Natalie’s breath catches. “Wow, you really do have a sweet tooth.”
“What can I say? I know what turns me on.”
His mouth is on hers again and Natalie draws him close, dizzy with desire. She feels like a teenager experiencing her first crush.
But then she remembers where they are. “I should get back out there. I still have a few cakes to finish.” He has her up against the door and she hopes they aren’t being too noisy. Luckily, it’s late enough in the day that almost everybody’s gone home.
“What’s the rush? Stay back here and play grab-ass with me some more.”
“Grab-ass?” She laughs. “That’s so romantic. Gosh, you’re like Romeo under the balcony.”
“It’s terrible,” Anthony admits. “I’m usually smoother than this.”
“So how come I’m not getting the smooth lines?”
“I don’t know.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “You make me nervous.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that. But why would I make you nervous?”
He doesn’t reply right away. “You just do, Miss Natalie.”
Natalie considers him. He’s about a thousand degrees out of her league. If anyone should be nervous, it’s her. And he does make her nervous, nervous and excited. Everything feels brighter when she’s around Anthony. Like after a whole life of sitting in a dark room, someone finally turned the lights on.
“It must be my skill at baking exceptional desserts. I mean, let’s face it, I’m basically your dream woman.”
A wicked gleam enters his eye. “You might have something there. We both know I’m a slave to your ‘cookies.’” His eyes flicker down her body and Natalie blushes as the memory of the Ferris wheel comes back.
He seems to be thinking the same thing, because he asks her how she’s been since that Ferris wheel ride.
“I’m fine. That whole panic thing really only happens at amusement parks.”
“I hope you don’t think I took . . . advantage of the situation.”
Natalie is stunned. “Are you kidding? Anthony, you saved me. I was so scared,” she shakes her head at the memory, “but you took care of me. You knew just what to do. And as far as the part where we played grab-ass,” she smiles, “that was hot.”
“Yeah?”
She nods.
“I thought it was hot, too.” He catches her hand in his. “I wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime.”
They study each other and Natalie knows she’s supposed to be keeping it mellow, isn’t supposed to be letting her emotions get involved. But it’s not easy. She’s not sure if she knows how to do that. It’s not like she’s falling in love with Anthony, though he’s hard to resist.
I’ll bet women fall in love with him all the time.
But I won’t be one of them.
“Anywhere but on a Ferris wheel,” he says with a grin.
Knock! Knock!
Natalie jumps away from the door as she realizes there’s someone on the other side.
Anthony reaches down for the handle and opens it. “Hi, Blair,” he says.
Natalie peeks over Anthony’s arm at her friend, co-owner, and fellow baker.
Blair’s hazel eyes go from Natalie to Anthony and back to Natalie again. She raises an eyebrow. “What are you two doing in here?”
“Nothing!” Natalie says.
Blair smiles. “Well, I hope that’s not true.”
Natalie can hear Anthony chuckling.
The door opens wider as Anthony reaches over for his satchel sitting on the office chair.
“I should get going,” he says. “I have a meeting in a short while and I know you guys are closing up soon.” He turns to Natalie. “I wanted to let you know that if I’m still invited, I’ll be at your house for dinner on Friday.”
“Really? That’s great. Are you bringing Serena?”
He shakes his head. “No, it turns out I won’t be picking her up until Saturday.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I’m glad you can make it.”
He nods. “What kind of dish should I bring?”
She explains how it’s a vegetarian potluck, so he can bring any dish as long as there’s no meat.
His eyebrows raise. “Are you a vegetarian?”
“Chloe’s the vegetarian in the house, but I don’t eat much meat either.”
“Serena’s a vegetarian, too.” He smiles and rolls his eyes a little. “It’s a recent thing.” Anthony throws the strap of his satchel over his head and positions it across his body. He’s wearing his motorcycle jacket and looks mouthwateringly hot. Natalie can barely believe she was playing grab-ass with him only a few minutes ago. “I’ll see you guys later.” And then he does something that completely stuns her.
He dips his head and kisses her on the mouth. “Ciao, Miss Natalie,” he says softly.
When he’s gone, Blair turns to her. “Tell me everything! And remember there’s no detail too small!”
“I don’t know where to start. We went to that star party and sort of connected.”
“I can see that. Have you slept with him?”
“No, of course not! We’ve only gone out a couple of times.”
“You mean no, not yet.”
Natalie sighs. “I don’t know what I mean. This is all so new for me. Do you know how long it’s been since I dated someone? I was married fourteen years. I’m trying to have fun, though.”
Blair nods with approval. “Good, you deserve it. Seriously. And I hope you have lots of fun with Anthony.”
Natalie shakes her head and laughs.
Blair gets a crafty expression. “I’ll bet he gives us that space now for sure. Has he said anything about it?”
“No, come to think of it, he hasn’t even mentioned it.” Natalie frowns. “I’m sure he’s still collecting data. He really is a serious geek. You should have seen him at that star party when he was totally in his element.”
“He’s a hot geek though. At least tell me this much—is he a good kisser?”
Natalie grins. “Yes, he is.”
