“How many more weeks do you think we’ll have to wait?”
“I’m not sure. What’s in the container?” he asks her.
“Chocolate chunk cookies. I put a couple extra dozen aside this afternoon to bring for the star party.”
“That was nice of you.” He smiles, but she can tell he’s distracted by something. “Shall we go?”
They both head over to Anthony’s black SUV. He holds the passenger door open for her, which flusters Natalie.
“I thought this wasn’t supposed to be a date.” She tries to climb inside, but stops because there are books and papers all over the seat.
“Sorry,” Anthony says. He reaches past her to grab everything and tosses it into the back. “There you are . . . oh, wait.” He brushes the crumbs away.
Natalie climbs inside, kicking aside a few more papers on the floor. She reaches down and adds them to the backseat.
“You need an assistant or something,” she tells him as he’s getting settled in the driver’s seat.
“I have one.”
“Really?” She glances at him, but when she tries to look away discovers she can’t. His profile draws her back. Anthony’s nose is straight, his jaw square. His lips aren’t full, but they’re even. He’s like something out of an Italian Renaissance painting.
She notices his hair is long in back and a strong desire to touch those dark curls takes hold.
It’s with real effort that she finally forces herself to turn away.
But then Natalie notices his scent is everywhere in the car. A woodsy smell mixed with something else, something musky and delicious that can only be Anthony himself.
Lust spirals through her.
I could sit in this car smelling him and worshipping his profile all night.
She shifts in her seat. Being this close to Anthony is doing funny things to her insides. There are butterflies dancing in her stomach and her breathing is erratic.
To take her mind off it she asks him where he was raised. “Are you from Seattle?”
“No, I grew up mostly in L.A.”
Natalie nods. “Los Angeles. That definitely explains it.”
Anthony glances over at her as they pull out onto the main road. “Explains what?”
“The way you talk.”
“How do I talk?”
“Well, you’re obviously very intelligent. Sometimes you sound refined, almost snobbish. But other times you sound like a surfer dude.”
Anthony merges lanes so he can get into the correct lane for the Interstate. “I can’t tell for sure, but . . . are you insulting me again?”
Natalie laughs. “I hope not. I’m trying to behave.”
He gives her a look from the corner of his eye. “Miss Natalie, what am I going to do with you?”
“I’ll be good the rest of the night. I promise.”
“And if you’re not, do I get to decide your punishment?”
Natalie is tongue-tied at his flirtatious tone. She’s not sure what to do. Her flirtation skills are as rusty as an old hippie bus full of Grateful Dead fans. “So, uh, why did you move to Seattle?”
“Mostly work and some other obligations. I was offered tenure track at the UW and decided to take it.”
“What’s tenure track?”
“It means I’m on track to be a tenured professor, but they haven’t offered it to me yet. I have to prove myself first.”
“Sounds stressful.”
Anthony lets out a breath. “Yeah, it can be.”
“So, why else did you move here? You said you had other obligations.”
Anthony gives her a smirk. “What is this, an interrogation? I refuse to answer any more questions until you give me one of those cookies.”
“But these are for the star party.”
He reaches over and tries to take them from her and she squeals. “Hey, hands off!”
“You wouldn’t even be going to this star party if it weren’t for me.”
“Maybe so, but I brought them to share with everyone.” Her hands are on top of the container, holding it shut. “You’ll have to wait.”
“Why are you so cruel to me?”
“I don’t know.” Natalie knows he’s only joking, but she finds herself pondering his words.
“Come on, Natalie, just one cookie.”
Anthony surprises her by sliding his hand on top of hers. His touch sends a shock wave through her whole body.
“Did you notice what time I showed up at your house tonight?” he murmurs.
“Yes,” she says, trying to hide the breathless quality in her voice. His hand is warm. He slides his fingers between hers to the edges of the lid, trying to get inside. “You were on time.”
“And where were you?”
“Late.”
“Exactly. So where’s my cookie?”
Natalie laughs, surprised at her own sultry tone. “Okay, I’ll give you a cookie.”
He takes his hand away and Natalie opens the container, releasing the aroma of fresh chocolate and vanilla into the car. She takes one out and hands it to him.
“Thanks,” he says. “You’re formidable when you’re guarding your . . . cookies.”
Their eyes meet and Natalie feels herself pulled in.
If I’m not careful I could get in deep trouble here.
She knows about men like him and they typically aren’t worth the trouble. But a little voice inside her is saying, so what?
Have some fun. When was the last time a man like this flirted with you?
Uh, never.
So there you go.
But she knows she can’t let her guard down. It isn’t in her nature to be reckless. Lindsay’s maybe, but not hers.
They talk more on the drive, though Natalie notices how cleverly he deflects answering any real questions about himself. For all his friendly charm, she suspects Anthony is a deeply private person.
“So what area of astronomy do you work with again? Gamma radiation?” She’d looked up both “astronomer” and “gamma radiation” when she got home from work that afternoon, figuring it might come in handy. “I remember it was kind of like the Hulk.”
