by Cathy Quinn
“Is this why you wanted that G-spot diagram?” he murmured directly into her ear and she jumped realizing he was standing right behind her.
“Sort of. I guess,” she mumbled, doubting he heard a word of her muffled mutterings. Her face was burning. That cushion would soon burst into flames. Of course, she might suffocate first, but that was beside the point. Breathing was not a number one priority at the moment.
Where were alien abductions when you needed one?
His arms slid around her from behind and he insistently pulled the cushion away despite her frantic attempts to hold on. That fluffy bag of dust was the only thing standing between her and complete humiliation. His arms tightened around her, imprisoning her own arms against her sides, and his breath warmed her ear. “And did you find it?”
“No!” she snapped as the cushion fell to the floor. Mortification had crashed into rock bottom and dug a nice and comfy hole there. It was currently unpacking and setting up camp. “It’s not there, okay? I did check. Not there.”
From the movements of his chest against her back she could feel he was laughing. Before she could free her arm to punch him in the stomach with her elbow, he had moved to stand in front of her and imprisoned her hands against his chest to boot.
“Do you have any idea how cute you are when you’re embarrassed?” he asked, laughter still vibrant in his voice. “It’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”
Feeling marginally better at being pronounced cute and adorable, she risked a glance at him. Not a good idea. His grin could have put the Cheshire cat out of business. She groaned and since there wasn’t much chance of getting away, buried her face in the warmth of his sweater instead, pulling fistfuls of it to cover her burning cheeks. “I never blush. Never, ever. And don’t you dare get that look on your face, Bob,” she mumbled to his lungs. “Don’t you dare.”
“What look?”
“You know what look. That Just-you-wait-I’m-going-to-prove-you-wrong look.”
Robert chuckled. “Sweetheart, it’s either confidence or panic, and I’m going with confidence. How did you expect me to react, anyway? Be intimidated enough never to touch you again?
“That would be nice. Thank you. Would you please just let go of me now and allow me to crawl under the bed and hide until you’ve gone home?”
“Not on your life. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not letting go of you until tomorrow at the soonest. Do you realize we still haven’t even kissed?”
Linda took a revitalizing breath, gathered the last remaining crumbs of her courage and brushed some mental dust off the self-defense lessons she’d taken a few years back. Three seconds later Robert was lying on his back on the bed, blinking and looking stunned. She threw herself on top of him, ripped his glasses off and kissed him just as he opened his mouth to protest the vicious attack.
This time, it succeeded. The roof did not cave in, no animal yanked on their hair, no babies screamed for attention. Just the two of them, just Robert, his heat and his taste and his scent, his pulse under her fingers as she touched his temple, the rough skin of his cheek against her palm. Almost familiar sensations by now, but still so new, and so special. There was gentleness and urgency and clumsiness and passion and it all belonged, was all rightfully theirs after such a long time waiting.
“Better than fantasy after all,” she murmured, and slid her fingers through his hair, savoring the soft warmth of it. “Oh, Robert...”
She felt his mouth curve in a smile as it traveled along the side of her neck. “Call me Bob,” he whispered, and claimed her mouth again.
“I’m not allowed to speak until morning,” she muttered as she moved just far enough away so she could begin work at tugging the sweater over his head. “Okay? If I say so much as one word before sunrise, the next weekend’s diapers and snotty noses are all mine.”
He was laughing again. Admittedly she didn’t have all the experience in the world, but she was pretty sure men weren’t supposed to laugh while a woman was sitting on top of them tearing their clothes off. “But what if I use some fiendish biological tricks to send you off to heaven and make you scream my name and call upon all sorts of deities?”
“Then it’s your fault and the diapers are all yours.”
“You sure know how to motivate a man.”
“And then you tape my mouth shut to make sure I don’t speak again.”
Laughter. Again. “Sweetheart, I never suspected you were this kinky.”
“Shut up, Bob.” She unsnapped the button on his jeans. “I’m ravishing you. Concentrate.”
“Good morning.”
She should have been expecting his voice to interrupt her early morning meditation over the dirty dishes, but nevertheless it startled her. She swiveled around, wielding the brush in a defensive gesture. “Whoa,” he said with a grin. “Those soap duds look very intimidating.” He held up his hands. “I surrender.”
He was wearing jeans, top button loose, bare torso and bare feet, a towel around his neck, no glasses and instead the cutest squint. His damp hair was all ruffled, reminding her of the way he had looked after she had given him a cold shower at the lab.
And he hadn’t shaved. When had she turned into a sucker for a stubble?
He was looking quite happy with himself, too. Not that he didn’t have a reason to, and well, so did she, but it was still annoying in a strange sort of way. Especially since she’d discovered – somewhere between rinsing the dishes and scrubbing the frying pan – that what her heart had been trying to tell her last night was that she had indeed managed to fall in love with the darned man.
Love hadn’t exactly been on the agenda, not for someone she was sure had a craving for home and hearth and lots of babies, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it now that Cupid was sitting there on her heart, ever so meek and looking deceptively innocent as he stabbed it over and over with his arrow. Love even had the power to paint silly smiles on her face over the dirty dishes, one of her least favorite jobs of all.
