“Shoot,” said Baron. “Shouldn’t have said that, should I?”
Nessa couldn’t catch her breath. Actually she felt like it was a good idea to not speak, so she didn’t try very hard to get it under control.
“Your palms were sweaty at Sutton’s and in the car. And there’re the intervals of time that your eyes linger on me. Too long sometimes, and at others it’s like you catch yourself too quick and look away. If that wasn’t enough, your reaction just now was a dead giveaway.”
It was all true, but Nessa couldn’t believe he just spouted it out there like that. Who did that? And how in the world was she supposed to respond? A wild claim of her own, that was how. What did she have to lose at this point?
“It’s only because the feeling is mutual.” She avoided looking at him, afraid he’d read her bluff. “I don’t have all the psychological analysis skills, but a girl can tell.”
“Does it bother you? That I find you pretty and fascinating?”
Nessa couldn’t keep her eyes from going wide. He hadn’t denied it! There was no pressure she could put on him that he couldn’t push right back on her. Gulp. “No. It doesn’t bother me.” It was hard for her to even admit that. Somehow this man made her feel comfortable enough to accept the praise.
“Good,” said Baron, and when she glanced at him she caught him with that crooked smile again. “You’re not the easiest person to work with; too distracting. Good problem to have, huh?”
Nessa shook her head and chuckled. “Do you have any filter at all?”
“Ask me later, because I don’t want to let you escape yet another touchy subject. When we get off the clock, do you want to go out?”
“A date?” Nessa was used to guys with big brains, not big muscles. One reason it never worked out with any of the big brain guys was because it seemed to threaten their identity to go out with someone who was as smart or smarter. Baron wasn’t intimidated at all, and Nessa loved that.
“Yeah. Unless you don’t want to mix work and pleasure.”
“What kind of date?”
Baron got quiet and she could see the wheels turning in his mind. The longer he planned, the more nervous Nessa got.
“I don’t like surprises,” she blurted. “Since we’re being blunt and all.”
“Really?” He sounded authentically confused. “I bet I could come up with a good surprise.”
Nessa shook her head. “No thanks.”
“No date if it’s a surprise?” he asked.
Nessa had gotten this reaction before, and without fail, the person would try to surprise her to prove she did like surprises after all. And without fail, she hated the surprise. It was only a matter of time until Baron did it and she would have to tell him off.
“Ok, no surprises. Let’s go dancing.”
Nessa didn’t believe for a second that he was going to let the surprise thing go. Dancing was also out of the question though. “Also a strong no on dancing.”
“Why not? You’ve got a dancer’s body. Oops. Probably shouldn’t have said that.”
A dancer’s body? No one had ever told her that before, and without realizing it, Nessa found herself grinning like a school girl. “I don’t mind you saying that.” A lot of people she knew in IT didn’t take care of themselves—or notice when other people did—and Nessa was proud of the effort and time she took to take care of her body, even though it wasn’t perfect. Maybe she could try dancing.
No! What was she thinking? This handsome, complimenting man might get her in big trouble.
“No dancing, no surprises.”
“That’s two strikes against me,” said Baron. “Should I be nervous about making another suggestion?”
Nessa caught her breath for a second. “I’m actually a little glad we got derailed. Things were moving pretty fast there. I was starting to wonder what was keeping us from running off and eloping or something.”
No! Don’t say that! Nessa had no idea how this guy was getting to her so much.
“Let’s see …” Baron held up his fingers one at a time “We only met this morning. I have, um, issues. There’s a chance I’m only reacting so strongly to you since I haven’t been around women for eight years. And, oh yeah, my mom would kill me if I got married to someone she’d never met.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“For now,” said Baron. “But we’ve only know each other a few hours. I’m sure we’ll think of more reasons.”
“Maybe we should start with a simple date,” suggested Nessa, excited to go out with him, but ready to slow things down to the pace of a normal relationship.
“I’m taking a risk, since I already have two strikes, but I think you’re worth it. Let’s do dinner. I assume you eat.”
Nessa grinned, feeling relieved by the safe, simple suggestion. “Who knows? I might be a robot. You would never know.”
Baron’s face lit up. “That would explain why your love language is data. And it explains your nerdiness.”
Nessa laughed, but hit him for good measure.
“I shouldn’t have said that, huh?”
“Actually, go ahead,” she told him. “I used to get made fun of, but I’m over it. I embrace it now.”
“Oh, that’s why you wear glasses instead of contacts.” He nodded and Nessa could only shake her head.
“You’re doing it on purpose now. Just saying things that you think will shock me. I’ve never known anyone as blunt as you. Are you going to tell me what’s up with that?”
Baron took the exit toward Sutton’s place. “As soon as you tell me what the deal is with a few ounces of drugs.”
If Nessa stalled just a few more minutes they’d be back at Sutton’s and she’d be safe in the data center, surrounded by safe things like numbers.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want,” he told her. “If divulging secrets is on the list with surprises and dancing, I get it.”
