Headlong (Quinn Brothers Book 2)

by Samantha Black

  His words kept her warm as she climbed into bed and kept her company as she fell asleep.

  Abby finally crawled out of bed at midday after only a few hours’ sleep. She winced as she stood up and stretched the various sore bits of her anatomy. Despite her aches and pains, she was starving hungry. After a quick shower to wash out the bits of sand that seemed to have colonized every crevice in her body, she headed down to the canteen to grab some lunch.

  She grabbed a chair opposite Myra and started digging into her plate of food. “Mmmm, this is good.” She knew there was a dreamy smile on her face which had nothing to do with the food, and a whole lot to do with Noah.

  Myra was uncharacteristically quiet. She just gave Abby a tight smile and went back to contemplating her cup of coffee.

  “Where are Aaron and John?” she asked, when she’d swallowed her first mouthfuls. It was unusual not to find them in the canteen at this time of day. Especially Aaron. He always showed up when there was food around. “And Adam and Noah?” She wanted to play it cool, but she was already looking forward to seeing Noah again.

  Myra grimaced. “The guys are in the lab still. I haven’t seen Noah this morning.”

  In the lab? On a Saturday? As a general rule, they had a strict no-work policy on the weekends. Abby was starting to see the benefit of adopting such a policy for herself. “What’s keeping them there?”

  “Some hotshot professor from the US flew in this morning and asked to be taken around the lab right away. I left them to it.”

  “Hotshot professor?” she asked, with little interest.

  “Professor Bowron. Jed, I think he said his name was. He was asking after you.”

  That name made her look up from her plate in a hurry. “Jed is here? Now?” Her voice was high, and she couldn’t help the flicker of trepidation in her voice. Her hand flickered to her messy hair that she had tied up in a rough ponytail after brushing most of the sand out of it. He would be furious that she wasn’t already in the lab. And if he ever learned how much time she had taken off…

  Myra looked less than impressed. “Yes.”

  “Wow, that’s, uh, that’s great. I had no idea he was coming out here. He never said a word about a visit when I last spoke with him. It will be great to hear his ideas on my research, and to get some direction on how I should write up some of the results.” Even to her own ears, her enthusiasm sounded forced.

  Myra finished her coffee and set her cup down on the table with a bang. “I got the impression that he flew out to see you.”

  Not a chance. Abby shrugged and continued eating. “I don’t think the research I am doing is that important to him, so I wouldn’t expect so. He must have wanted to come out for something else.”

  “I mean, as in to see you.”

  She shook her head. “Oh no, we don’t have that kind of relationship. We’re colleagues, and friends, too, I guess, as much as you can ever be friends with the supervisor who holds your future career in the palm of his hand.” Her voice was even, but she could feel her heart ache as she spoke. “In fact, he got engaged to one of his ex-graduate students quite recently. Julia. She was a few years ahead of me. And he’s about to become a father, too.” She gave Myra a weak smile, feeling the need to explain and hoping it would relieve the coldness in Myra’s voice. “So you see, he has no reason to come visit me in particular.”

  The frown cleared from Myra’s face. “Interesting. That’s not exactly the impression he gave us this morning. I thought he was a jealous boyfriend come to check up on you.”

  And she had been out with Noah all last night and had slept in this morning until noon! What on earth had Myra been thinking about her? No, scratch that. She knew exactly what Myra had been thinking about her, and she wasn’t too pleased with Jed for placing her into this situation.

  “Maybe he thinks I’m planning to transfer to a university out here,” she said quietly. “Then he’d lose the funding for me, not to mention his name on all my publications, and the generous endowment that my grandmother gave to the college. That would be enough for him to come over as quite possessive.”

  Now that she thought about it, that was probably what Jed cared about the most. Money and prestige. Just like her parents.

  Myra eyed her quietly and took a slow, measured sip of her tea. “Well you’d better go see him when you’ve finished breakfast. Then he can stop harassing every male he meets here on your whereabouts.”

