Element, Part 1 (13 page)

She smiled, wiping the tears that trickled down her face.
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine with that. I really value sex like you do.”

He reached forward and took her in his arms. Her eyes met
his and deep inside, he knew Natalie was the gal for him. “Then you’re willing
to have a relationship with me and fight off the urge not to give into our
sexual needs? No matter how strong they are?”

“Yes, I am. I have to admit that I’ve never had a problem
controlling myself but for some reason I have trouble with you.”

“Then we will have to work extra hard. It won’t be easy but
I’m willing to give it everything if you are.”

“I am.”

He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips.
Everything about her felt so right. She leaned her head against his chest and
he held her close. He could see himself spending the rest of his life with her.
He didn’t want this day to end. They sat there; his arms wrapped around her,
watching the sun vanish along the horizon.

“Are you ready to go? It’s getting dark.” He whispered in
her ear.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to stay out here a little
longer. It’s therapeutic for me. If you know what I mean.”

Ryan kissed her cheek. “I know exactly what you mean. Why
don’t we go over there?” He pointed to a pile of wood down the shore.

She followed his finger. “To that pile of ashes?”

“Yeah. How about I start us a fire? I think I may have a few
pieces of wood in the bed of my truck and a lighter somewhere.”

“Sure. Too bad you don’t have a blanket and your guitar.”

“Oh, I think I may have those too.”

She put her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. “Did
you plan this, Ryan Garrett?”

For a moment, he thought he did something wrong. Then he saw
her lips curl up into a full smile. He winked. “Yes, right down to the fire.”

Chapter 6:  There’s No Denying

Natalie felt the vibration of her phone against her leg. 
Her heart skipped a beat, hoping it was Ryan sending her a text. She pulled the
phone out of her lab coat and kept it under the table. She looked around for
the professor and spotted him helping several other students a few tables in
front of hers. She saw that Ryan sent her a message.

Wish me luck. I’m headed to Kronberg for day one of my
internship.

She texted back:

Good luck. I know you’ll do a great job and impress them.

She waited a few minutes and received his next text:

Hope so. I’ll call you when I get off. Maybe we can grab
a bite to eat. I miss seeing your smile and looking into your beautiful blue
eyes ;)

She couldn’t help but smile. He made her feel so giddy
inside. She texted:

I miss you too. I can’t wait to see you.

“Natalie. Natalie. Which one do you want?” Sean nudged her
while waving a piece of paper in front of her face.

“Huh?” Natalie shoved her phone back into the pocket of her
lab coat. She took the paper from his hand.

“Which project do you want us to work on? We need to make a
decision quickly before the good ones are gone.” His arm fidgeted against the
lab table and his hand inched upward, ready to rise the moment they decided.

“Oh, ummm… let me see.” She felt completely lost. She hadn’t
heard a word the professor said.

“I think we should go with—”

“How about the aptamers one? Sounds interesting.” She
pointed to one of the selections.

He adjusted his thick black frame glasses.  “I guess.”

“You don’t like that one?”

“Honestly, I thought the one with biofuels because of the
global warming sounded more interesting. It says more than one team can choose
that one.” He showed her where it said that on the paper.

Global warming.
It caught her attention and she
thought about Ryan’s ranch and the problems with produce around the state.
“Yes, let’s do that one.”

“Great.” Sean took the paper from her and raised his hand.
He waved it in the air until the professor acknowledged him. Even though Sean
seemed a little persistent, she knew choosing him as her lab partner made
sense. She met him during the spring semester in a biology class they both
took. When it came to schoolwork, he proved to be reliable and dedicated to his
studies.

He nudged her arm. “Are you coming or what?”

Natalie rubbed her forehead and brushed her hair back away
from her face. Why did she feel completely distracted today? “Yeah. Sorry.” She
took off her lab coat and shoved it into her backpack along with her textbook.

“Are you okay? You seem a little out of it.”

“I’m fine. I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.”

He held the door open for her. “How many classes are you
taking this summer?”

“Just two and the lab class.” She adjusted her backpack on
her shoulders.

