Boy Meets Nerd (10 page)

That was how he thought of her?

She didn’t understand why but it bothered her. Why should she care what he thought? They weren’t even friends.

They’d

have

no

relationship past this trip anyway.

They were a travel pair made by convenience and that was it. Still, it stung just a little.

A warm hand fell on her thigh. “Hey,” he said. “I didn’t mean it as an insult. I’m sorry.” She

wanted

to

snap

“whatever” and roll her eyes, but it was hard to focus on his words when his hand was in such an intimate place. Or maybe she was a bit sex starved – he was closer to her knee than her girly bits. But still, she was keenly aware of it sitting there, radiating heat through her jeans. A tingly sensation crept up her thigh to between her legs, where a throbbing started.

Fuck. She brushed his hand off and kept her face toward the window. Her cheeks were burning.

He’d notice her blush and think she was stupid, or desperate, or both.

He wouldn’t be wrong.

“Nerds!”

he

shouted,

slapping his hand on his knee.

What?

Oh. The candy. “Very

funny.”

Forgetting

her

embarrassment, she scowled at him.

“No. And you’ll never guess it.”

“Something chocolate?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm. Skittles?”

She shook her head. The

silly game pulled her attention away from where his hand had just been.

Better that way. She didn’t need her mind to stray down that path.

“I was really hoping it was Nerds,” he said. “Maybe you should reconsider.”

“I’m more than just a nerd.”

“Are

you?”

he

asked,

sounding curious. “What else are you then?”

Now that she was on the spot, she wasn’t sure how to answer. Swallowing hard, she thought through the question she’d been trying to answer most of her life. Misfit went with the nerd thing.

Smart went without saying but that wasn’t all of it either. Just one side of her. The rest, well, the rest was just…indescribable. Narrowing a person down to a few words wasn’t possible.

“I

don’t

know,”

she

mumbled.

Silence stretched on, making her feel stupid. Why had she said anything at all?

Finally,

he

broke

the

awkwardness. “That’s okay. I don’t think we’re supposed to know who we are entirely. I mean, we’re only in our early twenties. We have a lifetime to figure it out. That’s what life is about, right?”

Was it? Sometimes she did feel a little transient, always evolving, changing as life went on.

Not everything, just little bits of her

– ideas, values, perceptions, those things were more flexible. At her core, her heart, she probably stayed the same.

“Are you a philosopher

now?” she teased, trying to take the pressure off of her.

He

chuckled.

“Most

musicians

think

they

are.”

Something on the road caught his attention. “Aha.” He pointed to a sign that advertised a rest stop.

A few more wrong guesses at her favorite candy then he pulled off the highway and into a parking spot. After he turned off the car, he looked at her, narrowing his eyes like he was studying her face for clues. “Okay. I give up. Tell me.” With a smirk, she answered,

“Gobstoppers.”

“You’re right. I never

would’ve guessed. So why those?”

“I can suck on them while I’m working and they last a long time.”

Slowly, a grin stretched

across his face. His eyes lit up.

“What?”

“You like to suck on things, huh?”

“Ugh!” Just when she was starting to think he was cute.

“You’re such a guy.” She opened the door and climbed out of the car, ignoring the chuckles behind her.

“I’m going in,” he said, pointing to the plaza that contained a few chain fast food restaurants and a snack shop. “You?”

“Yeah.” She might as well use the bathroom and stretch her legs while she could.

They

walked

silently

through the parking lot then split up inside. After using the restroom, she found Levi at the checkout of the snack shop. She stayed outside the store and waited for him. A young woman with bleached blonde hair and a fake tan stood behind him in line. She brazenly looked him over then whispered to her friend, who also checked out his ass.

Emerson snorted. Girls.

Without her permission, her gaze traveled down his back then lingered on his ass. The loose-fitting jeans worked for him. Even with the silly t-shirt that read
Lord
of the Strings
and had a picture of a guitar, he looked sexy. Like one of those guys who didn’t have to try to look cool – they just were. If only they knew he’d just been singing, badly, to an eighties rock ballad in the car.

