Talk Nerdy to Me (Nerds, #5)(16)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

"No you don’t!" Charlie had to shout over his shoulder to make himself heard, but shouting felt good. He was filled with nervous tension after the confrontation with Eve. Consequently, he drove the motorcycle fast, watching for icy patches on the road and swerving around them.

"Aliens, I’m telling you," Rick said. "Who but an alien would look at those rubber bands they put around bunches of broccoli and think c*ck ring?"

Charlie groaned. He didn’t want to think about anything to do with sex. Tonight would be full of tossing and taming even without help from Rick’s monologue.

"Then she puts these little suction cups all over you and tells you to imagine tentacles. Who would think of that except someone who’d had sex with a creature with tentacles? It drove me wild, thinking of her in bed with an alien octopus. I was constantly on the verge of coming, but then she’d put on the broccoli rubber band and I’d be good for a while longer."

Charlie stepped on the gas. The sooner he got Rick home, the better.

"Then there was the space slime. She said that came straight from Titillium."

"Never mind about the space slime!" Charlie had taken about all he could take.

"No, really! It was green and gooey, and she rubbed it all over my dick before I finally— Yikes, Charlie! Watch out!"

The bike went into a skid. Charlie corrected with his body weight and managed to come out of it. The skid scared him straight and he slowed down some. A wreck wasn’t going to solve anything.

"Guess I’m distracting you, huh?" Rick sounded shaken. "Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you about any of this while you’re driving."

"Good guess!" Charlie concentrated on the pattern of ice and dry pavement, weaving his way back to his aunt’s house.

Rick stayed silent the rest of the way home. "Want to come in for a beer?" he asked as Charlie screeched to a stop in the driveway. "I could fill you in on the stuff I didn’t mention."

"That’s okay."

"I’m telling you, that space slime had some ingredient that made it tingle, like menthol or something. She loved it when I put it on her. I put it on her n**ples, of course, but she really went crazy when I put it on her clit. I rubbed it in really good, and she—"

Charlie revved the motor. "Sorry. Have to run. Work tomorrow."

"You don’t know what you’re missing." Rick fastened the spare helmet on the back of the bike. "I’m willing to share. It might give you some ideas."

"Appreciate the thought." Charlie took off before Rick could launch into any more vivid description.

He drove home at a more leisurely pace. Now that he’d ditched Rick, he was in no hurry to go back to his empty apartment. As he was cruising the dark streets of Middlesex, the cell phone clipped to his jeans pocket vibrated. He pulled over to the side of the road so he could answer it.

If Rick was calling him with more war stories, he wouldn’t answer. But the number wasn’t Rick’s cell or his mother’s land line. He answered the call.

"Charlie?" Eve sounded scared. Really scared.

"What is it?" Unconsciously he’d driven back in the direction of her house. He was less than two blocks away.

"My … my back door lock doesn’t work."

"Why not?" He had a bad feeling about this.

"It looks like somebody broke it. On … on purpose."

Chapter Eleven

Charlie concentrated on every nuance of the road as he flew over the deserted streets dodging patches of ice. He stayed low and moved with the bike, aware of every slip of the tires that warned him of a slick spot. He was desperate to get to Eve’s house, but he wouldn’t be any help to her if the paramedics had to scrape him off the pavement.

The two blocks seemed like two miles, but finally he swerved into her driveway, parked the bike, and pulled off his helmet as he ran up to her front door. She must have been watching for him because she threw the door open before he could ring the bell.

"Oh, Charlie." Her face was pale as she drew him into the entryway. "It looks like they used a crowbar to get in. The door’s all chewed up around the lock."

Charlie’s chest was tight with the effort to breathe. He was so glad to see that she was okay. Theoretically the lock could have been jimmied anytime, but whoever had done it probably knew it was still broken. "I didn’t think you had a back door other than the one that goes from the kitchen to the garage. Where is it?"

"At the end of the hall there’s a little dogleg to the left. I forget about that door half the time, especially this time of year when I don’t go out in the backyard. Come on, I’ll show you."

