Make Your Move by Samantha Hunter Page B

Jason said with such arrogant satisfaction that Dan found his fingers clenching and unclenching again.
    “Is that what this is about? You’re jealous?” Dan shook his head.
    “Hardly. She was one night’s entertainment forme—surely promising a very…energetic evening, for certain—”
    “Step carefully, Jason,” Dan warned, seeing red.
    “I’m actually surprised you care enough to put yourself in departmental peril for this. What if I lodged a complaint about you coming into my office, digging through my papers? Corporate espionage? Academic sabotage? Things could get sticky for you, Dan,” he said, visibly trying to repress his grin. “Especially considering your involvement in future government projects. You could even lose your security clearance. All for a hot piece of ass?”
    Dan reined in his anger. Jason was trying to hit a nerve, and he had, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Jodie, and trying to do what was right for her. Giving Jason Kravitz more reason to cause them trouble wouldn’t help things at all.
    “So what do you want out of this, Jason? Simple revenge? It seems beneath you,” Dan said, making eye contact. “If she was so unimportant to you, why bother?”
    “It’s not about her at all. It’s about you, my friend,” Jason said, spitting the last word in a way that made it clear they were anything but, “after you undermined me on the Eastman experiments, citing every single thing that was wrong with the project, and I know it was you who kept my security clearance from being increased so that I could work on that agricultural project last summer. I am so sick and tired of you walking around here like you are the King of Science.”
    Dan was stunned at the outburst and shook his head,his anger dropping away. “Jason, I had to respond honestly about the funding for the Eastman experiments. They weren’t working, and they were bleeding cash out of the department. It was part of my duty here to report honestly about that. If you could have redesigned the project to be more cost-effective, then maybe—”
    “Right. Like you would have given me a green light on any of that work. You know you’ve sabotaged me in any way you could since I started working here. You’re threatened by me, obviously, but now you are the Chair, so what am I to do?”
    Dan’s eyes widened. “So you go after a friend instead?”
    “A logical—and efficient—solution, don’t you think?” Kravitz said. “Not to mention creative, but when I realized you knew Jodie Patterson, I couldn’t ignore the opportunity. I had no idea you had any female friends, let alone one like Jodie—man, how have you not hit that until now?”
    Dan kept quiet, glaring, waiting to see what the end game was, though he suspected where Kravitz was going.
    “Anyway, it was a convenient coincidence. Finally I had something that I could hold over you, since it’s clear you are doe-eyed over her, in love? Dan, you need to get out more. Men shouldn’t fall in love with girls like—”
    “What do you want, Kravitz?” Dan said through his teeth.
    “I’m just hoping you can help make things go my way for a change.”
    “How so? How do you think hurting Jodie will help you in the least?”
    “Because I will keep coming at her. I will do whatever I can to cause her trouble unless—”
    “Unless what?”
    “As it turns out, I’m once again having trouble finding enough financial support for a new project, one that is very near and dear to me. It would certainly benefit from a good review of the proposal, especially from someone who had been so critical of my work previously,” Jason said with a gleam in his eye.
    “You’re blackmailing me?”
    “That’s so crass. We’re colleagues, doing each other a favor,” Jason said with mock indignation.
    “The Eastman experiments were dangerous. I can’t approve them.”
    “Even you admitted if I could improve the design of the experiments, they could be