“Damn right,” he growled before sinking his teeth into the cord of her neck like an animal as he thrust for his own release. She trembled under him. He sent her over again, tumbling along with him as he exploded inside her.
He held her tightly, buried deep as they both panted in the aftermath. She found herself beaming for no other reason than the universe was a beautiful place, and they were one hundred percent compatible in a very important, thoroughly satisfying area.
“Our compatibility in the bedroom is a key factor in positive marriage outcomes,” she informed him once she could speak.
He pulled out and crashed to the bed beside her, rolling to his back. She cuddled up against him.
Her mind reached back to the five main factors she’d discovered and, since she was sure he was now fully awake, she confidently broached the topic that would be the cornerstone of her experiment. “There are other factors, of course, mrwmph.” Ian’s mouth covered hers, and she lost her train of thought.
He broke the kiss, rolling to his side and pulling her leg over his hip, bringing them into full-body contact.
She tried to focus again. “For example—”
He thrust his leg between hers, applying just enough pressure to her still-tingling sex that her thoughts scattered like photons. Distracting sparks of pleasure radiated through her. His large hand cupped the back of her neck as he spoke near her ear in a deep husky voice. “Maybe we could add to the experiment, try some new things.”
A full-body shiver ran through her both from the sexy voice and the fact that he was speaking her scientific language. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Good,” he crooned, his hand sliding down her spine and resting just above her bottom.
She moaned, extremely distracted and entirely too needy for someone that had just been thoroughly satisfied. Before she could find the words to continue their conversation, he went on, his deep rumble in her ear bringing more hot tingles of excitement.
“For future experimentation, how do you feel about being tied up?”
“You know I enjoy alpha-level dominance,” she replied immediately. “It’s one of the key factors in my rating system.”
He groaned against her neck, the vibrations flooding her with pleasure as much as his words. “Wrists and ankles, spread-eagled for as long as I like.”
She shivered in his arms. “Definitely add that to the experiment. We simply won’t know until we try.”
He palmed her ass. “We might have to try several times to be sure.”
“It’s all in the name of science!” she squeaked. She barely knew what she was saying, she was so turned on.
He chuckled and kissed her. “Anything in the name of science.”
Those words rang so true to her scientific mind that a sense of peace washed over her, relaxing her and making her drowsy.
“Sleep now,” he murmured. “I’ll experiment with you later.”
Those sweet words sent her into a deep dreamless sleep.
She woke when Ian shook her by the shoulder. She opened her eyes to find him standing next to the bed, fully dressed. “We overslept,” he said. “Hurry and pack or we’ll miss our flight.”
And just like that, it was back to reality. One that she wasn’t so sure she was equipped to deal with. Some part of her wished they could just stay in bed, where everything between them worked perfectly. Besides, he’d revved her up good last night, and she could easily do another round.
She sat up. His back was to her as he yanked clothes out of the dresser and tossed them in a duffle bag. “How about a quickie?”
He slowly turned and gave her a hot look that had her spirits lifting. “Get ready fast, and I’ll initiate you into the mile-high club on the plane.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you already a member?”
He grinned. “Nope. I just like to initiate you.”
He was referring to his initiating her into the world of pleasure when he took her virginity. Or maybe when he initiated her into oral sex. Or full-tilt boogie orgasms. He really did like to initiate her. And she really did like to be initiated.
“Okay.” She stood, grabbed some clothes, and headed for a quick shower. When she returned to the bedroom, freshly clean and dressed, Ian had already packed her bag for her.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in for a quick kiss. “Mile-high club, here we come!”
Chapter Seven
The mile-high club was out of reach by a mile.
Unfortunately for Ian, the plane was small, two rows of two-seaters, and completely packed. No fooling around under a blanket would be possible, and the restroom appeared to be permanently occupado.