“I knew it—ha! Who’s Serena, anyway? I take it she’s not his girlfriend?”
“His daughter.”
Blair’s eyes grow wide. “Really? I wouldn’t have pictured him as a dad.”
“I was surprised, too. He sounds like a good father though.” Natalie grabs her apron off the chair where Anthony put it when he untied it from her. “And now what’s happening with you and Graham? Are you still bringing him on Friday?”
“He’s coming, but we seem to be headed for the friend zone.”
“I’m surprised. I thought you liked him.”
“I do.” Blair picks up some baking trays and takes them over to the sink. She stacks everything in a neat pile for their dishwasher. “Road set up a Facebook page.”
“Oh?”
Leaning against the counter, Blair wipes her hands on her apron. “Tori told me about it.”
Tori is Blair’s sister-in-law and best friend. She’s also a web designer who created and maintains La Dolce Vita’s website. Natalie spoke to her recently about making some changes to their site.
“I know I shouldn’t have done it. I mean, I don’t care what Road does anymore, but I looked at it.” Blair shakes her head. “I wish I hadn’t.”
“Is it bad?”
Blair nods. “He was in India for a while and then Budapest. He’s living quite an adventurous life.”
Without me. That’s what Blair leaves unsaid.
Natalie puts her arm around Blair’s shoulders and squeezes it. “Forget him. You’re too good for him”
Blair smiles. “I know. After all these years, it was a shock to see even a photograph.”
“That makes sense.” Natalie tries to imagine what it would be like if Peter had run out on her four years ago and she hadn’t heard from him since.
“Anyway, forget all that.” Blair pushes away from the counter. “You’re right—to heck with Road. I’m not going to think about
him anymore. Maybe I’ll finally file for divorce.”
Anthony pulls out his phone and tries to call Graham again. His voicemail says he’s in Bellingham, but why isn’t he returning any of his calls?
“I think this is the fifteenth message I’ve left for you. I’m starting to feel like a chick—call me.”
He checks his own voicemail. There’s one from his assistant, Maya, about his SWIFT proposal, another one from the Seattle Times asking to speak to him about the Smyth Medal, though he doesn’t understand why they keep calling. It’s not like he’s won the damn thing. It’s just a nomination, and there are four other people nominated in the same category. The last one is from his father.
“Anthony, I consulted my schedule and it appears I have an opening the weekend of the Smyth Science Awards Banquet. Your mother and I will both be attending. My secretary will be calling you to get the pertinent details.”
And that’s it. No hello or goodbye. No ‘how are you?’ Just his commanding baritone telling him how it’s going to be. Why he should expect anything different from his father, he doesn’t know.
Anthony shoves his phone back into his jacket.
I’m surprised he’s bothering to come at all. Of course, he does have an opening in his schedule.
Passing a flower store, Anthony slows down, and then after a moment’s deliberation, decides to go inside. He wanders around the shop examining the flower bouquets, wondering if he should send one to Natalie. Is it too much too soon? He’s not sure. And the not knowing is what’s making him uneasy. He’s not used to courting women or being the instigator in relationships. Women have always come to him.
“Can I help you?” A pretty brunette salesgirl comes over.
“Yeah, I’m trying to decide if it’s too soon to send flowers to a woman.”
The brunette tilts her head and smiles. “It’s never too soon to send flowers. Is this woman your girlfriend?”
“No,” but then he pauses, “maybe, I’m not sure.”
“Are you trying to send her a message? Or convey something? There’s a language to flowers.”
“There is?” Anthony considers this. He’s given a lot of gifts to women over the years, but he can’t remember ever giving flowers. It’s usually candy or jewelry—there was a blonde flight attendant he met coming back from an observing run in Chile who wanted a belly chain.
“Something romantic,” he tells her. “That’s the kind of message I’m going for.”
“Red roses are always good for romance, especially to say ‘I love you.’ The lavender roses can be used to convey love at first sight.”
The phone by the cash register rings and the salesgirl excuses herself to go answer it.
Anthony studies the flowers, mildly panicked. He wonders which ones say, ‘I really like you and I want to sleep with you.’
There’s probably a good reason I haven’t been giving flowers to women all these years.
Luckily, his phone alarm goes off, telling him he has ten minutes to make his class, so he doesn’t have to decide anything right now.
It’s drizzling outside again and he wishes he’d worn a different jacket as he heads up toward the campus to meet with a couple of his postgraduate students about their Ph.D. projects. Coming from L.A., he’s not sure if he’ll ever get used to the wet Seattle weather.
When Anthony gets there, his student, Navez, is already working on the whiteboard while his other student, Brad, looks on. They’re both working with neutron stars and black holes, so their projects are closely tied to his own area of research.
After taking a seat, Anthony starts scanning the equations Navez has been writing. His eyes narrow as he searches for mistakes, but also creativity. Finally, he leans forward.
“You’re looking at stellar initial mass function using N-body simulation, but is your IMF slope too shallow?”
Navez goes to check through some of his notes.