  Abby nodded, and the rest of their breakfast was spent in an awkward silence. When she finished eating, Abby picked up her plates and made her escape from the accusing eyes of Myra and back to the safety of her room, where she took much longer to get ready than usual. She wasn’t entirely sure whether it was for Noah’s benefit, or to make Jed realize what he was missing out on with her, but she was determined to look her best.

  She washed her hair again and towel dried it, painstakingly picked out her nicest shorts and the light white linen shirt that kept her cool and the sun off her shoulders but still managed to look reasonably stylish.

  Then she picked up a tube of mascara before placing it back, unused, in her makeup bag. She didn’t want the others to comment on her making an effort today, not in earshot of Jed. And not in earshot of Noah, either. Instead she swiped on some lip balm and rubbed a yummy-smelling moisturizer into her legs and arms. She took a look in the mirror before she left the room. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks flushed. Taking a deep breath, she walked out the door, hesitating before taking off towards the labs. She wouldn’t search him out, he was bound to find her soon. He could find her working, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of running after him around the complex.

  In the lab she opened a file she had been working on and slid a specimen of rock under a microscope. She tried to concentrate for a few minutes before giving it up as a lost cause and opting to sit in front of her computer practicing her deep breathing to calm down.

  The lab door swung open. “Abby?” Jed’s voice was like a smooth piece of silk draping over her skin. She turned around, feeling her cheeks flush already.

  “Jed,” she cried, with faked enthusiasm. She stood up and in a few short strides he was in front of her, before clasping her shoulders and drawing her in close to hug her and give her a light kiss on the cheek. She flushed more deeply at his touch and wriggled to get free. His embrace struck her as wildly inappropriate. After all, he was engaged. She was his graduate student.

  And she was seeing Noah now.

  Was it just her imagination or did he squeeze her arms a bit more tightly before she pulled away?

  Aaron was staring daggers at Jed’s back and John looked as though he’d rather be anywhere else than showing Jed around.

  “So good to see you again, my favorite student,” Jed drawled, and gave her a wink.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I thought it was high time I paid a visit down under. I have some work to do with you too, and the university thought it would be a good idea to send me here to do some research of my own.”

  It seemed kind of odd and last-minute to her, but whatever. Not her business. “How long are you staying?”

  “At least a week. I haven’t booked a return flight yet.”

  “And what about—” she didn’t have a chance to finish asking about Julia before Jed clapped his hands together and interrupted her with a loud remark on how hungry he was. “Where’s the canteen, gentlemen? Abby, would you like to join me for lunch?”

  She made a noncommittal noise. She definitely wasn’t going to tell him that she just woke up and had eaten breakfast half an hour ago.

  “Aaron can show you the way,” John said curtly. “I have a few things to finish up before lunch that I haven’t gotten to yet.”

  “It’s okay,” Abby said. “I can take him there.” She desperately wanted to be alone with him, and at the same time she didn’t want to be left on her own with him at all. She really didn’t know what she wanted.

&nb
sp; “I’m hungry,” Aaron said. “Follow me, Professor Bowron.” His voice sounded almost sarcastic, but Jed didn’t notice.

  “You can call me Jed,” he said jovially. “I find being called Professor makes people feel intimidated around me.”

  Abby was sure she heard John give a muffled snort as they left.

  Abby followed behind them. The corridors weren’t wide enough for them to all walk side by side, and she ended up next to Aaron with Jed striding behind them.

  Aaron walked so quickly she almost stumbled to keep up. “He’d better not be staying for longer than a week,” he muttered as they walked. “I’m bloody sick of him already.”

  She looked at him in surprise. He was generally pretty relaxed and wasn’t usually so forthcoming with criticism. “Why is that?” she muttered back. “He’s not so bad. You just need to get to know him.”

  Aaron made a rude noise and left her side as soon as they got to the canteen, hurrying to fill his plate and secure a seat next to Adam.

