Sweet Chemistry (3 page)

Between classes, James collected his mail from the main office where the department office assistant, Carrie, gave him an encouraging smile. He was tempted to sit and chat with her about his awful morning for a minute, but it was obvious she was working with someone in the back office, so he didn’t stay.

As James ate his lunch in his office, he went through the Tenure Requirements package Lloyd had given him with the set of keys to the building. He was surprised by a knock on his office door.

Lloyd walked in. “Doing a bit of light reading?”

James smiled around a mouthful of sandwich and showed him the packet of papers.

“Next semester, we’ll get you on the right track for tenure.” Lloyd frowned as he glanced around James’ disheveled office.

James swallowed hard as a piece of sandwich got stuck in his throat. His desk was covered with books and lab manuals. Even though the semester had started, he was still putting his classes together. “How am I supposed to think about next semester?”

“It would serve you well to start thinking about how to stay on track. Excellence in teaching is only part of the requirements. I know from your teaching assistant position at UC Santa Barbara, you are no stranger to lab work, and I would like to make sure you have every opportunity to work on something meaningful here. Undergraduate research is a wonderful way to get your name on publications.”

James nodded. “I was going to ask about lab space.”

“You’ll have to write grants for supplies and instruments if we don’t have them already, but space is not an issue. We have a research lab in the basement where Alice and Sam are currently working on projects with students.” Lloyd smiled. “Sam is attending an undergraduate symposium in the spring, where he and two students are going to present their research.”

James sighed. The information wasn’t new to him. It was just another thing that made his head pound. Managing teaching and grading was enough to keep him busy every waking moment. Adding research and student symposiums to the mix would surely kill him.

“And of course,” Lloyd went on, “we’ll be sure to get you on the right committees. Being a tenured professor for Bowman State requires a certain amount of commitment. We need to know you’re going to be around for the long haul before we invest in your future.” He nodded solemnly. “It’s all about give and take…and making sure we’re a good fit for you.”

So far the folder designed to hold his tenure package held his curriculum vitae and the Tenure Requirements document. Before he turned forty, this folder would supposedly be bulging with syllabi, teaching evaluation data, awards he’d won, research publications, conference presentations, grants he’d been awarded, student research projects he’d supervised, committees he’d served on, letters from students and colleagues pointing out how great he was, and above all else, a tenure statement, which would make his case for tenure. That was going to be the hardest part of all. When he wrote it, he planned to use excerpts from others to make his case. Now he just needed to start building relationships within his college so someone would say good things about him.

He flipped through the pages in the packet without seeing them. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to do any of those things, especially after the disaster with the projector this morning. If he couldn’t manage to connect an HDMI cable properly, how was he supposed to attend conferences and give presentations on research?

“I won’t let you down, Lloyd.” James shook his hand, and hoped he was right.

James was looking forward to his biochemistry class, which had only fourteen students, most of which were majors. He had checked the online enrollment page last week, trying to familiarize himself with these students. Perhaps he would find someone he could start a research project with and get him “on the right track” for tenure. Lloyd would be thrilled.

The classroom was much smaller, which did wonders for his nerves. “Welcome to General Biochemistry, my name is Dr. Baker.” He made his way to the front of the class and turned to face the small group.

His face froze as his gaze fell on Kate. No wonder her face looked vaguely familiar: she was his student.
Fuck my life
.

Kate was sitting in the front row next to her friend Tim. She turned to follow the sound of Dr. Baker’s voice. “
Ho-ly shit.”

Tim furrowed his brow. “What is it?”

Kate was taking quick shallow breaths. James was frozen too. How much time had passed? Could everyone in the classroom hear her pounding heart?

“Take a deep breath, Katie,” Tim whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Her cheeks burned and she broke her eyes away first, looking down at the notebook on the desk in front of her. She wrote his name. James. She shook her head and added Dr. to the front and Baker to the end.

James finally started talking, turning his back to the class to write his contact information on the whiteboard.

