Talk Nerdy to Me (Nerds, #5)(8)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

Feeling more disoriented by the minute, she rummaged through the kitchen, looking in drawers and cupboards. Still nothing. And time was running short. Charlie and Rick would be here soon, and she’d hoped to get the house straightened before they arrived. If she didn’t, then it wouldn’t get done. She knew once Charlie was here she’d be completely absorbed in the hovercraft project.

Maybe she’d come across the notes while she was cleaning up. Now there was a good thought. She’d search for the notes and tackle the mess at the same time.

Her closets were basically staffed already, but she managed to shift a few things and push some unread fiction books inside, along with the videos she’d bought and never watched and the collection of beads she’d accumulated back when she’d thought it might be an okay hobby.

For years she’d tried to interest herself in a more peaceful pastime, one that wouldn’t cause explosions and alarm the neighbors, but all her efforts in that direction had seemed wimpy and dull. Why make a necklace when you could create a hovercraft? But she kept trying to be normal, which was why she also had a rock tumbler and a sack full of rocks that had to go somewhere.

She tacked them under her round bed, although the hand loom and calligraphy set were already taking up most of the space. A rectangular bed would have more storage space underneath. Maybe she ought to consider trading in her round bed for a traditional one.

Because the washing machine wasn’t working, anyway, she filled it with whatever she didn’t know what else to do with—unread fashion magazines, widgets she’d bought at the Middlesex Hardware Store because they looked interesting, the box of candy she didn’t like but couldn’t bear to toss because the receptionist at her talent agency had given it to her. And on top of all that went the book she’d bought on how to unclutter your life. She hadn’t made it past the first chapter.

Denise would be sleeping in what Eve laughingly called her guest room, a den that opened off the living area. At the moment the daybed was buried under a mound of clothes still in their plastic dry-cleaning bags. Her broken washing machine had forced her to get everything but her underwear professionally cleaned. Scooping the bundle into her arms with a crackle of static electricity, she looked underneath, hoping to see her notes. No such luck.

She was on her way toward her bedroom down the hall when the doorbell rang. A glance at the clock told her it was still too early for Charlie and Rick. "Come in!" she called. "It’s open!"

Then she wondered if maybe she was carrying her complacency about unlocked doors too far. The crime rate might be low in this little town, but that didn’t mean she should invite someone in without having a clue who they were. A burglar might have recently located in Middlesex.

So she stood there with her arms full of her dry cleaning, unsure what she’d do if the person on the other side of the door had theft in mind. Smother them in cleaning bags? Jab them with a metal hanger?

She was relieved when Eunice walked in, stomping snow from her booted feet. She held up two bottles. "I brought wine!"

"Well, um, thanks." Eve needed wine tonight about like a battery needed a bow tie. She had two goals—work on the hovercraft and work on Charlie. She wanted a clear head for both projects.

"Not for you and Charlie, of course. You’ll be operating machinery and such. But Rick and I could have some." Eunice plunked the bottles down on the floor and started taking off her coat.

"Yes, you certainly could have some." And a bottle apiece should keep them busy while Eve worked her program. "Not that it’s any big deal or anything, but is it possible you forgot to lock the front door after the FedEx man was here?"

Eunice frowned. "I don’t think so. Was it unlocked when you came home?"

"Yeah, but don’t worry about it."

"Jeez, if I forgot to lock it I really apologize. Are you missing anything?"

Eve thought of her notes, but they could still turn up somewhere. "No," she said and decided to change the subject. "Did you decide for or against the cell phone?"

"Against." Eunice had piled her blond hair in a fancy arrangement on top of her head, and she wore a slinky red lounging outfit. "I think this should do the trick."

Eve surveyed the generous display of cl**vage. "You know, I always wondered exactly what they meant by a plunging neckline. Now I get it."

"This sucker plunges like Niagara Falls, doesn’t it? If I move just right you’ll get a glimpse of the diamond I have in my belly button. Well, cubic zirconium, to be honest, but if somebody gets close enough to check, they’re going to be interested in something besides gem quality." Eunice glanced at Eve’s burden. "Sarah down at the Press ‘n’ Go probably paid off her Toyota after you picked up that load."

