by Kaylea Cross
She pulled it open moments later, a startled smile on her face. “Hey.”
Damn, she was pretty. He felt less cold inside just seeing her. “Hi.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Did you…want to talk to me about something?”
“Yes,” he said, unable to keep the irritation from his voice.
“Okay.” She looked at him expectantly.
“Don’t go out with that guy again.”
Her face went blank with surprise. “What? Why not?”
“Because he’s not gonna give you what you’re looking for, and I don’t want you to get hurt.” He couldn’t stand the thought of someone so kind and full of joy getting her heart bruised.
Her face softened, her eyes filling with a tenderness he wanted to drink in. “You’re worried about me.”
“Yeah, I’m worried.” Frustration pulsed through him. “I know you won’t think so, but romance is overrated. And besides, you even said you’re not attracted to the guy.”
Her expression cooled. “I said that might grow with time.”
He shook his head sharply. “It won’t.”
She folded her arms, annoying him more with the way it pushed her breasts up and together. Making it harder to keep his eyes on her face. “No? And you’re an expert on these things, even though you haven’t dated in what, a year?”
Touché. Maybe he deserved that. His face heated. “I’m just saying, you should be more realistic.”
“Yeah?” She studied him a moment, her physicist brain performing calculations about him and coming up with her own answers. Probably that he was being an overbearing asshole. “Well, you’re lonely and don’t even realize it.”
He faltered, becoming flustered as her words hit home. Okay, yeah, maybe he was a bit lonely. But that wasn’t the point here. Stopping her from making a mistake, from getting hurt, was.
“This isn’t about me. And sorry to break it to you, but life isn’t a fairy-tale. There’s way more important things in a relationship than flowers and romantic gestures.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him, the gesture somehow condescending. Almost like she was giving him enough rope to hang himself. “Like what?”
His frustration hit critical mass, her challenge triggering something territorial in him. “Like this,” he answered, stepping forward to wrap a hand around her nape and covering those tempting lips with his own.
She stiffened for a split second, her hands flying up to the front of his shoulders. But she didn’t stop him or push him away, so Tate didn’t let go. Instead he wrapped his free arm around her back, hauling her in close.
The feel of her softness pressed against him lit his blood on fire. He slanted his mouth across hers, captured her tiny gasp on his tongue as he drank her in, his entire body going hard as he tasted her.
Nina moaned softly, her hands curling into his shoulders. The kiss had started out dominant and forceful, but now it slowed and softened. Becoming something more than he’d intended, shocking him with its brutal honesty. The raw need it exposed.
He drew back, stunned that she’d broken his control so easily. Nina gazed up at him uncertainly, her big brown eyes searching his.
Shit. He hadn’t meant to kiss her. He just hadn’t been able to stop himself from touching her, tasting her, driven by the primal need to wipe the thought of any other guy out of her pretty head.
What the hell had he done?
His jaw tightened. “Just…don’t go out with that guy.” He started to turn away.
She laughed. He stopped dead, whipping around to stare at her. He was dead serious, thinking of her best interest, and she’d laughed.
She folded her arms, and he had to wrench his focus up to her face. “You don’t get a say in who I can and can’t go out with.”
The reprimand hit home, making him wince inside. Fuck, he was acting like a damn caveman. If any guy had spoken to Tala or Rylee like he just had, Tate would be tempted to punch him in the face. “I know,” he bit out. “But I don’t want you to get hurt.”
She softened, gazing at him equal parts amusement and sympathy. “Say I consider canceling my date on Friday. What’s in it for me?”
His mind had stopped functioning. She’d short-circuited his fucking brain. “Sorry?”
“You gonna take me out instead?”
The idea was a lot more appealing than he wanted it to be. “Maybe I will.”
Her eyes sparkled with silent laughter. “So you’re a closet romantic after all.”
What? No. He opened his mouth to refute it, but that soft look in her eyes and his actions made denying it pointless. He huffed out a quiet chuckle. “Cancel your date. I’ll pick you up Friday after your last class.”
She nodded once. “All right. I’m looking forward to it.”
Damn, he was too, God help him. “Okay. Good night.”
“Good night.” She shot him one last smile that warmed him all the way to his bones before shutting the door.
Tate walked back to his truck in a sort of daze, still not sure what had just happened. Was this a bad idea?
Yeah. It was definitely a bad idea.
He wasn’t the kind of romantic she was looking for, but damned if she didn’t suddenly have him wanting to put aside his cynical views and make the effort for her.
Chapter Eight
“Read that article I recommended, then try the practice problems. And if things are still as clear as mud on Monday, I have more office hours that afternoon. All right?” Nina gave the first-year student an encouraging smile.
She had always loved physics. Physics was logic and math, while still being exciting and interesting. But she recognized that not everyone felt that way. Some of her students were going to struggle, for various reasons. It was her job to help them through their course and try different angles to get the light bulb to go on for them.
The young man expelled a breath and nodded, still looking frustrated and overwhelmed. “Yeah, okay. Have a good weekend, Dr. Benitez.”
“You too.”
