Bad Nerd Falling (12 page)

“
He gave it to Vlad.”
Maks’ voice didn’t change but something in the manner he said it
made Aleksi pause.

“
What are you
thinking?”

“
It’s obvious your father
trusted Vlad to give you that USB drive.”

“
That’s one thing about
Vlad, he’d crawl through a war zone to give you that stick.”
Emerson also turned to stare at Maks.

“
My father trusted Vlad
for some reason. There was something there he admired.” Aleksi
tapped a finger on his desk as his friends all sank deep into
thought with him.

Maks got a text message and soon waved
goodbye. Someone called Emerson. In a matter of moments, they left
him to contemplate alone. It wasn’t lonely, not with the thoughts
swirling through his mind. That annoying niggle that he was on to
something evaporated when a knock sounded.

“
Come in,” he called. Not
ready to welcome whoever appeared.

Except that the individual seeking his
attention was none other than Tia. His heart rate increased after
he identified the hot look in her eyes.

“
I’m working on the lab
budget.”

That didn’t sound like fun. “I
see.”

Her lips curled into a femme fatale
smile. The one that always made his breath catch in his
throat.

“
I’ve come to negotiate my
budget.” She sashayed across the floor, barely tripped, then
dropped into his lap.

In order to keep her there, he wrapped
both arms around her. “I’ve never conducted budget negotiations
like this.” He decided that from here on out, this was the only way
this particular woman received any money.

She laughed as her arms curled around
his neck. “I’m very happy to hear that.” Her fingers slid into his
hair.

His heart sped even faster. “I’m
guessing your chances of getting any money out of me in the future,
princess, won’t work unless you start your negotiations exactly
like this.”

“
So my chances are pretty
good?”

He curled his hand into her hair and
tugged her mouth to his. “Your chances are excellent.” He sealed
that with a kiss.

The shudder that undulated through her
body made him smile. He kissed her thoroughly before allowing her
to take her lips back. Tia didn’t seem to mind when he kissed her
again.

“
Is this going to take all
day?” She sounded breathless.

He liked how she thought. “I hope
so.”

***

When he checked on Aleksi in his
office, it was in time to see Tia drop onto his lap. Yeah, any
chance of speaking with the man evaporated. Especially when they
engaged in a lip lock that should have set fire to Aleksi’s
heirloom desk.

Then a wicked thought erupted into his
brain. That quickly, Vlad was on his feet and hurrying toward the
lab. He needed to finish blocking the tunnel exits, check in with
palace security, help monitor everyone’s safety, and contact his
team standing by but instead he was hurrying down the tunnels to
where he could pop out near the lab.

No one was about so he hurtled through
the secret panel then bent to tie his shoe when he heard someone
coming down the hall. The maid squeaked when she saw him, but he
offered her a nod and waited until she passed before he slid into
the lab.

Helena didn’t squeak when she saw him.
Instead her lips curved into an intimate smile he especially liked.
“Are you lost?”

“
No. I found my way with
no problem.”

She rewarded him with a bigger smile,
then took his hand and dragged him into the large storage closet.
“Since you made the effort to come here,” she murmured and worked
hard to kiss his socks off.

He didn’t argue. Instead, he wrapped
his arms tight around her and held her close, kissing her back with
the same ardor. Loving how her arms looped around his neck and the
way she pressed her curves against him. Like they shouldn’t be
separate, but the same being.

When they finally parted, her eyes
rounded. “Oh no, you didn’t come to see your mother did you?” Her
cheeks flushed.

His smile was slow. “I came to see
you.”

The pink receded, and her answering
smile was a bit shy. “I’m glad.”

“
I needed a
kiss.”

“
Then you came to the
right place.” She freely offered him another one.

“
So I can visit you
whenever I need a kiss?” he flirted.

She pretended to scowl,
but flirted right back. “I do need to get
some
work done.”

He laughed. “Right. I’ll refrain
then.”

Helena looped her arms around his neck
again to draw him closer. “You’re here now so don’t worry about
refraining at the moment.”

“
I won’t.” And he took her
up on her sweet offer. It was beyond nice.

“
I’ll consider this a perk
of my job.” She brushed a hand across his cheek, her eyes warm,
gaze tender.

“
You like working
here?”

“
Yes.” Then she wrinkled
her nose. “Although when Tia returns to Hershey we have to go back
to the hospital.”

“
When is she leaving and
returning?”

She shrugged. “There’s no word on the
final dates.”

“
Aleksi’s going to be a
bear.”

“
Or depressed.”

“
Maybe a depressed bear?”
This was the silliest, most fun conversation he’d ever
had.

She giggled. “A beast any way you look
at it.”

“
Where is she by the
way?”

“
She had a budget meeting
with Aleksi.”

His eyebrows soared. It hadn’t looked
like a meeting to him. “A scheduled meeting?”

“
I’m guessing it wasn’t
scheduled nor being conducted like any previous meeting of his.”
Her expression was classic wry.

“
That’s probably a good
guess.”

She nodded, her eyes still warm.
That’s as far as they got before brisk, tapping footsteps headed
their way. “Time for me to leave.”

“
I wish you didn’t have
to.” She followed him to the space between the shelves and flitted
between them with no difficultly. He fit, just not easily. But he
was used to speed in a situation like this and managed to kiss her
goodbye before he exited through the panel.

He heard his mother enter the closet.
“Helena, what are you doing in here?”

“
Do you think we can store
the…” he didn’t hear what she said but guessed it was lab
equipment.

