High Energy (30 page)

the neatest of men, uncharacteristically ignored it.

He turned back to her; she quickly lowered the cloth to play dead again.

"Are you sure that woman is a relative of—what the hell is that draped across

your head?"

"A cloth."

"Yes, but why?"

"I have a headache, Einstein."

She felt the bed dip with his weight. "Do you feel sick?"

His tone had instantly gone from irritation to concern. It was precisely

this—this caring behavior that was at the root of her headache in the first

place!

Not receiving a response, Tyber lifted the washcloth from her face only to be

confronted with a glaring visage.

"Put that back!"

"I just wanted to see if you were all right."

He was caring about her again! She began to smolder. In her mind's eye, she

could see smoke fuming all around her. "I told you I have a headache!"

"Then why don't you take some aspirin like most people do?"

"Because I prefer the medicine cloth. Now give me that." She tried to rip the

cloth out of his hands; he wouldn't let go.

"I've never heard a doctor say take two cloths and call me in the morning. You

are the crankiest person when you don't feel well. I'll get you some aspirin."

He started to get up; Zanita clamped her hand on his arm like a vise. "You get

off this bed, mister, and it'll be the last aspirin you ever get."

The idea of this petite woman physically threatening him over a wet rag had its

humorous side. Tyber really wanted to laugh, but relationship survival being

foremost in his mind, he settled for a confused, hurt expression. "I'm sorry,

baby." He handed her back the cloth.

Zanita felt instantly contrite. "Forget about it, Tyber." She flung the cloth

over the aquarium.

"You think the fish have a headache now?" A dimple popped into his cheek.

"Very funny."

"Here, let me massage your headache away." He scooted back against the pillows,

placing her head on his lap. His two forefingers began massaging her temples on

either side. It felt good. Real good.

Zanita tried to talk herself out of turning her head into the silky warmth of

his bare chest. Or rubbing the curve of her cheek against his heated velvet

skin. The plane of his upper torso was lightly fuzzed with gold-tipped hair and

rock hard.

The man was built like a brick! He could probably take a punch. Oh, well. She

relaxed against his lap. That left trying to reason with him.

Before she had a chance, Tyber broached his own subject.

"I had a little talk with LaLeche during our tour this afternoon."

Zanita closed her eyes under his soothing ministrations. "Did you find out

anything we can use?"

"Not exactly. He wants to open up a center for—for—" Tyber realized LaLeche had

never said specifically what research the center would be geared to. The man had

spoken in sweeping, generalized terms, quickly offering him a return on his

money that was too good to be true. LaLeche was smooth; he'd give him that.

"For what?"

Tyber shrugged his broad shoulders. "LaLechisms." Zanita giggled.

"Why did he discuss it with you? Did he want your advice?"

"No, he wanted my money."

Zanita opened her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I was told that for a nominal investment in his project, I could see a tidy

return on my money."

Zanita gave him a speculative look. "How nominal?"

"Three-hundred-thousand dollars."

Zanita sat up. "Outrageous! Even if you were suckered into his scam, who has

that kind of money to throw around?"

Tyber raised a regal eyebrow, watching the emotions play across her face. It was

just as he suspected; Zanita refused to have a clue as to how wealthy he was. It

was her way of not having to deal with the reality of the situation. Her way of

not having to deal with the reality of him.

Zanita blinked at his expression. His implication stopped her for a minute. "You

do?"

She never realized Tyber had that kind of… She shrugged her shoulders. It was

not important right now. She would think about that some other time, if at all.

"Even if you could, Tyber, you wouldn't."

"No." Nice job of suppression, baby. "But I'll let him think I will."

Zanita sagged against the pillow. "None of this is what we're looking for,

though. We already know he inveigles money from people. It's not illegal to get

a business partner."

Tyber laced his fingers behind his head, stretching stiff torso muscles by

twisting sinuously left, then right. "I keep thinking it's much simpler than we

suspect."

"Simplify, simplify." Her grin was gamine.

"You think I should go meditate by Walden Pond?" He leaned over to tug one of

her curls.

Here was her opportunity. "Actually, I was thinking you should go jump in the

pond." He released her hair to watch her with an apprehensive expression.

"I don't know whether to ask you to elaborate on that or not."

"You don't need to ask me." She patted his shoulder. "I'm going to tell you

anyway."

Tyber gave her a guarded look. Women had the inalienable right to toss men into

the dog house at a moment's notice.

Now why, he wondered, was he making this trip to the backyard?

She crossed her arms over her chest. Zanita meant business. "Tyber, you have

overstepped the terms of our agreement."

Tyber stared at her, his thought processes skittering off in a hundred different

directions at once. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he had to

tread very carefully here lest he inadvertently give her ammunition in a whole

new area. Any man past the age of puberty knew that the only way to respond in

this scenario was with a question. A brief, non-informative question.

"Our agreement?" There. That should be reasonably safe.

"Yes. If you will recall, when we began this partnership, we entered into an

agreement."

"I don't recall any written agreement between us."

"It was not a written agreement; it was a verbal agreement, which I will remind

you is binding in the State of Massachusetts." He gave her the mysterious face

of Mars look.

"I don't recall any verbal agreement, either. Zanita, what—"

"I will refresh your memory. Do you recall asking me to move in here with you?"

"Of course I do, but—"

"Do you recall telling me it would be easier for us to work together on this if

we were… together?"

He knew where this was headed now. A one-way ticket to Doghouse Land. "Yes," he

answered her cautiously.

"Do you recall my telling you I didn't want to get involved in a relationship?"

He started to respond; Zanita cut him off.

