Talk Nerdy to Me (24 page)

"All
right." She swallowed a giggle. "I'm calm again. Just look into my
eyes. I'm going to loosen my hold on your hips. When I do that, you should ease
back a little."

"So we'll make this a
gradual unhitching."

"Unhitching."
She grinned. "You do have a way with words. Now, here we go. I'm
loosening."

"And I'm easing."

"Loosening."

"Easing."
He felt her balance shift and started to lower his head to check out the
situation.

"Don't
look down, don't look down! I'm maintaining just fine."

"Okay."
He locked in on her gaze again. "One foot on the floor."

The
moment came when he lost that magic connection, and he moaned softly.

She paused in midmotion.
"Problems?"

"No."
With his gaze fastened on hers, he couldn't hide his emotions. "It's just
that I miss you already."

Her
eyes shone. "I miss you, too. But the night's not over, Charlie."

"You're
right." Yet he wasn't thinking about tonight. He knew she'd want him to
stay until morning. He was thinking about the day he'd take the road out of
Middlesex. He had to go. If he didn't, he'd always wonder how it would have
been. But she'd just made leaving ten times tougher.

"Two feet on the floor.
You can move your hands, now."

He
didn't want to, but they couldn't complete the maneuver unless he let go of
her silky derriere. Reluctantly he pulled both hands from underneath her skirt.
"Now what?"

"Give me a minute.
Keep looking into my eyes."

He did, but he could tell
from the rustling around that she'd pulled her dress up. Then a zipper rasped.

"Now
I'll turn and walk down to my bedroom," she said. "You can follow
when you're ready."

"I'm
impressed." Then he had an unwelcome thought. "You've done this
before."

"No, never."

"But you choreographed
it so perfectly."

She
smiled. "It's like building a hovercraft. You might not know what you're
doing in the beginning, but if you take it one step at a time, you'll get where
you want to go."

"Guess
so." For a guy who had always relied on directions and diagrams, it was a
stunning concept. "Listen, do you want me to give you a certain number of
minutes to yourself?"

"Not
necessary. All I need to do is take off this dress and climb into bed."

Whoa.
His blood heated at the implied promise, that he was welcome to climb in there
with her. "Okay." The casual response had nothing to do with the fire
racing straight to his groin.

"See
you soon." Turning, she used her runway walk as she moved toward the end
of the short hallway.

He,
of course, stood watching her go because he was mesmerized by the sway of her
hips, those same hips that had recently cradled him so beautifully. It wasn't
until she was about to turn that he realized she could easily glance back and take
in exactly the ungainly sight he'd been hoping to avoid having her see.

He
couldn't move fast enough to prevent it. "No looking!" he said.

"I
won't." She kept her head turned away from him. "I'll always play
fair with you, Charlie." And she rounded the corner, her heels clicking on
the hardwood floor.

Once
she was gone, Charlie wasted no time getting himself together. He planned to
duck into her bathroom for a quick cleanup, and then he'd be bedroom bound.
He'd loved the slinky-dress routine, but he was looking forward to a completely
naked experience. Looking forward? Hell, he was like a power surge waiting to
happen.

As
he gave the door one last check to make sure the hinges would hold, his cell
phone rang. His mother's ring. Damn it. She was calling from the bakery. That
wasn't unusual. Many times the two women were down there late at night baking
and ran into a problem with one of the ovens or the large dough mixers.

Charlie
tended to stay up late, so they thought nothing of calling him in to handle the
electrical emergency. But he didn't want to go now. Not tonight, a night that
might never be repeated.

Flipping
the phone open, he answered the call. "Hi, Mom."

"I
hope I didn't wake you." His mother always said that. She didn't want to
be a problem to him, but sometimes she couldn't help it.

He needed to find her a good electrician before he
left town. "I'm awake," he said. "What's up?" Then he swallowed
the laughter that almost gave him away.

"The
mixer quit. I hate to bother you, but if we don't get it going, we won't have a
good supply of booby buns. And they've been selling really well recently."

So
the booby bun craze hadn't died. If he didn't go down there and repair the
mixer, he'd feel responsible if sales were slow at the bakery tomorrow. But if
he did repair the mixer, he might regret missing the opportunity with Eve for
the rest of his life.

As he stood there trying to
come up with a solution, his mother spoke again. "Charlie, it's okay. I
shouldn't call you all the time. Myrtle and I can probably figure out how to
fix it."

He
had grisly images of the two widows electrocuting themselves while they labored
over a machine he could repair in ten minutes. "No, don't do that."
He thought of the guys he worked with and wondered if he could call in a favor.

It was after midnight. That
was some favor, to ask somebody to leave a cozy home in the middle of winter so
that the citizens of Middlesex could have their booby buns. Besides, Charlie
wasn't crazy about the guys at work discovering firsthand the new direction the
bakery was taking.

Eve
appeared in the hallway wearing a white silk robe. "What is it?" she
asked softly.

