Page 4 of Love and the Laws of Motion
“It’s three subway stops away.”How could he be this close to home and yet his own aunt didn’t have a clue how to reach him?Her sisters could track her phone’s location at this very moment.
The little line between his eyebrows came back.“I don’t get home much.”
He turned and kept walking across the very large open-plan living area, passing through a door on the far wall, which led to a smaller room.This one, obviously his office, was tucked into the corner of the building, with walls of windows on two sides and the same spectacular view of the bridge.Up against the windows were two long black tables, meeting at right angles in the corner.And every square inch of their surface was covered with computer equipment.Livie counted four jumbo displays and at least three CPU towers buried in a snaking nest of cables and peripherals.Maybe this guy was good enough to tackle the project after all.
Nick dropped into a black office chair and swiveled around to face her.
“So what are you looking for?”
Her eyes were still busy cataloging his setup.Top-notch research labs didn’t have this much computer equipment.There were pieces of hardware she didn’t even recognize.It must have cost him a fortune.
“I’m looking for some help with a computer program.”
Nick sighed.“I don’t know what you might have heard about me, but I don’t do tech support.Call Geek Squad.”
She turned back to face him.Okay, he was extremely attractive and obviously successful, but did he have to be so arrogant?“It’s a little more complicated than that.I need to write a new program for my dissertation.”
Nick leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out and crossing them at the ankles.Threading his fingers together, he rested his hands on his abdomen—which looked like it would be firm to the touch.If she were to touch it.How did this computer geek have a body that was so hard and sculpted and distracting?
“Okay, pitch me.”
Livie blinked, embarrassed that he might have caught her staring.“Excuse me?”
“Tell me why I should take on your project.”
“Um, well, I can pay you, of course.”Although she had the sinking feeling that Nick was a long way from the budget-friendly alternative she was looking for.
Nick scoffed.“I don’t work for money.I’ve done that already.”
What a ridiculous thing to say.“And, what, you earned money once and now you have all you’ll ever need?”
Nick said nothing—he just hiked an eyebrow and smiled—a slow, crooked curling of his lips that had Livie’s toes curling inside her shoes in response.Butterflies set up a flutter in her stomach.Oh, he was way too attractive for his own good.
It was too bad she was never going to see him again.
“Okay, so you’re not interested.”She turned toward the door.“Thanks for your time.I’ll just—”
“I didn’t say that,” he interjected.“I don’t know if I’m interested until you tell me what it is.”
Taking a deep breath to marshal her thoughts, Livie turned back.“It’s for my dissertation.”
“You said that.”
“I’m getting there.We’re going to be receiving a lot of data.”
“Who’s ‘we’?”
“Me and my thesis advisor, Dr.Janet Finch.She’s brilliant.It’s her theory we’re attempting to prove.”
“Okay, you’re going to be receiving a lot of data.What kind of data?From where?”
“I’m getting to that.”Did he ever let anybody finish their train of thought?“There’s already a set of standard routines to sift through Hubble data.But what we’re looking for, what we hope to find, won’t show up in any of the standard analysis tools—”
“Hold up.”Nick’s feet hit the floor hard as he sat up abruptly.“The Hubble?Like the space telescope?”
“Yes.Did I mention I’m an astrophysicist?”
Again, the corner of his mouth twitched with that toe-curling smile.“No, you didn’t.You’re going to get tousethe Hubble telescope?”
