LEARNING CURVES

by Joanne Rock

  Where did he get off threatening her with mind-blowing orgasms? Hadn't he promised himself to keep their relationship on a courtship-only basis? He wanted to treat her gently, respectfully, the way a woman such as Maddy should be treated. Instead, he had found himself telling her to leave her panties in her dresser drawer.

  Big mistake.

  Now she would expect a new level of intimacy from their date tonight … something he had no business tangling with. No matter how badly Maddy thought she wanted to learn the steps of seduction, she wouldn't be happy with a man who couldn't possibly commit himself to her.

  Cal wanted to save them both the heartache—and to maintain the friendship he valued. He'd never had a relationship in his life—including his marriage—that had been as rewarding as his friendship with Maddy, and he wasn't about to give it up for hotter-than-a-blowtorch sex.

  When class ended, he called home to check on Allison, who promised she was already tucked in for the night with her copy of Nietzsche. A little light reading for the genius, he guessed.

  Reassured, he clicked off the phone and wondered how to handle tonight. One thing he'd decided, he would take Maddy for a quick trip to see his newest addition to the Perfect Timing franchise. He'd never had a chance to ask her more about her interest in cars, and the idea intrigued him.

  Besides, a glorified garage and car wash would be a safe, non-tempting place to take her—no beds in sight. After that, maybe they'd head over to hear a band in Butchertown and grab a couple of cappuccinos.

  Nervous as a kid on his first date, Cal still had no idea how to backtrack from the sexual banter they'd exchanged just yesterday.

  His only hope was that Maddy would be nervous, too, and would allow him to set the tone of their date. Maybe then he could treat her to the more civilized introduction to courtship and flirtation she deserved.

  * * *

  Madeline adjusted her black leather skirt and grimaced, wondering now if she'd gone a bit too far with her new ensemble.

  She wanted to make an impression on Cal tonight, but even she wondered at the wisdom of trooping around town in her outfit. Sitting on her white linen duvet, she frowned down at her garb. The skirt exposed more thigh than most of her summer shorts and clung to her hips like an X-rated Band-Aid. Her silky top was semi-sheer, but more modest than the skirt. The black stilettos put her over the top, however, making her resemble a dominatrix more than a college professor.

  Good.

  If Cal had any reservations about what she wanted tonight, they would be lambasted the moment he caught a glimpse of her in this get-up.

  She wanted that screaming orgasm.

  Her doorbell rang and a tremor of pure excitement thrummed through her along with the Winchester chime. She switched off the bedroom light and forced herself to walk slowly down the hall. No sense twisting an ankle before she had the chance to cash in on Cal's volunteer to tutor her firsthand.

  At the door she paused. Taking deep breaths, she tried to relax, to tell herself she wasn't nervous about making this next big step.

  She was going out with Cal, after all. Her friend.

  Gripping the knob with the steely determination that had driven her through eight years of higher education, Maddy opened the door to find the man who dominated her fantasies on the other side.

  He wore a spotless version of jeans and boots, clothes that had obviously never seen the inside of the garage. He carried a white rose tied with a slender length of white satin.

  Her heart lurched to see his gentlemanly offering. She didn't look fit to receive it in her showgirl garb.

  "Hi." She realized she had crossed her feet in front of one another like some gangly teenager.

  "Damnation, Maddy." He whispered the words while staring, wide-eyed, at her legs. A hint of backwoods Tennessee crept into his drawled oath. How could she uncross her tangled feet now? Flushing with the heat of uneasiness and the sizzle of Cal's scrutiny, Madeline tried to interpret his reaction. "You don't like it?"

  His gaze finally reached her face and he gaped at her in what she could only guess was mild horror.

  "How can I take you out in public when you're dressed in that, woman?" He edged his way inside, keeping plenty of distance between them.

  She stepped forward to shut the door, effectively disengaging her legs. Willing her heart to quit pounding the heck out of her chest, she smiled. "You don't have to take me out if you don't want to."

  She'd be more than happy to stay right here, with him.

  He backed up a step, then thrust the rose between them as if it were a shield. "But I promised you a date. We can't just skip the rituals when the rituals are the whole point of your research, can we?"

  She withdrew the flower from his fingers, touched by his thoughtfulness. "Thank you."

  Too bad her seduction wasn't working. He wanted a formal date despite all her efforts.

  She reached for the doorknob. "We can go out for a little while, if you want. We could head downtown to hear some music and—"

  "No." He stepped between her and the door, bumping her leg as he did.

  A quivery tingle danced in her veins at that accidental brush of bodies. What would it be like when he touched her for real?

  "No way are you setting foot out of this house dressed like that." He folded his arms across his chest and settled against the door frame as if he planned to guard the exit all night.

  Why wasn't he responding to her loud-and-clear signals? Had she misjudged his interest? His intent?

  No. How could you misinterpret such a statement as "let's skip the black lace"?

  This called for more forceful measures. Apparently, Cal needed greater incentive to take her in his arms and not let go until she knew all there was to know about mating.

  She sidled up to him as close as she could without touching him. "Then I guess that means we'll have to stay in all night. Just you and me…"

  Cal tugged his shirt collar. "Maybe we should at least go over to the garage."

