Talk Nerdy to Me (13 page)

"I
think it's a given. I—" She was interrupted by the sound of a phone
ringing in the kitchen. "Excuse me a minute."

Charlie
tightened a couple of loose wires while he debated whether he was being a
complete idiot. What kind of guy turned down sex with someone who looked like
Eve? A dope, that's who.

Disgusted
with himself, he closed the top of the washer with a clang. Might as well turn
the thing on and see if it worked. Twisting the knob into position for Permanent
Press, he started the water. So far, so good.

He
listened to the water pouring in and took some satisfaction from this tiny
victory. He might not be man enough to take advantage of a ready-made sexual
situation, but it looked as if he'd managed to fix the washer.

Fixing equipment had always
been his deal. It had started because his dad, the most unhandy guy in the
world, had insisted on trying to repair things, anyway. Charlie had decided at
an early age that if he didn't learn something about electrical appliances, his
dad might burn down the house. Then, to Charlie's surprise, he'd become
fascinated by the subject of electricity.

Eve
walked back into the bathroom, her cordless phone in her hand. She glanced at
the washing machine. "Hey, it works!" Then her eyes widened.
"Did you take out the—"

A
loud thumping noise answered the question. They leaped for the knob at the same
time and collided, which resulted in neither of them getting the washer turned
off.

"I'll
get it!" Eve pushed him aside and turned off the machine. Then she lifted
the lid. "That's not pretty." She clanged the lid shut again.

"I'm
sorry, Eve." Charlie's sense of victory evaporated. The one thing he'd
accomplished had turned out to create more problems than it solved.

"It doesn't
matter."

He
sighed. "It does matter. I'd better take a look." Expecting
something gross, he lifted the lid. Instead he became intrigued by what he
found. "Hey, the candy's floating to the top. Did you know candy
floats?"

"Nope.
It wasn't floating when I looked." She braced her forearms on the top of
the machine and leaned down to get a better view. "What do you know? I
would think it's too dense to float."

"Yeah,
me, too." The chocolate bobbed around in what looked like a pool of
industrial waste. He rested his arms next to hers and hunkered down so their
heads were at the same level.

Her
shoulder touched his in a friendly way. "I didn't want any of that stuff
in the first place, so it doesn't bother me if it's trashed."

When
they stood side by side, their bodies touching at several points, Charlie
couldn't bring himself to care, either. Every time she shifted her weight she
created a soft friction that reminded him of how good she'd felt in his arms.
Friendly was evolving into something much hotter.

"I'm
not surprised that the subscription postcards from the magazines are floating,
but I wouldn't have guessed the chocolate." He couldn't help himself. He
deliberately moved, ever so slightly, so that his arm rubbed hers.

"Cheap
chocolate."

"Ah."
He noticed that her
Kill That Clutter!
book
lay on its side looking extremely soggy. Too bad she was taking this disaster
so well. He would have been more than willing to comfort her if she'd been
inconsolable at the loss of this junk. He'd about decided that his former decision,
whether noble, cowardly, or stupid, was a mistake.

Eve
gazed into the washing machine. "I keep thinking of that scene out of
Titanic."

"Yeah."
Charlie nodded. "I hated that scene." Agreement caused his shoulder
to bump hers. He longed to run his tongue down the curve of her neck and along
the line of her shoulder. Then he'd nip her very gently before following the ridge
of her collarbone back to the hollow of her throat.

"I hated that scene,
too."

He
thought it was a good sign that they agreed on which scene they hated.
"But the scene in the car, where you see her hand against the steamed-up
glass ..."

"Very
hot." She continued to stare down at the muck in the washing machine, but
her breathing changed. "Have you ever been on a ship?"

"No."

"No
matter where you are, you can still feel the vibration of the engines. I'll
bet they felt it there, in the car, the whole time. Very erotic."

"Mm." Where was a
cruise ship when a guy needed one?

"We
should turn this machine back on and see what happens."

A
working washing machine had been part of his earlier fantasy. He could back
her up against it and they'd both feel that vibration running through them as
they ...

Oh,
hell, what was he thinking? That was the kind of sexual experience that stayed
with a guy forever. One up-against-the-washing-machine moment and he'd give up
on Hoover Dam to stay in Middlesex for the rest of his life. Guaranteed. He
wasn't Rick, so he'd be crazy to try and act like him.

"Let's do it."
Eve reached for the knob.

"Wait."
Charlie had to come up with a way to derail this impulse. Fortunately, he
glimpsed something in the washer. Stuck between the pages of her clutter book
was a type of metal fastener he'd been needing for a repair on his mother's
garbage disposal and he hadn't gotten around to picking one up yet.

He
plucked it out of the glop. "Did you get this for the hovercraft?"

She
paused and looked at him for a full five seconds as the sexual heat budding
between them began to diffuse. "Uh, no. I thought I might need it under
the dashboard, but I don't think it's quite right. I need the next size up,
probably."

"Can I have it?"

"Be
my guest. There's some other hardware stuff in there, too."
"Really?"

"Sure. I'm always
collecting pieces of hardware."

He
gazed at her in wonder. "Don't tell me you're one of those people who get
their kicks strolling through a hardware store."

