Nerd in Shining Armor

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “You might be right.” She’d gotten rid of most of the sand. “I’m pretty much cleaned off. Want me to be on lookout duty while you wash the sand off?”

  He brushed at his arms. “I’m fine.”

  “Jack, you still have a ton of sand on your arms, and your back, not to mention your butt. You should—”

  “Just don’t mention my butt from now on, and I promise not to mention yours, okay?”

  Stung, she stepped back a pace. “You’re mad at me.”

  He turned, his expression fierce, a lot like the pirate he’d pretended to be earlier. “You’re damned right I am. First you make it seem like—” He stopped and stared at her. Gradually the anger left his eyes. “Ah, don’t look like that, Gen.”

  She swallowed, surprised that she’d be so bothered that he was upset with her. “What…what were you going to say?”

  He shrugged. “It’s not important. This is my problem, not yours.” Leaning down, he picked up the beach towel she’d tossed aside when she’d jumped into the water with him. “Come on. Let’s go back to the hut and split the last energy bar. Then we’ll figure out our next move.”

  She held her ground. “First I want to get something straight. What’s happened between us meant something to me. I wasn’t just playing around because you were the only guy available.”

  He looked at her, his face expressionless.

  “Okay, Jack. Do you honestly think that’s why I had sex with you, because you were convenient?”

  When he didn’t say anything, she marched right over and gave him a good punch on the arm.

  “Ow!”

  “Serves you right, if that’s what you think of me, that I would have slipped those condoms on whoever’s noodle was handy!” She pulled back her arm to punch him again.

  “No, you don’t.” He caught her wrist. “I’m not going to stand here and let you beat up on me. I have a feeling you could do a pretty good job.”

  “Then take back what you said!”

  “But I didn’t say anything!”

  True, he hadn’t. “Then take back what you were thinking!”

  His mouth twitched, like he was trying not to laugh. “First I’d have to find out what you thought I thought.”

  “You know good and well. You’re making me madder than a treed polecat, standing there smirking!”

  “Smirking? I don’t smirk.”

  “Oh, yes, you do so smirk! You’re a first-class smirker!” She wound up with her free arm.

  He looped the towel around his neck and grabbed her other wrist before she could land a blow. There was a pirate’s gleam in his eye. “I’ll tell you what I’m thinking right now. You brought up the subject of condoms, and I’m thinking that there are two left. No matter why you had sex with me, I can see that once we leave this island, that will be the end of Gen giving Jack a little nooky. So I say let’s use up the supply.”

  “Oh, that’s so romantic.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “See? Now that’s a smirk if I ever saw one. And I’m not going to cooperate, so there.”

  “I think you are.” With one quick lunge, he lifted her over his shoulder, her head hanging down and her bare bottom pointing up at the sky.

  She struggled and kicked, but she was careful not to kick him anywhere that she’d do damage. The more she struggled and wiggled against him, the more she liked his idea. But she didn’t want him to know that yet. “You put me down, Jackson the Smirker Farley!”

  “The name is Jack, and I’ve always wanted to do this.” He started to move.

  “Jack!” She pretended horror, when in fact she was delighted. No man had ever tried such a John Wayne trick with her, not even in the hills of Tennessee. Her head buzzed from being held upside down, but a much stronger reaction was developing right where she was draped over his shoulder.

  “Yell all you want. Nobody’s around to hear you, so I’m in charge.”

  “You’re going to force me to have sex with you?” She was in a perfect position to watch his cute hiney in action as he trudged up the beach to the hideaway, and seeing those muscles bunch was a very arousing spectacle.

  “It won’t be forced and you know it.”

  He had a point. “Then could we…pretend it’s forced?”

  His laugh was breathless. “Sure. One ravishing coming up.” Then he yelped.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “This sand is sharp, that’s what. Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch.”

  “Ravishers don’t say ouch, Jack.” She hated anybody being in pain. “Maybe you should forget this idea and put me down before you hurt yourself.”