  "The garage?" She all but shrieked. She was hell-bent on seduction and he wanted to take her to his repair shop?

  "A brand-new Perfect Timing I'm opening next weekend." He flashed her a lopsided grin as he slid out from between her and the door. "It'll be the cleanest garage you've ever seen. Nice body shop. New car wash…"

  She thought she heard him mutter something about "and no beds" under his breath, but she was too mad to be sure. She tapped the rose against her thigh in an agitated rhythm.

  Then, recalling that his romantic offering marked her first flower from a man, she paused to take an appreciative sniff. Maybe a trip to the garage would be okay.

  "How … nice." She couldn't believe she was failing so miserably in her scheme. How would she ever learn anything about mating rituals from Cal if he insisted on dragging her all over town to see hydraulic lifts?

  He peered around the room expectantly. "Have you got a coat?"

  "No." She marched to the door and stepped outside, not bothering to see if he followed.

  Madeline Seduces a Man, Part Two, was about to begin, and she would make sure this phase went a lot smoother than the debacle in her front hall just now. Of course, no sooner had she told herself as much when she promptly turned her ankle in her skyscraper heels.

  Accepting Cal's arm to steady her, she righted her shaky balance and determination.

  She slid into Cal's car and slammed the door behind her. While she waited for him to get in, she took deep, relaxing breaths and willed herself to think. What had Rose Marie suggested?

  Get as close to that man as possible and see what happens.

  Madeline maneuvered to the middle of the bench seat just as Cal got inside.

  Their thighs converged, hip to knee. The rush of heat that blazed through her infused her with courage, made her more confident in her plan.

  As Cal backed the Chevy on to the street, she whispered to him. "Isn't there supposed to be a second date kiss?"

  His jaw flexe
d, calling her attention to the light shadow of stubble on his cheek

  "Honey, I'm the one with the experience here, right?"

  His foot switched from the gas to the brake at a stoplight, shifting his thigh against hers. The scratch of his jeans against her barely-there stockings stoked a hunger she'd only recently become aware of.

  She turned toward him a bit more and leaned to breathe her response into his ear. "But you forgot the second date kiss."

  She took the opportunity of the stopped car to graze her lips against the soft scratch of his cheek. On impulse, she stole a quick taste of his warm skin.

  He let out a low whistle between his teeth as he started the car forward again. "Honey, you don't know what that does to me."

  The dark intimacy of the car interior compelled her to confide her real thoughts. "I wish it did more." Abruptly he pulled over to the side of the road, oblivious to the potholes the Chevy trounced over to get there. He threw the gearshift into Park and turned on her.

  "Do you mean that, Madeline Watson, or are you just tempting the hell out of me as some kind of social experiment?"

  She considered his words before responding—no easy task with his body mere inches from hers.

  His hazel eyes glimmered dark and dangerous in the close atmosphere of the car. She realized in that moment something that had always fascinated her about this man—his primal earthiness called to a part of herself she'd never before confronted.

  "I want you as more than a social experiment, Cal."

  "You do?" He was giving her an out, a way to still take her stilettos and run.

  She didn't want to.

  Maddy trailed a fingertip down his cheek. "I want to see how fast we can go from zero to sixty in that back seat of yours."

  * * *

  Chapter 8

  « ^ »

  Cal had gotten into more than his fair share of slugfests in life, but no one had ever packed a punch like the one Madeline had just landed with her outrageous proposal.

  He gritted his teeth, determined to not rush headlong into something they would regret. "You deserve better than a back seat, Maddy. No matter how high the heels or how short the skirt, you're still as respectable as they come."

  "And just look where respectable has gotten me—a rejected dissertation and a career hanging in the balance. Not to mention that at this rate I'll be the only doctoral graduate with virginity intact. No job. No life. I don't want to play it safe anymore." Her brown eyes loomed, wide and entreating without the barrier of her glasses.

  Cal knew his defenses against her were running low. God knew, he was trying his damnedest to do this the honorable way. Could he help it if the Lady Scholar had a bad-girl streak a mile wide?

  Then an idea blindsided him. A surefire way to make Madeline see they were all wrong for each other. All he had to do was get her to his car shop.

  He cupped her chin in his palm, not trusting himself to touch any part of her but her heart-shaped face. "Honey, you've achieved more in twenty-five years than most people do in a lifetime. Don't sell yourself short."

  She bit her lip and said nothing, but she couldn't hide the obvious disappointment in her eyes. Cal wondered how in the hell she had ever convinced herself that a spruced-up mechanic like him was right for a blue-blood academic like her.

  But soon, she would understand the truth.

  "I'm taking you out on the date you deserve, Maddy. But I want to show you one thing first." He shifted the car into gear and eased back onto the road. "We're only two blocks from the new shop."

  "We're still going to your garage?" Maddy's voice threaded through the car, her tone betraying only a hint of frustration.

  Cal watched her via the dashboard lights. Her hand fluttered toward her face, and she reached to push the glasses up on her nose that were no longer there.

  "It's not just a garage," he explained, anxious to prove to her why their worlds were light-years apart. "It's a car salon." He pulled into the dark parking lot and killed the ignition.