“My main area is gamma-ray bursts. Particularly long gamma-ray bursts.”
“So what about gamma-ray bombs? Are those real?”
“No,” he chuckles, “but I’m impressed. You know your Hulk superhero origin pretty well.”
“I’m kind of a closet fantasy sci-fi fan.”
“Yeah? I remember you mentioned liking Star Wars.”
“I’m big on Lord of the Rings, too. I have this cool hoodie, but I’m not allowed to wear it anymore. Actually, my daughter and sister hid it from me.”
Anthony laughs. “Why would they do that?”
“Apparently, it’s ugly.”
“You should show it to me sometime.”
Natalie imagines modeling her Lord of the Rings hoodie for Anthony and the thought makes her chuckle to herself. Lindsay would have a fit. “I don’t think I’m allowed.”
“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.” Then he looks over and flashes one of his boyish grins and all Natalie can think is, deep trouble.
THEY PULL UP to a ranch-style house that’s on some land with a row of evergreens in front. A number of cars are parked in the long driveway, but with the exception of a glowing red porch light, everything else is completely dark.
“Is anybody here?”
“Don’t worry. They’re all in the backyard.”
They both get out of the car, with Natalie holding the cookies and a thermos of coffee Anthony asked her to carry. He walks around to the rear and opens the trunk, fiddling with something in back.
Eventually, he comes around to the front carrying an enormous case.
“What on earth is that?”
“It’s my telescope.”
“It looks huge.”
He glances down. “This is nothing. Just wait until you see some of the other scopes people have. ”
“Really? I thought te
lescopes were slender brass tubes like the one Galileo used.”
Anthony chuckles. “Not quite. That was four-hundred years ago.”
They make their way around to the back of the house, following a footpath lit by a row of small red lights. It’s so dark, she can barely see anything.
Natalie starts to wonder if coming here was a bad idea. It only now occurs to her that she’s at an astronomy party with a bunch of super geeks. Everyone there probably has an advanced degree, while she never even finished college.
How long is it going to take them to figure out that I’m a science doofus?
Not long.
She clutches her cookies. Well, super geek or not, I can bake the pants off anybody here.
Once they round the corner, she finds herself in a large open field. It’s dark but she can see there are people milling about, with more flashes of red light everywhere.
“What’s with all the red lights?”
“It helps protect your night vision. Otherwise you’d have to readjust your eyes every time you turned on a flashlight.”
Natalie hears voices. She and Anthony head toward them. It’s pitch black outside and people are standing around talking to each other.
“Anthony, glad you could make it,” an older guy says. “And it looks like you brought Cassie.”
“I did. She’s ready for some clear skies tonight.”
“Yes, we got lucky with the weather for a change.”
“Rick, this is my friend, Natalie.”
“Hi there, Natalie. Welcome.”
Natalie widens her eyes trying to get a better look at Rick. “Thanks, it’s nice to meet you.” Widening her eyes doesn’t make any difference though. She still can’t see him.
“I need to talk to you, Anthony,” some woman across from them says. “It’s about the Smyth Medal. The Seattle Times has been trying to get ahold of you.”
“Yeah, thanks. I already got the message.”
Anthony introduces her to the rest of the group. Natalie smiles and says hello, but it’s so dark out she doubts she’d recognize any of them in the light of day.
“And what do you have there?” Rick asks her.
“I brought some chocolate chunk cookies to share.”
“Thank you. You can put them on the table if you like.”
There’s a picnic table a short distance away with a dim red lantern on it. Natalie starts to walk over, but her foot hits something and she stumbles. Suddenly, there’s a firm grip on her arm.
“Are you okay?” It’s Anthony. She didn’t realize he was following her.
She lets out a short laugh. “I can’t see anything! There isn’t even moonlight.”
“I know. It’s a new moon. Don’t worry, it gets easier once your eyes adjust.”
“I’m pretty sure they are adjusted.”
Anthony chuckles softly and the sound is intimate. “It takes at least thirty minutes for your eyes to become dark adapted. Hours, actually, if you want to get technical about it.”
“Really?”
He nods. Or she thinks he’s nodding. She can’t tell for sure. Her attraction to him isn’t any less intense. Part of it is that she can still smell him, and his scent mixed with the night air is divine.
“Don’t worry,” he says in a low voice. “You get good at doing all sorts of things in the dark.” Anthony stops talking and she can hear him chuckling again. “I don’t know what it is about you, Miss Natalie.” He lets out a breath. “You make me nervous.”
Natalie is stunned. Her first thought is that he’s playing her. “I seriously doubt I make you nervous.”
“Why would you doubt that?”
“I’d say your beauty would be the first reason.”
“My beauty?”
“You’re too handsome. Too charming. Too much of everything really.”
Anthony is silent. And Natalie is already regretting the harsh way her words came out. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t say it,” he cuts her off. “Don’t bother saying it anymore.”
She bites her lip. Strange to think that telling someone they’re too handsome and charming is an insult, but she knows it is. For him, especially.
“I’m going to put these cookies on the table.”
He doesn’t respond.