When she’d first met him, she’d thought he was unattainable.

Girls swooned over musicians –

especially guitar players. Badass, but with a charming streak – a highly sought after combination.

She’d assumed he was used to girls hanging all over him, that he liked the attention and thought he was hot shit. But now that she was getting to know him better, she realized he was just a dork with a nice ass.

He turned from the counter, holding his bag, and their gazes met.

One of the bimbos behind him tried to get his attention but, for some reason, he either ignored it or didn’t see it.

With a smile, he walked to Em. “Why were those girls laughing at me?” he said when he reached her.

“They weren’t laughing.”

He seriously couldn’t be that clueless about his sex appeal.

“They were giggling.”

“There’s a difference?”

She sighed and turned for the exit. “There’s a big difference.”

Emerson took the driver’s side when they returned to the car.

Once inside, Levi reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a box of Gobstoppers.

He turned to face her and said, “Open your mouth. I’ll feed them to you like grapes.”

“Absolutely not.” But a

vision already formed in her head –

Levi hand-feeding her fruit, maybe not grapes but something juicy, like strawberries. There was something sensual

about

eating

from

someone’s hand, licking their fingers, sucking on them.

She exhaled a deep breath, trying to clear that from her mind.

Bad, Emerson. Behave!

She started the car and

pulled back onto the highway. The rustling of a package caught her attention. She turned to see what Levi was doing.

“Pixie Stix?” she said.

“What are you? Twelve?”

He didn’t answer for a

moment – no clever quip or comeback – so she glanced over at him.

With his face turned toward

her, two Pixie Stix dangled from either side of his mouth, like walrus tusks. “I’ll have you know,” he said, slightly muffled. “Pixie Stix are

a

very

dignified

candy,

Emerson.”

Eyes back on the road, she bit her lip, trying to hold back her laughter. She checked on him out of the corner of her eye. He tipped his chin to fix her with an exaggerated stately glare. He looked completely ridiculous. Finally, a snort broke free. Then a full laugh.

He pulled the sticks from his mouth and gawked at her.

“What? You don’t agree?”

Shaking her head, she reined in the last of her chuckles. “You’re so weird.”

“You didn’t think you were the only one, did you?” He dumped the contents of both sticks into his mouth.

Most

guys

were

too

concerned with looking cool to be silly, but Levi didn’t seem to care.

Maybe because he hung out with kids so much he’d lost perspective, or maybe he truly didn’t care what people thought of him. He’d probably make a great father one day – the kind that dressed up as a superhero and ran around the yard with his kids when they were little then did it again when they were teens just to embarrass them and make himself laugh.

“I thought you were a health nut,” she said. “You drink shakes and not coffee. You go on runs.”

“I am.” He downed one

more Pixie Stix then shoved the package with the rest to the floor.

“Once in a while, I splurge.”

“Pixie

Stix

is

your

splurge?” She laughed.

“What?”

She

shook

her

head.

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“Most people splurge on

French fries or chocolate ice cream.”

He shrugged. “They remind me of my childhood.”

She thought back on the pop

rocks she’d grabbed at the gas station the other day. “Fair enough.” His phone beeped. “Oh!”

He shot up in his seat and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Heidi must be out of work. Is it okay if I chat for a minute? I don’t want to be rude to you but I haven’t talked to her all day.”

“I don’t care. There’s been enough socializing on this trip already.”

“Great.” He smiled. “You

want the radio on or anything?”

“No. I’ll just do work in my head.”

Chuckling, he shook his

head. “Whatever works for you.” Then he began texting, the little clicks the only noise in the car other than the engine.

Ignoring him, she retreated into her mind, plotting equations and codes. Levi laughed, startling her. She glanced at him. He was grinning down at his phone like a love-sick idiot.

He laughed again.

A spike of jealousy speared

her. He’d been laughing with her just a second ago, and now he was ignoring her in favor of some random chick who’d called herself Hope Love. As if that wasn’t enough to condemn her.

Why did she even care? She

didn’t
want
to talk to him. Then why the hell was she suddenly feeling so possessive?

