Nerds Like It Hot (Nerds, #6)(28)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

Twenty-one

THE LIMBO CONTEST WAS TURNING OUT TO BE ABOUT as bad as Lex had anticipated. Steel band music blared from the ship’s sound system as nerdy passengers stood around and clapped—rhythmically or not so rhythmically—to urge on the coordinated and flexible ones. That wouldn’t be Lex.

If he hadn’t been shored up by that incredible hour in the room with Gillian, his lack of limbo ability would have bugged the hell out of him. Gillian didn’t seem to mind that they were booted by the third round. But he wanted to be her champion, and he was outgunned.

Even Hector, their Mafia suspect, had lasted into the fourth round with his partner, a blonde named Dorothy. Nancy Roth had managed to get Jared Stevenson the Third through the fourth round, but they’d lost out in the fifth. Nancy looked poked by that.

But the crushing blow was that by the sixth round, Cora and Little Ben were still in the running. Or the dancing, to be more accurate. I can’t believe I’ve been beat out by the geriatric set." Lex watched Cora and Little Ben lean back and shimmy right under the pole like a couple of teenagers.

"It’s easier for Little Ben," Gillian said. "He’s short."

"Yeah, but he’s old. And Cora! Look at that woman go!"

"She’s so cute." Gillian beamed. "I love seeing her have such a good time. She’s looked forward to this cruise for months."

"You could do better with a different partner." Lex never liked to compete in an area where he wasn’t the best, so the limbo contest was torture. Worse yet, he was holding back a teammate, in this case, Gillian.

"Honestly, I don’t care."

"You should have paired up with Dante." Amazingly, Dante and BJ were still up there. "I’ve always thought he was uncoordinated, but look at him. He must be double-jointed." Lex watched Dante practically doing a back bend as he shimmied under the pole with BJ.

"Lex, I thought it was wonderful that you tried. Don’t be upset that you fell on your—"

"Ass. I fell on my ass. I’m not too proud to say it."

Gillian reached back and quietly pinched his butt. "It’s a very fine ass, too."

That soothed him. "Thank you."

"Some people have… other talents. Less public talents."

"Now I’m feeling much better."

"Good." She rubbed her thigh against his. "Because I wouldn’t trade what happened in our room for all the limbo prizes in the world. By the way, we still have to schedule our couples massage."

"You still want to do that?" He could think of a more private place where they could massage each other, undisturbed.

"We’ll see. But it could be fun. Let’s see how long this takes to finish up."

"Okay." Lex couldn’t help noticing how she was wiggling her h*ps to the music. She wanted to be back out there, strutting her stuff. "Listen, I’m sure it’s not too late for you to try again. See if they’ll let you go under with Dante as a separate team from him and BJ."

Nancy Roth sashayed up beside them. "I have an even better idea. Once the teams are finished, how about a solo competition for anybody who wants to compete on his or her own? I mentioned it to Jared, and he said that sounded fine to him. I guess he thought I should get another chance at a prize."

"So should Gillian." Lex wasn’t crazy about Nancy, but in this particular case she was proposing something that would make him feel less guilty about holding Gillian back. Maybe Gillian wouldn’t win, but at least she wouldn’t be dealing with a handicap.

"I don’t really need a singles contest," Gillian said.

"Hey, go for it." Lex decided to be a cheerleader for the idea. "I want to see what you can do. While we were going under together, I was too busy trying to stay upright to appreciate your technique."

"There you go, girlfriend." Nancy winked at Gillian. "Give yourself a chance to turn the guy on. Personally, I think Jared wants to watch me do it for the same reason. It’ll get him hot. Lex, talk her into it. I’ll go round up some more contestants."

Once Nancy was gone, Lex put an arm around Gillian and leaned down to murmur in her ear. "Do it. Nancy’s right. I want to see you go under that pole because it’s a turn-on. Limbo for me and get me hot."

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You need a limbo to get you hot?"

"Maybe not, but there’s nothing wrong with stoking the fire a little, is there?"

"If you say so." She nudged his hip with hers. "Unless you consider the supply of condoms."

