In this story two marine biologists compete for a grant at a convention in Havana Cuba. Veronica Keane, a New Yorker, discusses pigment released from the octopus with Cuban professor Carlos Montoya.
“No, I didn't win the last grant in Antarctica," he said. "It went to a deep-diving
photographer. He wasn’t chicken about getting lost or trapped under the ice.”
She slid from her stool and strutted around, jutting her
chin in and out like a chicken. “Bock,
bock, bock, bock, bock, begowwwwk.”
He chuckled. “Cute chicken
dance. Very cute in that skimpy black dress.”
Her cheeks heated, and she
clutched her necklace. He’d seen plenty of women in body-fitting attire. In Cuba, women wore dresses to meetings. If she'd harnessed sexier mojo,
she’d have livened up presentations. Her presentations with an abundance of
dull data went south. She slid
back against her stool and clutched her purse to her stomach as if the small
satin bag could calm the nerves playing deep down kickball. She belonged in her
tidy New York office filled with computers, modems, and research manuals. Not
in this softly lit café where passion oozed from a man’s pores, and artists displayed their canvases.
Here was where Havana’s trendsetters congregated,
and Ernest Hemingway wrote about desire.
“Good luck with your
purchases, Veronica Keane.”
Okay, so they weren’t going to pretend they were going head
to head for the grant.
As if he had more to say, he grinned at her, his perfect
white teeth flashing.. “Do you find us different, like apples and oranges?”
“What am I, an apple or an orange?”
“Hmm. You’re an apple.” He was doing that sexy voice thing
which made her brain shut down. Heady. .
It started with an unexpected spark, an instant attraction,
the jolting jab of oh-I’m-feeling-something. Something like a flashfire in her
belly, but now they were talking. “Am I the apple of desire? Want to take a
bite out of me?” She pulled in a breath. Had she really said that?
“Bonita, do I
ever.”
“Tomorrow is the final ceremony.” Would she watch him walk
to the podium to accept the grant?
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