Chapter 11 #2
“This is disgusting,” Bella said after finishing half the drink in one go. “And I mean that I applied to join your lab, and you rejected me. Not sure how else to phrase that.”
As Bella made an array of stupid expressions while she drank the rest of her Negroni, Yasmine reeled. That made no sense. Bella hadn’t applied to her. And yet.
That feeling she’d had this morning, like she’d been forgetting something. It shot back through her now, squirming through her brain and unpacking a memory from last year.
That’s right. One of her assistants had mentioned a standout application by some Princeton grad. Yasmine had shrugged it off like all the other “standout applications.” She grouped them all together as snooty rich kids who cared more about prestige than real science.
Of course, she could see the fault in that generalization now, in the shape of the woman in front of her. The woman who had delivered such an impressive lecture on mold that it had actually made Yasmine jealous. Jealous of a human being. As if.
The human being in question kicked her foot underneath the table.
“You were zoning out on me,” Bella said. “Very rude.”
“I…” Yasmine gathered her thoughts, dragging her hands through her hair. “I’m sorry I rejected your application. If it helps, I pretty much auto-reject all of them.”
“It’s fine. I got what I wanted either way.”
Yasmine blinked. Wait. She’d sort of glossed over it before, but now…
Bella had come all the way to Columbia to work with that horrible man on lackluster research just for the possibility of getting to work with her?
No—not work with her. She had to remind herself of what Bella was really looking for.
Her funding. Her instruments. Her lab space. She’d been upfront about it.
Still, that’s an insane level of commitment.
“God, you are such a schemer,” Yasmine snorted.
It just bubbled up out of her. She should have found it upsetting, to be the target of what was pretty much funding theft. But she just found it incredibly impressive instead.
Impressive and kind of…
Yasmine crossed her legs more tightly together.
“Guilty,” Bella said breathily, finishing off her drink.
“Did you get the job at the Nightingale because you knew I liked to go there?”
Yasmine surprised herself with the question. But if Bella had really gone to such a length to get the job at Columbia, would it really be surprising if that was all staged, too?
“Yasmine,” Bella gasped, feigning offense. “Stalking you? I would never.”
Yasmine took a long drink. “Bullshit.”
“Would you be into that?”
The tip of Bella’s shoe nudged at the hem of Yasmine’s jeans. Yasmine’s breath caught in her throat when Bella kept it there, moving it up and down so slowly it was almost unnoticeable.
Bella’s eyes were fixed on her, her teeth biting into her lip. “Would you find it hot if I told you I’ve been thinking about you for the past five years?”
The breath left Yasmine’s chest.
“Five years?”
“Guilty,” Bella confessed again. “Come on, Yasmine. Finish your drink. You’ve barely made a dent in it. What kind of Eastern European are you?”
Unable to fight back against Bella when her shoe was dragging across Yasmine’s shin, she took a long, shuddering sip of her Old Fashioned.
“There,” she said, setting it back down, even as her fingers trembled. “You didn’t answer my question. Did you decide to work there because of me?”
Bella licked across her lips. The gorgeous flush from her face had spread down to her shoulders. Yasmine would accuse her of being a lightweight, but she had no breath to fuel it.
“And you didn’t answer mine,” Bella finally said. “Would you find it hot if I did?”
Yasmine couldn’t excuse the question a second time. The first time it was a joke, but now Bella looked deadly serious. Almost desperately so.
Yasmine couldn’t help but answer honestly.
“Yes,” she admitted weakly, her voice trembling. “I would.”
Bella’s lips spread into a huge grin, like she’d just gotten everything she’d ever wanted.
Then, almost as quickly, she stood.
“I think I need to use the bathroom.”
She walked off, Yasmine staring gobsmacked from the table as she disappeared into the dim light, headed for the equally dark restroom.
It was an invitation. Even Yasmine wasn’t too dense to see that.
Yasmine took a shuddering breath in.
What the actual fuck is going on?
Bella had told her yesterday that she found her attractive, then said it was only a compliment. That they shouldn’t involve themselves in anything. That she was just being nice.
More importantly, Yasmine had told herself that this could not happen. She found Bella attractive, yes, but she also valued her talent. What if Bella had feelings for her? Yasmine would feel terrible rejecting her, and worse, it would jeopardize their collaboration.