"Do you recall telling me you wouldn't act like my boyfriend?" She raised her

chin defiantly at him, demanding an answer to the unanswerable.

Tyber swallowed. "Baby, I—"

"Frankly, Tyber, I'm not sure what to do about this. It is quite obvious to me

now that you are acting like my boyfriend and you've been doing it right from

the beginning." She pointed a stern finger at him. "What do you have to say for

yourself?"

"I…"

"There's nothing you can say!" She ticked off his sins one by one. "The pretty

gifts. The attentiveness. The numerous little kindnesses." She shook her head

sadly as if to indicate there was nothing else to be said. "I suppose I could

move back to my apartment as soon as LaLeche leaves—"

"No!"

Zanita jumped at the vehemence of his response.

Tyber racked his brain for some bizarre explanation which would make sense to

her. He couldn't let her move out now; they needed more time. He stalled. "You

can't move out now—we're so close to nailing him."

"How do you know?" She didn't seem to be buying it.

He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I just do!" As an

explanation, it made no sense. Zanita seemed to be mulling it over, though. She

tapped her chin.

"I suppose I could move into one of the spare bedrooms."

He ran his hand through his hair. Stall her. "Why would you want to do that?"

"To remove the temptation from you; it's obvious to me, Tyber, you can't help

yourself from acting like a boyfriend."

Think. Think. "You've got this all wrong, baby."

"I do?"

"Yes. I'm not acting like your boyfriend. I—" Think! "I'm conducting an

experiment."

"An experiment?" Her brows furrowed as she mulled this over. "What kind of an

experiment?"

What kind of an experiment! I'm testing my sanity. "It's… it's an experiment on…

High Energy."

"High Energy? What's that?"

"It's a branch of physics—particle physics, actually. You've heard of particle

accelerators, right? Like the one in Stanford? Well, another name for an

accelerator is an atom smasher, but that term is not politically correct, so we

don't use it anymore."

"What does any of this have to do with us?" She was looking at him as if he had

a gear loose.

"Urn, I'm getting to that. You see, physicists love to make things collide just

so they can see what happens. Especially atomic particles." He rubbed his hands

together. "Lots of fun."

"You are really strange, you know that?"

"No, I'm charmed."

"Huh?"

"A little physics humor; strange and charmed are two kinds of particles—"

"Really, Tyber, this is not solving—"

"You didn't let me finish. To a physicist, an excited particle is an interesting

particle."

"Why do I care?"

"Because excited particles do all kinds of intriguing things, especially when

high energy is involved. May I demonstrate?"

Zanita nodded warily. What was the kook up to now? Her eyes widened as he

slipped off his slacks and underwear. "What are you doing?"

"Exactly what you told me to—I'm demonstrating." He folded his legs, sitting in

a lotus position on the bed.

"This is your experiment?" Her tone was skeptical.

"Uh-huh. I'm testing the effects of high-energy transfer among humans in regard

to excitation of the body." Right. It was the hokiest thing he had ever heard,

and it had come from his own mouth. Any second now, she was going to toss him

out on his ear and vacate the bedroom.

Zanita, being Zanita, did neither. She peered at him with a face alight with

interest. "You mean you really are doing an experiment?" That would make

everything okay, she thought. There would be a scientific reason for his

behavior.

Tyber didn't bat an eye. "Yes. I'll show you."

It was time to engage the opposition. He reached for the hem of her nightgown,

pulling it up over her head. Without delay, he lifted her onto his lap facing

him. His hands clasped her ankles, bringing her legs securely around his waist.

Then he lifted her chin with his forefinger, locking their sights together.

"What's this for?" she whispered, so as not to interfere with the procedure.

"I'm getting myself into a state of excitement for you. Feel this?" He rubbed

his hardening member against her stomach.

Her eyes widened in affirmation.

"See; it's working."

He draped her arms around his neck, bringing his head down to hers. The flat of

his palms splayed against her bare back.

"Now I want to see if it's possible for me to convey to you my sense of

excitement…."

His lips immediately took hers in a deep, soul-robbing kiss. Strong, white teeth

gently captured her upper lip, which he delicately suckled.

A tingling line of excitement quivered from the top of her head to the tips of

her toes.

His low voice feathered against her mouth. "I do believe I'm on the right track

here."

A small sound issued from Zanita's throat. Maybe he was on to something here. To

help him out, she ran her tongue across his bottom lip, convinced Tyber was on

the verge of a great scientific breakthrough. She told him so.

He agreed.

His palms massaged their way up her back, the strong fingers invigorating and

soothing. Competent hands stroked her neck, relaxing the stiff muscles just

enough to allow anticipation to seep in.

Their skin, where she sat on him, radiated scorching heat. A teasing fire

kindled through both their bodies. Zanita felt she was going to melt in his lap.

Tyber's hands continued working in languid circular motions up her back, her

shoulders, her neck, until they cupped the back of her head. His long fingers

tangled in her curls.

Growling low in his throat, he held her head immobile for the thorough, rich

invasion of his mouth.

Beguiling masculine lips trailed across her face, her forehead, her eyelids, the

tip of her nose, the underside of her jaw. His breath was hot on her.

He scraped his cheek against hers, back and forth, in a totally sensuous,

catlike gesture which left her reeling. Then his lips nibbled lightly on her

collarbone, a soft tasting. She shivered in response.

"Am I exciting you, baby?"

His breathy words tickled the sensitive vee at the base of her throat, raising

goosebumps. Before she could think to respond, he dragged his moist tongue

diagonally down her chest to the peak of her breast, where he captured the taut,

pebbly nub in liquid loving. His palms braced firmly against her back to hold

her steady against his mouth, the position giving him complete command of her