The Theory of Attraction (6 page)

He seemed genuinely regretful as he rose and offered a hand to pull me up from my chair. This time I knew enough to brace myself for the hot shock of desire, the thrilling enervation from such a little touch. My overreaction would do any Regency romance’s maiden heroine proud, but I knew it was probably more a function of anticipation and imagination than any deeper chemistry or mystical bond between us. Still. It was hot, even if it only lasted for a second or two. Even if his momentary flirtation had vanished into the usual chilly, hard-to-read expression I knew so well.

In the fantasy I spun for myself that night before falling asleep, those deep dark secrets were revealed. That simple touch became a violent embrace, worthy of any bodice-ripper. There were a certain number of gleeful perversions committed on Ivan’s battered leather sofa. And at some point in the fantasy, Ivan was a vampire, because I was sort of weird that way. He was a real, Gothic-style, Bram Stoker sort of vampire who bit people as a metaphor for having dubious-consent, alpha-male sex with them, I should point out. None of your modern, sensitive vampires for me. I appreciated the classics.

Chapter Four

Flirting for Evil Geniuses 101.

I had decided that would be a better name for my individual course than How to Win Donors and Influence Patrons of the Sciences. Even though the flirting was so sporadic I still wasn’t sure whether he meant it or not, I was really looking forward to seeing if I could elicit more of it when we went on our field trip.

First, of course, I had to convince Ivan that the field trip was a good idea. He was none too keen on the idea of going out to dinner and a movie with a group of people he didn’t know. He did know Athena, who would be there, but he also knew she didn’t like him much so it wasn’t really a plus. And her date, and the other couple, were strangers to both of us.

That was exactly the way I wanted it. I thought it was a great chance for Ivan to start fresh with people and sort of re-invent himself. He would be there as my date, no history. Athena had agreed, reluctantly, not to tell the others anything about him. She had done so only on the condition that she could tease me mercilessly about the event after it was over. But she would have probably done that anyway, so really I had gotten the better end of the deal.

“It’s always the same, with stuff like this. The same information.” I wanted to reassure him that his preparation had been sufficient. “They’ll want to know what you do, and you know a short version to tell them, right?”

“I’m a post-doc at the university. I’m in astrophysics. I do research and teach a few classes.”

“Great. Stop there. If they ask more, give them just a little bit. Like the first tier of information on your lesson plan, okay? The intro.”

“Right.” He shuffled through a small stack of index cards until he found the one he wanted, took a few seconds to glance over the information, then nodded. I hoped he would follow my advice and leave the cards out of sight once we got to the theater.

“In no case should you give more in-depth information unless one of the others turns out to be in a related field or something, okay? They may want to know where you went to school, where you grew up. Keep the answers short and informative. Then—this is important—you say…”

“How about
you?
”

“Very good. Don’t forget you need to change it up a little. Don’t say it exactly the same way each time, you know?”

“Are you mocking me, Camilla?”

I tried not to look at the index cards when I answered. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Now let’s get moving, or we’re going to be late.”

“Wait. Wait. What’s my lesson plan, here? What am I trying to teach them?”

He had given me an actual, literal lesson plan the previous evening, with all the details relevant to his fundraising event. Tonight was not meant to be a formal outing, the stakes weren’t nearly as high. Still, I should have considered that he’d want to treat it with the same over-preparation that he always did.

“That you’re a normal, nice guy?”

“I need something more realistic than that.”

I wondered if he was objecting to the “normal” part or the “nice” part.

“Okay, how about that you’re a brilliant rocket scientist who is pretty reserved socially but pleasant when he has to be?”

“I hate this shit.” Ivan was already jingling his car keys, though, and we headed for the car with the question of his objective still hanging. As I was getting buckled in, inspiration struck.

“You’re already pretending to be my date. So focus on that part. Are you going to be a boyfriend? Or are you going to be some guy who’s hoping to get…um, get me to go out a second time?”

