by Tawny Weber
“Details, please.”
Dru had to force down her laugh. Leave it to Nikki to find the fun.
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, c’mon. You’ve always shared all the deets of your lousy sexual experiences. Don’t think I’ve suffered through only to be stonewalled on the good stuff.”
“He was better than the gasper,” Dru offered.
Nikki rolled her eyes.
“Okay, better than the gasper and the wheezer and the groaner put together.”
“Oh, please.”
Dru propped her elbows on her desk and dropped her head into her hands, her fingers pressing against her temples in an effort to relieve the pounding stress.
“He was incredible,” she admitted. “Every woman’s dream fling. Attentive, sexy, charming. He was all the good stuff and now he’s all the bad.”
“Good stuff, bad stuff? He’s not a food group or a weird fashion trend.”
“No, he’s worse.”
Dru looked up to meet Nikki’s eyes, finally letting all the fear and devastation she felt show on her face.
“He’s the man I had the best sex of my life with. He’s the one with whom I let my guard down, let see the real me. And he’s the biggest mistake I could have ever made.”
Compassion and confusion warred in Nikki’s eyes. She leaned back, considering, then finally shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“He’s here. When he was in Los Cabos, he was perfect. I could be what he wanted. Sexy and free and uninhibited. But here, I have to be, well, me.”
“That’s not a bad thing, Dru.”
But it was. She wasn’t fun and easygoing and adventurous here. In San Francisco, she was uptight, worried and ambitious. Hardly qualities to turn a guy on.
Not willing to dig into that particular corner of her psyche, though, Dru just shrugged. “Bottom line, he’s the worst thing that could happen here. For me, for the project, for my career.”
“I don’t get it. Why? You’ve had sex with brainy guys before. Hell, you’ve specialized in geek sex for years.”
“Never someone I had to work with. I’ve never broken Trifecta’s policy and dated anyone associated with the lab,” Dru pointed out. “And the geeks were never like this. Those relationships were just that, relationships. It wasn’t as if I jumped into bed with them within hours of saying hello. They were…”
“Safe,” Nikki summed up.
Dru jerked her shoulder. “Safe or not, they didn’t endanger my peace of mind.”
Nikki gave her a long, searching look. The kind that Alex gave, that strip-you-bare-and-see-all-your-secrets look.
“Is that peace more important than your happiness?” she asked.
Hell, yeah. But Dru knew her friend well enough to realize that that kind of response would earn her a cozy little pep talk. So instead, she went with a well-practiced shrug and a side step.
“Right now, my career has priority. And that’s going to last longer than this…relationship,” she said, figuring that sounded better than sexually induced brain drain.
“You’re overthinking this. It’s not like he’s here long enough to be an issue. A few months, max. See it as a gift, like an extended warranty on a really impressive vibrator.”
“A vibrator that’s almost five years younger than I am, ten times more successful and—if this gets out—perfectly capable of derailing my reputation.”
She wanted this project to launch her career, to prove she had what it took to be a leader. She didn’t want the success, or failure, of it to be tied in to her sleeping with Alex. Dru knew all it would take was one whisper, one hint of sexy times between the two of them to start that rumor.
Nikki just rolled her eyes, though, in that way that women who had no worries about their own sexuality and attractiveness did.
“Is it that you’re afraid you’ll have sex with him again? Or that you’ll have sex and discover it really wasn’t the best sex of your life?”
Dru recalled the fully dressed, near orgasm against the door. No, that was definitely not a viable hypothesis.
“It’s one thing to fake being the sexy-fling type for a week,” Dru explained, risking the pep talk for total honesty.
“And I didn’t even make it the whole seven days,” she admitted, throwing her hands up in frustration. “But it’s another thing to watch the guy who laid you down on the banks of sexual nirvana and made you scream in delight realize that you’re a fake. I’m not the fun, sexy woman he fooled around with, Nik. As soon as he gets to know me, the real me, he’s going to lose interest.”
“He looked pretty interested to me,” Nikki pointed out, shaking her head at Dru’s logic. “I mean, it wasn’t like the sight of you in a lab coat was doing anything to douse his libido.”
“Phantom sexual urges,” Dru dismissed.
Nikki gave her a baffled look.
“You know, when someone loses a limb, they sometimes have phantom pains, like a part of their brain imagines the limb is still there. Itching. But it’s not real. That’s what he was doing. Trying to scratch an itch that wasn’t really there.”
“Girlfriend, the hard-on that guy was sporting when he hobbled out of here looked one hundred percent real from where I was standing.”
It’d felt one hundred percent real pressing against the wet, aching heat between Dru’s legs, too.
Argh. She tugged at her hair, trying to make her head work right. He wasn’t even here and he was affecting her brain. Because even though she knew there were a million reasons he was horrible for her, she couldn’t remember one that mattered.
