Beauty & the Geek: Rocket to Love

by RaeLynn Blue

  “Are you implying that scientists are bland, prone to drive hybrid cars in boring neutral shades?” he asked. He looked across the rental car’s hood to the lovely woman giggling at him.

  “Oh, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  He walked around the car, unlocked the door, and opened it for her. He tried not to laugh. Giving her his serious face, he said, “You’re buying in to stereotypes.”

  Jewel’s smile slipped off her face. She stared into his eyes and bit her lower lip. Despite her mournful expression, mischief flickered in her eyes so he knew he hadn’t truly hurt her feelings. She knew he was kidding around with her.

  “Sorry,” she said in a dew soft tone. She leaned in close to him, giving him another whiff of her perfume, and added, “Really.”

  He kept up the charade. “Fine. I’ll accept your apology since you skipped out on your friends for fish tanks and me.”

  She nodded, winked, and slid onto the leather seat. The sunken seats still smelled new. The aroma of her light perfume and the new car smell hit him like a balled fist. He shut the door and hurried around to the driver’s side. When he got in, the interior didn’t smell quite so new—it smelled more like her, Jewel. She’d taken over the vehicle’s odor, and once she exited, he knew the scent of her would stay with him. The entire interior had become drenched in her scent.

  Jewel leaned across the gear shaft and asked in the most seductive voice he’d ever heard. “What color is your car back in Houston?”

  “Gray,” he answered with a smirk.

  “I was right!” she shouted and dissolved into gloating.

  He let her gloat on the brief drive to the aquarium. They walked hand in hand through the illuminated environments of sea creatures. Children and their parents skipped heartily along, bypassing elderly couples and small tour groups. The joy didn’t come from seeing the fish, sharks, snails, and other aquatic life. For Ben, the true fun had come from watching Jewel. She walked around in complete amazement. She’d been to aquariums before, but she bounced, almost like one of the kids, with true curiosity.

  For the amount of joy she stirred in him, his desire for her increased too. He’d never met a woman so logical, but warm. Jewel didn’t behave like other women he’d met. She kept her distance; he could see her struggle with her decision to come along with him. Still, she seemed more grounded than any other woman he’d dated before.

  “Oh, look at this! Jellies!” she squealed and yanked his hand toward the jellyfish tank.

  She stared at the floating spineless globs as they drifted through the tank. Not that he had his eyes on the long string of stingers. No, his eyes drank in Jewel’s profile. Her cute ears with their pearls earrings snared the lights. She’d tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear.

  With a mind of their own, his hands pulled her gently into his embrace. He held her in front of him and let her feel the rising hardness of his cock. All from looking at her ear, and his libido rose with a vengeance. Being in a public place made him watch the way he touched her. Fighting back his desire to pull her hair back, nibble along her neck, and groan aloud like a horny teenage boy, Ben instead held her loosely to him.

  “Got your own sword back there,” she whispered over her shoulder. Again, the mischief sparkled in her eyes.

  “That won’t be dull or neutral,” he said, more than aware of how rough and ragged his voice had become. In such a short time, he’d been reduced to a walking tower of emotion. Where did his cold logic flee to now? All he could do was see her, touch her, inhale her, and hear her. Nothing seemed to matter beyond her.

  “You have that effect on me,” he confessed quietly into the very ear he’d admired a few minutes before. He wanted to put his lips across its shell and flick the earlobe with his tongue. “You know that don’t you?”

  As an answer, she pushed her ass, both full and sexy buttocks, against his groin in a slow rotating arc. The sheer fabric of his slacks and her tight jeans left very little barriers to his hardening phallus and her heat. He had to bite his tongue to keep from yelping. If she meant to stop him, she failed. His cock hardened even more. His balls ached for release. Damn her tempting tush!

  “Jewel,” he croaked and locked his arm around her waist.

  She sighed and then let out a low moan. “You like that.”

  “I like you.”

  “Uh, huh,” she said, doubt in her tone.

  “And that too,” he admitted.