When he laughed again, her frustration spilled over and she snapped, “Something you wanna share with the rest of the class?” He stopped abruptly then

looked at her in surprise, as if he’d forgotten she was there. That stung.

“Sorry,” he said. “She’s

just…funny.” Then he sighed. He sighed like a teenaged girl dreaming of her wedding day. That manly charm she’d found so attractive deflated whenever he talked about Heidi.

“You really love her, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure.

I think I’m close. Like you, I’ve never been in love. I’ve had a few girlfriends but nothing serious.

Once I meet Heidi though, I’ll know for sure.”

At the time, she’d thought it was just a superficial infatuation, but by the silly look on his face, she could tell it went deeper. “Just seeing her is all it’ll take?”

“I pretty much know I love her mind.”

“There’s a lot you could be

missing.”

“Like what?”

Like a healthy dose of

reality. How did someone his age manage

to

avoid

cynicism,

especially surrounding the internet romance? He was too trusting, too optimistic.

“Mannerisms.

Body

language. Annoying habits…”

“All of that is superficial. I doubt there’s anything bad enough for me not to overlook. As long as she’s a real person, and the one I’ve been talking to all this time, I don’t see why I wouldn’t take the final step with her.”

She thought for a moment, filtering through things that would be turnoffs for her. “What if she smells?”

He burst out laughing.

“I’m serious! That could be a deal breaker.”

“I’ll buy her perfume.” His laughter faded somewhat but he stared at Em, grinning.

With a grunt, she turned her attention to the road. “Fine. Get your heart broken then.”

“It’s sweet that you care about me,” he said.

Shocked, she looked at him.

He was still smiling but she couldn’t tell if he was teasing or not.

“I don’t,” she answered,

sounding defensive to her own ears.

“You don’t want my heart to

get broken. It sounds like you care.” He was definitely teasing.

Growing

annoyed,

she

scowled and gripped the wheel tighter. “No. I just don’t want to spend the ride home with a sad fool who thought an online romance would work out.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. It wasn’t nice, and it wasn’t true. She did care, to some degree, that he ended up happy after all of this. She wasn’t that callous. But he didn’t need to know that.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him, waiting for him to get angry or sad, but he just nodded and kept smiling. Then he leaned over the center console, bringing his face toward hers. She tried to move away, as far as the seatbelt would let her, but he followed her.

What the hell was he doing?

He stopped when his lips were at her ear. Warm breath hit the sensitive skin on her neck and she held back a shiver. His scent wrapped around her – masculine but sweet from the Pixie Stix.

She cleared her throat,

ready to tell him to move, but then he whispered, softly, in her ear, “I think you care about many things you pretend not to, grumpy pants.” And just like that, he was gone.

How the hell did he make the words “grumpy pants” sound so sexy? And when did it get so hot in the goddamn car? After inhaling a deep breath, she turned the dial for the AC to high then sat back stiffly against the seat.

Levi had returned to his seat and taken a swig of the ice tea he’d picked up at the store as if nothing had happened. And here she was having hot flashes, her bones feeling like they were melting into the seat and her clit in danger of exploding. All from one teeny tiny whisper.

He was messing with her.

She gave her head a shake, trying to clear her mind, focus on something, anything, other than the fact that he was sitting right beside her, smelling like a man, turning her insides to mush and throwing her hormones into overdrive.

Numbers.

Think

about

numbers.

She listed multiples of three in her head. It was how she fell asleep at night sometimes. Three, six, nine. Sixty nine… That was a multiple of three.

Fuck. Don’t think about
sixty nine.

Irritably, she pressed the button to turn the radio on and pretended to be interested in whatever song was playing. Beside her, Levi texted with Heidi again, and every time he laughed, she turned the volume up on the music.

He was so immersed in his conversation, he didn’t even notice.

Soon, her thoughts drifted to her work, Levi dozed off, and two hours flew by, uneventfully. They were somewhere in the middle of New York when Levi woke up with a big yawn. He checked the clock then sat up straight and stretched as much as he could in the small car.

