Born Ready (15 page)

But now? She found herself wanting to go.

It’s just because you want to see Scott again. That’s all. You need to have sex with him. Put out the fire he lit so you can get your head back in your research. This is medicinal. Nothing more.

She opened her closet. It was empty. She’d brought nothing with her for the summer beyond shorts, tank tops and swimming suits.

Great. She was going to have to go shopping. The only thing she hated worse than parties.

Irritated, she trooped to the boutique on the corner and ended up with a white sundress with cutouts of sailboats along the hem. It looked good against her skin and camouflaged her skinniness.

While trying the dress on, she studied herself in the mirror. She could do with a little extra meat on her bones. It wasn’t that she wanted to be so thin. She just forgot to eat much of the time, her thoughts caught up in her work. Food seemed so incidental. Something she had to remember to do.

“You’re not normal,” she muttered to her reflection.

“This isn’t the first I’m hearing of it,” her image taunted.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll always be a freak.” She headed out of the dressing room with the dress tucked under her arm and almost ran into the saleswoman, who gave her a weird look. Had she overheard Jackie talking to herself?

Jackie forced a smile. “I’ll take it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The saleswoman rang it up.

Jackie glanced at the clock, realized that Scott would be on her doorstep within half an hour. God, what was wrong with her? How did time slip away from her so easily? Why was she so much more enamored of the Key blenny than she was of people?

She rushed back to her apartment, and once inside, she tossed the dress on the couch, stripped off her clothes and strutted naked to the shower. To her, clothes were nothing more than something to cover your body. Not something to wish for or pine over. Ah, to be a fish with no clothes to worry about at all. Just swimming nude.

Yes, but you’d have to worry constantly about being eaten.

Well, at least that was something worth worrying about. Nothing like walking the social tightrope. Jackie blew out her breath, soaped up and then rinsed off. She had just stepped out of the shower when her doorbell rang.

Scott was early.

Her heart did an irrational tap dance. What was that all about? Frowning, she wrapped a towel around her and padded to the front door.

Scott stood there looking sexy with his hair combed back off his forehead. He wore a blue shirt and beige slacks. He looked freaking delicious.

“Whoa,” he laughed. “Is that what you’re wearing?”

Jackie glowered. “Of course not. I’m running late. Come in.”

He tracked over the threshold, glanced around at the controlled chaos.

Suddenly, Jackie saw the apartment through his eyes. The rented furniture looked worn, the room cluttered with books and notes and computer printouts and oceanography accoutrements. The bag from the boutique, with her dress in it, lay spread over the couch. The clothes she’d stripped out of were heaped on the floor, including her thong undies.

Jackie moved to the couch, cleared a space for him. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”

A wry smile tipped his lips. She noticed he was staring at the thong underwear. She bent to grab it from the floor then realized she was only wearing a towel. Terrific. There was no graceful way of bending over in a towel, so she left the discarded clothes where they lay.

“I’ll be right back.” She rushed down the hall, a heated flush spreading over her skin. She slipped into the bathroom, realized she’d left the dress in the living room. Dammit. She closed her eyes and sank against the door. She was going to have to go back in there and prove what a ditz she was.

There was a light knock on the bathroom door and her heart did that crazy tap dance again.

“Jackie?”

“Yeah?”

“Um…do you need this?”

She opened the door a crack, spied him standing there, holding the dress. She reached out, snatched it from his hand and slammed the door again. The sound of his chuckle penetrated through the cheap wooden door.

“Don’t laugh at me,” she hollered.

“This is really difficult for you, isn’t it?”

“I’m a scientist,” she grumbled, dropping the towel and pulling the sundress over her head. “Not a party maven.”

“Relax, mermaid. You’re going to be just fine. No expectations. Let’s just have a good time.”

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered.

Okay. Now she had the dress on, but her bra was in the living room and she was sans panties and Everly was standing right outside the door. She was flat chested. She could get away without the bra, but she wasn’t going to go out without any underwear. She wasn’t some tarty Hollywood starlet.

Makeup. Get some makeup on and then you can grab a pair of panties before you leave the bedroom.

She glanced at the sparse makeup case on her counter. She had one tube of lipstick and another of mascara and they both were probably at least a year old.

Who cared? Right? She never pretended to be a beauty queen. She rolled on the lipstick. A soft peach color that enhanced her tan. Not bad. People wouldn’t throw up when she walked by. Then she brushed on the ebony mascara. It made her eyes look instantly bigger. Fine. Good. That was enough primping. She dropped the mascara into the makeup bag and zipped it closed.

Taking a deep breath, she wrenched opened the door.

Scott was standing right there with an ocean-size grin on his face, and his muscular arms crossed over his chest, looking all hot and manly.

Oh, wow.

She startled at his proximity and all the air leaked from her lungs in a slow, soft hiss. Hair. She’d forgotten to deal with her hair. She was the worst girlie-girl on the planet. She reached up and yanked the ponytail holder from her hair, ran a hand through her locks to fluff them. That had to do.

