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Back First Comes Love Save as PDF
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

“Should I recognize the names from somewhere?” I ask.

The smile widens. “Only if you were a nerd and an engineer. Dr. Yunus A. Cengel and Michael A. Boles are the co-authors of the most widely adopted thermodynamics manual all mechanical engineering students have to face at one point. We all call the book ‘Cengel and Boles’ for short.”

I don’t have the faintest idea what a thermodynamics manual might contain, and for a second there, I’m overwhelmed by how smart this woman must be to be a rocket science professor at UCLA so young.

I never failed a class in high school, but I’m no genius. My scientific-savviness stops at what I was forced to learn in the 6th Form as my acting career took over before I could finish university, so… Not much of a scholar here.

“We thought it was funny.” Lana shrugs, and the smile disappears from her lips.

“Is your boyfriend an engineer, too?”

“Yeah, we fell for each other when we were paired for a group assignment in a robotics lab. But he works for an aerospace company now. Teaching has never been his thing.”

“Still planning on packing all his stuff before he comes home tonight?”

Lana lowers her gaze for a second, then trains those deep blue eyes on me with a new resolution sparkling in them. “Yeah, and I should start if I want to be done before he gets here.”

She stands up as if, decision made, she wants to get down to business right away. I sense it’s also my cue to go; she needs to do this alone. So I finish my tea in one long sip and get up as well. “I’ll leave you to that.”

We walk to the door and I step outside, awkwardly hovering on her doorstep. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”

She nods. “Thanks again for the ride.” Then she bites her full lower lip in a way I’m sure she doesn’t know could make a man lose his mind, and adds, “Wait here a second.”

Lana disappears inside the house and comes back a minute later holding a business card. She hands it to me.

Lana Voynich, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

[email protected]

I turn the card and notice with a thrill she has handwritten her phone number on the back.

When I raise my gaze again, she’s blushing and blabbing, “If you ever need an aerospace consultancy…”

“You’ll be the first one I call.” I smile, and before I know what I’m doing, I pull her into a hug and whisper, “Good luck with everything.”

We pull apart, facing each other even more awkwardly than before, and she nods. “Thank you, I’ll need it.”

“Gotta go now.” I put back on the Greenpeace cap and hop the few steps down to the curb and my brand new Tesla.