  Thankfully, Jewel stopped her buttocks’ assault on his clothed phallus. She stepped away from him, pausing to wait for him to release her. He did, but he didn’t want to. With his cock making a tent pole in his pants, he didn’t think he could walk. With an adjustment, he jerked on his pants leg and tried to think of something disgusting.

  He counted backward from twenty, thought of some of the nastiest things he could imagine and tried not to pay attention to Jewel. The earlier things he could do with ease, the latter not so much, especially when she strutted in front of him with those jeans. Jeans that molded every inch of her curvy body. Each of her steps hypnotized him.

  “Ahem!” Jewel cleared her throat. “You want to see the turtles?”

  His head snapped up and met her eyes. He’d been caught again staring at some awesome part of her anatomy. Part of him felt bad about it, but damn it, she was gorgeous. “Absolutely.”

  She waited until he came up beside her and took her hand before she started walking again. He noticed how slick her hands were—or was it his hands? Jewel leaned her head against his arm. She didn’t comment about his sweaty hands. He knew female scientists who wouldn’t even hold hands without a complete and thorough saturation of hand sanitizer.

  “This is so cool,” she said and squeezed his arm. “Thank you.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “It is my pleasure. You’re more than welcome. You’re spending your day with me.”

  She sighed and they followed the path to the turtles. Jewel let the children and families go ahead of them. They walked at a leisurely pace. Sure, they wanted to get to exhibits, but the true joy—at least for Ben—came from being in her company.

  When they reached the sea turtles, Jewel lay her head against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her close. Her hair, her perfume, and her energy enveloped him. Inside the aquarium in front of them, the sea turtles swam in graceful, languid circles in the deeply blue waters. So in sync, the turtles continued on in blissful ignorance of the spectators watching them.

  Ben gave the turtles a passing glance, but his eyes went back to Jewel. Like a magnet, she drew him. How did he exist before he met her? What did he do? What would he do when he left on Saturday?

  “You’re suddenly very quiet.” She lifted her head up and looked into his face. “You all right?”

  He didn’t like the worry in her face.

  “I’m hungry. You want to get something to eat?”

  She relaxed and a soft smile reappeared on her face. “Yes.”

  They finished their tour of the aquarium some thirty minutes later and headed out into the crisp afternoon. With each minute that passed, Jewel anchored deeper in his heart. Her laugh, her smile, her sharp wit, and clear logic attracted her to him. He didn’t want to get on a flight back to Houston. Somehow, he knew, though it made no sense, his days in Texas would never be as bright as this weekend with Jewel.

  For an aerospace engineer, he knew he’d found his rocket. Jewel would carry him to the moon and beyond.

  Chapter Six

  Jewel approached her hotel room with her hand held in the warmth of Ben Wook Sun’s. She’d asked for his driver’s license, sent his picture to her girls, and verified he had an actual I.D. card for NASA, though he wouldn’t let her photograph it or write down his I.D. number. Aside from those things, she’d done all she could to make sure that the stranger walking with her was who he said he was. Despite the fact she’d just met him, she’d actually enjoyed being with him and felt as if she’d been with him
forever, a lifetime ago. They’d window shopped some in the Underground, and they’d end up eating lunch at some posh little restaurant downtown. She couldn’t remember the name since she’d spent so much time staring into his eyes. Tired, hot, and full, she’d asked him to come to her hotel room. To be honest, she didn’t want to leave him. With him, serenity came easy, and she relaxed.

  “The Caesar salad tasted so fresh,” Ben commented. “I wonder if the peppercorn they used was freshly ground.”

  Jewel shook her head. “You know, you don’t have to force yourself to make small talk. Are you nervous?”

  Ben pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Course not. Why would I be nervous? I’m with you, a beautiful, sexy woman who’s invited me to her hotel room for coffee. Now why would I be nervous?”

  “Why indeed?” she tossed back and raised one of her eyebrows. “That’s all the reason why you should be nervous. I might eat you.”

  “I might enjoy that, so be careful yourself.” Ben tugged her hand and pulled her back to him.