They’d had a good run, Ian thought morosely. Without his go-to sexy weapon of distraction, Kate was like a hamster on the talk-about-the-relationship wheel. He fidgeted in his seat and tried unsuccessfully to stretch out his long legs. The trapped feeling was even worse with his long frame squeezed into a coach seat between the window and the inquiring Kate. God forbid he didn’t answer her question right. Then it was, brrapp. Big old wrong answer face.
“If I bought you an engagement ring, would you wear it?” she asked once she secured her lap tray into the upright position. They’d just finished a tiny potato chip snack during which the questions had blessedly stopped. He kinda wanted to ask the flight attendant for seconds on the snack.
“We should probably save our money for a house,” he said quite reasonably.
She was quiet. He looked over to find her scowling. Brrapp. Wrong answer.
“Yes, I’d wear it,” he amended.
Still scowling. He was terrible at these high-stakes question games.
“How about I get you an engagement ring instead?” he asked.
“You should save your money for my Cinderella fantasy.” Her tone was flat. He couldn’t tell if it was a dig at him teasing her for it or if she really meant it. This sarcasm thing was new on her, and it popped up here and there, but nothing consistent. The female mind had never been so unclear.
“Okay,” he said slowly. Then he turned the question thing around. Let her answer high-stakes questions instead. “Are you happy to be engaged?”
She pinned him with a hard look. “Are you happy to be engaged?”
“I’m happy when you’re happy,” he answered honestly.
Kate scowled at him. Brrapp. Wrong answer. “Great.”
“That was sarcasm, right?”
She huffed and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, now, where did this come from?” he asked. “Why are you suddenly sarcastic?”
She lifted a shoulder up and down. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the lunch crew. They’re big on that.”
“The lunch crew?”
“Yeah, the guys I have lunch with every day.”
“You have lunch with a bunch of guys every day?”
“Yeah.”
“How long has this been going on? And why didn’t you tell me?”
She wrapped a lock of blond hair around her finger and faced front. “Since January.”
“It’s March now. Why didn’t you mention it?”
“I don’t know. I guess because you and I were so busy, you know, I never thought of it.”
He leaned close. “We don’t always you know. Friday night is for you know. Sunday night is for real conversation.” They’d made a schedule for their long-distance relationship, at Kate’s insistence, and Friday night was for phone sex, Sunday night was for talking.
“I know,” she said, “but on Sunday I’m still thinking about Friday. It’s fun.” She turned to him and grinned.
His heart squeezed. Honestly, Kate was amazing him lately. She never used to talk about having fun. He had to encourage her to have fun.
He tilted her chin up and gave her a quick kiss. “I can’t wait to meet your new friends.”
“Only if there’s no male territorial posturing.”
He beat his chest like a gorilla.
She giggled.
He took her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She beamed. Right answer.
“I’m very popular with the guys now that I’m taken,” she informed him.
He did a double take. “What?”
She snort-laughed. “It’s true. Nate says it’s because the pressure’s off, and they don’t have to impress me. So they’re just being themselves. And I told them being themselves is wonderful, and now they all kind of adore me.”
He pulled his hand free from hers, rubbed his forehead, and contemplated why Kate had never mentioned this adoring thing before. He didn’t want to come off like a jealous boyfriend, but…he was a jealous boyfriend. “So you like having a group of guys adore you?”
“Yeah, it’s never happened before.” She kept right on smiling. Like it was perfectly fine to tell your fiancé that a group of guys spent every lunch break flirting with you. They were twentysomething physicists too. Just her type.
But wait. A flicker of hope went up. Maybe she’d misread the situation. It wouldn’t be the first time. “And how do you know they adore you?” he asked.
“Nate told me.”
He plowed a hand through his hair. “What? When did this happen? Tell me exactly what he said.”
“I thought you trusted me. Why all the questions?”
“Just answer the last one.”
“Five Fridays ago.”
“Not that question. Tell me exactly what he said.”
“That’s not a question. Your last question was when did this happen?”
