New and…Improved? & Andrew in Excess Read Online Free PDF

feet up on her desk as she simultaneously chompedon a piece of gum, polished her nails metallic green and took a message.
    Becca shut the door behind herself.
    Automatically straightening, Cookie set her feet down, a professional smile and a finger raised to indicate she’d be off the phone any second.
    Then her jaw dropped.
    Smiling weakly, a little startled by this reaction, Becca waved at the stunned woman and headed toward the back.
    Then she stepped into her favorite place in the world. The lab. Her home away from home. It was here that she felt accomplished, as if she was making a difference. And she was, she reminded herself. At S.S.L. she was making a difference. Viruses were their specialty, and after intense study, they were coming closer to understanding them better. Her goal was to be able to treat them.
    Without blowing anything up.
    The lab wasn’t large. There were six work stations, all of which were filled at the moment with various projects. Through the lab and down another hall were a set of offices, including Kent’s.
    Dennis, a junior chemist, sat at the first work station. He was superbly intelligent, funny, cocky, and a born troublemaker. He had at least one date a weekend, the details of which he enjoyed sharingwith everyone on Monday mornings. Though he joked around with Becca as much as he did everyone else, she knew he thought her sweet, kind and…well, a bit stuffy.
    Wait until he heard about the parasailing incident.
    At the next work station sat Jed. He was the second most reserved one in their midst, after Becca herself. In his late twenties, Jed was quiet and generous. He would give a complete stranger the shirt off his back, and had. Which maybe explained why he also had dates every weekend. He just rarely shared the details as Dennis did.
    They were both wonderful, but tended to treat her as if she didn’t have a female bone in her body.
    She was about to test that theory.
    Her new and very high heels clicked noisily on the floor. Since she’d never worn anything but tennis shoes in the lab, it sounded startlingly loud. Both Jed and Dennis glanced up.
    And took a comical second take. Then a third.
    â€œWow,” Jed whispered.
    Dennis let out a low, soft whistle. “Rebecca Anne Lewis, where have you been hiding all my life?”
    She couldn’t help it, she grinned at his meaningless but sweet flirtation. “Right in front of your nose.”
    Slowly he rose from his stool, his eyes on her body as he shook his head. “Oh baby.”
    It embarrassed her. She knew how she looked, hadn’t she just spent every red light on the drive here staring at herself in the rearview mirror? The pastel yellow shirtdress flattered both her coloring and her body style, showing off her limbs, which were usually covered. She knew this, she’d wanted this, but it was going to take some getting used to.
    Dennis couldn’t get over her. “If I’d known what you’ve been hiding all this time, I’d—”
    â€œUm…Dennis?”
    â€œHang on a sec, Jed,” he said, still smiling at Becca. “Anyway, I’d—”
    â€œDennis—”
    Dennis shot his closest friend a disgusted look. “Man, this is why you don’t get women—”
    â€œI get plenty of women, and your slide is on fire.”
    Jed and Becca both laughed as Dennis whipped back to the burner, swearing as he rescued his work.
    â€œYou look great,” Jed whispered while Dennis jumped around and swore some more.
    â€œThanks.” Becca headed past them, turning tosmile at them as she backed into the third station, feeling all warm and fuzzy and happy. She dropped her purse and reached behind her to steady herself as she prepared to sit on her stool. “I can’t tell you how much your support—”
    Not an empty seat, she thought vaguely as she sat. Beneath her thighs she felt two, hard, muscular ones. Beneath her bottom she