“That’s a full load for summer. Plus the internship,
right?”  He reached over and zipped up her backpack. Apparently, she had
forgotten to zip it closed.

She shook her head. “Thanks. Yeah, I’ll be working on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in the afternoon. By the way, thank you for
putting in a good word for me. I know they typically want juniors.”

“No problem. Besides, your grades spoke for themselves.
You’re going to really like working at Kronberg. It’s cool and Dr. Kronberg
takes the time to work with us and answer questions.”

“That’s so awesome. I can’t wait for tomorrow. What days do
you work?”

Sean held up his hand, shielding his eyes from the sun. It
shined brightly but for some reason it didn’t bother her, even though the rays
peered right into her eyes. “The same as you. I’ll be there to show you around
tomorrow.  I need to warn you about Franz. He’s a little, eccentric.”

“I’ve met him. He interviewed me for the job. Red frizzy
hair, brown eyes and freckles all over his face?”
Sean nodded. “That’s him alright.”

“He’s kind of freaky and weird.” She shuddered. Thinking
about him gave her the
hebegeebees
.

He arched his eyebrow and gave her one of those looks.
“That’s an understatement. He’s a freakin’ schitzo if you ask me. Most people
call him the ‘Mad Scientist’ behind his back. I think he likes it. Don’t worry,
he keeps to himself most of the time. Even though he’s supposed to supervise
us, he doesn’t.”

“So, who does?”

“You’re talking to him. Since I’ve been there for a year,
they offered me a part-time job as a lab assistant. I work closely with all the
interns, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Wow! You didn’t tell me that.” Natalie gave him a friendly
slap on his forearm.

“Owww.” He rubbed his arm. “What do you have in that hand of
yours? Lead?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.” She felt bad,
wondering if she had actually hurt him. Poor Sean, he was so tall and skinny.
He didn’t have an ounce of fat on his body or much muscle either. Why didn’t he
take the workout supplements from Kronberg Laboratories?  She refrained from
asking or suggesting it to him, even though she wanted to.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.” He shook his arm, like he was
trying to ease the pain. When he noticed Natalie staring at his arm, he quickly
ran his fingers through his dark black wavy hair. “I didn’t tell you because I just
got the job two weeks ago.”

“Good for you.” She tried to keep her eyes off the blaring
red handprint she left behind on his fair skin.

“Yeah, thanks. Do you want to go get something to eat? We
can get started on our project afterwards, if you like.”

She checked the time. It was ten minutes after two o’clock
and her stomach grumbled with hunger. Since Ryan and Lise were both at their
internships she agreed. “Sure, that’s fine. We both have to work tomorrow and
the project’s due in a few weeks. Do you want to eat at the union?”

“Yeah, there’s plenty to select from there.” Sean said.

They walked down the stairs and crossed the street to the
main campus area. The union buzzed with chatter and Natalie had to dodge the
steady stream of students passing in and out of the building.

“I’m thinking we should make this a set time. You know, work
on our projects after lab class. What do you think?” Sean pushed his way
through the crowd.

“Sure. I’d like to find a quiet place if we can.” Natalie
said, making her way to one of the restaurants.

“Leave it to me. I’ll find us something.” Sean smiled and
gave her a quick wink.

***

Natalie lay back on her bed and closed her eyes. With her
finger she traced her lower lip. She recalled the way Ryan had kissed her
deeply and passionately that night at the lake. Chills ran up and down her
arms. She’d loved the way his body felt against hers and how he’d held on to
her. The same way he did when she’d nearly fainted during orientation. She
longed to see him tonight but her inner voice reminded her to take things slow.

Her phone chimed. She opened her eyes and picked it up. 
Ryan’s text message flashed across her screen:

Can’t meet up tonight. Kronberg’s having a big shindig
next Friday night and we’re busy helping out. Not sure what time I’ll leave.

 She sighed and her heart ached. Regardless of what that
inner voice told her, she wouldn’t be able to see him after all.

She texted him:

No problem. Maybe we can meet up tomorrow. Did you see
Lise?