The Friday evening traffic occupied his attention for a few minutes before he finally answered. “Were you going to say ‘laid’ and then changed your mind?”

Crap, so much for subtle. “Yep.”

“That one. I’ll be that one.”

“All righty.” Seriously? Potentially good, but also potentially disastrous. “So what’s your plan going to be for that?”

He smiled without looking at me. He kept his eyes on the road when he drove, checking his mirrors frequently at such regular intervals that I’d always wondered if he had some OCD issues. “Remember how I said there are large chunks of my time you have no idea about?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s just say I can do that role. Of a guy who plans to get you into bed. However, I will almost certainly not do it the way you’re used to.”

I had absolutely no doubt of that. “Is this going to be creepy?”

We pulled up to a red light, and I got the full force of the evil grin. “Keep an open mind and follow my lead. And remember, if you let me be in control of it, my comfort level will be higher. But I will also make it worth your while.”

I had a sudden sense that he meant that in far more ways than I had previously considered. And an equally sudden impulse to tell him to turn the car around, take me back to his place, and tell me more about how he got girls into bed. But I’d promised Athena, and this outing was meant to benefit Ivan, after all.

“So you’re saying you’ve been going out with girls all this time and nobody knew about it?” I’d lived next door to the guy for two years, and thought I knew as much about him as a stalker. This would have been a big detail to miss.

“No, and I’m not really going to say much more about it right now. If you want me to play that role, I can do that. But I do it a certain way, and usually only with people who are…another certain way. They’re looking for a particular type.”

Tragically gorgeous uber-nerd scientists with zero social skills?

“Astrophysicists?”

He chuckled. “People who prefer to be in control of their variables.”

I could tell there was something he was leaving out, some critical element. But we were almost at the theater, and I didn’t have time to get into the details with him. I decided to roll with it. “Okay. You’re in control. Consider me your variable.”

He seemed amused by the whole thing. This was good, as it took the edge off his tension and made him smile more than he usually did. Not the tight, polite smile he used around strangers, but the sly, private little smirk that had driven me crazy since the first time I saw it.

Things started off simply enough. Waiting in line, getting the tickets and soft drinks, locating Athena and friends who were already in the theater. We’d arrived in time for previews, so there wasn’t really much time for interaction before the movie anyway. Athena and I had agreed to do it this way, movie first and then dinner, so there would be a built-in topic of conversation during the meal. We thought it might help Ivan to have at least one subject at hand, although I was leery of how he might react if he had strong feelings about the movie.

It was a good date flick, a horror film with an improbable serial-killer plot designed to maximize the potential for shock visuals that tended to make a girl squeak and grab her date for safety. And it fulfilled that potential quite well, as it turned out. Not that I paid much attention to the movie. As soon as the lights dimmed, Ivan had leaned in toward me, just close enough to encroach on my seat a little. The armrests were the flip-down kind, so nothing prevented his thigh from pressing against mine from the knee halfway to the hip. The first five minutes or so of the movie were completely lost on me as I processed this. By “processed,” I mean, of course, tried to slow my breathing and control the rampant hormones that made me aware of body parts I usually tried not to think about in public.

On my left Athena was ignoring me, because she was pretty into her date and they were giggling about the movie. So I chanced a little gambit, nudging my knee against Ivan’s under the guise of getting more comfortable. I ended up with my right knee cocked and resting ever so lightly along the top of his thigh. Like it had arrived there by accident.

He saw that bid and raised it, sliding his hand over my bent knee and holding it there. No accident. I stared straight ahead, and if I’d had laser vision I would’ve burned a hole straight through the center of the screen. I had no idea what was being projected there. Ivan’s hand was only twelve inches of thigh away from my girly parts, and whether or not it was all a façade designed to fool the crowd, the whole arrangement was doing very strange things to my rational thinking process.

Jeez, I
really
needed to get laid.

“Careful,” Ivan whispered in my ear. I sucked in a breath and held it as the brush of his lips raised every tiny hair on my body. “You probably don’t want to play that kind of game with me.”