Thinking time, ice cream and some space. She was sure with those three things, she’d be back in control. She had to be. Because now there was more on the line than just her heart.
Now, her career was at risk. And to Dru, that was much more important.
9
A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP, a relaxing breakfast overlooking San Francisco Bay and the mental challenge of an exciting new project were all Alex needed to kick his day off to an excellent start.
Unfortunately, he’d slept like crap, he’d been too irritated to enjoy his breakfast or the view. And the only project he was interested in was cornering Drucilla and settling this mess so they could get back to the incredible sex they were meant to have together.
Unlikely, given that she was still in ice queen mode. Alex leaned back in the chair and stared at the woman across from him, trying to reconcile her with the deliciously sexy beach babe he’d fallen for a couple weeks ago.
He and Drucilla were meeting with Trifecta’s director this morning to discuss funding. From the comfortable byplay he’d seen, both when he’d arrived and in the ensuing discussion, Drucilla and Glenn had the same conservative view of where this project was going. A mathematical study on the interplay of cosmic strings, hydrogen gas and gravitational influences. If it could be proven, it’d have a huge impact on all their careers. Trifecta’s and Drucilla’s, to be sure.
And for Alex, it’d hopefully be the key that would finally net him his grandfather’s seal of approval. The old man set the bar for approval pretty damn high, too. A bar Alex had been trying to reach all his life. A bar he was grateful for, since it pushed him to excel, to take chances. And most of all, to keep moving on, rather than staying in one place and getting stale.
But that approval wasn’t going to be offered if Trifecta played this project as a pussyfooting soft sell. The government grants and funding Drucilla had lined up weren’t going to cut it. They needed real money.
Instead of saying something, though, Alex bided his time, collecting information and impressions in order to do what he always did. Get his own way.
With this project, he promised himself, and with the sweet and lovely Drucilla.
RATHER THAN THE BOARDROOM they’d shocked each other in the day before, this morning they’d met in the director’s office. It was clear that Trifecta put their funds into the lab, not, Alex noted as he shifted again in the uncomforta
ble chair, into furnishings and frills.
Gone was his fairy princess. Seated on the matching plastic chair, Drucilla resembled so many of the scientists he’d worked with over the years. Her hair, so glorious when draped over his hard, nude body, was pulled into a tight knot at the back of her head. Rather than the vivid colors she’d worn in Mexico, she was dressed in head-to-toe tan. Like toast without butter.
His gaze wandered, from her cool, barely made-up eyes to her flat-heeled, boring shoes. What in the hell was she playing at?
“Is this your attempt to keep me at arm’s length?” he leaned over to whisper when Glenn got up to refill his coffee. “Hiding behind a stereotype isn’t going to make me forget how you sound when you come.”
Well, that took care of the paleness in her cheeks, he noted with a satisfied grin. Instead of cool distance, now her indigo eyes shot sparks of fury.
Before she could let loose the angry response he could see right there on the tip of her tongue, Glenn returned to his seat. He set his cup precisely in its previous spot on his desk, folded his hands together and looked at the two of them with a benevolent smile.
“Well, we’ve made a good start. I know Dru can handle the paperwork, A.A. Would you care to tour the labs this morning while she focuses on that? We can gather after lunch to discuss which grants we’ll accept.”
“Why don’t we take this discussion a little further first,” Alex said with a smile. “I propose we consider alternate sources of funding.”
“Why? We already know where we’ll get our funding.” Drucilla’s look made it clear she was wondering if he’d faked all his awards and accolades. Alex was tempted to remind her that he’d never had to fake anything. And with him, neither had she.
“We have a foundation,” he said diplomatically. “It’s a solid start, and I’m not saying we ditch it. But I think we could bring in secondary funding, use some other resources.”
“We don’t need more funding,” she said through a smile so tight it had to have hurt her molars.
“We need an infrared supertelescope to prove your theory, don’t we?”
Her eyes lit up the same way they had when he’d suggested taking her beyond the break zone to surf the real waves. Challenge, excitement, passion.
God, he loved that look.
Then she hid it behind that freaking wall of ice again. Alex had to clench his fist on his knee to keep from pounding the chair in frustration.
“Trifecta doesn’t have access to that type of telescope,” she dismissed. “And even the most generous government grant wouldn’t provide enough funds to purchase one.”
“Right. Like I said, we get alternate funding.”
“We don’t have the time or the resources to pursue the kind of money it’d take to expand the project that much,” she said tightly.
“You might not,” he acknowledged, giving Glenn a friendly smile. “But I do.”
Glenn frowned. Alex realized that the guy might be even more conservative than he’d originally thought. Which meant he wouldn’t get the director’s help in double-teaming Drucilla.
“We’ll be fine with the original scope of this project.” Glenn’s comment cemented Alex’s observation. “A mathematical model could offer great success in proving the hypothesis.”
