The Soulmate Equation (22 page)

He buried his face in her neck. “I hadn't thought about that in a long time. Sisters never forget.”

“When did you go from telenovelas to intense geneticist?”

“My grandmother died when I was fourteen,” he said, pushing
up to sit and pulling her legs over his lap. “She moved in with us for the last seven or so years of her life, and she was absolutely the happiest aspect of my childhood. My parents didn't get along great, and without her there as a buffer, that resentment bled into everything.”

Jess frowned, reaching forward to pull one of his hands into hers.

“Also, they're not very… warm people by nature, so it got really quiet when Abuela died. Dad was never a fan of me sitting with her, watching the shows. He didn't get it—and when I tried to watch them after she died, sort of as a way to stay connected to her, he was not having it. He wanted me to get my head out of the clouds and think about a future that could support a family.”

“My mother, Jamie, is the same, sort of.” Jess smiled sardonically. “But her version was to always remind me what men want and look for. Suggesting my time was better spent finding a way to be taken care of, rather than learning how to do shit on my own.”

It was his turn to frown sympathetically. “I'd always been good in school,” he said, “so I just… got better. Science came naturally to me.”

“Had it occurred to you before Natalia said it tonight that what you're doing now is—in a roundabout way—sort of connected to all that? I bet your abuela would
love
it.”

“It didn't, but I think it's true. Think about how many love stories we'll build.”

Jess tilted her head and stared at him. She couldn't believe she got to be naked with this man.

He did a self-conscious double take. “What?”

“You're really hot, you know that?” Jess said. “And sort of wonderful. I think I'm even more into you now than I was earlier today.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “How is that possible? I thought I had you on lock already.”

Jess stretched out on the couch, grinning up at him and slowly peeling her shirt off. “Didn't someone say something about getting freaky in here?”

J
ESS AND JUNO
were about a block away from school one morning when Juno stopped and asked, “
Now
is River Nicolas your boyfriend?”

“What made you think of that on the way to school?” Jess deflected.

“Just wondering if you're going to see him this morning.”

She carefully considered this statement; her kid was fishing. “I'll probably see him at Twiggs later.”

“Oh.” Juno slanted her eyes up to her. “I thought I saw his stuff at home.”

Jess's neck heated, her mind starting to race. The last week, River had come over every morning for an hour or so after school drop-off and before they both started work for the day—it was their only time totally alone—but Jess'd had no idea that he'd been leaving evidence behind. She guessed in the haze of sex on the floor, on the bed, in the shower, bent over the dresser, and once on the
kitchen island, even a hyperorganized scientist was prone to forget something.

“Huh,” she said, stalling.

“Yesterday,” Juno said casually, her eyes straight ahead, “he left some shorts.”

“Oh.” Jess scrambled to come up with a suitable explanation, but the image of River suffering his way through a workday without underwear made her cough out a tiny laugh. “He probably used our place to change after, um, going for a run?”

Juno nodded at this and kicked a stick into the street. “Yeah, probably.”

They stopped at the border of school property, and Jess turned to face her daughter, needing to see her eyes when she asked, “How would you feel about it if we were dating each other?”

“I would like it,” Juno said absently, and her eyes veered to the side as she started scanning the playground for her friends.

Jess guided her chin so Juno was looking at her again. “Are you sure? Because it means sometimes he'll be with us, doing things.”

Her daughter's eyes glazed over. “I know.”

“But you are still the most important thing in the world to me.”

Juno's attention started to drift to the side again. “I know.”

God, it was not the time or the place to be having this conversation.

“Juno,” Jess said with gentle authority. “Look at me.”

Her eyes cleared. “What?”

“It's important to me that you hear this,” Jess said. “You asked
about River, so I want to say this now. You are my family. It's you and me, and nobody can change that, do you understand?”

Juno nodded. “I know, Mama. I like River. And I know you love me.”

From a few yards away, Naomi and Krista called out Juno's name. She tensed in excitement, bouncing on her feet, but obediently kept her gaze on her mother, waiting for the release of the goodbye kiss.

Jess pressed it to her forehead. “I do love you, Juno Merriam.”

“I love you, too, Jessica
Nicolas
!” With a delighted giggle, she tore off toward her friends.

RIVER'S HAIR WAS
a tangled mess from Jess's fingers as he kissed his way back up her body, and his expression quickly turned cocky at the view of her rag doll prostration on the bed.