This was all too weird, and she’d have to take it out on someone. She scowled at the object of her affection. “Stop it!”
“Stop what?”
“Looking so darn smug.”
He stared at her, looking altogether too handsome for his own good as well as hers, and then his lips curved, and on came that wicked grin, the one that seemed especially reserved for her and never failed to turn her knees weak.
Oh, Lord, that grin. He got her every time with that grin. She spun back to the sink and concentrated on the dirty dishes. Her insides couldn't possibly be behaving this way after the night they'd just spent together. It just wasn’t decent. It was probably illegal in several states.
“Why would I be looking smug?”
She rolled her eyes and attacked a stubborn pan with the brush. “And now he wants praise. The man wants it spelled out. He probably wants an A plus and a gold star.”
The warm sound of his chuckle sent tingles through her. Then the subtle scent of fresh soap enveloped her, his arms came around her waist, his body warm against her back as he nuzzled her neck. “He’d settle for a kiss.”
Okay. She could give him a kiss. Of course, he deserved praise, A plus and a gold star, but he was definitely getting a kiss.
If only she could get those neon yellow rubber gloves off.
“Having trouble?”
She tugged on the fingers of the gloves, but they wouldn’t budge. Robert ran his hands down her arms. He held her wrist with one hand as he dislodged the stubborn glove with the other, and then repeated the procedure on the other side and dumped both gloves in the drying rack. She twisted around and wrapped her arms around his neck. His hair was damp as she threaded her fingers through it and then pulled his head down for his reward.
“That’s more like it.” Robert grinned as they finally broke apart. He traced her face with his fingers. “You’re so cute without make-up. It is just my imagination or does that scene mean that we are feeling a b
it embarrassed this morning?”
“'We' are not embarrassed. I don't know about you, I'm not the type to get embarrassed. I just hate it when I'm proven wrong. Especially by arrogant men.” She yelped as he bit her neck. “Yikes, Bob, a vampire fixation?”
“You’re a liar. You didn't hate it at all when we proved you wrong. Why don't we go back upstairs, I give you your gold star and we try again? You know, see if it was just a fluke?”
“Tempting. Of course, we already proved it was not a fluke. Twice.”
“I'm a scientist. We like to be thorough.”
“You know, I kinda noticed that.”
“How about it?” He bit her earlobe and she began to warm to the whole vampire experience. “We go back upstairs and see if we can find your G-spot this time?”
“What? Didn't we already do that?”
He drew back and frowned at her. “We did?”
“Didn’t we?”
“I don’t think so. When do you think we did?”
“Uhm... just before we noticed George squeaking next door?”
Robert shook his head. “I still can’t believe I let you send me off to feed your rodent in the middle of things. And, although that seems to be a spot worthy of further study, it was definitely not your G-spot. Not even close. Obviously, your knowledge of anatomy sucks. And here I gave you a diagram and everything.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the hallway, heaving the sigh of a man carrying heavy burdens. “Come on, then. I guess I have to show you myself. Do you still have that map I drew?”
“The one where X marks the G-spot?”
“Uh, huh, that’s the one.”
“Yep. It’s upstairs in my diary.”
Her world tilted sideways as he swept her up in his arms. “Good. Let’s take a look at it. We’re going treasure-hunting.”
“We need to pick up the Quad in an hour,” she protested, but linked her arms around his neck and kissed his warm neck, just to let him know they did have plenty of time for the right sorts of things.
He kissed her hard and headed towards the stairs. “That’s okay. We’ll make it a quickie treasure hunt.”
“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
He grinned, and so did David, sitting high on his shoulder. The rest of the kids huddled together at the door to the playroom and looked rather uneasy at her new appearance. “I’d almost forgotten how you look in that uniform. I was just remembering the Linda I first got to know.”
She framed Robert’s face in her hands and kissed him, despite David’s energetic attempts to thwart her. “You’ll look after George for me? Make sure he is well-fed and happy?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll feed your animal. Just come back soon. I’m missing you already.”
“I’ll miss you too, Bob. I’ll call you when I get back. Tuesday.”
“What time will you be back?”
“Around noon.”
“Come see me at the university? Just for a hello kiss?”
“You’re cute when you’re begging. I’ll think about it.”
He smiled. “Be careful.”
“Bye, kids. Be good to mommy and daddy when they get here. You might have to protect them from uncle Bob.” She kissed the kids goodbye and for the sake of her make-up – probably not tear-proof – left without a second glance. Leaving for work had never been so heart wrenching. She slammed the car door shut and started the car, cursing. It was only three days, for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t as if she was going off to war.
Only three days.
Chapter 9
Three days later she was back. She hurried home to change clothes, and then sat down to think, debating if to visit Robert at work. Too obvious? Too needy? Too desperate? Too much too soon? He had asked her to come over, and she’d meant to, but after three days away she wasn’t as confident as she had been before. Would she just be making a fool of herself going straight to see him?
