Nerds Like It Hot (Nerds, #6)(21)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

Maybe using his jacket to save her dress had been sort of romantic, too. But she didn’t want to go looking for romantic gestures and fool herself into thinking he was somebody he was not. It didn’t matter anyway. In two days she’d never see him again.

CORA WASN’T HAPPY THAT SOMEONE HAD BROKEN into Gillian’s room and stolen her passport, but she was overjoyed that Lex had decided to move in and protect Gillian from whatever lurked out there. Still smiling over that, she allowed Dante to help her pull her suitcase inside.

"You look like the Cheshire cat," he said. "Are you playing matchmaker with those two?"

"That would be foolish, wouldn’t it? Lex has to go back to L.A. and work with you, and Gillian has to take off for South America,"

Dante maneuvered the suitcase into the room. "I’m glad to hear you say that. I’d hate to think you were trying to get my partner to go to South America with Gillian."

"Did he say anything about that?" Cora’s heart beat faster at the thought that her plan might have already taken root. To hide her excitement, she unzipped her suitcase and started hanging up her clothes.

"You know Lex." Dante plopped on his bed and lay back, his hands behind his head. "Plays his cards close to his vest. But he wouldn’t want to leave me in the lurch. I trust him not to do that."

Cora loved Dante like a grandson, and she didn’t want him to suffer. "Let’s say Lex made the decision to go with Gillian—"

"Aha!" Dante bounced upright. "You are plotting for that to happen!"

"Dante, calm yourself. Lex isn’t the only PI in the world. I’m sure you could find someone else who would make a good partner."

"Omigod. You do see him leaving. And no, I couldn’t find someone else who would make a good partner. Lex is the steady one, the person who remembers to pay the rent, the person who convinces clients that we’re legit. We all know I’m a loose cannon."

Cora paused, a purple dress over her arm. "That’s your choice. You don’t have to be a loose cannon."

"Cora, I’ve been loose ever since I knew the meaning of the word. It’s what I am, what defines me. It’s my essence."

"Oh, cut the psychobabble. Have you been seeing that shrink again?"

"Yeah, but only because she’s hot. She likes my loose-cannonness."

Cora sighed and hung her purple dress in the closet. She’d never raised children of her own, but dealing with Lex, Dante, and Gillian gave her a good idea of the frustrations involved. "Dante, is BJ somebody who could be important to you?"

He looked away. "Uh, maybe."

"She doesn’t strike me as the kind of girl who goes running after loose cannons."

"Look, we’re veering off the subject here. BJ is a whole different thing. And if I expect to get her, I need to be a respectable PI. And to be a respectable PI, I need to be in business with Lex Manchester. End of story."

Cora decided nothing was going to be settled tonight. "We could be talking about something that could never happen."

"Yes, but I have the distinct impression that you’re promoting this thing that might never happen. You’re tickled pink that they’re tucked into that room together, aren’t you?"

"Yes, because it will help ensure that Gillian stays safe."

"That’s not all that will take place in there, and you know it." Dante’s dark eyes bored into hers.

"Don’t be so certain. She’s a Cancer and he’s an Aries. That could ruin everything."

"You don’t buy in to that any more than you buy in to whatever my shrink tells me." Dante flopped back on his pillow, his tone resigned. "Those two have chemistry, and once they’re locked in the same room together, the inevitable will happen. I’m just praying it won’t go to my buddy’s head and make him decide to jump ship with her."

"You have no control over that."

Dante sat up again and snapped his fingers. "Maybe I do! I could use the walkie-talkie to call their room every ten minutes. That would interrupt the flow."

"You do that and I’ll smother you with my pillow."

"It was only a thought."

"Sometimes the way your brain works frightens me, Dante. Do you want the bathroom first, or shall I take it?" "You can have it first."

"Fine. I’ll be out in a few minutes." She paused in the doorway. "Do I need to use my ear plugs tonight?" "Meaning?" "Do you snore?"

He looked offended. "No! Do you?"

"Probably." She laughed. "But don’t worry about it. It’s quite possible that by tomorrow night I’ll be sharing Benjamin’s room."