  She hopped out of his Chevy before he could get the door for her. He loved it that she seemed oblivious to the most basic dating conventions. She might be a brilliant sociology teacher, but he'd been the first man to teach her anything about relationships between men and women.

  "I'm glad to see your latest business, Cal, really I am." She tugged at the hem of her outfit, luring his attention to her legs with their barely-there stockings. "But I'm still hoping for a lesson tonight."

  From any other woman, the comment would have sounded coy. Not so when the words fell from Madeline Watson's naive lips. "Not a chance I could forget, Maddy."

  Unwilling to touch her for fear he wouldn't stop, he headed for the front door and unlocked it. Her heels clicked a seductive rhythm across the parking lot as she caught up with him. For a moment, he imagined her fingers walking up his chest with the same languorous beat. She sidled past him over the threshold, kicking up his heart rate by several blood-pounding notches. She smelled like raspberries and the bubble gum she seemed to have a secret penchant for.

  "There's a paint shop inside!" Maddy exclaimed, her gaze lighting upon the wall full of color cards. "And a car wash!"

  He studied her as she rushed over to touch the rainbow of paint cans, surprised that her appreciation seemed genuine.

  "We can do anything from an oil change to a broken windshield repair." Cal pointed to a couple of the big bays across from the paint area. "We can also fix an older car's carburetor or a new car's fancy computer chip." He ducked behind the front counter while she spun around to take it all in. "Then we send you on your way with a wash and wax job."

  He pushed the button for the automated car wash and let her take in the glory of Perfect Timing's showpiece. Through a pane of glass, the whole reception area could view the state-of-the-art system of spraying water, foaming pink bubbles and spouting yellow wax. The soft brushes spun like a carnival ride, dipping and swirling in their search for a vehicle to clean.

  Cal knew other people wouldn't be as enthused about his business as him—especially not the Lady Scholar, whose whole world revolved around her academics and research. Perfect Timing represented a dream fulfilled for him, but Maddy would only see a car wash.

  "Wow!" She pivoted to look at him, her eyes reflecting the same delight he'd felt when he'd first eyed this contraption. "It could be right out of Willie Wonka!"

  God help him. She seemed to think it was as cool as he did. Pride sang through him at her words, along with a renewed dose of lust for a woman who could appreciate his invention.

  He left the machine running and came out from behind the counter to join her, inordinately pleased and terrified that the professor gave good grades to something besides research papers. "I put together the specs for it and submitted it to an architect. I couldn't believe the guy made it all work just the way I'd described."

  "You thought of this?"

  The tenuous barrier he'd erected between them crumbled in the face of the admiration shining in her eyes. He nodded, now knowing he'd never be able to say no to this woman. "My mother calls it daydreaming," he confided.

  Maddy turned to him, a mischievous smile playing at her lips. "They say if you can dream it, you can do it."

  "I guess so." He moved to shut off the machine. His mission to send her running might have been a dismal failure, but now he could have his night with her. He couldn't deny what he felt for her any longer, and he sure as hell couldn't wait to get her out of here and satisfy every erotic desire Madeline Watson ever had.

  Madeline's voice stopped him cold. "Do you want to try it out?"

  His hand hovered over the button, allowing the car wash to continue its colorful dance. Disappointment crowded his chest as he pivoted back to her. He wanted her so bad he could almost taste those bubble gum lips of hers. He didn't want to wait. "You can pull the Chevy inside if you want, but—"

  She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the car wash service entrance. "No. I mean, do
you want to try it out."

  "You're kidding." The hum of the machinery increased as they neared the door. The buzz of blood in his veins seemed to throb right along with it.

  For the first time since he'd picked her up at her doorstep, he allowed his gaze to travel slowly up her legs and over her curves in the dim lights of the reception desk. The professor wanted love lessons?

  Well, by God, he'd do his best to make sure he taught her well before she found herself another tutor. No way would he let this sweet woman fall into the hands of some slam-bam-thank-you-ma'am clod.

  She flashed him her A-plus grin, making his mouth go dry as chalk dust. Her faith in him was a bracing reminder that this woman wasn't just another fling. No matter how scientifically professor Maddy approached this business of seduction, nothing would ever be the same between them after tonight. He had to make their time together something she would never, ever forget.

  "What about tonight's lesson in seduction?" He had been wanting to touch her for four years. He didn't think he could wait for her any longer.

  At the door, she paused. She looked up at him with her most infectious bad-girl grin. "I've decided there would be nothing more seductive than to learn among pink bubbles."

  Oh, God. Where on earth did Little Miss Innocent come up with erotic ideas like this one? He waited for a moment, trying to envision how he could accommodate her without getting them both killed by twirling brushes.

  "Please?"

  Her soft request undid him, made him ready to slay dragons or heavy car wash equipment if need be. He leaned over her, powerless to keep his hands off her another minute.

  Her eyes closed when his hand brushed around her waist, tangling in the length of her silky brown hair. She slid slender arms around his neck. Cal braced himself on the glass door behind her, the thrum of the machines vibrating though the barrier and up his arms to shake his whole world.