Read Online Deadly Chemistry (Entangled Ignite) by Teri Anne Stanley - Free Book Online Page A

wall, and there was something about the way he talked with Crawford… He knew something. And she was going to find out what it was and how it could help her. And maybe how to get her drug back.
    She absolutely had to find that stuff before the police did.
    And before anyone died. Dangerous new drug…addicts to the hospital… Please, God…don’t let it be her drug they were talking about on the news.
    After Crawford left, Mike stopped fiddling with settings on the centrifuge. He straightened and turned to lean against a clean section of counter. Crossing his arms, he glared at Lauren.
    “What?” She realized she’d crossed her arms, too, and stood with a hip cocked out. Defensive much? “Let’s have it.”
    “You lied.”
    “About what?”
    “What’s missing. Those pellet things you showed me yesterday. They’re all gone.”
    Damn.
    “Yeah. You wanna start talking?” He uncrossed his arms and moved toward Lauren.
    He smelled of fabric softener again, like the day before. What single guy used fabric softener?
    “Are you married?” Ugh . Did she really say that?
    That slowed him down, though. “What? No. I live with my brother. I told you that last night.” He took another step into her personal space. “Why did you lie?”
    Instead of feeling intimidated, she found herself uncrossing her arms and putting her hands behind her to hold on to the ledge. “How’s the cat doing?”
    “Howled all night. Dylan threatened to poison it.”
    “Dylan did? But he’s such an animal lover!”
    “Shows you how much of a head case that cat is.” He pinned her in place with that dark stare. “Why did you lie?”
    He was so close that she could feel his heat. How much closer was he going to get?
    When she took a deep breath, her breasts brushed his chest. Which caused her to take another deep breath. Not on purpose, of course.
    His eyes heated. She could smell coffee now. She licked her lips, and his nostrils flared. He bent his head closer.
    She needed to answer his question, but what should she say? If she didn’t answer, would he…what, kiss it out of her? He should work for the CIA. Or the FBI. As part of the Threaten to Kiss Information From Witnesses Unit.
    This couldn’t happen. She didn’t have room for a guy in her life under the best circumstances, and right now, she needed to find her drug. How was she going to do that if she had her lips stuck to his? Those gorgeous, sexy lips that probably had magnets in them. Magnets for desperate and dateless science geek girl lips. “I have to find the algae before the police do. I have to get it back so I can make enough step three to send to the drug company that I’m hoping will fund my study. My entire career hangs on getting this money. Without the algae…” Well, she guessed, the truth was always an option.
    He blinked and stepped back, saying nothing.
    She felt strangely sad that he hadn’t had to resort to more drastic measures to get her to talk. He was awfully interested in this situation. And why had Crawford seemed to want Mike there while he examined the crime scene? “Why do you care so much about this?”
    Mike retreated to the other side of the aisle and crossed his arms again. “Does my brother have a key to your lab? Can he get in here after hours?”
    “Dylan?” Lauren tilted her head. Ah . She supposed that, if she had a brother, and he worked somewhere there had been such chaos, she’d be a little freaked out too, but… “No. I mean, yes, he has a key, but I don’t think he did this, and I can’t believe you do.”
    “I didn’t say I did. But someone did. What did you give that man at the animal shelter last night?”
    “Huh?” What the …? “Oh! Rick. It was rat food. Why do you want to know…” A lightbulb in her brain went on.
    The rat food pellets were in a bag just like the one she kept the algae in. Mike had been in the parking lot when she’d come out of the building last night. She’d dropped the bag and nearly