Talk Nerdy to Me (33 page)

"I'm glad something I
bought is turning out to be useful."

"We just have to
remember they're here." He stood and surveyed the bead-strewn floor.
"We don't want to be the ones crashing to the floor."

She
glanced at him. "For someone from a small town with a low crime rate, you
know a lot about booby-trapping a house."

"College
stuff. My buddies and I didn't have much money for fancy alarms, and we had a
ton of electronic equipment in our apartment, so we were always brainstorming
ways to keep from being robbed. And it also worked for those times you had a
girl in your room and didn't want anyone barging in."

"Well,
guess what?" She caught his hand and began tugging him through the living
room to the hall. "You're about to have a girl in your room."

Eve
wasn't in the mood for games this time around. They'd had a
long night, and now it was time to get down to basics. Two naked people making
use of both the diameter and the circumference of her round bed—that was as
complicated as she wanted things to get.

Fortunately Charlie seemed
of the same mind. They stripped down to nothing, ditched their glasses, and tumbled
onto the bed. Charlie, not being used to the shape, almost tumbled off again.

Eve
grabbed one nicely muscled arm and hauled him back. "Easy does it there,
big fella."

He
rolled on top of her, his erect penis brushing her thigh. "I'd better keep
close track of you. You know this territory better than I do."

She
gazed up at Mm, his hair tousled and falling down over his forehead, his deep
brown eyes gazing straight into hers. She could feel him trembling, feel the
rapid beat of Ms heart against her breast. How sweet to be wanted this much.

She
cupped his face in both hands. "Can you see me okay?"

"Up
close I do great."

"Me,
too. Come closer."

Smiling,
he leaned down. "You have such big poufy lips."

"The better to kiss
you with, kilowatt man."

"You can say that
again."

"The better to kiss
you with, kil—"

"Smart
aleck. Don't talk. Just let me get at that gorgeous mouth."

She
lifted her chin to put herself in better position. From the eager way he
swooped down, she expected the kiss to be deep and wet, with lots of tongue. He
surprised her.

His
trembling increased, which showed how much he was restraining himself. His
mouth barely touched hers. "I want you so much. I'm a fuse about to
blow," he whispered.

Her
pulse raced as she thought of all that power ready to be unleashed on little
old her. She could hardly wait. "Or like Hoover Dam about to crack,"
she murmured.

"I
am cracking." His breath was warm on her face as he brushed his lips over
hers. "I had everything figured out, and now ..."

"Now
you'll still go." She kissed him back with the same light pressure.

"How can I?"

"How can you
not?"

"Eve."
Her name was a groan of surrender as he gave her the kiss she'd been expecting,
the one that erased the boundaries between them, the one that made her forget
everything but the taste and feel of his mouth.

She
was so involved in the power of that kiss that she didn't realize he'd reached
between her thighs until his fingers slipped without resistance into her moist
heat. She moaned in pleasure.

He lifted his head, his
mouth hovering over hers as he stroked her gently. "There's that
lubrication you were telling me about." His words were thick and heavy
with lust. "Ready to make those neurons fire?" He increased the
pressure.

She gasped. "All...
systems are up ... and running."

"Let's switch to
alternate current."

She
didn't understand what he meant at first. Then he slid down between her thighs
and she knew exactly what he meant. Here was a guy who generated enough electrical
impulses to power the town of Middlesex, if someone could figure out how to
harness that energy. She was sure that the friction of his tongue alone could
make her glow in the dark.

The
fireworks began slowly, little showers of stars raining down on her quivering body.
Then the explosions grew in size, coming faster, and faster yet, until her
world filled with a regular Fourth of July display. She greeted the grand
finale with enthusiastic cries of appreciation.

As
the sparkling stars gradually faded, Charlie eased back up, kissing her belly,
her breasts, and her throat on his way to her mouth. She had never felt so
thoroughly loved in her life. That Charlie put on quite a spectacular show.

She
tried to find the words to tell him, but before she could he was kissing her
again in that deep, soul-satisfying way of his. All she had to do was hang on
and enjoy. She realized that he was completely in charge, and with moves like
that, he was welcome to the job.

Finally
he lifted his mouth from hers once again. He was breathing hard as he leaned
his damp forehead against hers. "I never want to stop kissing you."

She gulped for air. "I
never want you to."

"But
if I don't stop kissing you, I'm going to come. It's high school all over
again."

She
responded to the desperation in his voice. "Condoms. Nightstand
drawer."

"Thank
God." He dragged in a breath. "I was afraid I had to go get my
jeans." Lifting himself away from her with a groan, he pulled open the
drawer and riffled around inside it. "Got one. Magnificent
invention."

She
opened her eyes. He was holding the condom packet as if he'd managed to get his
hands on the Hope Diamond. "You actually
like
condoms?"

"I
actually hate condoms." He sat back on his haunches and ripped open the
packet. 'The day I don't have to use them will be a great day." He rolled
it expertly down over his penis. "But tonight... they make everything
possible."

Not everything,
she
thought with a stab of longing. Everything would be a future with this man who
was the essence of all she was looking for. Everything would be planning for
the day when they could throw away the condoms and make babies together.
Everything would be barbecues in the backyard and Little League games in the
summer, snowball fights and cocoa by the fire in the winter.