"Maybe."
She smiled at him, but it was fondness rather than lust in her blue eyes.
" 'Fraid so."

She
really had the most amazing mouth, and he wouldn't have to move very much to
reach it. Just one kiss. A kiss wasn't the same as washing machine sex. He
could handle one little kiss. A haze descended over his brain as he leaned
forward, focusing on that wide, welcoming mouth...

"Oh,
Charlie." She sighed and reached up to cradle his head. The phone she was
holding banged against his ear.

He
reached for it. "Here, let me have that." He was thinking of dropping
it into the washing machine, so it wouldn't ring any more and disturb them.

"Uh-oh!"
She backed away from the machine, which meant backing away from him, too.
"I almost forgot! I have to call Eunice and see if Rick's over
there."

The
haze began to clear from his brain. "Is someone looking for him?"

"Manny
is. He said Rick wasn't answering his cell." Eve punched a number into the
phone.

"Did
you tell him that Rick might be over at Eunice's house?"

"No,
because I didn't want Manny and Kyle running over there. Who knows what's going
on?"

"Maybe
nothing." Charlie couldn't convince himself of that.

"Maybe
more than we care to know. Anyway, I said I'd check out what was happening with
his cell. Manny and Kyle just got back from Hartford. Did you know they went to
Hartford?"

"They
ran an errand for the bakery." Charlie pushed the thought of the X-rated
cookie cutter from his mind.

"Well, they're
back."

"Did
they change their minds about coming over to help with the hovercraft?"
Charlie thought that might be good, to get more people into the project. Then
he'd be less likely to end up alone with Eve, which was a responsibility he
seemed unable to handle.

"I
don't think they plan on helping. They said something about frosting cookies
for Myrtle and Rose." Eve held the phone to her ear. Then she rolled her
eyes. "Answering machine."

"Listen,
maybe I should drain the water out while you're on the phone."

"Good
idea." Eve turned back to the phone. "Eunice, if you're there, pick
up. I need to talk to Rick." She tapped her foot on the bathroom tile as
she waited.

Charlie
listened to the water gurgle out of the washing machine. "I think they
probably went to the movies."

Eve covered the mouthpiece.
"You're delusional." Then she spoke into the phone. "Okay, I
guess you're.. .unavailable. But Manny needs to talk to Rick, so call me back
when you get this." She disconnected the phone. "Mark my words.
They're doing it."

Charlie
didn't want to think about it, because thinking about it only emphasized that
Rick could enjoy sex for sex's sake and Charlie couldn't. He picked up the dripping
clutter book. "If we take this stuff out I can run the machine through a
complete cycle and make sure it's fixed. Do you have a big bucket?"

She blew out an impatient breath.
"Let's forget about it."

"You
can't exactly do that. It'll congeal." Leaving a mess wasn't Charlie's
style, especially when he'd helped create it. "Then there's no telling if
your machine will ever work right."

"I
don't really ca—" She must have seen the look of dismay on his face. She
paused and cleared her throat. "Charlie, it was wonderful of you to give
this a shot, but I want you for the hovercraft, not my washing machine."

Hearing her say she wanted
him, even if the rest of the sentence was about mechanical projects and not
sex, drove out all thoughts of appliance disasters. Instead he found himself
concentrating on her mouth and the memory of its moist, velvety interior.

Unless
he got out of this cozy bathroom that had a lock on the door and condoms under
the sink, he was liable to do something incredibly unwise. He closed the lid on
the washer. "Let's go see about the hovercraft."

As they
walked into the kitchen, Eve noticed the pizza boxes sitting on the table and
remembered they hadn't eaten dinner. A hot number like Charlie could make a
girl forget all about food, but now that he wasn't kissing her, she discovered
she was hungry, after all. "Want to take some pizza and Cokes out to the
garage so we can eat while we work?"

"Sure." Charlie walked over and lifted
the lid on both boxes. "Looks like Eunice and Puck made off with the
pepperoni and sausage. I hope it wasn't your favorite." "Nope."

"What is?" He
glanced over at her.

"Veggie, but I like
other kinds, too."

He
looked pleased with himself. "Then veggie it is. But it's not very
warm."

"That's
okay with me." She wouldn't expect it to be warm after all the time she
and Charlie had spent in the bathroom fooling around with the washer and each
other. "But I can nuke some for you, if you want."

"Nah.
Cold is usually how I eat it, because I get involved in some project and forget
until it's too late."

"Me,
too. Besides, cold pizza isn't as messy, so you can work without getting food
everywhere."

"Exactly."

They exchanged a smile of
agreement, and that smile of his had way more impact now that she knew what a
great kisser he was. It didn't matter, though. Charlie could hardly wait to
leave Middlesex, while Eve had finally found a place she wanted to call home.
As he'd pointed out, they were headed down different paths.

But they were in the same
place right now, and she had to decide whether or not to ignore his noble
reluctance and seduce him. A man who could kiss like Charlie might be able to
perform other heterosexual tasks with the same level of expertise. After six
months of abstinence, Eve found herself more than a little interested.

She
grabbed a couple of Cokes out of the refrigerator. "Do you and Rick
usually eat one pizza apiece?"

"No. Why?"

"I
just wondered why you brought three. That's a lot of pizza, especially when you
didn't know Eunice was coming over."