Charlie glanced down at his boots. "I don’t want to track—"

"Never mind that now." She started toward the hallway.

He glanced at the front door, and sure enough, the dead bolt wasn’t thrown. "Eve, damn it, you haven’t locked the front door. That needs to become second nature."

She turned back, startled. "Oh." With a sheepish expression, she walked back to the door and turned the lock. "I guess once you arrived I automatically started letting my guard down."

"That’s dangerous thinking. I’m not some martial arts expert who can save you from anybody who comes along."

"I know." She gazed at him. "It isn’t logical, but you have that effect on me, anyway. I feel completely safe around you."

"You shouldn’t." And he wasn’t only talking about personal safety. He wondered if she had any idea the kind of craving she inspired. Giving in to that craving could mean heartbreak for both of them, and his grip on those urges was tenuous at best.

"I’ll work on that," she said. "In the meantime, I want you to take a look at the door and tell me what you think." She started back through the living room.

"I don’t have to look to tell you what I think." He followed her down the hall. "You need to notify the police. I meant to say that when you called, but I was so rattled I forgot. I figured we’d do it once I got here."

"I don’t want to notify the police, Charlie."

"Why the hell not? You had forcible entry. I’ll bet whoever it was took your notes."

"I have a hard time believing the police will get excited about a missing set of notes. They’ll probably advise me to fix my door and get an alarm system. End of story."

"At least there would be a report." Charlie had to agree with her, though. Those notes weren’t something you could put a dollar value on, like a television or a sound system. He just wanted to find a way to get her more protection.

"Having a report is less important to me than taking a risk that they’d look at the hovercraft and want to know what kind of license I have for it."

Good point. Charlie was sure the moment she flew it she’d be in violation of some law. And he could only imagine what kind of red tape she’d encounter if she tried to get a permit. In doing that she’d only increase the number of people who knew about the hovercraft.

She turned the corner at the end of the hall, a corner he hadn’t noticed before. Of course he’d been thinking about round beds and condoms in the bathroom during the time he’d spent in this part of the house.

"There it is."

At first glance in the dim light from the hall, the old wooden door seemed fine. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected—maybe a hacked-out place where the lock should have been. Then Eve pulled on the knob and the door swung open, letting in a slice of cold air

The other side had taken all the abuse. Claw marks indicated where someone had used a crowbar to pry open the door. Looking at it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"I guess we don’t have to worry about how many keys you have floating around, do we?" he said.

"I figure they hacked their way in the back door and went out the front, leaving it unlocked. Maybe they even thought the unlocked front door would throw me off the track for a while, which it did. If you hadn’t been so intent on having me lock everything up good and tight, I might not have checked this back door at all."

"Did you check for footprints?" He glanced out the door, but the snow looked trampled by many pairs of boots.

"I didn’t think of that. When I first went out to see what had happened, I stomped around a lot because I was cold. I’m sure I messed up any prints that might have been there." She was shivering.

He didn’t know if her trembling was from the chill or nerves, but for starters he closed the back door to eliminate the frigid draft. "For right now I’ll nail some boards across here so no one will be able to get in. Tomorrow I’ll get you a new door and a different lock." He unzipped his jacket in preparation for the work ahead. "An alarm system might be a good idea, too."

She made a face. "I hate those things. I never remember the code and I’m forever setting it off or forgetting to turn it on."

He had no trouble believing that. Alarms only worked for meticulous people. A scatterbrained genius like Eve would make a mess of an alarm system. "Then we’ll come up with something else."

"Sleigh bells." The color was returning to her cheeks. "I’ll hang sleigh bells on both doors so I’ll hear anybody who comes in."

"When you’re here. What about when you’re not?" He figured the intruder had taken advantage of Eve being gone.

"I’ll worry about that the next time I have to leave, which isn’t until next week. I hope to have the hovercraft ready to test before then."