He texted back:

Yeah, we’re working together. She told me to tell you
she’ll be at the dorm later tonight. I’ll give you a call when I get to my
apartment. Gotta go. Bye beautiful ;)

Natalie’s heart soared.
Beautiful. Beautiful
. She
held the cell phone to her chest. Ryan always knew the right thing to say,
every time. If only she was as gifted with communicating her emotions to him.

She searched her phone for the right emoticon. She found a smiley
face blowing a kiss in the shape of a heart.
Perfect
. She pushed the
send button.  Ryan flooded her mind. Everything about him felt so right, so
natural. She’d never felt this way about a guy before. Not even with Tony. She
winced at the thought of Tony and her kissing. Why did she make such a stupid
mistake and have sex with him? Why didn’t she save herself?

If only she’d gone out with Ryan first, she would still be a
virgin. She shook her head in disgust. Despite her mistake, she couldn’t
believe that Ryan wanted to go out with her.  It was unbelievable that he
valued sex the way she did. Never in a million years did she peg him to be that
type of guy; saving himself until marriage. That was practically unheard of
when it came to a guy. Only girls did that sort of thing.

Giggles and smiles poured out. She was actually going out with
Ryan Garrett! What would her old high school friends think? They wouldn’t
believe her. One thing for certain, he was with her because he truly liked her
and not because he wanted to get in her pants. She refused to mess things up
with him regardless of how uncontrollable her desires were. She’d respect his
promise.

Her phone rang and she quickly picked it up. Her Aunt
Sharon’s picture showed up on the screen instead of Ryan’s. 

“Hi, Aunt Sharon.”  Natalie sat up in her bed.

“Hey darling. How’s school going? Have you started your
internship yet?” Sharon sounded a little winded.

“I started summer classes today and tomorrow will be my first
day at Kronberg. Are you okay? It sounds like you’ve been running.”

She sighed heavily. “Yeah, I’m scurrying around the condo,
trying to pack. I’m headed to Europe and wanted to remind you to stop by this
week if you can.”

“Sure. No problem. I’ll stop by Wednesday.”

“Oh that will be great. Like I said, if you want to spend
the night here you are more than welcome. I won’t be back until the end of July
so I need for you to check on the place each week.”

“Okay, no problem.”

“Well, gotta go. I’m staying at Chad’s tonight so he can
take me to the airport in the morning. Tell your mom I said hi. Luv ya.”

“I will. Be careful and have a good time. Bye.” Natalie hung
up the phone. She got up and went over to her dresser and changed her clothes.
Since Ryan had to work late, she decided to workout and grab a bite to eat
afterwards. Besides, the workout would help her get a good night’s sleep and be
ready for her first day at Kronberg.

***

Natalie headed up I-35 to Round Rock, a small suburb outside
of Austin, to Kronberg Laboratories. She glanced at the thermostat in her car;
one-hundred and three degrees.  Summer had arrived. She fidgeted in her chair,
peeling her skirt off her legs. Between the Texas heat and the adrenaline
pumping through her veins, she felt like she’d just finished a boot camp class.
She reached over and turned up the air conditioner. She couldn’t go in looking
all sweaty, especially on her first day.

She parked in the garage and then walked into the ten-story,
silver and black building. A part of her couldn’t believe she’d actually gotten
an internship in the laboratory. They only hired a few interns every semester
for the lab operations. Even though they had over thirty interns this summer,
all of them, including Ryan, Lise, and Sal, worked on the business operations
side of the company.  All the hard work and determination would hopefully allow
her to reach her dream one day as head research scientist. Kronberg made that
dream seem so much closer.

“May I help you?” A lady wearing a gray uniform sat at the
front desk. Several armed security guards stood nearby.

“Yes, I’m Natalie Vega and I’m interning in the lab.”

The lady gave her a flat smile. “Welcome to Kronberg
Laboratories.” She turned to her computer and typed in some information. “Yes,
here you are. You’re working in the main lab area, reporting to Franz Rousseau.
Let me get your badge.”