He’s nowhere close to being as hot as Dr. Bennett. But then again, who is?
She brought her focus back to the man sitting across from her. After they introduced themselves, they made a little small talk, and then she asked him about his work.
“Oh, that’s boring. You don’t want to hear about that.”
“I do,” she insisted. She had very little background in economics or finance, but she found the topics fascinating. “I like to learn about investments. I took an online course in the stock market because I wanted to understand how it worked.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I don’t like to talk about work after hours.”
She couldn’t suppress her scoff. “Really? You don’t like your work?”
He shrugged. “It’s okay.” A grin crossed his face. “It makes me money, so I like it enough.”
She just could not relate. She didn’t always love every part of the jobs she had. Parts of her teaching job were frustrating and tedious, and she had arguments with coworkers just like anyone else in the world. When she did an internship in a lab, she’d had to spend hours on paperwork when all she wanted to do was run experiments. But that was true for everyone. No one got to spend all day doing exactly what they wanted.
She tried to explain that to him, telling him about the paper she’d just written on genes. He didn’t even pretend to look interested. She ended her explanation quickly, resigned that this was another wasted evening. She considered leaving but decided she’d at least stay and eat her meal. The shrimp fettuccine looked really good, and she wouldn’t have to cook when she got home.
When the waiter brought their bottle of merlot, her date guzzled his wine in one gulp.
“So, what does interest you, if not work?” she asked.
“Camping,” he said. “I camp every weekend, rain or shine.” Then, he launched into a very detailed explanation of the campgrounds in Oregon.
Ava liked camping. She’d done it several times. She liked nature and hiking and sailing, too. But he continued to talk, not attempting to draw her into the conversation at all. She tried to be fair, thinking maybe he was nervous or even distracted. And talking too much or being self-centered wasn’t the worst thing in the world. She’d been on far worse dates.
“You’ll have to come with me sometime once the weather warms up,” he said. “I’d like to see you in a bikini.”
Oh, I bet you would.
She would not be doing that.
Maybe she wasn’t meant to date.
Some people were just better off single. She was obviously one of them.
3
Eli
Eli read the glowing letter of recommendation from his colleague one more time. He had an interview with the candidate coming up in fifteen minutes, and he wanted to know something about her.
You’ll find Ava to be dedicated, hard-working, and above all, committed to the research. Her paper on gene therapy was one of the best I’ve read, and as a teaching assistant, she’s shown patience with the freshman biology class, something that is not always an easy feat. With full confidence, I recommend her for the position of lab assistant, and…
He’d never received such a wholehearted endorsement from his friend before. In fact, the genetics professor at the university was notoriously hard to please.
Eli shuffled through the stack of applications. Sometimes, he found it easier to work alone than to deal with an insufferable assistant. But if Johnson was this enthusiastic about his grad student, Ava Carter, then Eli would at least interview her. Maybe it would save him the mind-numbing task of sorting through more applications and resumes.
The hospital used to do the hiring, but the last few assistants they’d sent to him hadn’t worked out. Eli didn’t think he was hard to work with, but his track record said otherwise. Three of them had quit, but he’d fired the last two. They just hadn’t been serious about their work.
They’d ignored certain crucial safety protocols. They’d made sloppy notations. And they’d taken way too many personal phone calls during the day.
He’d screamed, “We are dealing with people’s lives! You do not need to check your Tinder account again!”
The hospital Chief of Staff had come to have a talk with him, but in the end, Eli hadn’t been written up. Once they’d checked the cameras in the labs and seen how often the assistants took breaks and how often they didn’t put on goggles or gloves, Eli had been vindicated, and now the hospital was going to allow him to make his own hiring decisions.
Ava sounded like she had made her work a priority in her life. Some people thought that was foolish, but not Eli.
Sometimes he wished he could work with an all-dragon shifter research team, the same way his friend Jackson worked with an all-dragon shifter firefighting crew. But although there were a few doctors and another scientist in his clan, none were geneticists.
Seconds after he’d finished reading her resume again, there was a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called out.
A young woman pushed open his office door.
Immediately, Eli was alert.
She smelled incredible. A dragon shifter’s sense of smell was very sensitive, just like his hearing. So, none of them wore perfume or scented lotions or used floral body wash. He’d gotten used to most humans wearing them, but Ava’s lack of pungent scent was most welcome.
She was clean, but she smelled like honey and vanilla. He wasn’t sure if those were natural scents or if she’d been baking, but either way, it was a nice change from the chemical smells he usually endured. He took a deep breath, inhaling, hoping he was subtle enough that she wouldn’t notice.
He could deal with being labeled difficult. He didn’t want to be labeled creepy.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m Ava Carter. I’m here for the interview.”
Even her voice was nice. It was low and smooth, and didn’t match her face at all. Her face made her look sweet. It was heart-shaped with high cheekbones,