“Kate,” he said through his teeth.
Kate pulled her cell phone from her purse and tapped it. “There, see, exactly what he said.”
A text from Nate Patel. She showed him the screen. The guys adore you. We’re so glad you joined us for lunch. Remember us when you get your Nobel Prize.
Oh fuck. He could read between the lines. This wasn’t “the guys” who adored Kate. This was Nate. Nate adored her. Nate was glad she joined him for lunch.
Nate was about to meet his competition.
~ ~ ~
Ian was in shock. The first time he’d met Kate and her fellow physicists at last year’s holiday party, she’d been very much apart from her peers. In fact, most of the physicists had been standing around the party room awkwardly, but now, it was like Kate was the sun and they revolved around her. She sat at a circular table in the cafeteria, and the men, four of them, sat around it, riveted on her every word. It was clear they respected her insights as a physicist as they shared with her their experimental findings, eager to hear her thoughts. But it was more than that. Kate was lit from within as she not only talked about physics, but also made sarcastic remarks that the men found quite amusing.
Well, guess what? Guys didn’t laugh that much unless they were into a girl. Sure, Ian had always thought her beautiful, but it wasn’t something that hit you all at once. You had to look beyond the big tortoiseshell glasses and messy bun of blond hair, intuit what was hiding under her baggy sweaters. But not anymore. It wasn’t that she’d changed her look, not at all, but she’d changed her focus. Instead of being in her head, focused on her work, she’d learned to shut that part down during breaks and focus outward on her male peers.
Who clearly worshiped her.
There was Nate Patel, the adoring physicist. Ian was confident enough in his masculinity to admit that Nate was good-looking with short dark brown hair with some spikes in front, deep brown eyes, smooth light brown skin, and a stunning white-toothed smile. Strike one. He was a snappy dresser in a crisp white button-down shirt, perfectly ironed gray pants and leather shoes, like he’d just stepped out of GQ magazine. Strike two. Nate had a slight exotic accent and a melodic charming voice that he used to great effect on Kate. And he wore spicy cologne. Strike one million and—
Kate threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, Nate, you’re so funny.”
Huff, huff. Ian was funny too.
There was also Colt, who had a California surfer vibe with shaggy dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and a head full of dark matter studies. Ty, who seemed to be emulating Nate with similar clothes right down to the leather shoes. They even had the same haircut, though Ty’s hair was light brown, and, frankly, he still looked a little gangly and awkward. And, finally, Ian’s favorite for being the least threat in the attractiveness realm was Mike, who had greasy hair, a stained T-shirt, and ripped jeans.
When he’d first met everyone where they met up at Kate’s office, Kate had introduced him. Right away, he knew Nate would be trouble.
“This is Dr. Ian Furnukle,” Kate said, “my boyfriend. He’s also a computer scientist with a special interest in artificial intelligence.”
He was greeted with an assortment of muttered “nice to meet yous” from the guys, except Nate, who gave him a firm handshake.
“So you’re real,” Nate said with a big flashy smile. “We were beginning to think you were an imaginary boyfriend.”
Kate laughed. “Oh, Nate, you crack me up!”
Nate turned a full-wattage smile on Kate. “Su-u-u-re, your boyfriend from Boston who no one has ever seen and you have no pictures of. S-u-u-re—” he widened his eyes “—he’s real.”
Kate’s sarcasm influence was suddenly clear.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Kate put her hands on her hips, making her breasts thrust forward, and shook her head, loosening her hair. A lock of hair fell out of her bun and curled near her cheek.
Ian didn’t miss Nate admiring that tousled sexy look.
“I’m very real,” Ian said.
No response from the group. Ian was invisible.
Things went downhill from there. Ian was the unwanted shadow behind Kate’s sun.
Now he was finishing up a dry ham and cheese sandwich, trying to figure out how to neutralize the threat to his girlfriend without coming off like a jealous jerk. Very fine line he was walking here.