But then Charlie moved over
her, and with one sure thrust made that intimate connection she craved. It
wasn't everything, but for tonight, it was enough.

A
screech and a loud thud brought Charlie awake. Startled, he sat up too fast
and fell on the floor. Where was he? And who was out there swearing so loud at
this time of the morning?

"Oh,
God." Eve leaped out of bed and grabbed Charlie's flannel shirt.
"Denise! Stay where you are! You might have broken something!"

Charlie
sat in a daze as Eve hopped over him and ran out of the room, buttoning the
shirt she'd swiped as she went.
Denise? The sister? What
the hell?
And then it came back to him. The bead booby trap.

Scrambling
to his feet, he grabbed his jeans and put them on without bothering with
underwear. He'd never met Denise. Assuming she'd taken a header on the beads
he'd scattered in front of the door, he didn't suppose the meeting would be
auspicious. He'd rather not go into it naked.

As
he carefully zipped his jeans, he listened to Eve trying to calm her sister,
who sounded furious. Charlie started to feel guilty about giving Denise a
tumble, but then he began to wonder if the beads had worked, after all. Had
they caught their suspect sneaking into the house?

He
located his glasses and his watch and put them both on. Two minutes after ten.
Denise had arrived right on time. A person couldn't really sneak into a house
when they were expected, but she'd obviously used her key. Charlie supposed
that was logical enough. No reason to stand there ringing the doorbell if you
could just let yourself in.

He
felt at a definite disadvantage wearing only his jeans and needing both a razor
and a toothbrush before he'd feel ready to meet someone as pivotal as Eve's
only sister. But he couldn't very well hide in the bedroom until she left. Eve
had said she'd be staying a few days.

In
fact, Denise's impending arrival had been the justification for having all
that sex last night. As of now, he and Eve had a chaperone. Might as well suck
it up and go out to meet her.

Walking
down the hall, he listened to the conversation between the two sisters. Eve was
still trying to make amends, but Denise didn't seem to be buying it.

"You
knew I was coming," Denise said. "You could have called my cell and
warned me to ring the doorbell." Her voice was a lot like Eve's, only with
an edge to it that Eve's didn't have.

"I
should have remembered to do that," Eve said. "I'm so glad you're not
seriously hurt."

"I'll
probably have a bruise on my butt. Fortunately, I'm not dating anyone right
now, so I'm the only one who will see it. These slacks are a mess, though.
Somebody must have been tracking dirt in here, and now it's all over the back
of my pants."

Charlie
came to the end of the hall where he had a view of Denise, who was facing away
from him. She was shorter than Eve by a good four inches, and her dark hair was
cut in a no-nonsense style not unlike Charlie's. She held a red leather jacket
folded precisely over her arm like a maitre d's towel.

Under
the jacket she'd worn a navy suit, and sure enough, the slacks had dirt smears
all over the seat. He was probably responsible for that, too, because he'd been
the one who'd left his boots on when he'd come to see about Eve's back door.

Denise
brushed at the dirt. "At least they're washable. I can change into
something else and toss the whole suit in your washing machine."

Eve glanced toward the
hallway where Charlie was standing. "The washing machine's out of
commission, right now. But I can run it down to the Press 'n' Go. They can have
it back in—"

"That's
silly," Denise said. "That's why I buy washable clothes, so I won't
have to spend the money on dry cleaning. What do you mean, your machine's out
of commission? Don't they have repair people in this town?"

"I'm
sure they do." Eve sent Charlie a look of apology.

"Well,
here's Charlie! Charlie Shepherd, I'd like you to meet my sister, Denise."

Denise
spun around. "A man? You didn't say there was ..." Denise took in
Charlie's bare chest and bare feet. Then she glanced back at her sister, who
wore what was obviously a man's flannel shirt. "Eve, you could have warned
me."

"She
didn't have time," Charlie said, coming forward. "This was completely
unexpected." He extended his hand to Denise because she looked like the
kind of woman who liked to shake hands. Although she was attractive, her features
were a little too sharp for anyone to describe her as pretty. But intelligence
shone from her blue eyes. Charlie could believe that she'd cut a wide swath on
Wall Street.

Denise
had a firm handshake. And some of her prickly behavior seemed to disappear as
she continued to gaze at Charlie. "Eve said something about a breakin. I
guess it's a good thing you stayed with her, then."

He
was slightly encouraged by that show of sisterly caring. "I'm also the one
who suggested the beads," he said. No reason for Eve to take all the heat
on that score.

"But
I was the one who knew Denise was coming at ten," Eve said. "I should
have set my alarm."

"I
have one on both my watch and my cell, for what good that did." Charlie
tried to imagine either of them thinking of setting an alarm in the state
they'd been in. First had come the unbridled lust, and then the sleepy collapse
into each other's arms. He'd never slept so deeply in his life.

Denise
glanced around at the beads scattered all over the hall. "So you think
someone is trying to steal the design for your …what did you call it,
again?"

"Hovercraft,"
Eve said. "And we don't have any proof that's what they're after. But
someone broke through the back door while I was in New York this week and last
night someone ..." She paused to take a shaky breath.