Chemistry of Desire Read online

Remembering how much Todd claimed to dislike relaxers, Emily gave her reflection a wicked little smile. She couldn’t wait to get it done. A thought occurred to her, and she asked Alexis if she was going to show her how to put on makeup.

  “Of course! Your skin is so pretty you won’t need much, but I’m going to shape your eyebrows first.”

  Emily stared in the mirror again and ran her finger over one of her brows. They weren’t bushy, but they didn’t look sleek and sexy like the ones on Alexis and Sherri. She resigned herself to the inevitable, but she had another question. “Does it hurt?”

  “No more than childbirth,” Sherri said with a grin.

  Emily braced herself and clutched the arms of the styling chair, preparing herself for the worst. Alexis rolled her eyes and leaned in for the attack. She held the skin taut and went to work.

  “Just tell me when you’re going to start,” Emily whined.

  “I’m done, you big sissy. It only hurts if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Alexis said as she changed brows.

  “Wow.” She tried to look in the mirror, but Alexis blocked her. “Let me see how it looks,” Emily said.

  “You can’t see anything until I’m all done. I want you to get the total effect.”

  “That’s so not fair,” Emily protested. “You know I have immediate gratification syndrome. I want to see it in progress.”

  “Nope. Just sit there and be patient while I work my magic. And please remember that I have some very hot curling irons here. You wouldn’t want to get a little burn, would you?”

  Sherri looked up from the catalogs she’d been perusing. “Be patient, Em. You know she means it,” she said. “How do you think she keeps her clients in line?”

  All three women laughed, but Emily resolved to sit quietly through the whole process, especially since Alexis was doing this solely from the goodness of her heart. She had absolutely refused any kind of payment, which made Emily treasure her friend even more. It really didn’t take as long as Emily had anticipated. In a few hours her hair had been cut, relaxed and styled, her eyebrows had been shaped and Alexis had put on a light application of makeup. Sherri and Alexis were very pleased with the results.

  “Okay, close your eyes. I’m turning you around,” Alexis said.

  Emily did so at once, her hands tightly clasped together. She felt the chair moving and heard Alexis tell her to take a look. Her eyes popped open and she stared at the woman in the mirror. Her reflection was so unfamiliar that she half turned to see who was standing behind her. She realized what she was doing and turned back to view her new look. Emily was stunned.

  “I look…good,” she said slowly.

  Sherri patted her shoulder. “You are beautiful, honey. You look like you from the inside out.”

  “I look like my mom.” For the first time in her life she saw the resemblance to her gorgeous mother. Her hair was silky and shiny, parted on one side with a deep wave that highlighted her eyes. Her eyebrows were still thick, but cleanly shaped. The effect was so dramatic that it drew attention to her big eyes, framed by long eyelashes. Bronze highlighter and soft plum blush brought out her cheekbones, and a nude lip gloss showed off the shape of her lips. Emily was stunned. “I really look nice,” she said softly. She got a little teary-eyed, which caused Alexis to thrust a tissue at her.

  “That mascara is good, but it’s not waterproof. And you don’t look nice, girl. You look fabulous!”

  Emily smiled widely. “I do, don’t I?” She stood and hugged Alexis tight, then Sherri. “You know what I feel like?”

  “A million bucks,” Sherri said.

  “A new woman,” Alexis guessed.

  “Oh, absolutely. I feel brand-new and I feel like ten million bucks. But I really feel like shopping,” Emily said as she turned her head from side to side. “I need new clothes. Lots of them.”

  Sherri rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Okay, it’s time for me to work my magic. Ladies, let’s hit the mall!”

  Two weeks later, Emily was leaning back into her rather uncomfortable seat on the plane that was taking her to Chicago. She’d made the trip many times since Ayanna had moved to Illinois, but this was going to be a totally different experience. Even the most mundane aspects of this trip were foreign to her. For the first time ever, Emily had to pay a hefty fee for having overweight luggage. She’d always been indifferent to her attire and she could roll everything up into a small suitcase. If her clothes got wrinkled, she didn’t care because clothing was functional, not decorative, as far as she was concerned. Those days were totally over. Now her luggage was carefully packed and loaded with fashionable outfits and accessories.