"Really?" Dante looked happier than he had since the discovery that Gillian’s passport had been stolen. "You might not be spending the nights here?"

"Maybe not."

"Excellent." Dante gazed up at the ceiling, a broad smile on his face.

"I can guess where you’re going with this thought."

"Yeah, you probably can. You were quite a swinger in your day, weren’t you, Cora?"

"I had my moments. And speaking from that vast well of experience, may I offer one suggestion?"

"If it has to do with technique, I don’t want to hear it. You’re practically like my grandmother. That would be too weird."

"This isn’t about technique. It’s about babies. Use condoms."

"Oh, geez. I know that, for crying out loud. Geez."

"Protest all you want, but you keep saying you’re a loose cannon. I want an assurance that your cannon will be wearing a rubber."

GILLIAN FELT THE TENSION GROWING AS LEX MOVED around the room putting away his staff. He didn’t have much stuff, not like Cora, but he was so much bigger. Every time he moved, she was aware of how much space he took up, just by breathing.

Eventually he turned to her. "I need to check something before we go any further. I should have done it before."

"What’s that?"

"I need to see if they planted any bugs. I can go over the bathroom last, if you want to go on in there and start getting ready for bed."

Bed. Oh, God. This was going to be quite a night.

"Okay." She made a dash for it. She’d stripped to her underwear before realizing the nightgown she’d intended to put on was still in the drawer. She could either get dressed again and go back out, which would look dorky, or she could ask him to bring it to the door. Neither option was worth a damn.

She brushed and flossed her teeth while she thought about it. Then she took off all her makeup. Why hadn’t she remembered to grab the nightgown? And for that matter, why hadn’t she left a bathrobe hanging on the back of the door? She knew the answer to that one. She didn’t have a bathrobe.

Finally she opened the door a crack. "Lex, could you please go in the bottom drawer and get my nightgown? I forgot to bring it in here." God, she felt like such an idiot.

"Sure thing." A drawer opened. "Which one? There’s a black one and a white one in here."

She tried to remember exactly what they looked like. The black one was knee length, lace on top and satin for the skirt. The white one was shorter and had little spaghetti straps. "The black one," she said.

"Coming up." His footsteps approached the door.

She stuck her hand out through the opening and he placed the nightgown in it. Of course she dropped it. "Sorry."

"No problem. I didn’t find any bugs, by the way." His bones cracked as he crouched down to pick it up again.

Something about that vulnerable little sound of bones popping got through her defenses. "Lex, I’m sorry if I’ve been a bitch."

He put the nightgown in her hand again. "I’m sorry if I’ve been a bastard."

"You haven’t." Pulling the nightgown successfully through the opening this time, she closed the door and leaned against it, breathing hard. Had they made up? And if they had, what would happen now?

She left her underwear on and pulled the nightgown over her head. Of course it was one of Cora’s, and Cora had never owned anything remotely sexless. Gillian had hoped the knee-length skirt would make this one seem modest. On a woman with a smaller chest, it might have been, but the bodice was constructed of black stretch lace that managed to schmoosh Gillian’s br**sts together so she had even more cl**vage than usual.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she pulled the lace this way and that, trying to make herself look less provocative. The red bra peeked through the lace, which made her think of a streetwalker with hang-ups. But if she took off the bra, the red would be replaced by bare skin.

With a soft curse she pulled the bodice down and took off the bra. Then she tugged the lace back up over her br**sts. Now she looked like a p*rn queen. A black lace rose covered each nipple, but they were no better than pasties. She’d had no worries about either nightgown when she’d been rooming with Cora.

Should she have chosen the white one? She tried to picture herself asking Lex to bring her the other nightgown. No, that would make everything worse, and the white one wasn’t going to turn out any better.

She gazed at herself in the mirror. Before she went out there, she had to make a decision whether she intended to have sex or not. One look at her and Lex would be ready. She couldn’t blame him. The nightgown was an open invitation.

But they couldn’t have sex. There were no condoms in the room. She should have thought of that earlier. Lex wouldn’t have any. He’d come on this cruise to preserve and protect, not do the wild thing with his client. Okay, no condoms. She would go out there, and no matter how he reacted, she’d remind him of the facts of life.