When he comes back to the board, they go through the equations step by step again, with Navez changing some of his variables. The three of them hash out more things on the board and the time goes by fast. It’s the kind of work Anthony enjoys and can easily do for hours. As they’re finishing up, he nods to himself, and decides that overall he’s satisfied with both of his students’ progress.
He’s in good spirits as he heads toward his office, thinking about seeing Natalie again on Friday. Although he’d prefer if it were just the two of them. Unfortunately, when Anthony turns the corner to his office, he discovers there’s a group of young female students waiting to ambush him.
Shit.
He tries to escape, but it’s too late. They’ve already spotted him. Like a pack of hungry wolves.
“Professor Novello!”
Desperate, he searches around for his assistant, Maya, who usually helps wrangle all these women. And, of course, she’s nowhere in sight.
“I have some questions about astrology!”
“Do you have a girlfriend, Professor Novello?”
“What’s gravity?”
“Could you come to our sorority tomorrow night? There’ll be dancing!”
They’re all chattering at once and he’s already getting a headache from their shrill voices.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” Anthony says, rushing into his office and quickly closing the door.
He wishes he could teleport away. Glancing toward the window, he thinks about that scene from Raiders where Indy climbs out of one to get away from his female students.
The problem is, Anthony’s office is on the third floor.
Pulling out his phone, he texts an SOS to Maya. He’s tempted to leave, but knows they’ll only follow him wherever he goes. A posse of determined young females is harder to lose than you’d think. Pretty soon, they’re going to start knocking on the door, rattling the knob as they try to get inside. It’s like keeping out a zombie attack.
Luckily, Maya shows up within a few minutes. Turns out she was only getting coffee and was already on her way back. Thank God. He can hear her through the door.
She sweeps through the group in her efficient way, telling them how they’ll each need to make an appointment and how she handles most of Anthony’s student questions herself. That typically gets rid of all of them, and this time is no exception.
“Thank you,” Anthony says, peeking his head out.
Maya rolls her eyes. Her dark curls form a halo around her face. With a Cuban mother and an Ethiopian father, Maya is nobody’s fool. She’s also hot tempered and as smart as they come.
“You’re like a reluctant rock star, you know that?”
“I don’t want to be a rock star.”
“I know. But that’s partly what makes you so irresistible.”
Maya hands him one of the lattes she bought and Anthony thanks her. She then reminds him about the SWIFT proposal.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” He gets his computer out and switches the keyboard over to Italian so he can email his colleague in Naples. They met when Anthony spent time in Italy working on a postdoctoral fellowship with the Italian Space Agency. Having produced some of the world’s finest astronomers, Italians still have a strong presence in the world’s astronomical community.
Maya is sifting through his mail. “Have you seen this?” she asks, holding a letter up. “There’s an invitation here for you to speak at the European Astrophysics conference in Rome later this year. I assume you’re going to that.”
Anthony nods, still typing. “I submitted that paper I wrote on redshift measurements a while ago. What does it say?”
Maya reads it aloud and Anthony listens with half an ear. The conference is months away and he’ll have plenty of time to pull together a short lecture. His mind wanders back to Natalie and all the kissing they’ve been up to lately, mostly because it’s driving him nuts.
You were an idiot to agree to it in the first place.
He’s not used to this kind of sexual frustration. His only hope is that it’s wearing
on her, too—and he suspects it is. Even his dreams are working against him. Last night he had the boxing one again. She was wearing the tight T-shirt and shorts that he likes to imagine her in. They were boxing at first, but that turned into wrestling, and it didn’t take long before their clothes were gone and he was on top of her, buried deep. Her legs were wrapped around him and that sexy mouth was screaming his name.
He woke up sweating with a rock hard dick and he had to finish himself off.
It would have been far better if she’d actually been there.
Seeing Natalie in the morning after having spent the night rolling around in his bed—now that would be something. She’d look so pretty. All mussed and well-tumbled. He can think of a million things he’d like to do with her, each one dirtier than the last.
“Do you want to schedule extra time in Rome so you can visit your family?” Maya asks, bringing him back to reality.
“Uh, yeah, an extra week should do it.”
“I’ll go ahead and put the paperwork through then.”
“Sure,” Anthony says, but he’s already back to thinking about how he can make his dream with Natalie come true.
THIS IS THEIR third potluck dinner and the first one where Natalie feels nervous.
“You look great,” Lindsay says. “Stop freaking out.”
“I’m not freaking out.”
“Really? How many times are you going to change clothes?”
“I think ten times should do it.”
Lindsay laughs. “You look fantastic. Trust me, I’d tell you if you didn’t. You’re my greatest project yet.”
It’s almost time for people to arrive so Natalie starts laying out dishes of food on the dining room table. Lindsay likes Mexican, so she puts out the makings for tacos using refried beans. Oliver will probably bring beer. Blair mentioned something about a bread pudding, though she’s not sure about Graham or if he’s bringing anything. Natalie decided to make a tiramisu.
I like tiramisu.
Though who is she kidding? She made the tiramisu for Anthony. In truth, it’s a pleasure to make sweets for a man who appreciates them so much. Peter was often disdainful of some of the rich desserts she created. Of course, it didn’t help matters that he was a dentist.
Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) Page 23