As soon as he left, she took her phone from the top desk drawer and called Tate. It was Friday afternoon and the first week back teaching had passed in a blur. She and Tate had been texting back and forth all week. Earlier today he’d left her a message but she’d been too busy seeing students to respond until now.
“Hey, how’s your day been?” he answered.
Just the sound of that deep voice on the other end of the line made her toes curl in her sandals. He’d been on her mind constantly this entire week, ever since that sexy, molten kiss in her doorway.
If the man could turn her inside out with one kiss, she was looking forward to finding out what else he could do with the rest of him. She liked sex. She missed sex, and something told her with him it would be unlike any sex she’d ever had.
“Busy. I had to squeeze one more student into my office hours schedule since he was desperate. Is it too late for you to come out this way now? I still have one last appointment to go before I can leave, but I can be ready within an hour.”
“I’ll pick you up in an hour, then.” He named a location on campus near her building where he could park.
Her insides fluttered at knowing she was going to see him in just sixty short minutes. She understood that him taking her out was big. He’d been hurt and was gun shy. She would be patient with him. “Okay. Do you want to see Rylee before you meet me?”
“No, she texted that she’s out with friends tonight. What did you do to your students in the first week that has them so worked up, anyway?”
Picturing him wearing snug dress pants and a button-down shirt that stretched across the muscular plane of his chest and shoulders as he talked to her sent warmth pooling low in her abdomen. Tate Baldwin was pure male sex appeal and she couldn’t wait to see him again.
“I was as gentle as I could be, but astrophysics is a pretty steep learning curve for the majority of students in their first year.”
He chuckled, a low, sex
y sound that had her pulse tripping. “I’ll bet. Okay, I’ll head out in the next few minutes and drive down to get you. See you soon.”
“Looking forward to it.”
She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face as her final student walked in. The meeting went better than the one before, and she had just enough time after to tidy up her desk before throwing her light sweater on over her dress and heading to the spot where Tate was supposed to pick her up.
Her mind wandered as she waited, and the unpleasant thoughts she tried to keep buried started to surface. She shifted her stance, resisting the urge to glance around, the sense of unease expanding in her stomach. She was safe here, and Tate was coming.
Butterflies danced in her belly when his truck came into view, banishing the dark memory like matter sucked into a black hole. He pulled up to the curb and leaned over to open her door for her, wearing a silvery-gray button-down that hugged his sculpted chest and shoulders.
The welcoming smile he gave her almost melted her insides, the few days’ growth on his face tempting her to rub her cheek against it. “Hi.”
“Thanks for coming to get me,” she said, climbing into the passenger seat. The scent of leather and his tangy cologne wrapped around her, clean and masculine. Yum.
“Of course. You hungry?”
“Yes. I had some thoughts about tonight. You game?”
He gave her an interested look, his gaze so full of banked heat it made her mouth go dry. “I might be. Why, what’ve you got in mind?”
She’d thought of a few ideas for tonight. But one stood apart from the others. “Let’s park in the lot at the end of the street. I’ve got something I want to show you.”
One side of his mouth lifted, the heat still there as his gaze dropped to her mouth. “Here in my truck?” His meaning was clear from the teasing light in his eyes.
“No,” she said on a laugh. “And for the record, I’m not into exhibitionism.”
“That’s a shame.” He steered them around to the nearest lot and parked the truck.
“How was your week at work?” she asked him.
“Good. Nothing major came up. It’s a big change of pace from the departments I worked with before moving to Rifle Creek,” he said.
“How long did you work in Missoula?”
“Three years, two in Billings before that. I don’t miss it. I paid my dues, made detective in Missoula, then left for Rifle Creek seven months ago.” He glanced at her as he took the keys from the ignition. “What do you think of Rifle Creek so far?”
“I think it’s everything I’d hoped it would be and more. Except it doesn’t have any Mexican food.”
One side of his mouth kicked up. That half-grin was crazy sexy on him. And when he full-out smiled, he damn near made her breath stop. “Small-town living isn’t for everyone.”
He got out and rounded the back of the truck to meet her as she got out from the passenger seat. He took her hand to help her down, the strength and confidence of his grip making her heart skip, had her imagining what his hands would feel like moving over her naked body.
“So, where to?”
She tossed him a mischievous smile, hoping he couldn’t tell how much he affected her. She didn’t want to spook him. “This way.” In three short blocks they reached their destination.
“You’re kidding,” he said when they got there. “You want to eat in a cafeteria?”
“I’ll grant you that the food isn’t the greatest, but it’s cheap and close to our next stop.” She glanced at her watch. “Which we need to be at in twenty-three minutes.”
His expression was equal parts amusement and curiosity. “Not gonna tell me what you’ve got planned?”
“What fun would that be?”
He chuckled and followed her inside to the counter to get a tray. They each ordered different meals. He slid into the seat opposite her at a table for two, giving her a rueful grin that made her want to lean over and kiss him. “I’ll admit, I didn’t expect you to be such a cheap date.” A teasing gleam lit his eyes. They were gorgeous, a mix of green and gold and caramel.
