The Chemist

At first Alex wasn’t sure they hadn’t stumbled into the lobby after all, because she’d never been inside an apartment with a wide marble staircase up to another story. The place was lavish, sleek and modern, and lined with floor-to-ceiling windows that immediately had her feeling exposed. Through the glass, the sun was just beginning to droop toward the DC skyline. There didn’t seem to be any other apartments close enough to look into this one, but a telescope would make it possible. Or a rifle sight.

“No,” a hard – but somehow still velvety – voice announced from behind them.

Alex whirled. The apartment stretched back the other way, too, wrapping around the front door and the hallway beyond. On one side was a huge white kitchen; on the other a dining room with seating for ten, with more window-walls framing each. Leaning against the marble kitchen island was the most exquisite human being Alex had ever seen in real life.

The woman looked exactly like the facetious description Alex had conjured up to describe Kevin’s improbable mental image of the Oleander. She had honey-blond hair, thick and long, that stood out from her head in full waves like a Disney cartoon’s. Sapphire-blue doe eyes, full red lips turned up at the corners, and a straight, narrow nose, all set with flawless symmetry in an oval face with prominent cheekbones. Swan neck over elegant collarbones. Of course, the generous hourglass figure with a tiny waist and legs that seemed longer than Alex’s entire body. The woman was wearing only a short, black kimono and an irritated expression.

“It’s temporary,” Kevin said in a conciliatory voice. “Obviously, I’ll pay you the same for each of them. Three times what we originally agreed on.”

The surreally perfect woman raised one eyebrow and looked pointedly at Einstein. His tail was wagging furiously. He stared up at the blonde with the proverbial puppy-dog eyes.

“Four times,” Kevin promised. He dropped the bags he was carrying. “You like dogs.”

“Kate?” Daniel asked suddenly, surprised recognition saturating his tone.

The woman’s face dimpled into a toothpaste-commercial-quality smile.

“Hi, Danny,” she purred. “I almost didn’t know you with all that scruff. Well, that does make me feel better. You left a nasty welt on my ego, but at least you didn’t forget me.”

“It’s, er, nice to see you again,” Daniel stammered, flummoxed by her greeting.

The blonde’s eyes cut to Kevin. “Okay, he can stay.”

“It’s just a few nights,” Kevin said. “I need the little one, too.”

“You know I don’t like women in my space,” she said in a flat voice, flicking her eyes to Alex, then back to Kevin.

“Oh, that’s okay, Ollie’s not a real girl,” Kevin assured her.

Daniel dropped his bags and took half a step forward before Alex hooked the back of his shirt with her one free finger.

“Not now,” she muttered.

Kate – or whatever her real name was – shrugged gracefully away from the island and glided toward them. She looked down her nose at Alex; easy to do, as she was a good six inches taller.

“So what happened to your face? Your boyfriend tune you up?”

Daniel stiffened. Alex wasn’t sure what this was – maybe some kind of territorial thing? It was only a guess; Alex didn’t have a lot of experience with other women. In the distant past, she’d suffered through a couple of immature roommates, liked a few other lady science geeks, and made small talk with the rare female underling who didn’t flee her presence. Mostly she’d worked with men, and she didn’t know all the rules for double-X-chromosome interactions. At a loss, she went with the truth, though she probably should have waited to see what Kevin had told the woman.

“Um, no, it was a Mafia assassin.” Alex worked her jaw, feeling the bandage pull against her skin. “Oh, and the older stuff was just Kevin trying to kill me.”

“If I’d actually been trying to kill you, you’d be dead,” Kevin grumbled.

Alex rolled her eyes.

“What, you want to go another round?” Kevin demanded. “Anytime, sweetheart.”

“The next time I put you down,” Alex promised, “it will be permanently.”

Kevin laughed – not derisively, like she expected, but with genuine delight. “See what I mean, Val?”

The woman looked like she was trying not to smile. “Okay, you’ve piqued my interest. But I have only the one extra room.”

“Ollie’s good at roughing it.”

“Whatever,” the woman said. Apparently it was an agreement. “Get all that mess out of my living room.”

She skimmed close by Daniel as she passed them. Without a backward glance, she headed upstairs. The kimono was very short, and both brothers watched her climb with partially open mouths.

“You turned her down?” Alex muttered under her breath.

Kevin heard her and laughed again. “Let’s move this stuff before she kicks us all out.”

The extra bedroom was bigger than Alex’s entire DC apartment had been. And it wasn’t as if she’d been living in a dive; her place was what real estate agents described as a luxury apartment. This place, though, was several degrees beyond mere luxury. Kevin had seemed on the level when he said the woman was a hooker, but Alex hadn’t had any idea that profession could pay so well.

Kevin stacked the duffels against one wall.