Bracing herself, she picked up her clothes and opened the bathroom door. Stepping over the sill, she walked across the entryway to the closet opposite the bathroom. From the corner of her eye she could see him sitting on the edge of the far bed, watching her. She would hang up her dress and pretend that her heart wasn’t trying to hammer its way out of her chest.

"All done?" he asked quietly.

"It’s all yours." Then she heard what she’d said. Eyes wide, she turned. "I didn’t mean that the way it sounded."

"Are you sure?" He stood and walked toward her. His gaze traveled over her nightgown, and his nostrils flared.

"Absolutely sure. Even if we wanted to have sex, we—"

"If? Any straight man in the universe would look at you in that black number and want to have sex." His eyes glowed with a definite heterosexual light. "Gillian, are you playing games with me?"

"No. No games. Cora loaned me two nightgowns, and both are …"

"Suggestive?"

"Uh-huh." She had trouble breathing, and damned if she didn’t want to have sex, too. And he hadn’t said anything particularly romantic, either. She was too easy.

"So it’s not your fault that you look like a wet dream?"

"No. And besides, we don’t have condoms." She spoke quickly, in order to get the information out before they lunged at each other. "So we can’t have sex."

"Then I take it you weren’t the one who put these under my pillow?" He stretched out his hand. There, lying in his palm, were two foil packets.

She looked up at him and tried to catch her breath. "No."

"Then it must have been the condom fairy." He smiled at her. "But don’t worry. We won’t have sex unless you want to." Closing his hand over the packets, he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.

Sixteen

IN THE BATHROOM, LEX LEANED AGAINST THE SINK and gulped for air. How he’d restrained himself when confronted with Gillian in that nightgown, he’d never know. If they gave a medal for controlling your sexual urges, then he should be presented with a big fat one. With the way she was rapidly killing him, it might have to be awarded posthumously.

Going through the ritual of brushing his teeth steadied him some. So Cora had been the one who’d left the condoms. That clinched something that Lex had suspected all along—Cora wanted Lex to get involved with Gillian. Hiring him as a bodyguard had been the first step in roping him into her life for good.

If Cora had been setting a sexual trap, she’d done one hell of a job. Lex was in danger of walking around with a permanent hard-on, and he couldn’t imagine how he’d make it through the night without crawling into bed with the bodacious Ms. McCormick. Wowza.

Cora had hired Dante, too, though. Had she been willing to hook Gillian up with either of them? That idea didn’t sit well with him. He and Dante were best friends, but they weren’t interchangeable parts in some grand scheme that Cora had dreamed up.

Gillian hadn’t been given much chance to choose Dante, though. Circumstances had thrown Lex into the role, but maybe that was only the luck of the draw. She was in a vulnerable spot right now, so if Dante had stayed behind in order to drive her to the dock, he might have been the one who would have ended up next to her on a lounge chair, the one who would have volunteered to share a stateroom with her for the duration of the cruise to Mexico.

Okay, there was a train of thought capable of cooling his cannoli. He didn’t relish being the convenient sex object. If Dante would have filled that position as easily, then that didn’t make what he and Gillian had experienced special.

Maybe she was wishing Dante had been the one after the argument they’d had. Maybe a Libra man worked with a Cancer woman. What did he know about that hog-wash, anyway?

By the time he’d left the bathroom and turned out the light, he was in a state of righteous indignation, which was preferable to a state of blue-balled arousal. He left the condoms in the bathroom. Maybe he should have thrown them away, but that might have been taking his current attitude a little too far. He didn’t want to completely destroy his options.

He’d planned to sleep in his T-shirt and boxers during this trip, so that’s the way he walked out into the room. Gillian was under the covers in the bed nearest the bathroom. With the sheet up to her neck and her eyes closed, she looked less like a sex goddess.

The hell she did. He knew exactly what she looked like under that sheet, and her coy pretense of being asleep only fired him up again. So much for righteous indignation. It evaporated in the heat generated by Gillian’s presence in this small, very small, room.