All the pressure was off. And yet, maybe because he’d just taken the pressure off, she wanted to tell him. “When I was in high school. My best friend tried heroine at a party. First time. Last time. It was a bad batch, it had been cut with something really nasty. Less than an ounce killed Samantha.” Even after nine years, it was still like a part of her was missing, and because of something so stupid.
“I’m sorry,” said Baron. “I can’t imagine how much that would hurt.” He pulled up and parked alongside some other black Escalades but didn’t move to get out.
“Is it weird that I kinda feel like she still lives in me a little bit?”
“No,” said Baron. “Everyone we’ve ever interacted with lives in us to one degree or another.”
“Good or bad,” said Nessa, seeing his exact point. She stared at him in silence and he stared back. Somewhere in that long time as a soldier, he’d picked up some serious wisdom. He wasn’t just a specimen physically, he was a specimen in so many other ways. Nessa hadn’t felt so comfortable with anyone since Samantha.
And soon she’d be on a real life date with him. It made her face flush, but she held her gaze on him. After a while in silence, they both reached for their door handles at the same time.
For the next few hours, they sequestered themselves in a data room in Sutton Smith’s basement. It was every bit as posh as the control room where they’d met, it just gave them room to work without intruding on Sutton’s personal space. The computer system was even better than the university’s top-of-the-line systems and when Nessa navigated it, she felt like she was driving a Lamborghini. Baron gathered small swaths of data from the trackers he’d installed and imported massive amounts of data from the trackers that were previously installed. There wasn’t much communication between the two of them, and it was comfortable to work side-by-side with no pressure.
Time flew by and stood still working next to Baron. It amazed her how close she felt to him after just a few hours.
Baron stood and stretched, then came to stand next to her. Even if her eyes had been closed she
’d know he was there by his mere presence.
“I’ve given you all I got today, Dr. Dimmick.”
She smiled up at him then leaned back and rubbed her eyes to keep from reaching out and touching him. The emotional connection was amazing, and she was ready for a little more.
He went on, “If we’re going out on a date, I should give you time to get ready.”
“Oh. Tonight?” That panic of being out of control was suddenly back.
“Don’t run off on me,” said Baron. “If tonight is too soon, we’ll do it another day.”
Again, the pressure was off. “Tonight sounds perfect,” she told him. “As long as you’re shooting straight with me.”
“I wasn’t the sniper of our team, that’s Blaine, but I can shoot straighter than most.”
“No surprises or tricks?”
“No, that’s Jace’s game.” Baron shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
She believed him. She barely knew him, but she was already more in love with this man than she’d been with anyone in her whole life.
5
At a quarter to eight, Baron was racing to Nessa’s hotel, determined to be a few a minutes early. He’d already run out to Thompson’s to put trackers on the trucks that weren’t at the warehouse earlier. It had pushed him up against the clock.
On the way out the door, he’d received a call from home. The day before escrow was set to clear on his parents’ business, a whole new crop of problems had come up, every one of them with a massive deadline. They needed him there for at least a few more days or the whole sale could fall apart, and it would take at least another six months to get things going with another buyer.
It was killing him to leave just when they had started on this project, but he’d spoken with Sutton, who immediately told him that family came first and until the sale was final, Sutton didn’t have any claim to him anyway. Out of the six SEALs in Baron’s platoon, Baron had been the holdout to joining Sutton’s Warrior Project, since he was determined to take care of his folks before committing to Sutton’s team.
Just as much as stepping back from the job, he hated to bail on what he had going with Nessa. Any slowdown in the momentum of their relationship would be agony.
Baron couldn’t believe how fast things were moving between them. Sure, they hadn’t been on a single date yet, but they’d connected on multiple levels and he was dying to see her again. The only thing that scared him about the situation was his complete lack of experience with women. What he felt might be nothing more than a gut reaction to an attractive member of the opposite sex. An extremely attractive member of the opposite sex.
Baron pulled in to Nessa’s hotel parking lot at 7:50 and hurried through the lobby to the stairs. He wanted to be early so he could knock on her door and make it feel like a real date. That was better than risking having her meet him in the lobby.
As he rounded the first flight of stairs, he passed a woman in a black dress then quickly spun on his heels and looked back.
It was Nessa, but not the Nessa he’d worked with all day. Her hair was down, she had some makeup on, and instead of the professional farm girl work clothes of the day, she was wearing a simple black dress. And with all that, she still wore her glasses.
“You look stunning,” Baron said. “The image of perfection.”
Her chin dipped coyly but she maintained eye contact.
The reaction shocked him, as if she didn’t hear that all the time. “How are you not used to people telling you how beautiful you are?” He stepped down to her step and still looked down at her since she was about six inches shorter.
“Um. It doesn’t come up a whole lot in a PhD program. We tend to judge each other on what comes through the computer, not what the person sitting in front of the monitor looks like.”
“I have to ask …” He didn’t want to push her or put pressure on her that she wasn’t comfortable with. It also made him nervous to ask, because he really did not want to hear a No. When he was sure he had her full attention, he asked, “Is it okay if I keep telling you how gorgeous and smart you are?”