"We will have it ready." Charlie was busy rearranging his priorities. He had unused vacation days at work. Now seemed like the time to take them. "But the first order of business is boarding up this door."

She looked doubtful. "No boards."

"Come on. You must have boards somewhere. Every homeowner has boards. My mother has a shed full of boards."

"Not me. I like metal hardware and fiberglass and engine parts. I’ve never had the slightest urge to get into carpentry."

Charlie studied the door. "Then I’d better check out your hardware supply."

"Anything I have would be out on the workbench. Want me to take your jacket?"

"Thanks. And my chaps." He handed her his jacket and unbuckled the chaps. As he gave her those, he noticed the color was really back in her cheeks. Her eyes, magnified slightly by her glasses, seemed unusually bright, too.

She fingered the chaps. "Soft leather."

"It needs to be flexible to give me plenty of mobility when I ride." And that was the God’s truth, but it came out sounding vaguely suggestive. He could feel the sexual tension building. Apparently, it didn’t take much to make that happen.

"I suppose so." She continued to finger the black leather.

To sidetrack his instinctive urge to reach for her, he turned himself into the Answer Man. "People think cyclists wear leather for the looks, but it’s the best protection you can have if you end up sliding across the pavement. It peels off in layers, which gives you a chance to literally save your skin."

She winced. "But you’re careful, aren’t you?"

He thought of the reckless way he’d been driving tonight while Rick had insisted on describing his sexual adventures with Eunice. "Most of the time."

"You should be careful all the time, Charlie. Think of how your mother would react if something happened to you. Moving out West is nothing compared to getting in an accident on your bike." A strong current of emotion made her tremble.

Charlie recognized that emotion. It was the same one he’d felt when he’d seen the busted door. It seemed that they’d started to care about each other, whether that was convenient or not. "You’re right," he said. "I need to be careful all the time." He looked into her eyes. "And so do you. No more cavalier attitude about locks."

She nodded. "Don’t worry. I’m convinced."

He took a deep breath. "Good. Okay, let’s see what I can find on your workbench that could secure the door until tomorrow. Unless you’ve put them away already, I’ll need the screwdrivers we left in your bathroom."

"I’ll get them."

As Charlie walked back through the house he thought about his options after he secured the door. He didn’t think he could just leave her and go home. Chances were the thief wouldn’t show up while she was still there, and maybe the notes were the only thing the person was after, but still… Charlie wasn’t wild about leaving her alone.

Staying would present its own kind of challenge, though. He was well aware of that. He could camp out on her couch, of course. There was always that option. Yeah, right. With the kind of sparks flying between them on a regular basis, opting for the couch would be a joke. She’d know it the minute the suggestion came out of his mouth. Sheesh, what a tricky situation.

Eve hung Charlie’s jacket and chaps on the hooks by the front door. Every time she touched the chaps she got a sexual zing, and she was guilty of touching them a lot. The soft leather was sensuous all by itself, but when she thought about where that leather had been, she moaned with longing. She’d never thought of herself as a kinky person, but the image of Charlie wearing those chaps— and nothing else—was too potent to resist.

Maybe she’d been nudged in that direction by Rick’s comments about his session with Eunice. Eve wondered if Eunice would divulge her side of the story. Apparently the poor woman had been so long without sex that she’d hated to let Rick leave.

Eve could relate. She had Charlie in residence and her hormones were telling her this was an opportunity not to be taken lightly. He might not be boyfriend material, but he had the right equipment to relieve the majority of her tension, with or without the added thrill of chaps.

Contemplating the wisdom of jumping his bones, knowing it was a temporary fix, she went back to the bathroom to get the screwdrivers lying on top of the dryer. Then she decided to peek inside the washer just for kicks. The junk in the bottom of the basket was starting to smell funny, so she made a command decision and poured some liquid soap on top of everything. Aromatherapy.

Finally, as a last touch, she piled a few things on the lid to discourage Denise from going in there. Oh, God, Denise. Eve could picture her sister’s face when she discovered the situation with the back door.