“You’ve been driving a

while,” he said. “Pull over. I’ll take a turn.”

She shook her head. “We

should stop for the night. I’m hungry and if we sleep well we can leave early in the morning. I want to be at the

conference

as

early

as

possible.”

“Okay.”

“I saw a sign a couple of miles back for a town that has restaurants

and

motels.”

She

squinted into the dark, looking for another sign. “Right there.” The exit was up ahead and another sign for a few restaurant chains.

She turned off the exit and looked for a decent hotel. “No pay by the hour. That shit is skeevy.”

“There.” He pointed up

ahead on the left. “That’s a three star I think. Cheap but pretty clean.”

“Okay.” She pulled into the lot and they started unpacking the car. Levi insisted on carrying her bag again. She rolled her eyes but didn’t fuss.

At the desk, he took the lead. “We need two rooms. One night. Non-smoking.” Then he placed his credit card on the desk.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Shush. I’m paying. Don’t argue.”

“Of

course

I’m

gonna

argue!” She dug in her bag for her debit card then he grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

He turned from the desk and

pierced her with a stern look. “This is far out of your way, you said so yourself. We’re taking your car.

You drove most of today, even though I promised to. I’m paying for the room. End of story.”

When he took a step toward

her, it was almost as if he was trying to intimidate her with his size. She craned her neck to look up at him. Had he always been that tall? She gulped, but her muscles got all gooey and a flutter started in her belly.

Still, she didn’t answer to anybody, especially someone so pushy.

She opened her mouth to

protest but before she could get a word out, he snatched her wallet from her fingers then smiled. “Glad we understand each other.” Without another word, he turned back to the desk.

Emerson was left gaping,

fumbling for words. That arrogant asshole. A low growl escaped her throat as she glared at his back.

When he turned back around, he was still smiling. He handed her a room key card and her wallet then picked up their bags and walked toward the exit.

“This way, Em,” he said

over his shoulder.

She had no choice but to follow him out. Seething, she trailed behind him down the sidewalk until he stopped at another door into the hotel. He held it open, waiting for her to walk through it.

Giving him her
you’re so
dead stare
, she said, “This isn’t over.”

He rolled his eyes. “Settle down, killer. You can buy dinner.” It was a small consolation.

She’d have to work with it for now.

They walked down another hallway then he stopped at room one hundred and sixty nine. She almost laughed at the irony.

“This one’s yours.”

Of course it is.

She slid the card through the slot and the door opened up. Levi placed his bags in the entryway and took a look around. “I’m across the hallway.”

“Okay.” She waited for him

to leave, but he just stood there, staring awkwardly. She raised her brows. “Anything else?”

That shook him from his

daze. “Uh, no. Well, I saw a restaurant next door. Wanna get cleaned up then meet in…say half an hour?”

“Sure.”

The door shut behind him when he left. She inhaled a deep breath then exhaled it slowly.

Distance was probably good right about now. Levi had somehow managed to wiggled his way into her head, jumble things up in there, boss her around, then leave her reeling. She needed a reset button.

Shower or work?

Thirty minutes. Just enough time to check on a few things on her laptop. She set it up at the desk and logged on to see if the new software she

was

waiting

for

had

downloaded yet. Then she checked her three email accounts. Lastly, she signed into Facebook.

The newsfeed contained

nothing she recognized. Confused, she looked at the profile name at the top of the page.

Hope Love.

Shit. She must’ve logged in last as Hope when she’d been digging for information. Just as she was about to sign out, the chat alert dinged. A new private message from Levi.

Curiosity urged her to click on the chat tab. He spent most of the car ride driving her mad with his constant snickering. She deserved to know what in the hell was so funny. But if she looked, she couldn’t justify it as work anymore.

This would be spying, without a doubt.

Her finger hovered over the

mouse as she bit back a groan. She had an angel sitting on one shoulder and a devil on the other. It was wrong, she knew that, but so, so tempting.

What

were

their

conversations like? What did this girl say that hooked Levi so strongly?