"This is an accumulation. My washing machine’s broken."

Eunice leaned against the wall and pulled off her boots. "I’m surprised you haven’t fixed it yourself." She took a pair of jeweled sandals from her purse and slipped them on her feet. "You being so mechanical and all."

"Fixing broken things is boring. Making something new that didn’t exist before—now that I can get into."

"So I’ve noticed."

Eve shifted the weight of her dry cleaning. "I’d better put these away. Make yourself at home." The comment was superfluous for Eunice, who always did that, anyway. "I’ll be right ba—" The doorbell rang, and this time, she figured it would be Charlie and Rick.

In case she had any doubts on that subject, Eunice reacted by racing to the peephole and sucking in her breath.

"It’s them?" Eve asked.

"He is so gorgeous that if I were a nun, I’d leave the order for him."

"Fortunately for you and the Catholic church, you’re not a nun." Eve was delighted with Eunice’s choice of guy. That left Charlie free and clear. "Are you going to open the door?"

"Yes." Eunice stepped back and grabbed her purse from the floor. Taking out a breath spray, she gave her mouth a couple of shots before dropping the spray back in her purse and balancing the purse on top of her boots. Then she spit on her fingers and twirled them around the tendrils of hair that had been allowed to hang artfully from her upswept do.

"Are you going to open the door anytime in the near future?"

The doorbell rang again. Eunice glanced over at Eve and smiled. "Is there lipstick on my teeth?" she asked without changing expression.

"Not that I can see." Eve’s glasses were smudged from her frantic efforts to straighten up the place, but she didn’t bother to tell Eunice. That would mean at least another minute delay while Eunice waited for her to clean the lenses.

"Does this smile show too much of my gums?" Eunice looked like a ventriloquist, talking like that without moving her lips.

"Eunice, open the damned door."

"Okay." Throwing back her shoulders, Eunice kept her smile in place as she opened the door. "Charlie! Rick! What a nice surprise!"

"Well, hello there, Eunice." Rick’s gaze took in the Niagara Falls plunge. "Talk about a nice surprise! I froze my ass riding over here with Charlie, but you make the sacrifice worthwhile."

"Eve invited me." Eunice twirled a loose strand of blond hair around her finger. "I brought wine."

"Excellent." Rick continued to block the door while he stared at her.

"I brought pizza." Charlie shouldered his way past his cousin and nudged the door closed with his knee. His dark-framed glasses fogged up immediately. "And it’s hot, so we might want to—" He paused and squinted at Eve through the misty lenses. "Are you holding a whole bunch of clothes?"

She’d been so fascinated by the interaction between Rick and Eunice that she’d forgotten the bundle in her arms. "My dry cleaning."

"That’s a boatload of dry cleaning."

She didn’t think in Charlie’s world that was a good thing. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who liked high-maintenance women. "My washing machine’s broken, so I’ve had to take stuff to Press ‘n’ Go." She found herself staring at his leather chaps and remembering how they’d framed his buns the first time they’d met. The chaps did a similar favor for his package.

"Your washing machine’s broken?" Charlie shoved the pizza boxes against Rick’s chest. "Here. Hold these."

Rick was so busy ogling Eunice that it took him a couple of seconds to respond and grab the boxes. "Uh, okay."

"I’m going to take a minute to look at Eve’s washing machine." Charlie was out of his coat and boots and chaps in no time. Then he did a quick polish of his glasses before he padded over to Eve in his socks. "Where is it?"

"Really, that’s okay." She was struck by how gallantly he’d leaped to her aid, and how seeing him in his socks made her wonder how he’d look with a few more items of clothing removed. "I wouldn’t expect you to fix it. I’m sure it needs … something. I should have called a repair person, but I—"

"Ah, no reason to call somebody. I can fix it."

"He probably can," Rick said. "If it has moving parts, Charlie can fix it. He’s pretty much the repair king."

"Then by all means, Eve, let the man do what he does best," Eunice said. "Rick and I can drink wine in the kitchen until you two come back."