Placing her container on the picnic table, she notices there are quite a few sweets laid out. There are even containers of what looks like homemade ice cream.
Anthony waits for her. Despite what she said, he doesn’t comment on it again. Instead, he takes her around and politely introduces her to the other astronomers.
To her surprise, everyone at the party is super friendly. Her fears about seeming foolish amidst all these geeks were unfounded. If anything, people are overly eager to be helpful when they discover this is her first star party.
Anthony was right about the other telescopes, too. Some of them are impressive. “What are these called?” She points to one of the giant tubes attached to a square base.
“Dobsonian,” Anthony tells her. “It’s a Newtonian scope, designed by John Dobson back in the seventies.”
“We also call them light buckets,” Ronan, the owner of the Dobsonian tells her as he makes some kind of adjustment. “Would you like to take a look?”
Natalie steps forward and peers into the eyepiece. She sucks in her breath. Before her she sees a mass of bright stars surrounded with a pale hazy glow.
“It’s beautiful.”
“That’s M42, or the Orion Nebula,” Ronan says. He explains to her that nebulae are the birthplaces of stars.
Anthony informs her that he’s going to go set up his own telescope. “You can stay here if you prefer. I’ll be over there on the west side of the field.” He points to a flat grassy area.
“That’s okay. I’ll come with you.”
She follows him as he lugs his telescope over. It’s cold enough to see her breath and she keeps her hands in her coat pockets. Unfortunately, she forgot to wear gloves.
Anthony sets his case on the ground and starts to pull out pieces, setting the tripod up first.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asks.
“I’ve got it covered.”
“Why do you call your telescope Cassie?”
“Because it’s a Schmidt-Cassegrain.”
Natalie waits for him to continue, but he doesn’t offer anything more.
She notices a definite chill in the air and it isn’t just the weather. He’s been polite to her since the comment she made earlier, but not much beyond that.
“Actually, you can hold this,” he says, handing her what looks like a mini telescope.
“What is it?”
“Finderscope.”
Natalie knows she’s lost ground with him and what’s worse is she suspects she’s hurt his feelings.
How can I fix this if he won’t let me apologize?
She takes a deep breath. “I didn’t have the greatest childhood.”
Anthony doesn’t stop what he’s doing, but she can tell he’s listening.
“My father was very handsome and charming. Everyone loved him. He was also a womanizer who couldn’t be faithful to my mother for five minutes.”
Anthony was lengthening the tripod legs, but stops now and looks over at her. “So you think I’m like him? Is that it?”
“I don’t know. Are you?”
He doesn’t respond right away, but continues setting up the telescope. “You barely even know me, so how can you ask that?”
“I know that women are always calling you or following you around. You’re always on your phone and every time, it’s with a different woman. It’s Nicole this or Justine that and last time at the bakery, I heard you talking to someone named Maya. Plus you ordered a birthday cake for another woman named Serena.”
Anthony’s brows knit together. Natalie can see him more clearly now. He was right, it took some time but her eyes have adapted to the dark.
“Justine isn’t an
yone to me, as you well know. Nicole is my ex-wife. Maya is my assistant. We are not romantically involved.”
Anthony adjusts the final leg on the tripod and stands up. He takes the finderscope from her. “And Serena is my daughter.”
“Daughter?”
“Yes, I have a daughter.”
“You’ve never mentioned her before.”
Natalie remembers the coffee mug she saw in his office. So Anthony is a dad after all. She watches him situate and attach the main part of the telescope to the tripod. It’s large and awkward, but he manages it easily and it’s obvious he’s done it many times before.
“And you’re right, women do sometimes follow me or they try to give me their phone numbers. Occasionally, they’re even aggressive.” He pulls out a small keypad and attaches it to the telescope. The numbers on it light up red. “I don’t encourage it. I mostly discourage it, but if they’re in one of my classes there isn’t a whole lot I can do about it.”
He punches in some numbers and the telescope makes a whirring noise as it slowly turns. Anthony looks through the finderscope and then fiddles with the eyepiece.
“How old is your daughter?” Natalie asks.
“Serena is ten.” Anthony steps away from the telescope. “Do you want to take a look?”
Natalie’s eyebrows go up. “Our daughters are almost the same age. Chloe is only a year older.”
“I know.”
She studies him. For whatever reason, she senses he’s not inclined to talk about his daughter.
“What is it?” Natalie asks, stepping close to the telescope and putting her eye to the viewfinder. When she sees the bright-ringed image in front of her, she squeals with delight. “Saturn!” A huge smile spreads across her face. She pulls back, still grinning. “Thank you. This is amazing!”
He grins back. “You’re welcome.”
She continues to check out Saturn, relieved that the chill between her and Anthony seems to have dissipated. It’s surprisingly exciting to see the planet with her own eyes and she finds herself curious about other celestial objects.
“Ready for more?” he asks, as if reading her mind.
“Definitely.”
He types in coordinates and the telescope makes a whirring noise as it slowly turns.
Anthony shows her Jupiter, the Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster, and the Andromeda galaxy.
Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) Page 18