  She couldn’t have cared less about the extra fees. It was worth it, as a matter of fact, because it was her time to shine. Her mother and her sister would be tickled about the new Emily, but she couldn’t wait until she bumped into Todd Wainwright. Emily was going to show him what a huge mistake he’d made by dumping her so crudely. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when they encountered each other again. She could run into Todd in the airport and it wouldn’t make any difference to her—she was more than ready. There was a time when she’d wear old jeans and a sweatshirt to travel in, but not anymore. She was wearing black skinny jeans with a bright red turtleneck sweater and some really sexy black over-the-knee boots with a black wool peacoat. No more flying slob for her.

  Emily looked fantastic and she knew it, which is a great confidence builder for any woman, even one as brilliant and accomplished as she was. Going to work after her haircut and shopping spree was gratifying, to say the least. Reactions ranged from disbelief to open awe to confusion. Two of her colleagues didn’t recognize her. Jessy, the department administrator, was delighted with the changes to Emily’s appearance and told her so.

  “Now that’s the real you,” she said, beaming. “I could never figure out why you wanted to hide behind clothes that were all baggy and why you never let anyone see how pretty you are. And all it took was a little haircut and some clothes that fit you right. Now people can see that great figure of yours and those pretty legs, too.”

  Emily gave the older woman a smile and a cheeky wink, which made both of them laugh. She was getting used to the extra attention, and it was rather pleasant. A few weeks ago it seemed that attention to one’s appearance was the height of social stupidity, something that indicated the paucity of true intellect in this society. But it was hard to apply that line of thought when fellow scholars with many advanced degrees were smiling at her with approval. And it was impossible to deny that she was feeling more confident as a result of a simple change in her mode of dress and style of her hair. She had even impressed those above her, as she found out when having lunch with the university provost.

  Dr. Gavin Awerbuch had been at the university much longer than Emily, which was saying something because she’d started so young and excelled so fast. He’d been a mentor to her for a long time, and he was someone she could count on for good advice and counsel. They met off-campus at a nice restaurant that was frequented by faculty and students alike. He was one of her favorite people. He had a wild head of curly hair, a short beard, and he always wore unusual eyeglasses. This pair looked like something H. G. Wells would have worn, with oddly shaped wire frames that gave him the air of a keen-eyed mad scientist.

  After a delicious seafood lunch and chitchat, Dr. A., as she called him when they were alone, got down to business.

  “Emily, do you want my job?”

  She started to laugh, but she could see he was quite serious. “No, I don’t. You’re not thinking of retiring, are you? You’re too young for that,” she said with concern on her face and in her voice.

  “Thanks for saying that. My kids make me feel like an antique some of the time. Teenagers can do that,” he said with a grin. “The reason I bring it up is because we don’t know what to do with you. You’re so young, yet so accomplished that the only way for you to go is up, and right now there’s no place to put
you. A lateral move would be ridiculous, and there’s no one for you to replace.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “In a way yes, and in other ways, of course not,” he assured her. “You’ve been responsible for recruiting and developing some of the finest scientific minds we’ve acquired in the last decade. But you’ve also been instrumental in us losing them.”

  Emily had to stifle a gasp as she tried not to choke on her iced tea. She was struggling to answer this cryptic statement when he hastened to reassure her.

  “It’s nothing personal, Emmie. Everyone loves you and you do a superlative job in everything that you do. You are the kind of professor, department head and colleague that every university prays for, trust me. But,” he added, raising his index finger, “you are an impossible act to follow. The scholars you develop have to leave here in order to advance. You train your people brilliantly, you stimulate their intellectual curiosity, you spur them to aspire to greatness, and just when they are primed to be of real use to us, they have to take everything you’ve given them and leave our gates because there is no place for them to go. In order for them to spread their academic wings they’ve got to fly away from the nest, which is, from the standpoint of the board both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because your name and reputation attract more of the same kind of eager scholars, and a curse because we want to keep them all,” he said, gesturing with both hands. “So, my dear Emily, my question is, what do you plan to do with the rest of your life? You’ve already accomplished more than many academics do in a lifetime, and you’re barely thirty. What’s next for you?”

