Jupiter was stressed. Exhausted. She hadn't slept well in weeks, ever since her boss moved up the deadline for her product demo. She was never going to make it in time.

And if she didn't, this time it'd be her head.

If she somehow exaggerated her suspicions about the Abrasax' shady business practices and she didn't wind up in the bottom of Lake Michigan, she was certain she would at least be fired.

She needed this job. Her family needed her to keep this job. She shared her earnings with her mom and her aunt Nino every paycheck. Before she had this job, they lived barely above the poverty line. Now at least her mom could take a day off every once in a while.

Jupiter had been working for Abrasax Industries for over three years, primarily on a project related to her graduate thesis work: the science behind attraction. After years of poorly chosen lovers and romances that ended in heartbreak, Jupiter had decided there had to be something in her genes that made her so attracted to men that only hurt her. She dove headfirst into the literature, taking every class on genetics, epigenetics, brain chemistry, and more that she could find. In her third year of her PhD, she stumbled across something interesting: a series of proteins that she hypothesized could alter who our genes tell us to be attracted to.

She graduated a couple years later, publishing her theoretical work in several smaller journals, without much success, until one day she got a very strange email from someone named Kalique Abrasax. She vaguely remembered hearing the name before, connected to a company that did experimental genetics work, but nothing respectable scientists dabbled in.

The email sounded at first like an invitation to interview. And maybe it was, of sorts. But by the time she arrived at Kalique's office the following Monday, her fate was sealed. They knew exactly what she had discovered in her lab, and were determined to use her knowledge to create a Love Potion of sorts.

She laughed it off, thinking it was some sort of woo-woo, new age nonsense like the astrology Nino kept trying to get her to care about. She was a serious scientist, like her parents.

But she was also curious.

She googled the company, winding her way down a rabbit hole of intrigue and danger—strange claims of human testing gone wrong, mysterious potions that supposedly extended your life, and even possible human cloning!

She slammed her laptop closed and was determined to not think about it again.

The next day she was walking to the corner bodega when a shiny black limousine slid up next to her. The dark-tinted rear window rolled down, revealing a handsome, well-groomed man, probably not much older than herself, in an expensive looking suit.

An hour later, when she was signing a contract to work for the company for five years (having not consulted a lawyer or even really read the document before her) she wondered once again if it was her genes that made her behave so irrationally.

And the rest was history.

Back in present day, Jupiter was exasperated. Nothing was coming out right today and she finally gave in and slammed her papers down, letting out a tiny groan of frustration.

"Excuse me Doctor, are you all right?" a low voice rumbled from behind her.

She spun around to look, having assumed she was alone in the lab. She was always alone in the lab. Frantically scanning the room, her eyes landed on a large man in a black uniform standing near the door.

"Who are you?" Not exactly the most eloquent thing to say, but she was out of fucks for the day.

"Caine Wise, I'm here to help you." This wasn't strictly true. Caine had been hired to be private security for the labs, but something made him want to ease her anxiety.

Jupiter cocked an eyebrow and stared him down, scrutinizing him. He found that he liked her eyes on him, and he stood a bit straighter, falling into a practiced posture of the former soldier.

"Ok Caine Wise, let's see what you've got."

His stance slightly faltered at the challenge, but he'd never backed down from one before. His lip curled up at the edge, but quickly relaxed as he collected himself to respond.

After properly introducing himself and explaining why he was there, Caine offered to bring Jupiter a cup of coffee. Her appreciative eyes looked like they might cry.

He returned several minutes later with an armful of snacks and a to-go cup of coffee. He hadn't even brought her the terrible break room kind.

She thought he looked like an angel.

To be fair, she also thought he was pretty heavenly before he showed up with food and caffeine. His eyes were piercing, matching the sharp edge of his features. His lips looked full and soft. His sturdy build and solid frame gave her all sorts of ideas…

She was maybe a bit too sleep deprived.

Caine insisted she take a break and eat. She agreed reluctantly, plopping down ungracefully on top of an unoccupied counter, and digging into a cheese croissant.

Caine watched her eat. She looked run ragged. He didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to make her feel better, needed to take care of her.

