Talk Nerdy to Me (43 page)

"I'm
in love with you. I can't help it. I don't know how I could help it, with the
way you are. I know you don't want to hear that, but I have to say it or bust
apart."

His chest grew tight.
"Eve, I—"

The door opened and Denise
barreled through, followed by Rick. "The exterminator just left."
Her irritation was obvious. "You're going to be charged with the service
call, because he did make the trip. I should have let him come in and inspect,
I suppose, but I didn't want to deal with that right now." She stomped
into the den and slammed the door.

Charlie
released Eve and glanced at Rick. "That looks like more than
exterminator-induced anger."

"Did
you upset her?" Eve faced him, her eyes flashing. "So help me, if you
forced yourself on my sister, I will see that you never work in fashion
photography again."

Rick
backed away, hands raised. "So help me, I didn't do anything! I was just
trying to be nice!"

"I'll
bet." Giving him a scathing look, she turned on her heel. "I'm going
to go check on Denise."

The
minute she'd disappeared into the den and closed the door, Charlie looked at
his cousin. "What gives? I thought you were going to try to seduce her,
not make her furious."

Rick
seemed bewildered. "I think there's something wrong with that woman."

"What do you
mean?"

"I have
my routine, and it works like a champ. First we have coffee and maybe something
sweet, like a piece of pie. We stopped by the Rack and Balls and did that. I
didn't finish mine, on account of it was my second piece of the day, but I
wanted to stick with my game plan."

"Okay." Charlie doubted
even Rick would try anything funny while Archie was watching from the bar.

"Then afterward
I usually find a quiet place to park, preferably with a view. I was a little
handicapped, because it's daytime and I couldn't find a good view of city
lights. In fact, even at night, Middlesex is short on city lights, but—"

"Rick,
get to the point. Please tell me you didn't try to force yourself on her."

"No way, dude! We were
sitting there, and I did my opening move of running my finger up and down her
arm and telling her how beautiful she is, especially in that light that line
works, regardless. There's always
some
kind of light,
unless it's pitch-dark, in which case I turn on the dash lights and say she
looks good in the glow from the instrument panel. But I didn't have to do that
this time. There was plenty of light."

Charlie ground his back teeth
together. "You tried to kiss her, didn't you?"

"Well,
yeah. How can you get your hand under her bra if you don't start with a
kiss?"

"You tried to put your
hand under her bra?"

"Don't
get so excited. It's all a smooth transition, cuz. Well, normally. I move in
for the kiss and start on the buttons of the blouse at the same time. It
usually works great"

"I can't believe this."

"I couldn't either! She
hauled off and whacked me!"

"You don't say." Now
that Charlie looked more closely, he could see a bruise forming on Rick's
cheek. "Sounds like it was justified."

"She could have just
said no," Rick's tone was injured.

"Maybe you didn't give
her the chance."

"She
had plenty of time between the stroking-her-arm part and the
kissing-and-unbuttoning stage. But anyway, that's not the important thing. The
important thing is what she said about her sister during the pie and coffee
part. I quizzed her about Eve, like I said
I
would."

"And?"
Charlie hated to take information from such a gonzo source, but he was desperate
to figure out who was stalking Eve and her project.

"She
said Eve was so pretty as a kid that nobody paid any attention to a gifted
older sister. She said that was fine with her, because everyone left her alone,
but nobody likes being ignored, right?"

"No, they don't."
And now Charlie was really worried.

"She
might be this big-deal professor, which is getting her a certain amount of
attention, but
I
think
she's worried about what kind of attention Eve might get with the hovercraft.
I think she'd love to see that whole thing go in the crapper if you want my
opinion."

"Thanks,
Rick." Charlie was reluctantly grateful, although he wished his cousin
had been more subtle with the seduction routine.

"You're
welcome." Rick smiled, then he winced and put a hand to his cheek.
"She's one strong chick."

Strong
enough to pry open a door with a crowbar?
Charlie
had seen enough cop shows to know that jealousy could be a powerful motive, but
his heart ached for Eve. She would never want to face the fact that her sister
would rewire the hovercraft and risk a fire that could cause her serious harm.

"Remember,
this operation is only half done," Rick said. "I have to find out
what's going on with Eunice. Do you happen to know where she works?
I
thought
I'd drop
by and set something up, maybe get her in the mood
by taking her to dinner."

Charlie almost laughed.
"I think you've mixed up your women. That might have been the way to go
with Denise, but I don't think Eunice needs any prompting."

"You
know, I would have switched things around if
I
could,
but Denise already had a date with Manny for dinner, so I had to work with
what I was given. You're right, though. I can do takeout with Eunice. Hey,
maybe she likes food sex."

Charlie shook his head.
"You're incorrigible."

"Is that good or
bad?"

"Neither.
Anyway, Eunice works at Patriots Insurance Agency. It's on the corner of Main
and Second."

"Thanks,
dude." Rick zipped his jacket. "I'll be back, probably in the morning
sometime. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Which reminds me. Did
you and Eve have some quality time while we were gone?"