  She fell into his arms and he closed them around her. She wanted to melt into him, but she held herself back, painfully aware of where they stood, in a hallway outside dozens of hotel rooms. She looked up into his eyes and saw them burning hotly. The more she gazed, the less she cared about her surroundings. He lowered his lips to hers, and when they finally met hers, her eyes lowered and welcomed the approaching bliss.

  Those kissable lips met hers and she sighed into them. Gentle, even hesitating at first, Ben’s tongue entered her mouth, easing her lips apart and tasting her. Moaning, he cupped and stroked her face along her cheek, raising heat in his wake. His hand drifted up her cheek and into her hair. Lord, if he fisted his hand in her hair she would hump him right here on the carpet in front of rooms 419 and 418.

  Thankfully, he didn’t. Instead, he raked his hand through her hair, allowing his hands to glide down to the small of her back. She pressed into him, feeling the surprisingly fit and muscular body beneath the nerdy cobalt blue shirt and black slack ensemble. Her pussy twitched at the pressure of his hands on her waist. Her entire body stirred awake after that kiss. She’d never understood why princesses woke up when kissed by a prince, but now, now she did.

  “Jewel,” Ben said, barely a croak above a whisper. “Let’s um, get inside.” She nodded, throat too dry and panties too wet to speak. Fumbling with her keycard, she turned and unlocked the door to her hotel room after two tries. The rush of the hotel room’s chilly air conditioner raised chills along her arms. Still, she could feel the heat from Ben’s body. He stood so close to her back.

  “This looks familiar,” he said, moving to the loveseat in the small outer room.

  “Oh?” she asked, turning around to face him. “How so?”

  “Just like mine, two floors up.” He leaned against one of the loveseat’s arms. “Down to the art.”

  “Funny thing about hotel rooms,” she said, walking to him, her eyes drinking in his relaxed stance and how he didn’t take his eyes off of her. It empowered her, the raw, naked lust spilling from him. She didn’t think she wasn’t attractive, she knew she dressed well. But what she saw in Ben called to that part of herself she’d kept locked away. “They’re all the same.”

  She reached him and he pulled her to him. Lowering his lips to hers, he whispered, “Not like you, princess. You’re one of a kind.”

  Before she could respond, his claimed her lips as his. Unlike a few minutes earlier in the hallway, this kiss had unleashed passion in it. Ben held her clasped to him, his arms locked around her waist. He tasted her with fast swipes of his tongue through her mouth. Each swish of his tongue against hers eroded more of her strength. He left her weak in the knees and she leaned into him, using him to keep her standing as much as to touch him. The urge to rid herself of the clothes, to feel his skin next to hers, overpowered her. She reached for his shirt and began to unbutton the first button, but Ben’s hand stopped her.

  She opened her eyes as Ben broke their kiss. He held her hand in his. With his voice a scrap above a whisper and soaked with passion, he said, “Whoa, there.”

  Frowning, she took her hand from his. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to presume too much.”

  He recaptured her hand and placed it softly against the front of his slacks. She felt his hard cock jump at her touch, even through the slacks’ fine tailoring. Ben sucked in air and released it slowly. It blew her bangs, tousling them. One hand remained on her waist as he moved her other one up to the area of his heart.

  “I do want you,” he explained. “Don’t misunderstand. I do. Bad. Really bad…”

  “But?” She pulled out of his hold and sat down on the loveseat on the opposite end from him.

  He slid from the armrest into the seat beside her. She knew he was nerdy, but why stop the mood when he clearly was feeling the rhythm? She didn’t get it, but she kicked off her heels and tucked her feet under her her. She positioned herself to face him.

  “But I don’t want you to rush into something you might regret later,” he said. He ran his hand through his hair and put it back on his knee. “I want you, like no one I’ve ever wanted before. Trust me. There’s nothing I want better right now than you, naked, and shouting my name with that sexy voice, and I believe you will, eventually. But I don’t want you waking up tomorrow morning thinking you’ve rushed into something you regret.”

