Nerds Like It Hot (Nerds, #6)(32)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

"Thanks for that mental image. Ugh."

"Well, am I wrong?"

"Probably not. But they might look into Neil Rucker’s whereabouts on the night Theo disappeared."

"And they’ll discover that Neil was in Barbados. That was the story he put out to everyone. I was sure that’s where he was until I heard him arguing with Theo." She released a gigantic sigh. "I’m so afraid he might get away with this."

"You’ve done what any reasonable person would do."

"I have not done enough." She thought she caught a glimpse of Hector Michelangelo disappearing around a corner. Or maybe she’d been so worried that Hector would show up that she’d imagined it was him. He and Dorothy hadn’t been at lunch, either.

"I say you’ve done plenty."

"I don’t." Maybe she should find Hector and ask him straight-out if he planned to kill her. "You know what I could have done? I just thought of it. I had my cell phone with me when I found Theo. What a dope! I have a camera phone. I could have taken pictures of Theo’s dead body. The cops would have paid attention to me, then."

"Gillian, that’s hindsight. Most people don’t react with that presence of mind in a crisis. How many times in your life have you come upon a dead body?"

"I’ve come upon a dead body exactly once, and that’s more than enough, thank you very much. But I wish I’d been better, braver, more—"

"Cut it out. Ordinary citizens aren’t trained to handle witnessing a murder. What you need is something else to think about. Oh, look! We seem to be passing the gift shop."

"You want to buy someone a gift?"

"You must be really agitated if you’ve forgotten what we were going to buy at the gift shop."

"Oh." Her cheeks grew warm. "Oh, yeah."

"I’d offer to go in alone, but I’ve promised myself that we’ll be joined at the hip for the time being. Actually, I promised Cora that, too, during lunch."

"I know. I heard you."

He glanced down at her, his blue eyes mischievous behind the fake nerd glasses. "So, are you ready to go shopping?"

"I’ve never bought condoms in my life."

"You’re in luck, because you happen to be entering this gift shop with an experienced condom shopper." He walked through the door.

She caught his arm, pulling him back toward her. "Would you mind terribly if I checked out the postcards while you’re making your purchase?"

"Chicken." He brushed her nose with the tip of his finger. "They’ll still know that you’re the woman I’m buying the condoms for."

"I’m sure that’s true." She lowered her voice. "But I prefer to stay detached from the point of purchase."

"Then maybe you’d like to tell me your preference in advance."

"My preference?" She blinked at him. "My preference is for birth control that works. No holes. That would be my preference."

"We’ll assume that the ship doesn’t stock condoms with holes. But there are other considerations. Do you like ribbed or plain?"

She glanced at the woman behind the counter, who was watching them with obvious interest. "Do you think you could keep your voice down?"

"Sorry." He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. "Ribbed or plain?"

She dipped her head so the clerk wouldn’t have the slightest chance of reading her lips. "I don’t know. Is one better than the other? I’m not the condom expert. You said you are."

"I’m the one wearing them. You’re the one experiencing them. Maybe you never had the ribbed kind, if you don’t know the difference."

"That’s a good guess."

"So do you want the ribs?"

She glanced up at him. "Oh, why not? You only live once, right?" Then she took a deep breath. "I really wish I’d phrased that differently."

"Gillian, you’re going to live to be a very old lady."

"I’d like that."

"I’ll be right back. Enjoy your postcards."

She browsed through the rack, paying no attention to the colorful seascapes and quaint Mexican village scenes. Postcards were for people who could send them out, people with normal lives. Tomorrow she’d be on her own, leaving everything and everyone she’d ever known behind. If she lived that long.

"I’m back." He held a bulging plastic bag. "Let’s go."

"What else did you get?" She fell into step beside him as they walked back toward the bank of elevators.

"Nothing. Just condoms."

She stared at the bag. "How many did you get?"

"Oh, quite a few." He adjusted his nerd glasses in a very Clark Kentish manner.

"No kidding! I hate to break this to you, but I don’t know that I’m capable of handling that many condom experiences in one night. I realize that we need to take advantage of the moment, but there are limits."