  Abby felt Jed hovering at her shoulder before she turned around. “So, uh, this is where we eat,” she gestured at the dining tables and the buffet bench laid out in front of them.

  Jed nodded. “And coffee, tea—where can I get one of those?”

  Abby motioned towards the end of the bench where a hot water tap was set into the wall, with jars of tea bags and coffee sachets set up nearby. “You can help yourself to that. And food is a buffet for all meals—we can eat here, or we can buy our own food and keep it in the kitchen. Most people just eat here though, it’s easier and the local store is so small and has a terrible selection of food.” Why was her heart beating so fast? Excitement? Or apprehension? She wanted Jed to like the place, and for her colleagues to like him, too, but things had clearly not gotten off to a good start.

  “Is there a proper coffee machine?” Jed asked, narrowing his eyes and not bothering to disguise the disgust in his voice at the idea of drinking sub-par coffee.

  “No, but the coffee’s actually not that bad,” she said defensively. Had he always been this quick to criticize?

  Maybe Jed heard the annoyance in her voice. He moved in to stand closer behind her and bent his head just slightly. “You smell like strawberries,” he said.

  She nodded, at a loss for what to say, then felt awkward at her non-reply and quickly started making coffee for them both. “So, now that you’re here we should go over my latest report. I have a bit of tweaking to do and it would be great to get your feedback on my conclusion. There’re a few technical questions I have for you also. I’ve written up a list that I was going to email to you, but we could go over those now that you’re here.” She was babbling, and she knew it. She poured them both a coffee and stirred milk into both of them, adding two sugars for Jed.

  He accepted the cup, his fingers lingering a second longer on hers than would be normal. “Thank you,” he said. “We can look over those after lunch.”

  They sat with the others. Jed had piled his plate high with food after commenting on how little selection there was available. Myra was nowhere to be seen, John evidently had a lot to finish as he didn’t show up again all lunch, and Aaron and Adam were deep in conversation, so Abby and Jed found themselves talking just to each other. Abby was busy describing the amazing outdoors that she had been exploring, leaving out Noah’s name—after all Jed wouldn’t need to know about someone who didn’t work on the complex. She was explaining how she had attempted surfing for the first time, emphasizing that she had gone out after she had finished a nine-hour day in the labs, when Noah entered the canteen.

  Chapter Seven

  Abby looked up quickly and leaned away from Jed, feeling a sudden pang of guilt.

  Noah walked over, confidently at first. When he saw Jed sitting so close to Abby, his face fell into a somewhat hesitant smile.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he said to Abby, flashing her a real smile, before turning back to Jed, his smile dropping, and sticking out his hand. “Nice to meet you mate, I’m Noah.”

  “Professor Bowron,” Jed said.

  Noah quirked an eyebrow at this but didn’t say anything. They shook hands quickly, letting go of each other’s hands as though they were burning. “I’m Abby’s professor and mentor.”

  Noah nodded and turned to Abby. “Abby, I was thinking, you’re probably exhausted today after last night but there’s another band playing in town tomorrow night, if you’d like to come with me?”

  She nodded eagerly. “What kind of band?”

  “It’s just a couple young guys that sing and play guitar but it’s fun to watch, I’ve seen them here a few months ago.”

  “We won’t be able to make it, sorry mate,” Jed replied coolly, though he had not been included in the invitation. “Abby and I have a bit of work to do. We need to get on top of it while I’m here.”

  Abby threw Noah an apologetic look. She had been about to say yes but Jed’s rude comment threw her. She really did need to spend time working with him and it would be silly to pass up the chance to get his input while he was here. “Jed’s right, I guess,” she said slowly. ”Much as I’d like to go, I really shouldn’t have any more late nights while he’s here.”

  “Okay, no problem. I’ll see you around at dinner?”

  “Sounds good. If you’ll still be around, that is?”

  “Of course I will be,” he replied, and left the canteen without a goodbye to anyone else.