“That was inspired,” she mumbled.

He kissed her once, breathless and smiling, and then fell to the side in his own exhausted puddle. “Good.”

Jess rolled over, half sprawling across his chest, and grinned up at him. “How was going commando at work yesterday?”

Letting out a laugh-groan, he reached with his free arm and wiped a hand down his face. “You'd think I would notice the lack of boxers sometime before leaving for work.”

“Sex drunk.”

Humming, he smiled into a kiss, and then went completely still as realization dawned. “Shit. We had sex in the kitchen yesterday.” He squinted apologetically down at her. “Juno found them, didn't she?”

Jess waved this off. “She thought they were shorts.”

He winced, face grim. “I'm sorry, Jess.”

“No, it's good.” She rested her chin on her fist, gazing up at him. “I did tell her we're together, though. I hope that's okay.”

River bit back a smile. “Of course it is.”

“Honestly, I'm amazed her friends at school didn't ask about the
U-T
article. Or the
Today
show, for that matter.”

“Was she okay with us?”

She stretched to kiss him, because that was the perfect first question. “I think she's thrilled, River Nicolas.” Returning to her perch on his chest, she added, “I don't want her to worry that things are going to change too fast.”

He dragged long, lazy fingers through her hair and gazed unfocused at her face.

“I'd ask you what you're thinking,” she said, “but I bet the answer is, like, RNA editing or restriction enzymes.”

“Actually, wiseass, I was thinking how beautiful you are.”

An important circuit shorted out in her brain; she had no idea how to respond articulately while elation simmered in her veins. “Oh. So…
not
RNA editing.”

River smiled, curling to kiss her. “No.” He settled back on the pillow. “I was thinking how happy I am.”

Her blood cells stood up, gave a roaring standing ovation. “Just like your fancy machine predicted.”

“I haven't felt this way before,” he said, ignoring her joking. “Is it too soon to say that?”

Jess grew short of breath. “Of course not.”

“I haven't been home in years, but I feel that way with you.”

She bent and pressed her face to his chest, squeezing her eyes closed and trying not to hyperventilate.

“You okay?”

“Just trying not to freak out,” she said, and quickly added, “Good freak out. Deeply infatuated freak out.”

“That's a good freak ou—Oh.” When she looked up in response to his tone, an uneasy smile spread across his mouth and he pushed back into the pillow to be able to see her better. “I meant to tell you this as soon as I got here, but—”

“But I was waiting for you naked?” she interrupted with a grin.

“Yes, exactly.” He laughed. “We have people coming into the offices on Monday.”

“… Okay?”

He gazed at her, and then laughed at her misunderstanding. “We have
People
magazine coming into the offices on Monday. They're meeting with us in the morning, I guess,” he said, gesturing to include her, “and then David, Brandon, Lisa, and I will have an interview in the afternoon. So, unless you and Fizzy are going to remove every copy in the grocery store, it's probably good Juno found out today.”

AFTER A TRY
Something New Sunday—River joined all four Davises at the zoo, and holding his hand in public was the novelty—Monday came along, and she didn't even wake up in a panic. She was getting used to all these high-pressure situations—interviews, parties, photo sessions—though no doubt it helped that her relationship with River
felt like a cornet-blaring, red-carpet-unfurling, fireworks-over-the-ocean, first of its kind in all of history.

It helped, too, that he slept in her bed Sunday night. In life, River was restrained and cautious. As a lover, he was expressive and generous. And in sleep, he was a cuddler: pressed up against her all night, her long, big spoon.

At six, his alarm went off and he jerked awake like he'd been hoisted by strings, sleepily tugging on clothes—double-checking that he had on
all
of his clothes—kissing her, and silently sneaking out before Juno was awake.

Half an hour later, he was at their door “surprising” Jess and Juno with coffee and hot chocolate.

Juno shuffled out of her bedroom, and the three of them sat down at the dining table for breakfast. River pulled out some papers to review; his foot came over Jess's, reminding her that not even an hour ago he was beside her, in her bed. She tried not to let the thought unspool, imagining the three of them sitting there in easy silence every morning for the rest of their lives.

Juno poked sleepily at her cereal. “Why did you leave so early to get coffee? Mama has a coffee machine in the kitchen.”

River and Jess went completely still. Finally, he managed a deeply unconvincing “Huh, does she?”

They followed the path of Juno's pointed finger to the counter, and River let out a murmured “Oh, I didn't know that. Thank you.”