Charlie
gazed at his cousin. "I don't think I'll answer that."

Rick
grinned. "That's an answer, all by itself." He punched Charlie on the
shoulder. "Way to go, stud. See you."

After
Rick left, his words echoed in Charlie's head.
Way
to go, stud.
Yeah, that's what he'd acted like, some horny
bastard who couldn't control himself. He'd spent too much time getting laid and
too little time doing what he'd promised, which was to help Eve get her
hovercraft off the ground. Way to go, stud.

At
first Eve had thought she'd have to comfort Denise after her upsetting
experience, but apparently Denise had enjoyed the drama of her
stomping-into-the-den routine. She was in a better mood than Eve ever remembered
seeing her. Obviously she'd never had two men on the string. Although she made
it clear that Rick wasn't her type, he seemed to have given her ego a
much-needed boost.

Eve
located the red sweater, hooker shoes, and flashy jewelry she'd agreed to loan
Denise. Then she promised to come back and do her sister's makeup after Denise
had showered and dressed. With Denise safely ensconced in the shower, Eve
returned to the garage to check on Charlie.

She
found him hunched over the rotary engine, his prescription goggles on as he
tinkered and swore softly to himself.

"I didn't mean to
abandon you," she said.

He
glanced up and pulled the goggles down around his neck. "No problem. You
had to see about Denise. Is she okay?"

"More than okay. I've
never seen her happier."

Charlie
looked surprised. "She wasn't insulted? From what Rick said, he acted like
a Neanderthal."

"I
think he did, but if you ask me, she thoroughly enjoyed pushing away his
unwanted advances. I don't think she gets all that many of those."

"Hmm." Charlie's
expression closed down a little.

"What?"
But she didn't really have to ask. Charlie was making mental notes beside
Denise's name in his list of suspects. "Did Rick say something?"

Charlie's gaze was
sympathetic. "She really is upset about the hovercraft, Eve. The modeling
career is bad enough, but she doesn't want you getting attention for something
like this."

Eve's stomach clenched. "She said that?"

"Not
in so many words, but she told Rick that she'd been ignored as a kid, because
you were so pretty."

"I've
heard that a million times before. She's never tried to hurt me as a result of
that complaint."

"You've
never tried to build a hovercraft before," he said gently.

"It's
not her." Eve couldn't imagine her sister switching wires knowing the
pilot of the hovercraft could get burned as a result.

"How can you be
sure?"

"Because
she suggested a safety modification, that's why. I meant to tell you sooner,
but..." But she'd been overcome with lust. Then she'd forgotten about it
until now.

"I
know." Charlie looked into her eyes. "We've let ourselves get way
too distracted. I'm not letting it happen again, at least not until we have
this baby launched."

Eve
nodded, knowing he was right. They had to finish this project. Whoever was
trying to steal the idea might not care about using alternative fuel. For Eve,
that was the main reason to get the hovercraft on the market.

Of
course, once they did and the danger of someone stealing it was gone, Charlie
would leave. And she wanted him to follow his dream. But she couldn't hold back
her sigh of regret.

"This
hovercraft is a fantastic concept, especially using the biofuel."
Charlie's voice was soft. "I'd say it's worth a little personal
sacrifice."

"So we'll both do our
part to promote cleaner air?" She wished she felt more noble and less
deprived.

"Yeah.
All your hard work needs to amount to something. The invention needs to get
out there and you deserve recognition for making that happen."

"Eve, are you
available for the makeup session?"

Eve
turned to find Denise standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Even without the
jewelry and makeup, the transformation was amazing. In the low-cut red sweater,
black slacks, and hooker shoes, Denise looked nothing like a professor and
quite a bit like date bait.

Eve
tried to tell from Denise's expression whether she'd heard any of the
conversation and whether jealousy was eating a hole in her sister's stomach.
But Denise had perfected a blank look years ago and she was wearing it now.

"Sure," Eve said.
"Let's do it."

"You
look great, Denise," Charlie said. "Eve was telling me you had a
safety modification suggestion for the hovercraft."

"I
guess she didn't consider it very important if she's just now telling you about
it."

"I
thought it was a great idea." Eve wished she'd mentioned it earlier, just
so Charlie would know that Denise was thinking of ways to protect her, not ways
to do her in. "But we've been concentrating on the engine, and I temporarily
forgot." She glanced at Charlie. "She thinks we should attach a lightweight
rubber bumper around the outside rim."

Charlie glanced at the
hovercraft and nodded. "Good suggestion. We're hoping not to run into
anything, but it wouldn't hurt to have something like that, just in case."

Eve
noticed that he was still using
we
when
she would be the only person in the hovercraft, at least until after the first
flight. But she let that go for now. "Yeah, I think it would be a smart
move."

"I'd
call it essential," Denise said. "Considering that you have no
experience in building something like this, it's bound to crash. I hope you're
going to wear a helmet, too."

"I
hadn't thought of that." She'd been so intent on getting the thing in the
air that she'd given no thought to whether she'd be in danger doing it.