Eve could see how this had played right into Eunice’s hands. No telling what would happen in the kitchen if Eve and Charlie left Eunice alone with Rick and two bottles of wine. But one glance at Charlie’s eager expression convinced Eve that she had to go along with the repair option. Rejecting Charlie’s skills would be the same as rejecting him, and she wasn’t about to do that.

"Okay, follow me," she said. "I’ll drop these off in my bedroom on the way." She started down the hall.

"We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us," Eunice called after her.

"Start on the pizza too if you want," Charlie said before following Eve. "This should be quick, but just in case it isn’t, go ahead and eat."

"We might, at that, cuz," Rick said. "It smells great. I never could resist a piping hot pizza."

Eve wondered if he could resist a piping hot Eunice. If he couldn’t, so much the better, because just like that, Eve had Charlie to herself. She hadn’t expected it to be so easy. Who knew a broken washing machine could create a romantic opportunity?

"You won’t have to hang around once I get into it," Charlie said. "You should grab some pizza before it gets cold."

Apparently he wasn’t viewing this at all the way she was. She’d have to come up with a reason to stay. "Let me dump these clothes in my bedroom and then we’ll see what the situation is. I’d like to watch and see how you do it." She stepped into her bedroom and laid the dry cleaning on the bed.

Then she turned to find Charlie standing in the doorway waiting for her. Charlie in the doorway of her bedroom was an unexpectedly arousing sight. Even without the benefit of a leather motorcycle jacket, his shoulders were satisfyingly broad. Add to that the appealing way his brown hair curled just a little, sending a softening wave down over his high, intelligent-looking forehead, and you had one hot-looking guy.

Ever since Monday afternoon, her hormonal reaction had been building in her system gradually, drop by drop. Now it had reached critical, mass and she was helpless in the face of urges that shocked her.

She wanted him this very minute. If he walked into the room and threw her on the bed, they could do it on top of the dry cleaning as far as she was concerned. She probably wouldn’t even notice unless a hanger poked her in the butt.

As she watched him standing in the doorway, her mouth began to water. Denise was so not getting her mitts on this guy. Eve wanted to strip off his flannel shirt and corduroy slacks to find out if indeed he wore tighty-whities as she suspected. Suddenly that seemed like the sexiest underwear in the world.

He, however, wanted to fix her washing machine. Somewhere between those two goals they might be able to find a meeting place.

"Mm." His murmur of approval caught her by surprise.

Was it possible that he’d read her mind? If she stayed right where she was, would he walk into the room and take her in his arms?

When he moved in her direction, her heartbeat changed dramatically. What a rush. She’d never been so in tune with someone that he acted out her internal impulses. Should she go to meet him, to let him know his instincts were right on target?

As she debated whether to hold out both arms in welcome, he cruised right past her and picked up the pamphlet on her bedside table.

"Properties of the Custom Rotary Engine." He flipped it open to the table of contents. "Now there’s something I wish I’d had a chance to read before tonight. Can I borrow it?"

"Uh, sure." Damn, he’d been after her bedside reading material, not her. So much for being in tune. "It gives all the parameters. I skimmed it instead of doing an in-depth study of the specs. If I’d read it cover to cover, I might have avoided blowing up the first one."

"We’re not going to blow up another one." Charlie started leafing through the pamphlet and nodding. "Yeah, this is great." Then he closed the pamphlet. "Now let’s check out that washing machine."

"Okay." Getting Charlie to think about something human instead of mechanical might prove more of a challenge than she’d thought.

But right before he turned around to leave the room, he paused. "You have a round bed." He sounded surprised, as if he’d been so absorbed in the pamphlet that this was the first real look he’d taken.

Obviously the man wasn’t plugged into the same sexual outlet that was powering her sex drive. "Yes." She’d had it so long that she’d forgotten it worked as a conversation piece. If the bed could jump-start a personal discussion, fine.

"Why round?"

If only she could tell him she’d bought it because it was supposed to promote great sex, but that would be intellectually dishonest and she’d never been capable of that. "I read somewhere that if you want to spark creative ideas, you have to shake up your brain, surprise it with the unexpected. So I ordered a round bed."