  “Nope.” Panting, he ducked through the opening of the hideaway.

  She appreciated that, because otherwise he could have knocked her cold, which would have interfered with her enjoyment of the ravishing. He set her on her feet, and while she was still feeling dizzy from hanging over his shoulder, he caught both wrists in his long fingers. Holding her one-handed, he flipped open her suitcase and grabbed the curling iron cord.

  “What on God’s green earth are you doing?”

  “Restraining the prisoner.” His eyes glittered as he wound the cord around her wrists and tied it. “Much better than using it to catch fish,” he said as he clipped the curling iron securely to a piece of driftwood embedded in the wall of the hideaway. “If you pull on that, you might make the whole shelter give way, so I wouldn’t, if I were you.”

  Her heart pounded with excitement. “Don’t you think you’re carrying this a little far?”

  He leaned down and cupped her chin in one hand. “You tell me.” Then he kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue possessively into her mouth.

  With her hands bound and the possibility of bringing the whole hideaway down on their heads if she moved, she could do nothing but stand there and let him kiss her. Well, she could do one other thing. She could moan. Which she did.

  Breathing heavily, he lifted his mouth from hers. “Just as I thought. You love it.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jack made a very good pirate, and Genevieve discovered that she loved the role of “prisoner”, at least with a guy she could trust the way she trusted Jack. After several maneuvers that certainly expanded her idea of sexual excitement, they collapsed on the beach towel again, exhausted and extremely satisfied.

  But when the glow of good sex began to wear off, Genevieve remembered she was very hungry. Jack snored softly in her ear, but she was too hungry to sleep. Their food wouldn’t last much longer, either. One energy bar and a few guavas wouldn’t do it, especially the way they were burning energy, going at it like bunnies.

  With a shark taking up residence in their little lagoon, she wasn’t keen on fishing, but they might have to reconsider and try it, anyway. A well-aimed rock might bring down a tern, but she hated that idea. Wild birds had been her friends since childhood.

  She managed to slip out of Jack’s arms and stand up without him even knowing. Gazing down at him, she thought about how talented he was in the sex department. Not having a steady girlfriend meant he was going to waste. When they got home, she should make a greater effort to fix him up with someone.

  That someone should be a nerd like Jack, somebody who would understand when he lost himself in a computer project and forgot her birthday. The woman for Jack needed to be much more flexible about things like that than Genevieve was. Unfortunately, the idea of Jack having sex with someone else gave her a tummy ache. Or maybe she was just so hungry that anything would give her a tummy ache.

  Kneeling down beside her suitcase, she took out the last energy bar, sat back on her heels, and unwrapped it. She was almost drooling.

  “You can have the whole thing.”

  She glanced over toward Jack and discovered he was wide awake and watching her. She could eat the whole thing and that wouldn’t put a dent in her hunger. She could eat three of these and still be hungry. “No way.” Breaking the bar in two, she held out both halves. “Because I split it,
you get to choose.”

  He smiled. “I can’t see which is bigger without my glasses. You take the biggest.”

  Holding the two pieces close to her nose so she could see them clearly, she handed over the one that was a teensy bit larger. Jack weighed more than she did, so it stood to reason he’d need more food.

  Although she bit into hers immediately, he laid his half on a corner of the beach towel. “You know what? I think I’ll save it for later.”

  She talked around the mouthful of energy bar, unable to stop eating long enough to be mannerly. “You eat it right this minute.” She glared at him. “I don’t want you passing out on me on account of running low on vittles.”

  “I don’t really like this kind, anyway.” He held it toward her. “Look, you’ve already finished that half. Here’s the rest.”

  “No!” She swatted his hand away and the rest of the energy bar sailed into the air. She butted heads with him as they both tried to catch it, but without glasses, neither of them could see well enough and the bar dropped into the sand.

  “Gen, I’m sorry!” He scrambled to his knees and cupped her face in both hands. “Where did I get you?”