I might be needy, but I wasn’t desperate enough to fool myself into thinking there was any point in pursuing a guy who just wasn’t into me. Been there, done that, no interest whatsoever in reliving the experience.

I started to slide my leg away, trying to keep up the casual appearance—darn, these seats weren’t all that comfy, what a shame—but Ivan’s long fingers wrapped around my knee, keeping me from moving. Startled, I looked his way, but couldn’t read his face in the flickering light of the dimly lit scene in front of us.

“Watch the movie,” he whispered. And when I turned back to the screen, puzzled and embarrassed, his lips brushed my ear again with predictable results. “You gave me control, remember?”

I nodded, flicking a glance Athena’s way to see if she had noticed anything amiss. Her head was on the guy’s shoulder now. I wished I could remember his name, since it seemed likely to come up later. Jacob? Jason? Something with a
J,
anyway.

“Watch the movie. I may give you a pop quiz later to see if you were paying attention.” Something in his tone and the touch of his lips against the shell of my ear turned my entire right side to liquid heat, and I shivered before I could stop myself. His fingers tightened against my leg in a slow, deliberate squeeze that made me want to whimper.

What the hell was his deal? He really was going to have to come clean about his big secret at some point.

A nudge at my left elbow shocked me from my musings, and I turned that way to see Athena glaring daggers first at my face, and then at Ivan’s hand on my leg. Then back at my face, her expression one big silent “What the fuck?”

I whispered, “Tell you later,” and tried to settle back down to watch the movie just in case Ivan was serious about the whole pop quiz thing. But between his hand on my leg and the occasional whispered remarks in my ear, I was pretty much a libidinous basket case by the time the film was over, and damned if I had any remote idea what the thing had been about. Some attractive young people had been lured to an old house, and all but one had died horribly after being mind-fucked in every possibly way. Beyond that I was clueless.

If there was to be a pop quiz, I knew I would fail it miserably. And I found myself wondering whether that might not have been the goal.

The heat outside the theater assailed me, moist and grasping, the second I walked out. Like walking into a steam room, particularly since I was wearing a three-quarter-length sleeve and had traded my shorts for denim capri pants. The movie theater we’d gone to was notoriously chilly, so I’d dressed for that. The shirt was on loan from Athena, so it was lower-cut by far than my usual, but the extra cooling from all the bare skin on my chest could only accomplish so much against the oppressive heat of the summer night. I hoped the restaurant wasn’t too warm, or I’d be miserable.

We gathered outside before dispersing to cars, and more lengthy introductions were made, with Athena staring pointedly at me all the while. And then, fortunately, Ivan turned his phone ringer back on and noticed a missed voicemail from work. He apologized and stepped away to listen to it, and this occupied him while we engaged in the restaurant negotiations that typically so enraged him.

We’d decided on sushi by the time he rejoined the group, so we split up into couples to drive to the restaurant.

“I have to stop by the lab after we eat,” Ivan said. Not apologetically, I noticed. Nor did he say that it wouldn’t take long, or any of the other usual things one says. “Did I hear correctly? Sushi?”

“Yep.”

He smiled. “You could always try ‘Yes, Professor.’”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” He opened the car door and gestured me in. “Don’t forget to buckle up.”

When we’d been driving for a few minutes, he cleared his throat. “So what do you normally order at a sushi bar?”

“Sashimi. Sometimes a roll. It depends, why?”

“No allergies I should be aware of? Shellfish, anything like that? Any very strong dislikes?”

“Nope.”

He bit his lower lip and shook his head. “No, Professor.”

“Seriously?”

“No, it’s all right. I’ll humor you for now. As long as you let me order for both of us.”

“All right. Control. I get it.”

“No, I really don’t think you do. But that’s okay. This is still helpful. It’s helping me to see how to translate this behavior from one setting to another. With new expectations.”

At the next red light, he gave me a head-to-toe appraisal then seemed to be searching his memory for the right phrase. “You look very nice tonight.”