  Emily stared out the window for a long moment, watching the traffic go by. For once she had no answer, nothing that she could say that would make any sense. She finally looked into Dr. A.’s dark, clever eyes and told him the truth. “I have absolutely no idea. Just none.”

  “Don’t look so stricken, Emily. I put it badly,” he apologized. “I was thinking out loud, which is always a bad idea. Since I’m treating, how about a huge slab of that pecan pie? You could use a nice sugar rush for the afternoon.”

  “That sounds like a great idea.” Emily tried to put a big smile on her face, but it would be a while before she could process the information she’d just been given. Thank God she was going on vacation next week. The long plane ride would give her plenty of time to think about what Dr. A. had just shared with her.

  Emily could hear the sound of the jet going into a descent. It would be landing soon, but there would be no one to meet her, per her request. People didn’t go to the mass confusion that was O’Hare Airport with joy in their hearts, and she wasn’t about to drag her sister or brother-in-law out there when she was perfectly capable of getting to their house by herself. There were plenty of limos and cabs and other means of transportation available; she’d get there just fine. She was jolted out of her thoughts when the man sitting next to her asked if she needed a lift from the airport. He was a very handsome man named Jared and they had chatted almost the entire flight.

  “Is someone meeting you, or would you like a ride into the city?” he asked. He had the most arresting gray eyes and a deep cleft in his chin. With his blond hair and rugged build, he rather resembled Alexander Skarsgard, the actor who played her favorite vampire on True Blood.

  She turned to face him, her head still inclined on the headrest. “Jared, that’s nice of you, but I’ll get a cab. My family wanted to pick me up, but I think coming to almost any airport is cruel and unusual punishment.”

  He had a devastating smile, one that lit up his whole face. She was admiring it while he answered.

  “You are a woman of great decency and common sense. And you probably wouldn’t be comfortable letting a stranger take you anywhere. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t be too happy if my sister accepted a ride with some bum she met on a plane.”

  His smile made the corners of his eyes crinkle in a very sexy way, and Emily smiled back. “You don’t come across as a bum to me, and I’m a fairly good judge of character,” she said.

  “At least let me accompany you to the baggage claim and make sure you get a cab. And then maybe you’ll be inclined to let me take you to lunch while we’re here in Chicago.”

  Emily hesitated a moment before saying “Maybe I will.” It was noncommittal, but she said it with a smile. He was handsome and charming, but he didn’t overdo it with the charm. He had a good sense of humor, which everyone needed when flying commercial. Air travel used to be fun and fast and now it was neither, but on this flight Emily didn’t get impatient and irascible the way she usually did. By mutual agreement, she and Jared didn’t try to hurry off the crowded plane. They enjoyed talking to each other until the plane was almost empty. He insisted on getting her carry-on bag and rolling it down the jetway with his own bag. Emily couldn’t ever recall having a man do something like that for her since her father died. He was the last man who’d treated her like a lady. Her cheeks flushed as she realized that Jared was the first man she’d ever allowed to treat her with deference, other than Todd.

  Jared was a real sweet guy, Emily decided as they reached the baggage claim. The fact that the luggage from their plane hadn’t reached the carousel yet didn’t bother him in the least. To her surprise, it didn’t stress her out either, although it would have made her crazy in the past. She’d have been mentally composing the scathing letter she was going to send to the airline and growling at everyone who got within five feet of her. Now she was just enjoying talking to Jared, who made sure that they exchanged cell phone numbers. Her bags would show up eventually, and there was no point in getting bent out of shape about it. Sure enough, the bags came out and Jared again showed what a gentleman he was by hauling the large, heavy bag off the carousel. Then he made sure she got into a cab. He did everything with such aplomb and efficiency that Emily totally missed the fact that someone had come to meet her after all. She was so engrossed with Jared that she missed Todd Wainwright completely.