He laughed. "Oh, these aren’t all for tonight. I don’t know how to say the word condom in Spanish."

"Huh?" Frowning, she glanced up at him. Then she stopped and stood quite still as his meaning became clear. "Wait a minute."’

He met her gaze. "You didn’t really think I’d let you go off by yourself tomorrow, did you?" he asked softly.

"You’re not going." She’d lost control in so many areas of her life. She wasn’t losing control over this. Lex was not going to ruin his life because of her, and that was that.

Lex glanced over her shoulder. "We might want to have this discussion somewhere other than in the middle of the hall."

Gillian turned to find Nancy walking toward them. She did look a lot like a woman, especially in a white one-piece bathing suit and a black lace cover-up.

Nancy smiled, her red lipstick perfectly applied. "Hey, you two! Been shopping?"

"Uh, yeah." Lex closed his fist over the neck of the bag.

"You wouldn’t be buying any ladies’ lingerie, now, would you?" She winked at Lex.

"Why, no, no I wouldn’t." He glanced quickly at Gillian.

She shrugged. Unless Dante had blabbed about Lex’s Victoria’s Secret run, the comment made no sense. Maybe it was time to shift the conversation to another topic. "Looks like you’re headed to the pool."

"I am! I’m going to give the Underwater Charades a try."

"Should be fun." Gillian had to hand it to her. Going underwater meant Nancy had to trust her waterproof makeup a lot.

"The big news is, I lost my roommate to a man. BJ left me a ‘Dear Nancy’ letter. She’s moving in with Dante." She laughed in obvious delight. "Ain’t love grand?"

"I’m happy for them," Gillian said.

"Me, too. Couldn’t be more thrilled. And now I have the bathroom to myself! Well, must be off to the pool. Are you two competing in the Underwater Charades?"

"We haven’t decided yet," Gillian said.

"Well, I hope to see you there. Bye." With a flutter of her fingers, Nancy continued down the hall and stepped into an elevator.

Lex watched her go. "Did you tell her about Victoria’s Secret?"

"I wouldn’t do that. I can’t even believe Dante did."

"Then I don’t get the comment about ladies’ lingerie at all. Unless she thinks I’m a potential recruit to her cause, which is really frightening."

"I can’t believe that’s it Maybe Dante said something." Lex blew out a breath. "If he did, he’s on my list. Again."

"You know, Nancy reminds me of someone, but I can’t think who it is."

"Nicole Kidman, maybe?"

"No, I don’t think so. I’ll remember who it is, eventually." She faced him again. "Lex, back to what you said before, mere’s no need for a discussion. Consider that discussion closed."

"Let’s go upstairs." He took her arm and started toward the elevators.

"If you think you can convince me with a bag full of condoms, you’re wrong. It worked temporarily for the ship-to-shore call, but this is a whole different story."

"I realize that."

The elevator was full, so Gillian and Lex didn’t say anything more as they rode up to C Deck. Specifically, the elevator was full of nerds in bathing suits, all of them chattering away, obviously enjoying themselves. After taking a quick inventory of less-than-perfect bodies and ill-fitting suits, Gillian felt better about parading out to the pool in her one-piece.

The message was clear—she’d spent way too much time with Hollywood types who focused entirely on external beauty. All along Cora had been right about taking this cruise together. Too bad the circumstances had turned out to be so crummy.

They were barely inside the room when Lex dropped the bag of condoms to the floor and took Gillian by the shoulders. "Listen to me. I’ve thought this through very carefully, and I’m going with you."

She pulled away from him and climbed over the mattress on the floor so she could gaze out the window. Better that than looking into his eyes and discovering that he was falling for her. "How could you think it through carefully? You haven’t had nearly enough time to do that No, Lex. It’s out of the question." In the distance she could see a narrow strip of brown across the horizon. Mexico.

"I’ve had more time than you might imagine.” He stepped over the mattress and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist ‘This isn’t a sudden decision. I never really pictured you going off by yourself."