“Wow,” Scott said, his gaze traveling over her body. “You look awesome.”

Jackie blew a raspberry. “You don’t have to lie.”

A roguish expression lit his eyes. “I am not lying. You underestimate your beauty, Jackie Birchard.”

She waved a hand. “Who cares about looks? They don’t last. What lasts is a sharp mind.”

“You have absolutely nothing to worry about on that score, either.”

She cocked her head, evaluated him through narrowed eyes. “Where are your crutches?”

“I ditched them. They just slowed me down.”

“And you felt like a dork using them.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “All I’ve got is shark teeth track marks on my calf.”

“Those pretty legs are ruined. It’s a travesty.”

“I thought you didn’t care about looks.”

“My looks,” she teased. “Boy toys have an image to maintain.”

“Oh, so that’s how you see me. A boy toy.”

“Okay, a misnomer I’ll grant you.” She raked her gaze over him, grinned impishly. “I stand corrected. Man toy.”

“Ready?” He cocked his head in the direction of her front door. She was very aware that her bedroom stretched out behind her, just as messy as her living area.

“I don’t normally do parties,” she fretted, pulling her bedroom door closed behind her.

“I figured that.”

“All I have to say is that you better be really good in bed, Everly.” She stopped to pick up her purse. A sensible black bag that matched everything. Except her simple white dress and white sandals. She peered down at her feet. Mother of pearl, she should have gotten a pedicure.

“I am.” He grinned.

“You’re smug. Don’t think I’m kidding.” She picked up her house keys, dropped them into her inappropriate handbag. She couldn’t have sex with him. What was she talking about? She hadn’t waxed. What was she? A woman or a surfboard? “I expect peak performance even with your shark bite.”

“Flesh wound.”

“And no fainting.”

“You sure know how to hit a guy where it hurts, mermaid.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because you belong to the sea.”

She had no comeback for that. When he was right, he was right.

“Nicknames border on romance. This isn’t romance. That’s what we agreed. This is about sex.”

“Ah, come on, you can’t indulge my sexual fantasies a little while?” He jingled his change in his pockets while she locked the front door.

She straightened, met his seductive gaze. “And what might that fantasy be?”

“Mermaids,” he whispered huskily. “I’ve always wanted to get it on with a mermaid.”

An effervescent laugh rolled from her throat. Giggling? She was giggling? She’d never giggled in her life.

Well, you’re giggling now.

“I might be persuaded to indulge in some role-playing fantasies,” she told him as she headed down the steps ahead of him. “As long as you don’t mind being Neptune.”

“Three-prong trident? What’s not to love?”

This, Jackie decided, was going to be a lot of fun.

It was only when they were in the car and on their way to the aquarium that she realized she’d forgotten to put on underwear.

SCOTT DROVE TOWARD the aquarium, uncertainty pushing against him. What was he doing here with this woman? Clearly, she wanted nothing more than to use him to sate her sexual appetites and he was taking her to his sister’s engagement party. Why?

What’s so wrong with a casual affair? Isn’t it better that you know where you stand with her? No expectations. No hurt feelings. You’re not exactly looking for happily-ever-after, either. And hey, it’s been six months without sex. Take whatever she can give and let it be enough.

Right. Yes. It made sense. Why then did he feel so damned unsettled by the thought?

When he pulled into the aquarium’s parking lot, she reached out and touched his shoulder. “Wait.”

He felt her touch clean to his bones. What was that all about? Slowly, he turned to look at her. She was so beautiful it hurt his head. “What is it?”

“I need a moment to prep for this.”

“What are you so worried about? It’s not like you’re my girlfriend or anything.”

“I just need to bolster my courage.”

“This is really difficult for you.” That surprised him. She was so self-possessed. He couldn’t imagine anything upsetting her equilibrium and here she was nervous about something he took for granted. A party. Why would a party make her nervous?

“Because,” she said, accurately reading his mind. “A party is not a natural environment for a mermaid.”

“Ah, but the party is in an aquarium,” he pointed out. “You should feel right at home.”

“All right.” She exhaled, gave him a shaky smile. “I’m ready.”

Scott unbuckled his seat belt and got out. He tried to rush around to open the passenger-side door for her, but she was already popping out before he got there.

She pointed a finger at him. “No, no, none of that gentlemanly stuff, Everly. We’re just planning on being sex buddies. I’m here because your sister invited me and I couldn’t think of a way to get out of it. Besides I’m a sucker for aquariums.”

He settled a hand to the small of her back, leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Liar. You’re here because you want to be with me.”

“I want to have sex with you,” she corrected.

“Same thing.”

“Whatever.”

“You are a contrary woman.”

“Apparently you like that about me.”

“Apparently I do,” he said, mildly surprised to realize it was true. He enjoyed bantering with her. “C’mon.”

He guided her into the aquarium.

“And the fish,” she said. “I came for the fish.”

“Me, too. I like them as much as you do.”