"You enter the singles limbo contest, and I’ll take care of the supply of condoms." He was getting hard just thinking of that The gift shop had to be stocked to the rafters, considering this was supposed to be a matchmaking cruise. He’d probably discover they had colored ones.

"Okay," Gillian said. "I’ll do the singles contest." She turned, glanced up at him, and smiled. "Try to control yourself."

She had no idea how difficult he was finding that task. But during a public limbo contest, he should be able to manage. Once they were alone again in the room, he’d make no promises.

He’d debated when to broach the idea of going with her to South America. His instincts told him to hold off. She might have some idea that he couldn’t leave his home and job to go running off into the unknown with her. But the more time they spent together, especially in bed, the better chance he had of convincing her that was the only course of action that made sense.

The couples limbo contest came to a rousing conclusion, and contrary to Lex’s opinion of Dante’s coordination, his partner and BJ walked off with the prize of a bottle of champagne and assorted cheeses. He wished Dante hadn’t done a spastic end-zone dance after accepting his prize, but that was Dante.

Cora and Little Ben lost out, but Lex enjoyed watching Irwin and Emily, the couple from the lifeboat, take second place. They looked thrilled as they accepted their prize picnic basket. Lex realized it made sense. Anybody with the agility to climb into a lifeboat and have sex in there without crippling themselves should be able to manage a decent limbo.

"Attention, everyone." Jared wielded the cordless microphone like a rock star. "I’ve had a request for an additional event here this morning."

"You go, Jared, baby!" Nancy wiggled her h*ps and pointed a finger in his direction.

Jared temporarily lost his focus. His eyes glazed over as he looked at Nancy and for a long moment he just stared at her and licked his lips.

"Jared!" Nancy squealed and covered her face. "You’re embarrassing me!"

Blinking rapidly, Jared shook his head as if to clear it. "Uh, right. Where was I?"

"An additional event," Nancy said.

"Yes. Precisely." Jared straightened his tie and brought the microphone up to his mouth. "We’re going to do a special singles event for those of you who were, shall we say, hampered by your partner."

"Like me," Lex said.

"Oh, stop it." Gillian squeezed his hand.

"We’ll divide it by gender," Jared said. "Ladies first. The prize is a manicure and pedicure in the spa. Then we’ll let the men try it. We’ll give the winning man a complimentary haircut and style."

Gillian leaned close to Lex. "I don’t want to take time for a manicure and pedicure. We could skip this if you want to."

Her implication was clear. They could duck out of the singles limbo contest and go back to their cabin. The DO NOT DISTURB sign was still on the door, and it could stay there for the duration of the cruise so far as Lex was concerned. They’d been too involved with each other to straighten the room in preparation for the maid. They’d barely made it to the limbo contest on time.

God, he was tempted to take her up on her offer. They could make a quick detour past the gift shop to get a package of condoms. But that was his selfish side talking.

No telling what would be in store for her beginning tomorrow. He should give her a chance to shine, even if she didn’t care about the prize. And yet… an image of Gillian stretched out nak*d on one of the twin mattresses was very appealing.

Right when he was ready to suggest they leave, Cora walked up beside Gillian. "A solo limbo contest! I am so there. Come on, Norma Jean. Let’s go for it."

"You know, Cora, I think I’ll pass. I don’t want the prize, and—"

"If you win, you can give it to me. I’d love a manicure and pedicure. Lex, don’t you think Norma Jean should be out there?"

He thought about his new theory, that the Mafia guy was only watching to make sure Gillian had no intention of turning state’s evidence. Getting into a limbo contest was better than disappearing into the room for long periods of time, much as he loved that idea. "I definitely do," he said.

She gave him a long look. "Okay, you’ve got it. Hold my glasses." And off she went to join the other contestants, about twenty in all.

He had it, all right. He had it bad. As he surveyed the group, which included Nancy, BJ, Dorothy of the short blond hair, and Emily from the lifeboat, he couldn’t stop looking at Gillian. She was by far the most beautiful woman there.

Dante sauntered over to stand beside him. "You might want to wipe the drool off your chin."

"Can I help it if she’s gorgeous?"

"I’m assuming you’re referring to Gillian."

"Who else? Nobody holds a candle to her."

"I beg to differ, buddy. BJ has them all beat."