“Contrary to what you might think based on previous conversations, I’m actually a pretty low-maintenance kinda gal when it comes to relationships.” She popped a chicken nugget into her mouth and fought not to smile. He thought she was unrealistic about matters of the heart?
Nina couldn’t wait to prove him wrong on every count. “Now. Tell me what you like to do for fun.”
He cut himself a bite of roast turkey. “I like to get outside. Love to shoot, hike, camp, hunt. That sort of thing.” His eyes were warm as he regarded her. “What about you?”
“I like having adventures. Big ones or small ones, it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes that might mean traveling to a place I’ve never been before, or maybe hearing a lecture I’m interested in, or going to a museum or gallery exhibit I’ve been wanting to see. It just depends. But I’m guessing you’re not much of a museum or gallery guy?”
He lifted a broad shoulder, and she couldn’t help but remember how hard and warm his muscles had been under her palms when he’d kissed her the other night. How hard and warm he’d been all over. “I like some museums.”
History and military, she was betting. “Are you open to expanding your horizons a bit?” She took a sip of her tea, watching him.
“I feel like this is a test of some kind.”
“What’s your answer, then?”
His eyes glinted with humor. “I might be.”
She winked at him. “Good answer. Now eat up, I don’t want to be late.”
When they were done, he took their trays and dishes over to the corresponding bins. On the way to the door, he placed a hand at the small of her back to guide her through the crowd gathered for the end of the dinner rush.
Tingles spread outward across her skin, igniting deep in her belly and settling between her thighs. His touch was light yet protective, the heat of his palm and fingers sinking through the fabric of her dress and sweater.
Mercy… What would it feel like to have those delicious hands moving all over her bare skin?
Outside, the sun had just disappeared behind the buildings on the western edge of campus. Tate surprised her by reaching down to take her hand.
She paused on the sidewalk, smiling up at him as she twined her fingers with his. Hand-holding was incredibly romantic, even if he didn’t seem to realize it. “Ready for the next part of this adventure?”
He nodded, the intensity of his gaze making her mouth go dry and her heart thud. “Ready.”
She tugged on his hand, turning them to the right. “Can I ask you some questions while we walk?” She wanted to know him better, and chatting would at least take her mind off the constant arousal pulsing through her.
“Sure.”
“What made you want to join the Marines?”
“My sister.”
Nina glanced at him in surprise. “Really?” She hadn’t expected that answer.
He nodded. “Tala. Technically she’s my half-sister, but I hate that shit. She’s my sister, period. We share a dad.”
Nina smiled, loving that he was so fiercely protective of his sister. “Are you older?”
“No, I’m younger by eighteen months. We lived together when we were little, and stayed as close as we could after my mom moved me down here to Montana.”
That must have been hard. “How old were you when your parents split?”
“Ten. Tala joined Cadets when she was thirteen and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Our dad’s dad had served in the Canadian Forces and saw action in the Korean War. I’d also heard stories on my mom’s side about an uncle who served with the Marines in Vietnam.”
“It’s in your blood, then.”
“Definitely. I hated school, it was way too boring and most of what they were teaching seemed irrelevant to me. I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do after I graduated, but I admired what Tala was doing in the military, so I went to see
a recruiter and the rest is history.” He squeezed her hand gently. “What about you? Did you always know you wanted to study astronomy and astrophysics?”
“Ever since I can remember. I was such a nerd, I read all the books about the solar system I could get my hands on as a kid. My parents bought me a cheap telescope for my eighth birthday, and one night that summer I saw Saturn through it. It was love at first sight. Of course, back then I thought I’d be an astronaut, or at the very least head of NASA.” She laughed. “Reality eventually dictated I pick something a little less lofty. I’m glad, though, because I love what I do. And speaking of that… Here we are.”
She stopped where the sidewalk intersected with another path and turned Tate to face the building at the end of it.
“What is it?” he asked.
“A planetarium.”
He looked down at her, laughter in his eyes. “You brought me here for our date? Seriously?”
“Yes. Now come on. You’ll love it, promise.”
Inside she got them tickets with her faculty pass and they went to the theater to watch a show about the wonders of the universe, followed by a presentation on star formation by a fellow faculty member. Seeing the film on the dome screen above still gave Nina a thrill.
The talk afterward was engaging and interesting, with good audience participation. She glanced at Tate a few times to gauge his reaction, and to her delight he seemed at least intrigued by it all.
Nina leaned closer to Tate as the speaker wrapped up, breathing in his scent as she whispered in his ear. She was looking forward to being alone with him after this. “You can wait and ask me questions later if you’re shy.”
He turned his head to look at her, only inches separating them. His gaze dropped to her lips before returning to her eyes. “I’m not shy when it comes to getting something I want.”
A shiver sped through her, heat igniting in her core. Damn, she was in her favorite building on campus while a colleague gave an incredibly interesting talk, and all she could think about was getting Tate alone so she could kiss him again. Savor the feel of all those hard muscles as she ran her hands over him, lose herself in the masterful way he’d held her and transported her to another place.