They discussed that notion and Vlad
concluded that he was probably safe to finish the work he needed to
do in this tunnel. The sooner he closed off these passages, the
safer the two precious women behind him would be. Their safety
seemed more important to him than that of their prince. It
shouldn’t have been, but somehow it was.

The thing was, Prince Aleksi wasn’t
without resources. He had served in the military just like all of
the other men in Rurikstan. So he possessed skills and could take
care of himself.

Helena and his mother didn’t have the
advantage of military training. Neither knew how to conduct herself
in a combat situation. Therefore, in his mind, their safety came
first.

***

“
This concludes our
meeting?” Tia’s eyes rounded in surprise.

“
Yes. I do have a
scheduled meeting with the general who is overhauling our military.
Unfortunately,” Aleksi caressed a finger over her cheekbone, across
her nose, and down to her lips. “I can’t miss this
meeting.”

“
I’d pout, but I do have
samples I need to collect and other work as well.” Her lips pulled
down. “If I don’t go, someone else will take my
samples.”

“
That’s bad?”

She smiled at him. “No, but they
shouldn’t have to. I’m perfectly capable, just easily distracted by
a certain prince.” Because she didn’t have a choice, Tia leaned
forward and kissed him again.

“
I’m really happy you’re
easily distracted.”

“
You would be.” She kissed
his nose before wiggling off his lap. “So, Mr. Prince, do you
approve my budget for next year or do I still have to convince
you?”

His smile nearly melted her socks.
“You’re going to need to convince me.” His eyes narrowed. “I should
warn you, Dr. Morrison, it’s going to take a lot more effort on
your part.” Then he leaned back in his chair, looking smug and
utterly satisfied. And so masculine her femme fatale side
purred.

“
I’m relieved you’ve
warned me, Your Majesty,” and her eyes flitted to majestic parts of
him. The problem was, there were lots of them and she only had two
eyes.

He laughed, and surged out of the
chair to catch her. Tia, tart that she was, didn’t protest in the
least. Aleksi tugged her close. She snuggled in, so happy she was a
little afraid this was all a glorious dream and it would disappear
come the early morning light.

“
You’ve been warned, now
you can work harder to convince me why you need so much money.” He
sounded tough, but she was confident she’d get every last penny she
asked for.

To reward him, she kissed him again
before reluctantly heading for the door. “I’ll review my
strategy.”

His eyes half-masted. “You do
that.”

With a last smile and not-so-hidden
promise, Tia blew him a kiss before she headed back to the
lab.

It was a good thing she arrived when
she did because she found both Maria and Helena about to embark on
their sample taking. “You two planned to collect my samples, didn’t
you?”

Maria’s eyebrow rose. “You were busy
wringing budget money out of our prince.”

“
Exactly.” Helena cocked
her head. “It’s not like you don’t have a huge task ahead of you.”
Her eyes narrowed speculatively. “Did you get the money we
need?”

“
Not yet,” Tia hedged. Her
grin was probably cheesy cheek. “He claims I have a lot of work to
do to convince him.”

“
That’s what they do.”
Maria smoothed her already perfect top. “String you along, never
quite giving you an answer.”

“
Apparently I need to
rework my strategy.”

“
I doubt that. You just
need to weaken his defenses and bombard him with all your
ammunition. That’s what has always worked for me,” Maria
coached.

Tia laughed. “Is it bad that I’m
looking forward to our next budget meeting?”

“
Not at all. And he’s
probably anticipating it as much.”

“
Why did you leave so
soon?” There was a crease between Helena’s pretty
eyebrows.

“
He had a scheduled
military meeting.”

“
Ah, he couldn’t get out
of that.” Maria sounded like she knew what she was talking
about.

“
That’s what he said.” Tia
glanced around the lab. “Now, about my samples.”

“
What about them?” Helena
smothered a yawn and glanced at the coffee pot. It was
empty.

Too bad. “Why don’t I pack my box and
I’ll go do my job for a change.”

“
You already do. It seems
ridiculous that a woman with a Ph.D. takes water well samples.”
Maria scowled at her.

“
That’s my thought.”
Helena joined Maria in staring her down.

“
Jorge also gets on me
about it. But if I don’t take these samples, then you all have to.
There’s no reason why I can’t help out.” Tia kept her voice
firm.

“
You have an advanced
degree. You shouldn’t be wasting your time on sample
taking.”

Tia shook her head. “If I can’t do
your jobs, if my skills aren’t on par with yours, then I’m not a
very good boss. It helps me to maintain those skills and I enjoy
getting out and seeing the wells.”

Helena was the first to relax. “I can
understand that.”

“
You
have a master’s degree. You could just as easily be running
this lab.”

“
I didn’t know you had a
master’s, Helena.” Maria sounded scandalized.

“
I ended up winning a paid
graduate level scholarship here in Rurikstan, so I took it.” Helena
shrugged.

She wasn’t fooled. “I
looked into that program. You don’t win them, you
earn
them. Your
competition was fierce that year, but you still beat everyone out
by a huge margin.”

“
I’ve heard they’re very
difficult to obtain.” This round
she
joined Maria in throwing the
censorious looks.

While Helena winced, she didn’t refute
their statements. Probably because she couldn’t.

That reminded her of another order of
business. “I’ve also reviewed your pay scale.” She had spent
several hours on this in fact. And brought in Maks due to her
findings.

“
Uh oh.” Helena exchanged
a glance with Maria.

“
The one budget concern I
was most concerned with was the pay rates of those working in this
lab.”