All of these words sounded very nice in her head, all very rational and sensible, but, of course, Yasmine was already walking herself to the bathroom.
“Bella?”
The bathroom was like a mirror maze. A dim green circle of lights wrapped around the ceiling like ivy, providing just enough illumination for her to see a couple inches in front of herself.
A large marble fountain, like you might find at Central Park, sat in the center of the room, and Yasmine padded around it carefully until she reached the stalls.
“Come here. You’ve got to see these toilets.”
Yasmine’s head snapped left, where a stall door stood ajar. Bella beckoned her in with a hand, and Yasmine followed, closing the door behind herself instinctively.
It echoed loudly when it did. These stalls were enclosed floor to ceiling, so they were more likely private rooms than stalls.
“The toilets? What’s so special about them?” Yasmine said, feigning an excuse to be trapped in there with her.
But also, genuinely, the toilet was completely unremarkable. Compared to the weird elegance of the rest of the bathroom, it was just your normal white porcelain.
Bella leaned against the wall, just staring at Yasmine. She didn’t say anything for a moment, just studying her like a hawk. It made Yasmine’s entire body warm.
“I lied,” Bella finally said. “There’s nothing special about the toilets.”
Then she leaned off the wall, took a step forward, and grabbed Yasmine’s waist, pushing her gently into the cold stone.
Yasmine’s breath hitched, expecting her to lean forward, to kiss her, to smother her, to try and kill her, God—she’d let Bella do anything she wanted, but tragically, the woman paused. Her face levitated just a few inches away from Yasmine’s, her eyes closed.
“Yasmine,” Bella breathed out. It sounded like a question.
“Yes?”
From this distance, Yasmine could smell the blood pumping under her skin. She could see the beautiful blue of it in the vein of her neck.
Yasmine took a shuddering breath in. Why was she having these thoughts? Yasmine kept herself hydrated, overly so, consuming way past the daily required amount of blood so that she never had to deal with her vampirism rearing its ugly head.
And so far, it had worked for her. In all her flings with humans, the thought of drinking from them had never even crossed her mind.
But looking at the pale plane of Bella’s neck, an urge festered low in Yasmine’s stomach that was worse than anything she’d felt, even when she was poor and starving.
I just know she would taste so good.
Then Bella pressed closer, her knee sliding between Yasmine’s legs, and all of Yasmine’s thoughts turned to white noise in her brain.
“Just a small question first,” Bella said, her nose nudging at Yasmine’s throat. “If I touch you right now… will you still let me use your lab space?”
Yasmine’s chest shuddered, her hands instinctively grasping at Bella’s waist. Her skin was so hot, like coals. You’d think she was burning alive.
“God, I don’t know,” Yasmine said honestly. “It’s messy.”
She expected Bella to recoil in offense, to pry herself away, but instead she felt the other woman smile into her skin. And what killed Yasmine is that it felt sweet, almost soft, when nothing about this situation was either.
“You’ve gotta promise you will, okay?” Bella said, pressing a chaste kiss to Yasmine’s neck. Oh god. Oh god. “Because I really want to work with you. I respect you a lot as a colleague.”
Yasmine groaned. “Yes, because that’s what I want to hear right now. How much you respect me as a colleague.”
Bella somehow found the zipper of Yasmine’s jeans at that moment, and dragged it down noiselessly. Yasmine gasped as the blonde laid her hand on her lower stomach, just above her underwear, playing with the waistband.
“I mean it. I’d like us to be friends,” Bella said, and Yasmine couldn’t believe how stupidly genuine it sounded. All while Bella was toying with her underwear. “I really was trying my best for this not to happen. But then you just had to flirt with me and make it impossible.”
Yasmine grabbed her by the hair, dragging her backwards so Bella was forced to look her in the eyes.
“Me? Flirt with you?” she said. “Now you’re just gaslighting me.”
“God. That hurt, Yasmine,” Bella said with a laugh, massaging her scalp.
Yasmine immediately softened. “Shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I forgive you,” Bella said, then slid her hand into Yasmine’s underwear.
Yasmine gasped, arching into the wall. “Fuck, Bella.”