Sweat broke out on his brow. He’d already been watching what he said around her to try to avoid making her uncomfortable. With this, though, something he felt so strongly about, he felt like it would tear him apart to not be able to compliment her.
Nessa blushed, and Baron got even more worried. If she couldn’t take his compliments he felt like it would set back the progress he’d made in therapy since coming back from the war.
“I don’t mind,” said Nessa.
“Oh good.” He let out a huge breath, unaware he’d been holding it in. “Because I’d explode if I couldn’t tell you.”
“Don’t feel obligated,” she said. “And don’t expect me to be able to reciprocate. It might take some time.”
“Time?” he said, grinning the endearing crooked smile. “That sounds promising.”
Baron offered her his arm, wondering if that was really a thing people did. Nessa looped one hand around his bicep, and without a command from his brain, his muscle flexed. He expected her to laugh since that was a boyish thing to do, but she just made a satisfied noise and gave him a little squeeze. Little bubbles of excitement tickled his insides and he wanted to get even closer to her. Put an arm around her. Two arms. Slow dance for a while. Taste her lips.
He cleared his throat before he got too excited and said, “Since you’ve given me permission, I have to comment on something I don’t understand. Not only do you have pretty, girl-next-door good looks and drop dead dazzling beauty when you want, but you are one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. How are you still single?” He opened the door and she stepped through, keeping her hand wrapped around his arm. “You are the total package if there ever was one.”
“Wow, Lord Luzader, I didn’t realized I’d given you such carte blanche. You might want to slow down on the compliments or I’ll go through withdrawals if you don’t praise me every thirty seconds.”
They reached his car and before opening her door, he stepped in front of her. “Every thirty seconds? Easy. I can do every fifteen and never run out of compliments.” He looked down at his wrist, even though he didn’t have a watch on. “Oh look it’s time again. I don’t know how Caltech doesn’t put you on every brochure and in every commercial they make.”
Nessa smiled and the streetlights glinted on her glossy lips and in her bright eyes. “I may have appeared on a brochure or two,” she admitted.
“And yet you don’t know how beautiful you are.”
“That wasn’t fifteen seconds yet,” she told him.
“I could go all day. And I can throw in nicknames too. Dr. Dimmick we already put out there. Dream girl. Poster child.”
“Enough,” she countered, poking him in the pec, which made him flex by reflex. “We haven’t even talked about you yet. Handsome. Buff. Capable. Hero. Well-adjusted.”
“I’ll allow the hero word, simply by association of the guys I served with, but I’m throwing the flag on well-adjusted.”
“Sorry,” said Nessa stubbornly. “It’s my assessment of you and you have no control of my ideal of you as a dream guy.”
“I can’t believe this is happening,” he told her. “I feel like I’m in a romance movie or something. I want to kiss you right now, oh do I want to,” he said. “But I’m not going to because it feels just a little too soon to be real.”
She made a pouty face for half a second and said, “Then why tease me? Oh, that’s right. You have no filter. You ready to divulge that little secret?”
Baron wasn’t afraid of telling her why he was so open-mouthed; he was afraid of where the conversation would go from there. “Later.”
“What, now you decide to keep something in?”
“Yeah, pretty much.” He opened the door for her and gave her a hand as she climbed into the Escalade. “What were you doing on the stairs in your dress and fancy shoes? Is the elevator broken?”
“I
always take the stairs,” she said. “It’s one of those little things, you know. I kind of see elevators as a symptom of a lot of problems with the world today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there are elevators everywhere because some people need them, but almost every person you see using them, would be better off taking the stairs.” She huffed out a breath. “Rant over.”
“I am so in love with you right now,” he said. “Aaand, I shouldn’t have said that. Even though it’s true.”
Nessa was blushing hard and shaking her head. At least she was smiling. “It’s like I’m swimming in river rapids around you, and the crazy thing is I love it. Even though I would never in a million years go rafting on rapids.”
“I won’t make you go river rafting, but I don’t think I have any control over talking about how amazing you are. You need to stop being so amazing. Either that or tell me what I can do instead of blurting out, ‘Nessa Dimmick is beautiful and brilliant and the funnest person I know!’”
“Okay, here’s an idea. Maybe instead of telling me things like that, you could focus on the conversation piece. For example, tell me what your thoughts are on the stairs vs. elevator debate.”
“Good idea,” he said. “First I’m going to get in the car. Hope you don’t die of suspense waiting to hear my deep thoughts.” He closed the door and went around to his side. It had taken months of therapy to get to where he could talk freely, and now he’d met someone who didn’t mind his stream of consciousness speech. How could life get any better?
6
Nessa watched her handsome date walk around to his side of the Escalade. Every minute around him was such a rush and it did scare her a little. Just a little. Mostly she was digging it, just nervous it was too good to be true.
She couldn’t believe how open he was. Weren’t men supposed to be closed and emotionally unavailable? Even more so, she couldn’t believe how open she was around him. She’d done projects with men her entire scholastic career and didn’t have any problem interacting with them, but never ever had banter and flirting come this easy to her.
The Honest Warrior: Navy SEALs Romances 2.0 Page 3