He looked at Jess over the top of Juno's head and winced for help. Jess had to bite her lips to keep from losing it.

They walked Juno to school together, bracketing her, each
holding one of her hands. She crab-walked; they swung her. “You need to be taller, Mom,” Juno said. “River Nicolas can swing me way higher.”

He looked over at her, gloating.

And all of it felt like the tip-top of the roller coaster, the feeling of anticipation before the thrill of the drop.

So obviously, Jess was terrified.

WHICH WAS OKAY,
because there was plenty to distract her from those enormous, scary feelings. When they arrived at the GeneticAlly offices—the parking lot more crowded than Jess had ever seen it—everything exploded into motion and excitement. Lisa greeted them at the curb, firing information off about the schedule as soon as they climbed out of the car. Jess and River were up first for two hours, then the reporter, Aneesha, would take River to meet with David, Lisa, and Brandon over near the Salk. Before she'd even had a chance to put her purse down, Jess was being ushered into Lisa's office, where a makeup artist and hairstylist got right to work.

“You look like you've been carried here upside down,” Aneesha said, laughing. She was a gorgeous Black woman with glowing skin and the most perfect crab-apple cheekbones Jess had seen in her entire life. “Totally shell-shocked.”

Jess laughed as the makeup artist worked around her. “I am not—to put it mildly—
accustomed
to this treatment.”

Over the next twenty minutes, Jess learned that Aneesha Sampson had interviewed Brad Pitt last weekend, had an irrepressible laugh, called River “Keanu Banderas,” and embraced both plunging
necklines
and
shoulder-grazing dangly earrings in her personal style. Jess didn't know if she wanted to propose or propose a life swap.

“We're going to start in the lab, if that works for you,” Aneesha said as they all stepped out into the hall. “Just River at first.”

Lisa looked a little harried. “Jess, are you okay just hanging out?”

Jess held up her laptop. “I have a ton of work to do. You can put me anywhere.”

As Aneesha headed toward the elevator and Lisa bent to reply to a text on her phone, River leaned in, kissing Jess. “Okay. I'll see you in a bit. I love you.”

White noise roared in her ears and her eyes went wide. “What?”

River stared down at her, his expression slack with shock. But he didn't take it back. He just… started laughing. He nodded sideways to Lisa, saying quietly, “Not the place I'd planned to say it, but hallways and audiences do seem to be our thing.”

Lisa turned to take a call, and Jess broke into a grin, throwing her arms around his neck. She planted a dozen tiny kisses all over his face. “I love you, too.”

The truth of it was so obvious; Jess didn't know how they hadn't been saying
I love you
from that very first day.

With his smile straightening and a bright heat flashing like lightning in his eyes, he moved his lips to her cheek, and over to her ear. “I'll see you in a few.”

“River, they're ready for you.” Lisa waved him down the hall.

With one final peck, he disappeared into the elevator and Lisa returned. “Jess, I'd put you in River's office, but they're setting up
for some stills.” Hooking her thumb to the office directly behind her, Lisa said, “Let's just put you in David's for now. He won't mind.”

Jess lifted her laptop. “I'm cool anywhere.”

Lisa tried the door, then pulled out her keys and unlocked it, immediately wincing as she turned back to Jess. “This okay? I forgot how messy he is. I never go in here.”

And…
wow
. David's office was the upside-down version of River's. Where River's desk was bare but for his computer, David's had the look of a desk found in the rubble post-hurricane. It was covered with printed-out data sheets, empty paper cups, wadded-up napkins, Post-its, and stacks of journal articles. His shelves were lined with a dusty and disorganized array of convention freebies: a Merck-branded stress ball, a Sanofi travel mug, a plastic DNA molecule from Genentech, a pile of branded pens.

But listen. River Nicolas Peña had just told her he loved her. Lisa could drop Jess off on Bourbon Street early on a Saturday morning and she'd be fine. “This is great.”

“We'll come grab you when Aneesha is ready.” Lisa grinned before ducking out, closing the door behind her.

Staring at David's desk, Jess wondered whether she should use her laptop on her actual lap, before figuring she could just carefully set it on top and not disturb the mayhem. While her computer booted up, Jess glanced around the sciencey detritus. Among the papers were sheets and sheets filled with hundreds of rows of data. An electrical current passed over her. Maybe that was a thread of why she and River were a Diamond Match—they were both deeply enthralled by numbers.