Love in the brain

As a vengeful, purple-haired Jedi restoring balance to the interpreted universe, Bea Koenigswasser lives by a simple principle: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the leadership of a neuroengineering project—a dream come true after years of scraping by on the scraps of academic scholarship—Marie would accept without hesitation. Of course. But the mother of modern physics has never had to share leadership with Levi Ward. Sure, Levi is a charmer with his tall, dark frame and piercing eyes. Sure, he held her in his strong arms like a romance novel heroine when she unwittingly slipped into distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings for Bea abundantly clear in graduate school—sworn enemies are best employed in their distant galaxies. Now, her equipment is missing, the crew is ignoring her, and Bea finds her faltering career in a tailspin. Her occipital cortex may be playing tricks on her, but Bea swears she sees Levi Yellen as an ally, supporting her movements, validating her ideas... and devouring her with those eyes. The possibilities excite all her neurons. But when it comes time to take the plunge and take the risk, only one question matters: What will Koenigswasser do to Bea?