Compromise. She’d go there, even if it meant being obvious, desperate and needy, but if things turned out to be awkward or uncomfortable she’d disguise it as a need to get her house key back from him. Leaving her car behind, she borrowed Chris’s bike for the short journey to the university.
Robert was not in his office and not in the lab. She talked to Aphelion and Perihelion for a moment, then rechecked the office. Still empty.
She knew he was supposed to be somewhere on campus. But where? She was in dire need of a lot more smooching.
Belatedly she saw, right in front of her nose, a time table pasted to his door. She searched for the right time and day, and found his location. He was teaching.
With a smile she made a note of the lecture hall, and strolled off to find it. She’d crash his class. After all, he had said she just needed the right teacher to find biology interesting.
The auditorium was crowded with what looked like first year students, but there were a few empty seats in the front row. And the front row only. She opted for standing at the back, then nearly had a coronary when she realized he was wearing his new glasses. She leaned against the wall and proceeded to eat him up with her eyes, until she noticed that so were quite a few of the students. Then she just glared. Private tutoring indeed. If they just had the common sense to take notes in class instead of ogling their teacher, they might pass without the help of a private tutor.
“... and while the genetic code isn’t always...”
He’d noticed her. And stopped talking. He was staring, and then his smile shot lightning across the room to her, and as one, several hundred students turned around to stare at her as well. She smiled weakly and gave a little wave.
“There is plenty of room in the front row for late arrivals,” Robert said, his voice warm and intimate to her ears, even while booming through the huge speakers.
With a silent auditorium and a few hundred pairs of eyes watching her progress, she trotted down the stairs. How could so many people make a silence this profound? And why wouldn’t Robert continue to blather about the genetic code? With relief she slid into a seat three feet away from the stage, and after a moment the lecture continued.
But at least now she had the greatest seat in the house. She could just sit there and enjoy watching Robert pace back and forth as he talked, use a nifty laser pointer on the overhead projections and lose his train of thoughts every time their eyes met. She grinned, and the next time he looked her way she put one foot up on the seat and hugged her knee, making sure her trousers rode up to reveal her ankle.
The ankle bracelet she’d bought at the airport had the intended effect. Robert stumbled over his own feet, coughed and grabbed a glass of water. He gulped it down and sent her a look that promised revenge, scorching the air between them and sending tingles of anticipation down her spine.
After that he was careful not to look in her direction again, but that was fine, because she had some looking of her own to do. In his jeans, a white oxford shirt and a tan blazer he looked very much like a teacher. In a good way. It looked like he still hadn’t gotten used to his hair this short, and every now and then he reached up a hand to push it away from his face, encountered thin air and adjusted his new glasses instead.
There was even an old-fashioned blackboard and a chalk up there, side by side with computer projectors and fancy technological stuff, and she couldn’t help but sigh when he energetically wiped it clean, in the process getting chalk powder all over his front. She’d be happy to dust him off later, even if she had to fight a few students for the privilege.
She was in the midst of an internal comparison of the timbre of his voice, on one hand booming through the speakers, and on the other hand whispering harshly into her ear while she nibbled on his neck, when movement all around alerted her that the lecture was over.
Several students stayed back to ask him something, two of them seemed only want to comment on his new glasses. Kids today. But finally nobody was between them. He walked towards her and sat down on the edge of the stage directly i
n front of her. His hands curled around the edge and the smile in his eyes as he leaned towards her put her remaining anxiety to rest. Coming over had been the right decision.
“Nice ankle bracelet.” He hadn’t removed the microphone from his shirt, and the softly spoken comment echoed around the hall, causing the remaining students, scattered here and there in small groups, to stop and glance their way. Robert ripped the mike off, stuffed it in a pocket and cursed.
She grinned. “I thought you might like it.” He was too far away. Three feet was much too far away.
“How did you like the lecture?”
“I was... distracted,” she confessed.
“Yeah? By what?” He held out a hand. “Let me see that bracelet.” She stretched her leg towards him and he pushed the cuff of her trousers out of the way. He grinned, his eyes twinkling as he played with the bracelet, his fingertips brushing over her skin. “Very nice. You were going to tell me about your distractions.”
“They’re not... interesting. Just daydreaming. You know, what students normally do while their lecturer drones on.”
“Was the lecturer in your daydream?”
“He might have been.”
“Did he have his clothes on?”
She leaned her head back and giggled as she stared up into the recessed light. “I’m not telling.”
Her foot was dropped back to the floor, and Robert stood up. He held out a hand. “Come up here.”
With his help, she clambered up on the stage, and looked around as he pulled her into his arms. “Nice view. I feel powerful up here.”
“Mmm. Have you ever kissed onstage?”
She shook her head. “I never got any good roles in our high school productions.”
“That’s okay.” He loosened her hair from the ponytail and spread it over her back and shoulders. “I’ll audition you anyway.”
“What role do you have in mind?”
“Let’s see. Juliet?”
She shook her head. “Do you know how that one ends? No way.”