This was a very unfamiliar instinct for Caine. He wasn't exactly the domestic type. He lived alone. He hardly had any friends or even acquaintances. He definitely didn't have any girlfriends. He shrugged off his strange urge to befriend and protect her, deciding instead to focus on trying to keep his new security job.

At least that's what he told himself to do.

But then a small bit of yolk dripped down Jupiter's chin and Caine wondered absently what her skin might taste like.

"You're staring at me."

"I'm sorry," Caine dropped his eyes to the floor.

"No, I'm sorry! Here I am eating right in front of you and you must be starving! Here, take these," she insisted, holding out a bag of hash browns to him.

"I'm working, I really shouldn't," Caine tried, but she would not put her arm down, so he accepted the gift, letting his fingers linger a little too long on her own as he took the bag.

"I'm Jupiter by the way," she said, just as he took his first bite. "Jupiter Jones."

"Nice to meet you Dr. Jones," he said awkwardly, talking around a mouthful of potato.

"Just Jupiter," she corrected him.

"Nice to meet you Jupiter." Her name practically tumbled out of his mouth.

She smiled brightly at him. "Nice to meet you too, Caine." She took a sip of her coffee—somehow it was exactly her order, black with two sugars. "Mmmm" she moaned, inhaling its scent gratefully. "I could get used to this." Her mind briefly registered how close to flirtatious that sounded, but she was too happy in this moment to care what he thought of her boldness.

Caine chuckled softly. He could too.

"So what are you working on?" Caine asked, after a few minutes of eating in peaceful silence.

"Ughh," Jupiter groaned.

"You don't have to tell me—" Caine was ready to apologize, but Jupiter stopped him.

"No, it's not that. It's just that it's going so poorly I don't even know what to say about it."

He wasn't sure if he should ask anything else, so he just waited. His soft eyes felt comforting to Jupiter, who's only real contact lately had been the Abrasax family, none of whom were particularly good company. A couple of whom were particularly bad company.

She smiled softly at him, not quite making it to her eyes, and sighed. "It's supposed to be a love potion."

"A love potion?" he tried, and failed, not to sound surprised.

"Well that's what they call it, at least." Jupiter hesitated before deciding she actually really wanted to open up to this kind-faced stranger, even if it was against protocol. "It works with your genetics. It can manipulate the proteins that activate your genes and influence who you are attracted to. Or it's supposed to at least. It doesn't work yet."

Caine considered this.

It seemed bizarre to him that people would want to make something like this, want to manufacture love. But then again, rich people (and the Abrasax family was the definition of rich people) think they can buy anything, why not love?

But he also didn't think it right to judge Jupiter for her assignment.

Jupiter walked Caine through her thinking and process so far. He followed her around the lab, listening intently. It was clear she was exhausted, overworked, and stressed, but there was still such a vibrancy and spark in her. Her eyes lit up when she talked about some of her breakthroughs, the brilliant shine illuminating her whole face. Her hands swung wildly as she gestured, Caine trying both to stay out of the way and secretly hoping one would accidentally land on him.

She explained how it was contact-activated, how it didn't exactly make you fall in love but rather refocused your attractions toward the first person who touched you after ingestion.

He tried to ask thoughtful questions when he could, but he wasn't a very big conversationalist. He was happy to just listen to her.

For a scientist—and clearly a brilliant one, given her work and the company she worked for—Jupiter was surprisingly down to earth. She didn't condescend, and she hardly used words that were outside of his vocabulary. She was just so real, so natural.

And, he realized in some distant part of his mind, he felt natural around her too. He never felt natural.

After a half hour or so, Caine bid Jupiter goodbye, having to return to his security rounds.

The rest of the day went by in a haze. Jupiter's mind wandered back to the gorgeous security guard with the cute bum every few minutes, and that was definitely not conducive to productivity.

By that night, Jupiter had convinced herself that she had overthought the entire thing with Caine. He just brought her a cup of coffee, it wasn't like he saved her life or anything. Why was she so obsessed with him?

By the next morning, she'd transformed the entire experience into further proof that her genes were defective. Clearly she was once again attracted to someone who was not the least bit interested in her beyond a professional capacity.