Tim glanced at her paper. “How do you know his first name?”

“Shh, I’ll tell you after.” Kate’s cheeks flushed again, prickling where his beard had rubbed her skin raw two days ago.

When he turned to face the class, Kate looked at his lips. She shivered and could almost taste his tongue in her mouth. At that moment, she knew this was going to be the hardest class she had ever taken.

At the end of the hour, as James packed up his supplies, he looked at his roll and then to her. “Miss Rhodes, would you mind following me to my office? We need to discuss your enrollment.”

Kate nodded quickly, hoping no one but Tim was close enough to see her jump when he said her name.

“See you later?” Tim asked, looking expectantly at her.

“Mm hmm. Later, Timmy.” Kate couldn’t look at James. She knew if she did, she would want to kiss him. And that would be bad. Wouldn’t it?

The class dispersed and Kate followed James down the long hallway to his office. Once they were inside, he closed the door. The same tall bike with skinny tires she had seen in his apartment was wedged against the far wall, and a helmet and reflective shirt hung from the handlebars.

“What the hell? You’re my
student
?”

Kate scoffed. “As if I knew who you were.” She didn’t mean to be defensive, but what other option did she have?

James covered his face. “If anyone found out…” He shook his head. “I didn’t know.”

She touched his hand reassuringly. “Hey, neither of us knew. It’ll be all right.”

His hands fell away from his face. “Oh. Will it?” he snapped. “What am I supposed to do?”

Kate’s shoulders fell as his words stabbed through her. “You’re it. You’re the
only
prof who teaches biochemistry. I am a chemistry major, I
need
biochemistry to graduate.”

“I have to spend fifteen weeks talking to you?” He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw.

Kate gripped the shoulder strap of her backpack, making her knuckles turn white. “Sorry to inconvenience you.” She turned on her heel, jerked the door open, and stormed out. He didn’t stop her.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she ran as fast as she could out of the building so she wouldn’t cry in front of her friends. She normally took the shuttle to the dorms, but not today.

Hot tears streaked down her cheeks as she chided herself. So stupid. She shouldn’t have gone home with him. What possessed her to be so bold in the first place?

She went right to Meg’s room on the first floor of their dorm building. Meg was at her desk when Kate went in and flopped face down on her bed.

“Kate, what’s wrong?” Meg sat down next to her.

“It’s him,” she said between sobs. “My Biochem professor is James.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. James from Addiction?”

“That’s the one.” Another sob escaped her lips. “And he doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Oh, Kate, I’m sure that’s not true.”

Kate sat up and faced her, wiping her cheeks. “He said, ‘I have to spend fifteen weeks talking to you?’ What am I supposed to think?”

Meg’s eyes narrowed and her lips formed a hard line. “What a dick. I guess you’re supposed to forget about him. They’re not all like that. There are some good ones out there. You’ll see. Don’t let one bad experience sway you.”

Kate shook her head. “No way.” She started crying again. There was no way she was going to let herself get hurt after this. She honestly thought he liked her, but now it was obvious he had used her for sex and didn’t want anything to do with her.

Later that night, while she was alone in her room, her phone vibrated. Her mouth hung open as she stared at the screen. Why was James calling her? She couldn’t bring herself to answer it. James didn’t leave a message.

When she went to work Tuesday, she hid in the back room. Normally, her part time job as the chemistry department office assistant’s assistant was a nice break in her day, but now, she was on the edge of her seat. What if she ran into James? What would she say to Carrie?

Kate had started working with Carrie last year, and the job was perfect. It was flexible and stress-free, and unlike her seasonal jobs waitressing, she got to sit a lot. Plus, Carrie was a kind, motherly woman, which was comforting since her own mother was more than eight hundred miles away. Kate enjoyed working with her.

“You okay back here Kate?” Carrie was frowning.

Kate shrugged, and tried to relax. “Yep, I’m just cleaning up this mess.” She flipped through the papers spread over the counter in the back office. “I meant to tell you, I can work on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours at a time, or for an hour here and there the rest of the week if you need me.”