  Abby and Jed finished their lunch and left for the labs again, where she spent the next few hours running over her work and where she had gotten up to.

  Jed seemed reasonably pleased with where she was at and offered her a few pointers of what to focus on for the next couple days.

  It was late afternoon before the burning question that had been hovering on the tip of her tongue all day finally forced its way past her lips. “Jed, why didn’t you say anything about Julia to me before?” She wouldn’t let him see the hurt in her face and she kept her voice as neutral as possible. But her lips quavered. Even asking this question was an unspoken admission of what she had felt for him.

  It felt like a betrayal of Noah, too.

  Why, oh why did Jed have to turn up like this, right when she was feeling a connection to someone else? Her heart felt like it was being torn in two directions and she didn’t know how to put it together again.

  He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was low and held a hint of a quaver in it too. “I’m sorry Abby, I should have told you. I know we’ve always maintained a professional relationship,” he cleared his throat, “but you’ve always been very special to me and I shouldn’t have left you to find out like that.”

  They were silent for a moment before Jed cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her face to meet his eyes. “There’s something you need to understand about the situation, okay?” His eyes bored into hers. “Julia—wasn’t honest with me. She told me she was on birth control. Things weren’t going well between us and I wanted to leave her. When I told her this, she told me that she hadn’t been taking her pill. We got her checked and she is carrying my baby.”

  His eyes were wide and unblinking. Abby felt her heart sink for him.

  “I couldn’t ask her to not keep it. It’s my child, even if I didn’t plan for it to happen this way. And her parents are very religious, they would disown her if they found out she had a child without a husband.”

  Abby felt a wave of indignation on his behalf. “She shouldn’t have done that to you, Jed. Even if her parents are religious.”

  “She can, and she has. And I have to do the right thing by her. I have to take responsibility. Even if my heart isn’t in it.”

  She might have known. The photos on Facebook where he had looked so happy—she had been so mad about them, but he must have been putting on a brave face. “Jed, I’m so sorry. That must be difficult for you.”

  He pulled her into a close hug and buried his face in her hair. “If only things were different, Abby,” he said hoarsely
.

  Abby pulled away from him. It was too late for his regrets. She had moved on now, and she was happy in her choice.

  Still, a small part of her felt a warm glow at being called special, and another part felt icy cold anger towards Julia for tricking a decent man and pulling him ever further away from her. Even though she no longer wanted him.

  “Now this conclusion,” he began, and the topic shifted back to work mode.

  They finished late and had to hurry to get back to the canteen for dinner. The conversation had flowed much more easily, and Abby almost felt like it was back to normal between the two of them by the afternoon.

  At dinner Noah spoke little and Jed dominated the conversation, with stories of his trip over, the university back home and how he’d caught an undergrad cheating on an exam recently. John murmured a few words here and there and Aaron and Adam looked as though they’d have better luck warming up to an iceberg. Myra was also uncharacteristically silent and left for bed early. Not long after, Noah left, too, muttering he had work early tomorrow.

  Abby felt the lack of sleep catching up with her now that the adrenalin from seeing Jed was gone. “I’m pretty tired too,” she said to Jed. “Think I’ll head off to bed now.”

  “You don’t want to stay up for a glass of wine? A late night in the labs, like the old days?” he asked with a grin.

  Abby shook her head, not wanting to be alone with him. “Thanks, but I’m exhausted. Did the guys show you where you’d be sleeping?”

  Jed looked like he was going to say something then stopped. “Yes.”

  “I’ll see you at breakfast then,” she said. “Goodnight.” She took off to her room, pausing only for a second to let in Mia, the young high school student who came in twice a week to clean. “Hi Mia,” she said. “You’re here late.”

  “Yeah, I had a bit of homework. Last year of high school, you’d think they’d want us to enjoy it, but it seems we have more work than ever.” She rolled her heavily-mascaraed eyes and tossed her hair.