  “Right here.” She rubbed the side of her head. “Where did I get you?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He looked miserable as he leaned over to kiss where she was rubbing. “I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. Do you think you’ll have a bump there? I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s really okay.” But she thought it was very touching the way he was fussing over her. Remembering the sexy way he’d taken control earlier made his sweetness even nicer. He knew when to be bold and he knew when to be tender, and that made him special. “We’d better find the other half of the energy bar, though.”

  “Yeah.” With one last kiss to the side of her head, he reached in the suitcase and took out his glasses. “One of us needs to eat the thing.” He looked around and finally found it with sand sticking all over the chocolate. “But not until we wash it off. I’ll go do that. He stood up and winced.

  “Jack, is something wrong with your feet?”

  “I’m fine.” He started out of the hut.

  “Wait!” She lunged forward and grabbed him around the knees.

  “Whoa. Titty tackle. Can’t say I’ve ever had that sensation on the backs of my legs. I like it.”

  She adjusted her position and held on, even though he was trying to distract her with naughty talk. “Never mind that. I want to see the bottoms of your feet.”

  “Trust me, they’re not half as sexy as you might think. I can suggest about ten parts of me that will turn you on much faster than the bottoms of my feet.” He tried to pry her hands loose but she’d locked them together. “Come on, let go and I’ll go wash off your energy bar.”

  “Your energy bar. Now, Jack, I know you don’t want to keep walking and make me fall down and hurt myself. And I won’t let go until you lift up your foot so I can take a look.”

  “What are you, kinky?”

  “That’s it.” She rubbed her breasts over the backs of his knees. “I want to suck your toes.”

  “Stop it, Gen.”

  “Just lift one foot, and I will.”

  “This is ridiculous.”

  Tired of arguing with him, she slid her arms up higher and used her natural coordination to quickly grab hold of his balls.

  “Yikes!”

  “Don’t make me have to get rough.” She squeezed gently.

  “I, um, guess you’re really serious about this.”

  “Uh-huh.” She enjoyed cupping the weight in her hands. Only extreme hunger kept her from turning her hold into a caress and asking if he wanted to use up that last condom. That and the fact that she sort of wanted to save that one, keeping it like money in the bank, for when they really needed it.

  “I just have a few blisters on the bottoms of my feet,” Jack said. “No big deal.”

  “Blisters? How in tarnation did you blister up your feet?”

  “Well.” He cleared his throat. “Last night, when I was…when you first took off your clothes and let me…”

  “I remember that, Jack.” Most likely she’d remember it for the rest of her natural days. He’d made her come by sucking on her nipples. That was a landmark event, for sure. “But near as I recollect, you weren’t using your feet at the time.”

  “They were a little close to the fire.”

  She released him and sat back on her heels, totally amazed. “Your feet were frying like green tomatoes in a skillet and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Uh, no.” He kept his back to her.

  Even without glasses, she could see that his neck was getting red, and it wasn’t from sunburn, either. She’d never been paid such a strange and backhanded compliment in her life. He’d scorched his feet rather than take a chance on missing out on sex with her. Or else, even more unbelievable, he’d been so taken with the enjoyment of her naked body that he hadn’t even felt the heat on the bottoms of his feet.

  “So now you know how pathetically eager I was,” he said.

  He was embarrassed that she knew, and now she felt bad for making him tell her. “Jack, I was eager, too,” she said softly.

  “But I’ll bet you wouldn’t have blistered your feet.”

  “Well, maybe not, but—”

  “I’ll go wash off the energy bar now.” He started to leave.

  “I’ll go with you.” She hopped to her feet and picked up the beach towel. “I would go in your place, but you need to soak your feet in the salt water. That will help you heal up those blisters. And while you’re soaking your feet and eating your half of the energy bar, I’ll pick us some more guavas.”

  He ducked out of the hideaway. “You can go pick the guavas, then. I’ll go down to the water by myself.”