  He leaned forward and took her hand into his big, wide one. She didn’t like the stinging bite of rejection and she looked away from him. She heard all the wonderful words and the compliments, but he still wasn’t knocking her boots off in the big, king-sized bed. She folded her arms and blew out a sigh.

  With soft, gentle fingertips, he touched her chin and guided her face to look at him. He smiled softly. “I like you too much to let that happen.”

  “You’re serious?” Shaking her head, she got up and removed her hand from him. “You don’t want to sleep with me?”’

  Her heart hitched and she whirled around. Standing near the small kitchenette, well a glorified microwave and small refrigerator, Jewel tried to get a handle on what exactly Ben meant. She’d put herself out there and she tried not to be hurt. How long had she kept her heart on the shelf, and now that she’d risked herself for this little fling, the object of her affection didn’t want it?

  It made no sense.

  He smirked at her and shook his head too. “As I said, I do want you, but I want you for more than just today, Jewel. I want you for tomorrow, next week, next month, years.”

  “You can’t know that about me.” She threw her hands up. “We just met.”

  “All the more reasons why I want to savor our time.”

  He got up from the loveseat and walked over to her. His incredible scent wafted to her and she inhaled the stirring aroma. He drew her into his embrace again, and kissed her lightly on the mouth. So softly, she blinked and it was over. Although the kiss ended, Ben wasn’t done. His lips drifted down her chin and beneath her jawbone, dropping barely there kisses along her neck. Just enough touch to arouse her all over again. He nibbled down her neck and his hands slipped down her buttocks, cupping them. He lifted her onto the miniature refrigerator. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pinning him between her legs. With her panties saturated, she knew her jeans wouldn’t hold back her desire. She drew her legs tighter, throwing her head back. Ben’s soft lips fell on her neck, biting and nipping her collarbone, shoving the pearl necklace aside. Her back arched in response to his lips on her skin. Pleasure exploded through her like lava, setting every nerve on fire.

  “You smell so wonderful,” Ben mumbled between kisses and delightful licks. “So damn good.”

  She sighed and smiled into his hair. Running her fingers through his silky black strands felt so nice, she moaned, gripping him closer, not wanting the clothes, not wanting anything but to feel him pounding inside of her.

  “Ben,” she said into his ear, biting the outer shell softly. “Please, B
en, I need you.”

  “Uh, huh,” he replied, his hands on her thighs rubbed small circles across the denim. He squeezed her thighs, then rubbing his palm across them from her knees up to her waist. He explored every inch of her hips, running his hands across them greedily. “You feel so good.”

  She chuckled. “That’s denim and silk you’re feeling.”

  “Yes, but it feels good on you,” he said and kissed her again.

  Like the last, this kiss deepened and simmered with barely restrained desire. Oh, he wanted her, her doubts on the subject had been consumed by the fiery heat in his eyes and the panting of his voice. His hands circled her waist and snatched her to him, holding her tighter. He enjoyed holding her and she had begun to like it too.

  He stroked her legs. “You’re a beautiful woman, Jewel. Thank you for hanging out with me today.”

  “You act like it’s over.” She leaned back.

  “No, I’m not done,” he said and lifted her up from the fridge. He stood up with her in his arms. “I figured you weren’t comfortable.”

  “My bed would be more comfortable.” She knew what he said about not rushing it or wanting to regret it. She was a grown woman, and she wanted him. Period. “I hear they’re showing all the Star Wars episodes back to back on that science fiction channel.”

  He grinned at her. “A beautiful woman and a Star Wars marathon. Every geek’s dream.”

  Jewel grabbed the flat screen’s remote control and climbed on the bed. Following her into the bedroom, Ben removed his shoes and joined her in the bed. It gave under his weight, while she positioned the pillows and cuddled next to Ben. He wrapped his arm around her and she clicked on the television. Her body neatly tucked beside his, Jewel felt so good, so at peace. She didn’t want to think about losing it in a few days.

  “Coffee,” she asked, feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of his breathing. With her head on his chest, she could hear the thump, thump of his heart. Warmth circled around them and in the cocoon. “Coffee would be good right now.”