"That’s always been the plan."

"I know, but after our first kiss, I began to consider whether I would go. Last night clinched it for me, but I didn’t want to say it yet because I knew you’d react this way."

She tried to keep her body stiff and resist the temptation of his warm arms around her, but that was a lost cause. Gradually she relaxed against him. "Of course I would react this way. You have a career in L.A. Dante needs you there."

"You need me here." He pulled her tight against him.

Oh, yes, she did, but she couldn’t let selfish desires be the deciding factor. "You’re basing this on sex." He wanted her right this minute, according to the evidence pressing against her fanny.

"I’d be a liar if I said sex wasn’t part of it. I’ve never had anything this good in my life."

She didn’t say anything. She wasn’t about to provide him with more ammunition for his insane plan.

He gave her a squeeze. "This is the part where you’re supposed to be kind to my ego and tell me that you’ve never had it better, either."

"I’m taking the Fifth on that."

He leaned down and nuzzled behind her ear. "Then maybe I need to remind you of how good it is. I’ll ask you right after I make you come. You might be more inclined to spill the beans with the right timing.”

Damn it, she was getting wet, and she had to be stronger than that. Summoning all her willpower, she wiggled away from him, hopped over the mattress, and moved to a far corner of the room. "Lex, there is no way I’m letting you take off for South America and leave your life behind. It’s bad enough that I have to do it, but you certainly don’t."

"I’m going." He stepped over the mattress and took off his glasses. "And I’m about to convince you it’s the right thing to do."

"Stop right there." She held up a hand.

He didn’t stop. "I know the problem. It’s been too long between orgasms."

She backed toward the door and stumbled over the bag of condoms. Bracing her hands against the door, she managed to keep herself upright.

"Watch out." He reached down and snagged a box out of the bag. "There’s condoms on the floor." He kicked the bag away.

"You’re making my point for me! This is all about sex."

"It’s partly about sex." He opened the box and pulled out a condom packet. "And we need to explore that part some more, so I can soften up your initial resistance to this idea of our mutual travel plans."

"Any day now, my roots will start showing!"

He paused in the act of unzipping his pants and stared at her. "Your roots?"

"Yes." She kept her eyes on his face and tried to ignore the fact he’d started unzipping. "And you might not be so sexually attracted to me then."

He frowned. "Are you saying your ancestors are on the weird side? Because I’m sure I can handle that." He finished unzipping his pants. "Everyone has strange people in their family tree, and it doesn’t have to—"

She pulled at her hair. "No, these roots. Once I’m down in South America, I won’t be dyeing my hair. I don’t know if I’ll find a place where I can get it colored brown, and if I don’t, it’ll look really funky for a while, half and half."

Lex started to laugh. "You’re talking about your hair?"

"Yes, I am, and if you think that’s not important, then think again."

"Okay. I’ll think again." He glanced up at the ceiling and tapped his finger against his chin. Then he looked at her. "Nope. Still not important." He took the condom out of the wrapper. ‘This." He held up the condom. "This is important."

"Do not put on that condom."

"You’re not suggesting we do it without?"

"I’m suggesting we not do it, period!"

"Bad suggestion." He calmly rolled the condom over his penis.

And she, weak person that she was, watched him. "You’re … you’re living in la-la land."

"No, I used to live there, but now I’m relocating south of the border. Very south."

"You are not! I won’t let—"

His kiss ended the sentence and the discussion. By the time he’d slid both hands under her shirt and unhooked the front catch of her bra, she’d forgotten what they’d been talking about.

What happened next was kind of a blur, except that her legs ended up wrapped around his h*ps and her back firmly braced against the door. Each time he thrust, the door rattled. She could only hope the maid wasn’t out in the hall.

She gasped for breath as her cli**x drew near. "You’re … crazy."

"And you like it." His hot gaze held hers as he pushed deep.

"So what?"

"So tell me it’s good." He shifted the angle slightly, caressing her G-spot with incredible effectiveness. She moaned. "Okay, it’s good." "The best you’re ever had."