Talk Nerdy to Me by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page A

He'd been renting for years, always telling himself that buying a
house was the first step in admitting he'd never leave Middlesex.
    But
he liked the feel of Eve's house. Sure, the place was a little cluttered, but
he'd decided that was Eve's style. Ordinarily clutter drove him nuts, but he
was so impressed with Eve's thought processes that he forgave her the clutter.
He suspected she had a much higher IQ than anybody guessed. Although he was
pretty smart, she might be smarter, maybe even genius level.
    She
kept that brain hidden away, but the hovercraft was like a giant neon sign
advertising her superior intelligence. He was drawn to that bright light like
a moth. And he shouldn't be.
    Eve's bathroom smelled of
her perfume and shampoo, which sent Charlie's libido into operational mode once
again. He pictured Hoover Dam and tried to block the incoming sensual
messages.
    'The
washer's in here." Eve opened a pair of bifold doors.
    The
washer and dryer were piled with more clutter. In an attempt to forget that Eve
was standing right behind him, so near he could hear her breathing, he started
cataloging the stuff. He noted supplies for scrapbooking, several skeins of
purple yarn, three empty flowerpots and a trowel—minus any dirt—a book on
herbs, packets of seeds, a box of watercolors, a table easel, a book titled How
to Draw Nudes ... whoa. Maybe cataloging the clutter wouldn't
work to take his mind off sex.
    "I
keep trying to have normal hobbies, but it never works out." She continued
to stand very close.
    "I
never could get into the hobby thing, either." Being so near Eve felt like
standing in a thermal belt. Ambient heat teased him, and he fought the impulse
to turn and pull all that warmth right into his arms. Instead he picked up a
stack of junk and started to put it on the floor so he could get to the washer.
    "I'll
take that," she said. "I really should get rid of some of this,
because I never follow through. I just go back to working on that crazy
hovercraft. If I didn't have all this stuff around, then I probably wouldn't
have misplaced my hovercraft notes."
    "You
did?" This was how genius could flounder. No doubt the notes were
brilliant, and they could be anywhere in this mess. What a crime. Maybe Eve
needed someone around to help her organize, someone like him, only not him.
Definitely not him.
    "I'm
sure I'll find them." She didn't look all that sure, though. "It's
just that I lose other stuff, but I've never misplaced something from the
hovercraft project. And I could swear I left the notes on the workbench,
because that's where I keep them."
    "But
you had that explosion." He had an image of papers flying everywhere.
Valuable papers.
    "I
know. Stuff can happen. That's why I keep the notes under my Darth Vader mask.
It's cast in lead, and it's very heavy."
    "Once
we get this finished up and have some pizza, I'll help you look." He
didn't like the idea of missing notes. Not at all.
    "It's
not like I have to have them. Most of it's in my head, anyway."
    "Maybe
you don't need them, but if you ever intend to market the hovercraft, you'll
need all the notes you can put together, to convince the money people to invest
in it."
    She took a deep breath.
"Right. We'll find them."
    "Yeah,
we will." He held up the pile of stuff in his hands. "Where do you
want this?"
    "I'll take it."
    He
handed her the pile, which involved some physical contact. Static electricity
arced between them.
    "Ouch!"
She pulled back and almost dropped everything.
    "Sorry."
Instinctively he reached for her hand to steady her. No shock this time, just
warm, soft skin. So soft. So very ... He let go abruptly as he realized they
were staring into each other's eyes again exactly as they had in the bedroom,
when he'd come so close to kissing her.
    "It's okay." She
smiled at him.
    No, it wasn't okay. It
wasn't okay that he was wildly attracted to this woman who had bought a house
in Middlesex and seemed to be putting down roots.
    "You have a nice