Chapter 2

Alison had arrived at the lab the next day at 8:00am jazzed to see Braden and ready to start her day with him. The early the morning she had once again been woken up from a steamy dream about him, and she was anxious to turn it into reality. She was seriously sexually frustrated and had decided that today she was actually going to do something about it.

This incessant desire was interrupting her sleep and due to the late hours she kept, on most nights sleep was a rare commodity, so disturbing the little rest she did get was intolerable. The restless evenings were beginning to take its toll on her energy level, and if seducing Braden was the only way to pay her sleep-debt, well then so be it. Alison had decided that she was going to tease him throughout the day until he snapped and dragged her to his apartment, where they would have wild, animalistic sex all night long.

Thinking about this new, intense response to Braden had Alison somewhat confused, how the hell is it possible to go from being just friends for 2 years to wanting to rip each other's clothes off in less than a week? But she was not about to question the fates as to why she and Braden were pursuing this now and not two years ago. All that mattered at that particular moment was getting the guy naked on a bed.

Much to her disappointment, however, when she entered the lab Braden was not there yet, and as she made her way to her desk she saw the message button on her phone blinking; somehow she just knew that the message she was about to hear would not make her very happy.

"Hey Ali it's about 6:00am right now and I'm currently on my way into the capital. I'm sorry this is such late notice but obviously this means I'm not going to be working in the lab today. An annoying family thing came up and I have to take care of it ASAP. I'm not sure how long it will be before I'm back in Sandria, I'm guessing not before the weekend. I hope you have a good day and feel free to call me if you need to discuss lab stuff. Take care."

"He must be fucking kidding me." Alison said aloud to herself. She had spent an hour this morning getting ready for him. She was wearing make-up and earrings. She had actually blow-dried her hair then curled the ends so they were all bouncy. It had been part of her seduction plan, she had wanted to slowly take her pony-tail down and have her hair bounce around her shoulders.

Insensitive jerk! Like I would actually believe that he's having family issues. Braden hadn't missed a day of work since she'd hired him and he certainly never talked about his family. This had to be about her. He was obviously have second thoughts and wanted to get away from her for awhile. He got carried away yesterday, that's what happened. And now he's realized that he never really wanted me in the first place. "Well I'm certainly not about to call him."

She had somehow managed to get through the day and was heading home when the lab phone range. She instinctively reached out her hand to answer it, but hesitated before picking it up. What if it's Braden? What would I say to him? What if it's not Braden and it's your supervisor making his monthly check in? She heard the click of the answering machine picking up the call, and then the sound of her father's voice filled the room.

"Hey honey, it's Dad I was hoping to catch you before you went home. I'll try to call you on your cell phone too. I have excellent news for you. I talked to King Medeas today about your research and he was very interested. He wants to bring you to the capital to talk about it and see if it would be a good investment. You'd have to give a presentation to his advising council but I'm sure you could handle that. Well, call me when you get this. We'd need to arrange this pretty soon if it's going to happen."

His message ended and 15 seconds later her cell phone began to vibrate in her lab coat pocket. Without thinking she flipped open the phone and began to speak,

"I would love to come to the capital Daddy; it's so exciting that he wants to speak with me. Do you know what this means? This could be the break my research needs. This could be it Dad!"

"Umm. Ali, this isn't your Dad, its Braden. I was just calling to check to see that the day went all right and that you didn't blow up the lab while I was gone. What's going on though? Who wants to meet with you?"

She was still pissed about him freaking out and leaving and wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him the exciting news. But she had to concede that her work was his work too and he deserved to be apart of it.

"My Dad talked to King Medeas today while they were at the senate about our research, and he wants me to go to Lavere to talk with him about it."

"The king invited you to the capital?" He asked. His voice sounded odd, like it was straining to conceal his true emotion. She figured he was just as excited as she was but couldn't express his joy where he was.

"Yeah, I need to discuss it with my Dad, but hopefully I could go next week. This would be an excellent time to go because I'm in between research stages. But I'd want you to come with me. You did half the work you deserve to be able to present it."