Bannister
Why?
Erin
MEC would usually be running a laser to create extreme temperatures and pressures in samples, so it should already be set up for dark-room experiments. But I’m not sure if we confirmed that. Did you talk with the engineers about lighting needs?
Bannister
No. We could check the hutch blueprint for wattage specifications.
Erin
I have it here. Let me look.
She retrieved an annotated hutch layout from her backpack. Returning to the circle of lamplight on her bed, she smoothed the Mylar paper across her sheets, tacked down its borders with her knees, and snapped a picture.
Erin
See?
Bannister
Is this a hard copy of the print you were referencing this morning?
Erin
Yes—before you interrupted me.
An ellipsis appeared in answer, then vanished… only to reappear again after a significant pause.
Bannister
Sorry.
A one-word reply. So what had taken him so long to type it? Curious, she enlarged the image she’d sent, and—God, she hadn’t cropped her legs out of the blueprint picture. Articulated against the grid, her shadow on the laser-printed document made it clear that she’d stripped off her jeans, that she wasn’t wearing much beyond her flimsy camisole and panties.
Fuck.
This was worse than her lingerie photo. But the tingle of heat suddenly dancing up her arms and gathering on her tongue… it wasn’t embarrassment.
Swish.
Bannister
You don’t have bruises from knocking our knees today, though. No damage from the static shock, either?
Erin
If I’d suffered a cardiac arrest, someone in the building probably would’ve noticed and called an ambulance.
Bannister
Only because all of Modern Physics was watching us in your cubicle.
Though what if theyhadn’tbeen surrounded by colleagues? The heat reversed course, slipping lower. Her pulse dropped farther still, down to a hum between her bare legs. What if they’d been alone?
Erin