  Chapter 11

  Emily raised her hand to ring Ayanna’s doorbell, but the door flew open before she could make contact. Lucie was standing in the doorway with a huge smile on her face.

  “Hey, Mom,” Emily said. “Were you standing here waiting for me?”

  “Yes, I was! Oh, goodness, look at you,” Lucie said as she grabbed her for a big hug. “You look just wonderful, sweetie. Come on in here,” she urged.

  The cabdriver was standing behind her with her bags, much to her mother’s amusement. After he left, her mother told her that most cabdrivers wouldn’t bring the luggage to the door.

  “They usually leave it on the curb,” she said dryly. “But I can see why he went out of his way for you. You dazzled him, girl.”

  By now Ayanna had come into the foyer with a smile on her face. “Is that my little sister?” she said teasingly. Her smile got bigger as she got a good look at Emily. “Oh, snap! You are too fabulous, baby girl. Take off that coat and turn around so I can see your hair.”

  Emily promptly executed a graceful turn, which brought applause from her family. The ladies were joined by Ayanna’s handsome and devoted husband, who took a long look at his sister-in-law and smiled broadly before giving her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You are a beautiful woman, Emily. You’re lookin’ good, sis,” he said. “Let me take those bags upstairs for you.”

  They went into the huge living room of the big brick house that Johnny and Ayanna had restored. The extended family lived pretty close to each other in turn-of-the-century homes that had been remodeled, restored and put into mint condition. Johnny had two sisters, one who was married to a contractor and one who was a contractor, so naturally, refurbishing was in their blood, so to speak. Ayanna’s house hadn’t needed much work, just lots of painting and furnishing. Thanks to her creative decorating, Ayanna’s home was warm and cozy, despite the big rooms and high ceilings.

  “Are you hungry? We’ll be eating soon,” Lucie said.

  “Something smells really good
,” Emily said, sniffing the air.

  “You’re in for a treat,” Lucie assured her. “Johnny decided to cook tonight.”

  “That sounds great, but before I eat, I want to see my nieces. Where are Madison and Lindsey?”

  Ayanna went to the doorway and beckoned her. “I was just about to get them. Come on upstairs. You won’t believe how big they are.”

  Emily was truly amazed at the sight of the two-year-old twins. They still had a little of that sweet baby chubbiness, but they were much taller. They had the same golden-brown skin as Emily and Ayanna, with curly black hair and big black eyes. They even had Emily’s dimples. The little girls remembered her, calling her Auntie Emmie and giving her lots of kisses. Her throat got a little tight for some reason. Just because I haven’t seen them in so long, she thought as she hugged them both.

  After she freshened up, she and Ayanna each took a twin and went downstairs to the dining room, where the table was already set and her nephews, Alex and Cameron, were pouring ice water and placing a big bowl of salad on the table. They’d just come home from practice for the academic Olympics for their high school and had been immediately put to work. Their eyes lit up and Emily was bombarded with hugs. Billie Wainwright was also there with her husband, Jason, Todd’s older brother. All in all it was quite a gathering. The only ones missing were Billie’s charming sister Dakota and her husband, Nick Hunter. Dakota and Nick were at home because one of their little ones was sick, but they would see plenty of them soon. The elder Phillipses, Johnny’s parents, were in town and that meant more festivity. It was like a big extended family because all the couples were close friends as well as being in-laws, in some cases. At one time Emily felt like the odd person out in the face of all this wedded bliss, but she’d gotten past all of that because everyone made her feel welcome.

  Finally, everyone was seated around the table, grace was said and dinner, which consisted of Johnny’s excellent spaghetti and his homemade bread, was served. Emily ate until she was stuffed, enjoying the laughter and easy conversation. She usually dined alone, so this much family was a welcome change. She got up to help with the dishes, but Alex and Cameron insisted that it was their job. After the delicious meal, they all went into the family room, which was actually the former basement of the house. It had been completely finished, so it was just as nice as the rest of the house. She was so busy laughing and talking and playing with her nieces that she didn’t hear the doorbell ring, but she did recognize the deep voice that was coming toward the stairs. It was Todd, talking to Johnny, who’d opened the door for him.