The thought helped. That day she doubled down on her work and started to find several inconsistencies in her formulas that might explain some of her previous failed tests.

By mid afternoon, she was well on her way to rewriting the flawed sections, making great progress.

That is, until, a certain tall blonde and muscley decided to walk through her lab.

"Afternoon, Dr. Jones. I thought you could use a cup of coffee."

She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her, and she braced herself to be polite and cordial and nothing more. Her ability to refuse him drained away the second she turned to see Caine, sporting a goofy grin, two giant coffees, and a bag of takeout sandwiches.

"And this," she tugged the deli bag from his full hands, "Is this coffee too?" she teased.

"Nope." He grinned smugly. "Didn't you say you were a scientist? I thought you would recognize a sandwich when you saw one."

Jupiter bopped him lightly on the arm and wrinkled up her nose.

"Ha. Ha. Ok jackass, if you're so smart, why don't you stay here and finish these formulas for me and I'll go on the coffee runs." She elbowed him good-naturedly.

"You wouldn't even know where to get the best coffee." He leaned back on the counter next to her, their arms barely touching.

They ate in companionable silence until Caine once again returned to his rounds.

With only a couple hours left in the workday, Jupiter was pretty sure she wouldn't get anything else done. Thoughts of Caine swam in her mind, the feel of him so close, the playful banter, the way he already has taken better care of her than she takes care of herself.

Desperate and only days away from her next demo deadline, she channeled all the attraction and distraction from Caine back into her work, focusing as hard as she could on churning out this new formula so she could begin producing the next sample batch.

She ended up staying well into the evening, but by the time she left her lab, the formula was nearly complete.

"You're here late," a familiar baritone called from the end of the dark hallway outside her lab. Jupiter couldn't help the small smile even his voice could bring to her lips.

But then her mind caught up to her, and the guilt surged to the surface.

"Oh Caine, you stayed late for me, didn't you?" She remembered him telling her something about all the new security measures Balem, the eldest and most paranoid of the Abrasax siblings, recently instituted. "I'm so sorry, that was insensitive of me!" She rushed to him, stopping only a foot away.

"No, not at all. It's my job," he stated matter-of-factly. And something in Jupiter deflated, just a little.

"Oh. Right. Of course… Well I'm heading out now, so you can lock up."

"Let me walk you to your car?" Caine offered, extending a hand to Jupiter like some sort of Regency gentleman about to take her on the promenade. She might have swooned a little.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that!"

"I insist."

Jupiter looped her arm through his and walked with him out to the parking lot. She was frankly grateful for the companionship; walking alone at night as a woman has never been exactly the most relaxing thing in the world, but she was also just happy to spend a bit more time with him.

By the time they got to her car, Jupiter had forgotten entirely her pact to stop fantasizing about Caine. She held onto his arm tighter than strictly necessary, and when he made to let her go (since she obviously would need both hands to get in her car and drive said car home), she clung for just a second longer than she meant to before releasing him.

She turned to open her car door, and when she turned back to say goodbye, he was much closer than she remembered.

"Goodnight Jupiter," he breathed more than spoke.

"Goodnight Caine." She stared into his eyes for what felt like forever and not long enough.

His tongue darted out to swipe his bottom lip and her eyes traced the movement. He inhaled deeply, rocked on his heels and stepped back.

Halfway home, she had a breakthrough. Somehow, though all she saw in her mind's eye was a dreamy blonde hunk, the formulas she'd back-burnered had clicked into place. Caine had this effect on her—as much as he distracted her, he also calmed her down enough that she could think. With her anxiety entirely occupied wondering if she was misreading his whole vibe, her left brain was able to percolate and tease out the problem unencumbered.

She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, a satisfied smile ghosting her face.

Caine, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. He was flat on his back on his bed in his simple apartment. He'd almost crossed a line that night with Jupiter. He was supposed to be protecting her, nothing more. Not even her, really—just her lab and its contents. He could get fired for doing something like that again, and then he'd never see her.

Eventually, Caine dozed into a shallow, restless sleep.