Time (Laws of Physics #3)(6)

“Abram,” she said, her voice a breathless, disbelieving whisper, followed by a little laugh. Her fingers flexed at the back of my neck, pressing me closer. Every part of my body hummed and vibrated, unable to contain the immensity of now, of this divine feeling.

“You’re here,” she said, her soft voice full of wonder and happiness, soothing the ravenous panic holding me hostage for the past six days. It had been a peculiar kind of madness, not being able to reach her while pretending all was fine, pretending she didn’t occupy my mind every second of the day. But receding now, it left a new kind of turmoil and urgency in its wake.

We had no time.

No, I corrected myself, We have time. We have the rest of our lives.

“I need your fu—your phone number.” I spoke gruffly against her neck, squeezing my eyes shut and breathing her in, again and again, the heat and sweetness of Mona.

I’d missed her, and that was a gross understatement. I’d been speeding toward this moment for days and being with her now felt like the aftermath of a head-on collision. Stupefied, frantic, but determined to enjoy every shared second remaining. My hands were shaking.

We have time. Calm down. Calm down.

Mona laughed lightly, the sound melodic, beautiful, and she pressed a kiss under my ear. “Why didn’t you just ask Leo? Or send me an email?”

Leo.

I worked to keep the darkness of my thoughts from showing on my face as I leaned away, letting her slide to the ground but unwilling to release her fully, fisting my unsteady hands into her T-shirt. “I couldn’t find an email for you anywhere, and neither could Marie. She tried calling your department for me. They told her all media requests had to go through the PR department at the university and it would take two weeks to a month for a response.”

“Ah, that’s true. My email is on lockdown, otherwise it gets out of hand.” She nodded contritely. “But what about Leo?”

“Leo.” I forced my jaw to relax and I lowered my voice but couldn’t completely disguise the intensity of my wrath. “Leo wouldn’t give me your number.”

Mona’s hand moved to my face, her palm pressed against my cheek, the pads of her fingers softly stroking my beard. “What? Are you serious?”

“Yes,” I ground out. “He said he was doing me a favor. So I flew to LA.”

“You flew to LA?” I felt her body tense, and the moment realization dawned, her beautiful eyes growing impossibly large as they moved over my face. “You must be so tired and—but I wasn’t in LA, I was—”

“Here. Yes. I found that out yesterday when I stopped by your department at Caltech and they told me you weren’t due back until Friday,” I rushed to explain, multitasking, using the time to devour the sight of her, soak and submerge in the reality of being here with her.

Calm down. We. Have. Time.

“They said you’d be leaving for Geneva on Monday,” I continued, willing my heart and speech to slow. “But that you were in Chicago, visiting your sister this week.”

I left out the part about Mona’s department secretary being a huge fan of Redburn, but not enough to give me Mona’s email or phone number.

“What’s he doing here?” Lisa cut in, sounding pissed.

I glanced at Mona’s sister out of the corner of my eye. She didn’t seem to be paying attention to us. Her stare was firmly fixed on some point behind me, I assumed Tyler.

“I also tried calling Gabby for your phone number,” I continued, needing to tell the rest of the story before explaining Tyler’s presence. “But her number had changed.”

That caught Lisa’s attention and her stare shifted to mine, held. “Yeah, well, that’s Tyler’s fault. He wouldn’t stop harassing her last year, asking for my number, so she had to change hers.” And then to him she said coolly, “You can leave now.”

I spared a glance for the rocker, turning over my shoulder. “You should go.”

The blond lifted his chin, his slate blue eyes flickering between me and his ex. “Don’t forget what you promised.”

I sensed Lisa’s stare as it bored into the side of my face.

“I won’t forget.”

With a head nod and one more distracted glance at Lisa, Tyler turned and left.

As soon as the apartment door closed, Lisa spun on me. “What did you promise?”

Ignoring her, I turned to Mona. First things first.

I stepped back, pulled out my phone, unlocked it, and offered it to her. “Mona, will you please do me the honor of entering your cell number into my phone? And your email address.”

“Absolutely.” My beauty wore a small, genuine smile, but I also noticed she seemed tired, pale.

Before I could study her in greater detail, she took my cell, lowering her face and navigating to messages. She sent herself a text that contained her email address, handed the phone back to me, then her cell chimed from somewhere in the apartment. I took a moment to read her email address and number, repeating it to myself.

“It’s so great to see you.” Mona seemed to hesitate before hooking her fingers into the beltloops of my jeans.

I looked up from my screen. Her grin had grown, her gaze warm and hazy and happy, but now I could see her eyes were puffy, like she’d been crying recently. This discovery settled like a punch to my stomach, added a restless frustration to my sense of urgency, and I felt my eyebrows pull together.