Page 11 of Love and the Laws of Motion
She waited by the door as Nick made his goodbyes to Janet.“Welcome to the team, Mr.DeSantis.”
“It’s Nick.And are you kidding me?This is the coolest thing I’ve worked on in months.”
Janet looked pleased and flattered as they left her office.He really could charm anyone, even Janet.Well, she wasn’t going to let him charm her anymore.She was putting a stop to that as of right now.It would only get in the way of the work they had to do together, and she couldn’t afford that kind of distraction.
As they left the office, Nick grasped Livie’s elbow and steered her to the left.“This way.”
It was the first time he’d touched her, and every nerve ending in Livie’s left arm recorded the moment for posterity.It was like she’d been reduced down to that single point of contact, the only important part of her body being the one he had his hand on.But if that were true, then why did she feel his innocent touch in a dozen other embarrassing places?While her body had come to pulsating life, her brain, usually the most reliable part of her, shut down entirely.If Nick had asked her her name, she wasn’t sure she could answer him.So much for putting a stop to her inappropriate feelings.That had lasted all of thirty seconds.
She still couldn’t find her tongue, but Nick didn’t seem to need other people to help carry on a conversation.He could do it all by himself.
“I think we should work at my place.”
“Yourplace?”Her voice was a breathy squeak.“Not here?”
“I’m going to need some serious computer power and storage and frankly...”He cast a look around at the scuffed linoleum, chipped paint, and flickering fluorescent overhead lights of Simmons Hall.“I doubt the departmental computers have the muscle to handle it.”
Well, he was probably right about that.Eventually they’d have all new computers for Janet’s research, but university purchasing could be painfully slow, and in the meantime, all Adams U had to offer were crummy budget-priced desktops five years out of date.
“I mean, honestly, we could probably do it all remotely,” Nick continued.“But when I get on a roll, I like to keep going.It’ll drive me crazy if I email you a question and I have to wait for your answer.Can you work at my place?Is that okay?”
He looked sideways at her and her throat closed up.Alone with Nick at his place?That was probably a bad idea, but she didn’t really see a way around it.“Um, yeah, sure.We can work at your place.When do you want to start?”
“Can you come by tomorrow afternoon?”
She taught her class at noon.Just thinking about that was enough to give her hives.Teaching had turned out to be every bit as terrifying as she’d expected—a classroom full of undergrads, staring her down with judgment and disapproval in their eyes.And now she’d have to face Nick at the end of it.
She missed last year, where she could sit in the back of a classroom instead of standing in the front, and her out-of-class hours were spent in quiet solitude with a ream of research instead of with this hot computer genius who scrambled up her hormones and turned her brain inside out.Last year had been easier in a thousand ways.
“I think I can be there by two?Is that okay?”
“Two is perfect.”He grinned, and she suffered through another wave of embarrassing tingles.
They’d reached the front doors of Simmons Hall.Nick spun around and walked backward toward the exit.The sun pouring in through the glass doors illuminated him from behind, almost like a halo.The muscles of his upper arms were picked out in sharp relief, making him look like one of those ancient Roman statues of conquering princes, and it lit up coppery highlights in his hair she hadn’t noticed before.“I’ll see you then.This is gonna be fun, Livie.”
She watched him turn and push open the doors, disappearing into the bright white sunlight outside.“Yeah,” she whispered to herself.“Fun.”
This was going to be the absolute opposite of fun.
Chapter Six
When Livie texted Nick after class the next day to let him know she was on her way over, he replied with the code to his building, explaining that he was busy with something and might not hear the bell.
Letting herself into the lobby, she prayed that Poppy would be there.What she needed right now was a strong dose of reality to crush these stupid, inconvenient feelings, and a six-foot blonde goddess with Nick’s ring on her finger was as real as it got.
In the vestibule upstairs, she tapped lightly on his front door and when she got no response, let herself in there, too.
“Nick?”
No answer.And no Poppy.Damn.
She made her way to Nick’s office and found him scowling at one of his monitors, his cell phone pressed to his ear.He acknowledged her with a brief glance and motioned to the chair next to his.
“Hang on, I’m finishing this up.”
She took a seat, then scooted back a bit when she noticed how close her knee was to his.Nick’s one-sided conversation was a series of grunts and “okay”s to whoever was on the phone.When he finally hung up, he kept tapping on his keyboard, eyes still on the monitor.“Sorry, one more thing.”
“Are you still working?We can reschedule.”She wouldn’t complain, actually.Maybe next time Poppy would be here.Maybe Livie could plant her squarely between her and Nick, just to be safe.