Lex shook his head. "You’re no judge, Dante. You’re prejudiced."

"Oh, and you’re not?"

"It’s perfectly obvious who’s the most beautiful woman standing on this deck. Yeah, BJ is attractive, in a waifish sort of way."

Dante turned to him. "Are you calling my girlfriend skinny?"

"Your girlfriend?" Lex eyed his partner. No matter what Dante had said about his feelings for BJ, he was famous for hit-and-run romances. "Is that a shipboard term, or something that might last beyond Sunday morning?"

Dante didn’t answer right away. "Want to know something weird?" he said at last.

"I’m not sure if I do or not. You’re the grand master of TMI."

"We’ve decided to put off hav**g s*x until we leave the ship. We both want to, but we’re holding off, getting to know each other first. That’s a little tough because I can’t level with her about what I do. She still thinks I’m an exterminator."

"Then let’s hope that’s not what’s turning her on about you, Mr. Bug Thug."

‘Trust me, we don’t talk about bugs."

Lex was intrigued. "What do you talk about?"

"The meaning of life."

"You’re kidding, right?" He’d never known Dante to have philosophical discussions with anyone, let alone a woman he was attracted to.

"Nope, not kidding. BJ’s deep. It’s fun listening to her, and I’m learning all kinds of things. I mean, we’ve made out and stuff, but when it gets too intense, we stop and take a walk."

"Huh." Lex couldn’t help but compare that to how he’d behaved with Gillian. "I suppose that’s easier if you aren’t stuck alone together in a bedroom for any length of time."

"Well, yeah. I can see why you caved."

Dante had no clue the extent to which Lex had caved. "I’ll bet you could have your and Cora’s room tonight for the asking. For sure she’ll be with Little Ben."

"She’s already told me that. But I think BJ and I won’t test the system and stay together all night. We’d never make it, and it’s kind of cool, holding off."

"I guess." Lex wouldn’t know. He hadn’t intended to get sexually involved with Gillian, but he hadn’t been strong enough not to.

"I’m not passing any judgments, buddy, just so you know. You have an entirely different situation. Gillian will be gone by tomorrow. In your shoes, I’d take advantage of every opportunity, too. But for the first time in my life, I’m looking long-range."

"That’s good." Lex clapped him on the shoulder. "That’s excellent." He wasn’t going to say that he was thinking long-range, too, which would upset Dante no end. But if Dante had BJ, that would help him deal with Lex’s taking off.

"Looks like they’re ready to start. Want to put some money on the line?"

Lex was horrified. "You want to bet on how our girlfriends finish up?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Oh, I don’t know. Because it’s unbelievably tacky?"

"Hey, I bet on my favorite football team, don’t I? What’s the big deal?"

"That’s sports. This is…" Lex wasn’t sure what to call it, except that he thought betting on the outcome wasn’t cool.

"This is about supporting your favorite limbo dancer. If I put a ten spot on BJ, that shows I have confidence in her. Don’t you have confidence in Gillian?"

"All the confidence in the world." He knew firsthand what kind of guts and determination that woman had. If he hadn’t stopped her with a few well-placed kisses, she would have called the cops by now.

Dante waved a ten-dollar bill in Lex’s face. "Then don’t be a wimp. Put your money where your mouth is."

"Is somebody taking bets?" Little Ben hurried over. "Because my money’s on Cora." He pulled out his wallet.

"Emily can beat all of them." Irwin dug into his pocket and pulled out several crumpled bills. "What do I need to get into the pot?"

‘Ten." Dante collected money from Little Ben and Irwin. "Lex? You in?"

"I’m in." Hector Michelangelo walked over holding a crisp bill. "Are we betting win, place, and show, the quinella, or what?"

Dante coughed. "Just betting to win."

"Okay, then. Put my ten on Dorothy."

"I’m not actually keeping a list," Dante said. "I can remember who goes with who."

"Fine." Hector waved a hand and walked away. "I trust you."

"He trusts me," Dante muttered under his breath to Lex. "Did you catch all that bookie talk?" "Uh-huh."

"Keep an eye on him. I agree with you that he’s probably Mafia. The quinella. Sheesh."