Nerds Are From Mars by Vicki Lewis Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

threatening. If an ax murderer had been coming down the hall, the tiny hairs on my arms and the back of my neck would have stood straight up.”
    “Really?” That seemed to fascinate him. “So you’re like a drug-sniffing dog?”
    She smiled. Despite his new sophistication, he was still a nerd who would occasionally make nerdy comments and never dream they’d give offense. Because she loved dogs and admired the drug-sniffing ones, she wasn’t at all offended, but some women might not relish the comparison. “I get your point, but they’re using their sense of smell, not their psychic powers.”
    “True.”
    “And after all that discussion, I still don’t know what you spent your time doing today.”
    He put down his wine glass and reached in his back pocket. “Geeking out.” He tossed over a business card with a signature scrawled across it.
    She picked it up but didn’t recognize the name. “Should I know who this is?”
    “Absolutely. He was on Star Trek: The Next Generation .”
    “Never watched it.”
    He clutched his heart and gasped dramatically. “Talk about my lack of significant knowledge. You’ve never watched a single episode?”
    “Nope.”
    “Now, that’s shocking.”
    “But I’m willing to be educated.”
    He laughed, and those dimples flashed. “Then you’ve come to the right place. I happen to own every season.”
    The implication that they might watch those episodes together tantalized her. She could picture a cozy sofa, some snacks, and snuggling with her space geek. “So who else did you meet?”
    “Tons of people.” He proceeded to describe his afternoon as they ate their meal. “Good thing my friend Bill has kids.” He emptied the wine bottle into both of their glasses. “That gave us the perfect excuse to stalk our favorite stars. To our surprise, the stars wanted to hang out with us. The Mars project impresses the heck out of them for some reason.”
    “Of course it does. I’m impressed, too.”
    “Guess so, since you came all the way from Ojai to meet me.” He pushed aside his empty plate and picked up his wine glass.
    “Don’t go getting a swelled head. It’s not such a long way, less than a two-hour drive.” She returned her attention to her plate, where she had a little pasta left.
    “Maybe so, but it was still a bold move, and I can’t pretend I’m not flattered.” The timbre of his voice changed slightly. “And turned on.”
    She glanced up to find him watching her with an intensity that curled her toes. “Oh.” She picked up her wine and took a quick gulp.
    “At first I believed that you were merely curious and that talking to me about your astrology studies might be an experiment. I still thought that until we started going over the chart and you flirted with me.”
    She couldn’t deny doing that so she remained silent to see if he had more to say.
    He swirled the wine in his glass. “It’s no secret that I was crazy about you in high school. This morning in the coffee shop I confessed that you were my dream girl and I didn’t want to blow this chance to spend time with you.”
    She nodded. His passionate speech had jump-started a hormonal response that had faded a little during their separation but was ramping up quickly now.
    “When it comes to women, I’m usually more careful about showing my hand, but I felt I needed to say what I did to keep you from leaving. And it worked. Here we are, having dinner together in your hotel room.”
    “That was so no one would see you having your chart read by an astrologer.”
    He gave her a long, assessing look. “And that’s all there is to it?”
    Her breathing quickened. “For now.”
    “I don’t know what that means. What’s now ? Is it the next two minutes? The next two hours? The next two days?”
    If her pulse hadn’t been racing, she would have found his need for precision fascinating and so in keeping with his profile. Instead she wanted to shove the cart away, grab him, and kiss that