and crush him with a huge hug, but at the same time, all she could think about was how his tragic scenario might actually work to her advantage. Convincing him to come back to the compound with her would be a piece of cake if he had nothing tying him to San Jose.
Before she could say anything, he sat up straighter and fixed an intent stare on her. “But none of that even matters because we both know you’re not a counselor, are you, Tressa?”
Wait, what?
She blinked at him, and her mouth opened and closed a couple times as she struggled to shift her thoughts back into gear.
“Don’t waste your time coming up with a lie,” Ethan said, leaning forward in the bed. “We both know the truth. So would you care to tell me who you actually are?”
“I… Um… What?” Her brain had been dancing in dopamine at the idea of how easy things were going with her mate compared to Saiden’s situation, but the lake of happy chemicals was quickly drying up under the suspicious glare Ethan leveled at her.
He downed the last of his latte, dropped the cup in the trash, then crossed his arms. “I’m a scientist, Tressa. If nothing else, I’m extremely observant. I was willing to suspend disbelief yesterday since I had a few other things clouding my judgment, but there’s no way I believeyou’re a counselor anymore.”
“Uh… I mean… Why would you…?”
So articulate, Tressa. Way to look like an idiot in front of the genius.
“The signs are relatively obvious,” he replied dryly, nudging his glasses back into place. “Your outfit is more cover girl than counselor. Not to mention you’re wearing the same thing you had on yesterday, which wouldn’t be the case if you’d gone home last night. Throw in the fact that you’re far too gorgeous for a thankless job, you have no ID badge like everyone else, you didn’t so much as blink when I mentioned vampires, and you somehow magically knew that I preferred vanilla lattes with almond milk over black coffee. No offense, but that all screams something is rotten in Denmark.”
Well, fuck.
She’d brought him her own favorite coffee drink in hopes they had similar tastes, but that was just coincidence. And since when did guys notice a girl’s clothing?
Wait, go back, did he say…
“You think I’m gorgeous?” she purred, unable and unwilling to hide the cheeky grin spreading across her face.
Ethan groaned and rubbed at his temples. “That’s what you’re focusing on?”