The
robe clung to her in all the right places, as if to advertise what he would
miss if he went down to the bakery. Besides, Eve had been through a shock. The
door would probably hold, but he didn't want to leave her alone with her
imagination right now. She had one powerful imagination, and she wouldn't
sleep a wink as she tried to figure out who had pried open her door and stolen
her notes.

"Mom, can you give me a second?" Putting
his thumb over the mouthpiece, he glanced at Eve. "There's an electrical
emergency at the bakery, but I'm not going."

She
looked upset. "I hope that's not on my account. We can ... take a rain
check."

He
wasn't so sure about that. Once the spell was broken, they might never
recapture what they had tonight. But that wasn't the only issue. "I don't
want to leave you alone." He tipped his head toward the back door.
"All things considered."

"Then
don't. I'm not crazy about being by myself tonight, either. Let me get dressed
and I'll come with you."

"You
have no clue what the repercussions of that would be. My mother would book the
church."

Eve
shook her head. "Doesn't matter. You and I know that's not going to be the
outcome, and I can make sure she knows that."

"Good luck."

"It'll
be fine, Charlie. And after you've fixed whatever needs to be fixed, we can
come back here."

He
could see that he wouldn't get away with refusing his mother's request, not
while Eve had anything to say about it. And he had the prospect of continuing
where they'd left off once his duties were completed. "All right," he
said. "Want to take the motorcycle?"

"Charlie, I would love
to ride on your motorcycle."

"You would?" That
pleased him.

"I
would. Tell your mom we'll be there in fifteen minutes." She hurried back
down the hall.

Charlie
put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Mom? I'll be there in fifteen minutes. And
I'm ... bringing Eve." His announcement was greeted by silence. "Mom?
Are you there? Did you hear what I said?"

"I
most certainly did, Charlie. I was just taking a minute to thank God for my
blessings."

Eve
was determined not to stand between Charlie and anything—not
his dream of Hoover Dam or his obligations to his mother. He'd had enough
obstructions in his life and she wasn't about to become another one. Once she
saw the conflict in his expression she knew they'd be making a trip together
down to the bakery.

Throwing
on jeans, a sweater, boots, and her quilted nylon jacket, she was good to go.
Charlie had insisted she wear a helmet, so she'd put it on to please him, but
she would have liked speeding down the dark streets with her hair flying out
behind her. She would have liked to nestle her cheek against Charlie's broad
back, but the helmet had a face guard that got in the way of doing that.

Still,
she got to wrap her arms around his waist and hang on. She would have loved the
sensation of riding with Charlie even before they'd had sex, but after they'd
had sex ... oh, baby. The crisp air laced with the scent of leather and fine
machinery was an aphrodisiac.

Instead
of resting her cheek on the back of his leather jacket, she leaned forward to
murmur in his ear. "Want to know one of my fantasies?"

He had to yell his
response. "What's that?"

"I'm
naked, and you're wearing nothing but these chaps." She stroked his
leather-covered thigh.

Charlie
swerved abruptly to the side of the road and squeaked the tires as he stopped
and put both booted feet on the pavement. Then he sucked in air. "God, I
almost wrecked."

"Whoops. Sorry."

He
glanced over his shoulder. "And here I was thinking you were the
girl-next-door type."

"I am the
girl-next-door type ...with ideas."

"No
kidding." He blew out a breath. "Sex in leather chaps. I honestly
believe you'd like that."

"I honestly believe I
would, too. Am I shocking you?"

He
made a sound low in his throat. "No, but you bring up a good point. You're
way too wild to hang out at my mother's bakery."

"Oh,
for heaven's sake. I would never embarrass you in front of—"

"I'm
going to call and tell her I can't make it, that something has
come
up
and I have to take you home ASAP." He unclipped
his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans and started to take off his helmet.

"Wait."
Laughing, she caught his hand before he could punch any cell phone buttons.
"I can't have that on my conscience."

He
brought her hand up to his mouth, took off her glove, and started nibbling on
her fingers. "I don't know how you expect me to repair my mother's bakery
equipment when I'm thinking about sex and leather."

"Then
think about something else, because this repair needs to take place. What would
take your mind off sex?"

"With
you and your ideas hanging around? Absolutely nothing. Ever since
I
walked
into your kitchen Monday night and saw that purple underwear,
I
've
been thinking of nothing but sex. With you."

"You
have?" She shivered as he sucked on her index finger.
"I
thought
you were all engrossed in my stainless steel converter."

"With
your purple bra dangling five inches from my nose? Not likely." He licked
the space between her index finger and ring finger. "Don't get me wrong.
The converter's a masterpiece of engineering. But so's the purple bra, and
I
'm
just a guy, after all."

His
tongue felt so warm compared to the cold night air—another contrast to fall in
love with. But she'd have to be careful not to fall in love with the guy
himself, because he wouldn't be around long. "Charlie, we need to get
going. Your mother is waiting."

"I
don't
have a plan yet for behaving myself while
I
'm
there."

"My
fault. But there must be
some
mental
trick to keep yourself from getting an erection in your mother's bakery. Think
hard, Charlie."