Neanderthal by Avery Flynn

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kinsey

Kinsey woke up the next morning, her heart going a million miles an hour, thinking about it.

When she tiptoed out of Griff’s bedroom while he was in the shower, worried she’d bust out with an I-could-easily-fall-in-love-you-with-too, his words were on repeat in her head.

As she set the world speed record for getting ready for work and rushing out the door, she’d moved on to analyzing each syllable and tone of his voice with the cool, critical scientific eye she brought to the lab. Okay, fine. She couldn’t quite get rid of that oh-my-God bubbly feeling in her chest or the way she couldn’t stop smiling. Like a fool. Like someone who was already in serious like in the beyond-fuck-buddies way.

Oh God.

Was that her? Was it already too late?

Kinsey’s stomach did that tuck-and-roll thing as she walked through the distinctive doors that led into the Archambeau lobby. She wobbled just enough to make the security guard give her a questioning look before she recovered and headed for the elevator bank on the right. By the time she was on her way up to the lab, she’d convinced herself that it had just been the postcoital bliss talking.

Fine.

“Convinced” may be a bit of hopeful exaggeration, but she was definitely getting there. Kinda. Sorta.

Ugh.

Fuck her life. She did not have the time to catch feelings right now—especially not with her best friend’s older brother who was only dating her to win a bet and headed up the R&D department at Archambeau’s biggest competitor when someone in the lab was leaking info about the company’s next big product.

Deep breaths, girl. You got this.

It was a lie, but the kind that she was just gonna have to live with for the moment because she had a whole day of getting glowered at by Gavin to get through.

She was putting her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk when her phone buzzed.

MORGAN:Hey, you blazed out of here before I could even give you shit for being out all night. Tell me everything.

Her stomach knotted. Had she timed her escape from the apartment to sync with Morgan’s set-your-clock-by-it shower that always lasted twenty minutes? Yes, she had. Damn, she was a bigger chicken than the fat hen that had the run of Meemaw’s front porch.

KINSEY: I had a date last night with Griff.

It was the truth, if not the whole story.

MORGAN: WAIT.

Immediately, three dots popped up on the screen.

MORGAN: WHAT?

Another three dots appeared.

MORGAN: YOU STAYED THE NIGHT WITH GRIFF?????

This was followed by another question mark, one after the other, like the telltale heart beating under the floorboards warning of incoming doom. Well, it was too late to go back now. Kinsey let out a breath and typed three letters.

KINSEY:Yes.

The question marks stopped.

The three dots appeared and disappeared.

Kinsey gave a quick smile to a coworker, who said hello, and then tried not to give in to that gonna-throw-up feeling. Then a video arrived of Morgan dancing around in her bedroom with her arms in the air like a TikTok dance gone horribly wrong.

MORGAN: Welcome to the family!

A bunch of digital fireworks exploded on her screen, followed by a series of heart-eyes emojis.

Kinsey covered her smile with her hand, but a loud bark of a laugh escaped anyway. A heated blush stole across her cheeks as everyone in the lab turned and looked at her—including Gavin, who was in his glass bubble of an office with Leigh. The CEO said something to him that Kinsey couldn’t hear, and a flash of anger crossed his narrow face before he smoothed it away and looked back at Leigh with a sardonic smirk. The flip of the switch on his outward emotions was enough to make Kinsey shiver as a whisper of dread brushed across her skin.

Her phone buzzed again. Morgan had sent a gif of a Lego wedding. Kinsey watched the little block bride walk down the brick aisle a few too many times with an uncontrollable grin on her face—the kind that made her cheeks hurt, it was so big—before catching herself.

Nope. Not gonna happen. Getting married or even having a relationship wasn’t on her agenda right now. She hadn’t moved to Harbor City to fall in love. She’d come here for her dream job, and dating the head of R&D of their biggest competitor while company secrets were walking out the front door was a quick way to lose that job and any chance she had to be taken seriously in her field. They’d only been working out their mutual lust. That’s all.

KINSEY:It was just one time. It didn’t mean anything.

How the cute navy-blue pants she was wearing didn’t burst into flames at that moment, she had no idea.

MORGAN: Kinsey. Griff doesn’t date. Ever.

That fluttery feeling she couldn’t afford to enjoy started in her chest again. Closing her eyes, she let out a breath and remembered Meemaw’s warning that no lie was as bad as the ones a person told themselves. She wouldn’t believe that this could actually be something more than it was.

KINSEY:That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get laid.

MORGAN:Oh, that happens for sure, I’m just saying he doesn’t date but he’s dating you.

KINSEY:To win a bet.

That’s what she needed to remember. The rest was just a chemical reaction between two otherwise stable but suddenly combustible substances, nothing more than that.

MORGAN:Uh-huh, sure, that’s the only reason.

Gavin’s office door opened with a swiftness that had everyone in the lab looking over. Leigh walked out, her chin high and a satisfied tilt to her lips. She strutted out of the lab like the high-fashion model she’d been decades ago, leaving Kinsey and everyone else gaping a bit in her wake. The sound of a crash jerked her attention back to Gavin’s office. He stood behind his desk, the contents of which were now scattered across his floor.

Oh.

Shit.

His gaze locked on Kinsey and narrowed. She’d never felt more like a neon-colored rabbit in an open field facing down a starving fox more in her entire life.

KINSEY:I gotta go.

Judging by how her internal danger alarm had just sent her stomach into the sub-basement, she’d just made the understatement of the year.

MORGAN: Margaritas and enchiladas are in order because discussions must be had.

KINSEY: Pablo’s after work?

The restaurant had the double bonus of having the world’s greatest enchiladas and being unknown to the vast majority of tourists, making it the perfect spot for locals—even new locals like her.

MORGAN: See you there.

Kinsey shot a covert glance back over at Gavin’s office. He was still staring at her, but this time he was smiling. An icy shiver went down her spine.

Please, universe, just let me make it to the end of the day with a job and I promise I’ll skip the second margarita. Although it sure is looking like a four-margarita day.