Carrie smiled warmly. “I always need you. Just show up whenever you can and I’ll put you to work. You know these professors, they can always use help getting their act together.”

Kate smiled and went back to work. She practically tiptoed out of the office when she was done for the day. It was ridiculous, but better than the alternative. At the same time that night, James called her. For the second night, she didn’t answer, and he didn’t leave a message.

She only had to see him three times a week, but Friday was going to kill her. Biochem lab lasted for three hours, starting right after class ended. Four hours was a long time to have to spend with someone who didn’t want you around.

She got to class early on Wednesday, and begged Angelica to switch seats, so she was shielded in the second row.

Angelica didn’t mind getting a little closer to the front of the class. “I could stare at Dr. B all day.”

Bile rose in the back of her throat.

When Tim came in, he sat in the second row with her. “Where’d you go? I waited in the majors’ room, but you never came back.”

“Long story…coffee?”

Tim nodded.

James came in right on time, and after briefly glancing around the classroom, he began lecturing. Kate could feel his eyes on her whenever her head was down, but every time she looked up, he quickly focused his gaze somewhere else.

Kate took Tim’s arm, leaving immediately for the coffee shop before James could say anything to stop her.

“No way!” Tim squealed. “
You
and
Dr. Baker
?”

Kate nodded her head and frowned at the attention he was drawing. “You can’t tell anyone! I’m serious, Timmy.” She leveled him with her gaze. “I’m just sick about it. It really felt like we had a connection. I just don’t understand.” Kate let her head fall into her hands.

“You’re a student. He’s a professor. What is there to understand? That kind of thing is bad news.”

“Yeah, but…he didn’t have to be such a jerk. And why is he calling me?”

“I couldn’t tell you. And it’s true. He didn’t have to be a jerk. Men are dogs. Believe me.”

“Things aren’t working out with Mark again?”

Tim shook his head. “He’s so hot and cold. One day we’re fine, the next, not so much. When it’s good, it’s really good…but sometimes I wonder if it’s enough.”

They spent the next hour commiserating over the woes of dating worthless men. Kate explained to him that on top of being handsome, Tim was also a kind and generous person and if Mark couldn’t see it, he didn’t deserve Tim. Of course, when Tim echoed her sentiments, telling her she was beautiful and deserved better treatment, she ignored him.

James called the next two nights but Kate was too upset to answer. She never found out why he was calling because he never left a message.

Kate’s stomach churned all morning Friday. Lecture
and
lab. Four hours of listening to James talk and being close enough to touch him without getting to. Four hours of watching his mouth move and not being able to kiss him. Four hours of trying to figure out why he kept calling her when he obviously didn’t want anything to do with her and not getting to punch him.

The lab required students to pair up, so Kate and Tim claimed a bench near the back of the room. They were assigned lockers to keep the glassware they were renting, and everyone was required to keep a lab notebook.

Almost everyone had their own lab coat, but hers was the only one tie dyed hot pink. Usually, she loved it, but for the first time in her career as a student, she wished her professor wouldn’t notice her. Reluctantly, she pulled it on, snapping up the front and sliding her safety glasses over her eyes.

As the students worked, James made his rounds, checking on their progress. When he approached their bench, Tim saw him coming and stepped between them, putting his hands on his hips. He narrowed his eyes at James and pressed his lips together.

“I’m checking to see how your solution is coming.” James peered around Tim, looking from Kate to the flask on the hotplate in front of her. “Looks perfect.” He flashed a quick smile, revealing his perfectly straight teeth and yummy lips. “By the way, I love your lab coat, Miss Rhodes.”

Kate’s forehead creased. “Thanks,” she mumbled, remembering too late she shouldn’t be staring at his mouth like that.

Tim took a step back until he was next to Kate, putting his hand on her back.

James’ gaze followed Tim’s arm. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. At that moment, a beaker shattered in the corner of the room, breaking the odd tension between the two men.