A middle-aged bald man stopped by their table. “Hi, everyone. Kate, so glad to have you back.”
Kate straightened and pushed up her glasses. “Hello, Dr. Weintraub.”
“No need to be so formal. You can call me Gary.”
“This is Dr. Furnukle, my guest for the week,” Kate said, becoming even more formal. She must be nervous. “Dr. Furnukle, this is Dr. Weintraub, the director of our research program.”
Ian shook his hand. “Hi, I’m Ian. Nice to meet you.”
Dr. Weintraub smiled widely. “Oh, you must be the boyfriend. Kate mentioned you when she returned to work after the New Year, and she’s been in a good mood since. It’s been a boon to her research, actually, so thank you for making her so happy.”
Kate smiled tightly.
“I aim to please,” Ian said. “Kate and I go way back.”
“Our mutual siblings are married,” Kate said.
Dr. Weintraub leaned close to Ian and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up. Kate’s near a breakthrough. If we can run some tests to prove her theory, she could earn the next Nobel Prize in physics.”
Ian’s jaw dropped. A Nobel Prize? For real? At twenty-five?
“Hear, hear!” Nate said, clanging his spoon against his glass of peach iced tea.
Kate tittered and smoothed her hair. “Well, we don’t know that for sure. There’s still much work to be done.”
“It’s true,” Dr. Weintraub said. “I want to look over your fellowship application before you send it out. Can you have it by Wednesday?”
“Yes,” Kate replied. “I already know what I want to say, it’s just a matter of gathering all my materials.”
Dr. Weintraub looked pleased. “Good.” He turned to Ian. “We’re trying to keep the details of her research on the down low. Sometimes new discoveries happen in two places at the same time, a parallel discovery phenomenon, and we’re eager to have Kate’s results published first.”
“Of course,” Ian
said. He felt like an idiot. Kate had told him how important her research was, how much the Geneva fellowship meant to her, and he never wanted to hold her back, but he had no idea she was that big of a deal. A Nobel Prize-winning physicist?
Dr. Weintraub took in the group. “Don’t be lingering with all your gabbing. I need Kate back to work. And, Nate, I know she’ll need your help too, so get moving.”
“Yes, sir,” Nate said. “We’re just finishing up here.”
“Are you involved in her research?” Ian asked Nate.
“Yes,” Nate said, flashing a smile. “Lucky for me, Kate allowed me to join her project. I’m finishing up my PhD, and it’s an honor to work with her.”
Kate beamed. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you to say.”
“I’m not being nice,” Nate said, gathering Kate’s lunch tray and assorted wrappers for her. “It’s the truth.” He held up her half-full bottled water. “You want to save this?”
“Sure.” Kate took the bottled water. Nate left the table, taking care of Kate’s trash for her. Kate stood and took a drink. Well, wasn’t that attentive and gentlemanly? And he must do it often or Kate wouldn’t be casually drinking water like it was business as usual.
“Is Nate going with you to Geneva?” Ian asked.
“Probably,” Kate said. “I’m allowed to bring a research assistant. Actually a lot of the guys want to go for a chance to work at the Large Hadron Collider. It makes the most sense to bring him, though, since he’s familiar with my research.”
Nate appeared at Kate’s side. “Very familiar. Ready to head back?”
Kate nodded and set off with the men in tow. They walked on either side of her, like bees hovering around their queen. Ian had to wedge himself in between Kate and Nate.
“So did you tell your friends the good news?” Ian asked.
“What good news?” Nate asked, stepping a pace ahead of Ian and turning to look directly at Kate.
“Ian and I are engaged,” Kate said flatly. The flat tone stung, though she probably just didn’t want to show her enthusiasm in front of her fellow physicists.
“Where’s your ring?” Nate asked, grabbing Kate’s bare hand and holding it up. He squinted. “Must be a tiny diamond because I don’t see it.”
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