  “Then take this with you.” She hurried to catch up with him. “Slow down a minute, Jack. It’ll feel better if you sit on the beach towel while you’re soaking your—” She stopped as she glimpsed the reason why he was charging off so fast. He was stalking down to the waterline sporting a full-blown erection, and he wasn’t happy about it.

  He still needed the towel, though, so she walked faster to try to overtake him. The sand felt hot under her feet, so she could imagine how it affected him. “Jack, when I grabbed you by your privates, I didn’t mean to cause a problem for you.”

  He gestured toward his bobbing penis. “You mean this problem? I might as well get used to it, because all I have to do is look your way and I immediately rise to the occasion.”

  “It’s because of being stranded like this,” she said. “I—”

  “Speak for yourself. There were times at the office when I considered wrapping a roll of duct tape around my Jockeys so I wouldn’t embarrass myself when I saw you. You’ve affected me this way ever since I met you. You just didn’t know about it.”

  The idea made her head buzz. Jack had been having sexual urges toward her for months? He’d admitted having some interest in her, but she hadn’t taken that to mean he could barely control himself. How incredible. And exciting, too. Still waters really did run deep, after all. “I thought…I thought all you cared about were your computer programs.”

  “Think again.”

  “You always seemed to have a one-track mind.”

  “I do.” He stepped into the shallow water and glanced over at her.

  She returned his gaze, and a shiver of sexual excitement ran through her at the look in his eyes. He certainly didn’t look like a nerd today, with his beard glossy black in the sunshine and his hair ruffled by the sea breeze. He’d had a good body to begin with, and now his skin was beginning to turn brown, which set off his muscles to good advantage.

  She knew what those muscles felt like, knew what his fingers could do, and his mouth, and his…. That part still stood out, proud and free, announcing that he found her irresistible. She was beginning to understand how lucky she was, because ever since they’d splashed down near this beach, his one-trac
k mind had been focused on her.

  Staring at a man’s penis wasn’t ladylike. Her mother would have a hissy fit if she had any idea her daughter could do such a thing. But Jack’s penis was a work of art.

  “You’re not helping matters,” he murmured.

  She dragged her attention back to his face. “Sorry. But I keep thinking of you being affected this way, and me never suspecting a thing. You mean, even when we’d happen to meet over by the water cooler, you’d be getting a—”

  “We never just happened to meet. I’d do my best to run into you, even though it was torture for me.”

  She looked into his eyes for a long time. “When we go back…”

  “I have no idea how that’s going to work.” He cleared his throat. “I might have to quit.”

  “No! Rainbow will have enough problems after what Nick did. If you quit, that could sink the whole company, which means I wouldn’t have a job, anyway.”

  “Maybe I could find him a replacement.”

  “Jack, you will do a tom-fool thing like that over my dead body. I’ve heard how they talk about you. You’re a genius. Do you think there’s a genius hiding behind every banyan tree? Hardly. You’re one of a kind, and you belong right where you are, doing whatever it is you do, which I don’t pretend to understand.”

  “Then maybe I could work at home most of the time. There’s no reason why I have to—”

  “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Genevieve couldn’t explain why this was upsetting her so, but it was. The idea that he would stay home to avoid her, that their nice little friendship was ruined and now she wouldn’t see him walking around in his mismatched plaids with his hair sticking up, was too much for her. “I like having you in the office, and I’ll bet everybody else does, too.”

  “Yeah. Comic relief.”

  “That’s not it! You’re…you’re real, Jack.” She blinked away the moisture in her eyes. “So many people in this world look like they came right off the assembly line in some people factory. They wear what everybody else wears and they talk like everybody else talks.” Like she’d been trying to do herself. The idea shook her. “But not you,” she said, wondering if she could learn a thing or two from Jack about being real. “If I thought I was the reason you had to hide in your house and work by some sort of remote control, I would never forgive myself.”