“You’d do better, and prove more, with the telescope,” he told the director before turning his attention back to Drucilla. “With that kind of funding, you could keep the project going for at least a year instead of your proposed three months, too.”
For one sweet second her eyes glowed again. It was clear how much the idea appealed to her. Alex smiled, knowing that with her on his side now, any objections Glenn offered would be easily toppled.
Then she shook her head. His jaw almost dropped.
“Three months is enough time to run the calculations, and we can make a solid argument without a telescope,” she said.
“For actual, measurable proof to substantiate the theory and prove your hypothesis, you need a bare minimum of twelve months. And you need that telescope,” he snapped.
“We could offer a solid argument through the mathematical model. That would give us a foundation for future projects, as funding was available,” she sputtered. “The cost of expanding this to include a telescope is prohibitive, and escalating the experimentation to that level could take years.”
“My momma always said nothing worth doing is worth rushing.”
“Did your mother also mention the folly of risking that bird in the hand?”
“My mom and I rarely discussed what bushes I put my hands into,” Alex deadpanned. It went right over Glenn’s head, he noted. But Drucilla, bless her, turned pink all the way to the little string tied in a bow at her throat.
“I’d think one of your major goals for this project would be success,” he pointed out, offering his most charming smile. From the look on her face, it made her want to hit him. “You don’t get success playing it safe, Drucilla. You succeed by taking chances.”
Her gorgeous eyes glared blue flames at him. He was using her own confession to argue against her. And from what he could see, he was winning. It helped that he considered himself an expert on her needs and how to fill them. After all, he’d spent a week getting to know exactly how to read her and how to exploit her needs, in the process making her come over and over and over.
Just the memory of her body, those long pale limbs silky smooth beneath his hands, sent a shaft of desire between his legs, nudging his dick into happy interest.
Bad timing, all around. He had battles to win right now. If he wanted to succeed, both in his funding pitch and later with Drucilla, he’d have to keep that image out of his brain.
“Maybe you see success as taking risks,” she replied, twisting his words just a little. “But I can’t believe that short-term accolades are worth more than long-term credibility. If we take on additional funding, we have to offer additional promises. Very public, accountable promises of proving a hypothesis that, to date, has been improvable.”
She waited a beat—just long enough for Glenn to let that sink in—then she shook her head. “Why would we risk our reputation when we’re already guaranteed the funding to explore this project the way we originally intended?”
Yep, he’d better pull the blood out of his lap. His brain was going to need every drop of it if he was going to win this debate. Besides, he was starting to think he was going to have to accept that this Drucilla, all uptight and bland, was the real woman. The sexy, exciting woman on the beach? Maybe she’d been a product of his lusty imagination.
It was like losing her all over again. Alex shoved the sentiment aside and focused on the one thing he could always count on. His career. He couldn’t let her timidity screw it up.
“Because I have connections that could fund the project. People who’d be willing to step in with bigger money. They’d require only the same guarantee required for the government grant.”
He could see excitement lurking, right there behind the angry protest in her eyes.
“They’re ready to meet with us this week, by the way,” he added, laying his trump card on the table with a slow, satisfied smile.
Ten minutes later, he stood to shake Glenn’s hand. Drucilla, he noted, kept hers firmly clenched in her lap. He could feel the distance between them widen, and with it, any chance he’d had to convince her that the two of them should pick up where they’d left off. Evidently, Drucilla at work didn’t like being cornered as much as Drucilla on the beach.
“I’ll need you to attend the meetings as well,” he told her, referring to the pitch meetings he’d agreed to set up with some of his wealthier contacts who’d already expressed interest in backing the project.
“Just call my office when they arrive and I’ll join you,” she agreed.
She obviously intended to make that distance between them even wider. Since he wasn’t sure he wanted to close it anymore, he just leaned back in his chair and gave her a smug look.
“Did I say meetings? I should have been more specific. Dinner engagements, probably formal, at restaurants. Like, oh you know, dates,” he told her, wondering if the fact that her glare was turning him on made him a deviant of some kind.
“How soon can you set this in motion?” Glenn asked as Alex rose to refill his own coffee cup.
“We can probably have the first one tonight, tomorrow at the latest.”
Drucilla stood, her mouth opened and her lower lip trembling. Then she sucked in a deep breath that didn’t even ruffle the bow at her throat. “Fine. Just let me know the plans.”
With that and a quick nod to the director, she stormed out of the room.
Alex shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and leaned his hip on the edge of the desk, watching her stride away.
Alex was a man well used to arguing, negotiating and cajoling to reach the outcome he wanted, but he realized that while he may have just won on the surface, he’d actually lost.
Drucilla might respect A. A. Maddow’s accomplishments and résumé, but she wasn’t impressed with them. His brains, his ambition, his focus were all in her way.
So really, he was just a body to her. A sexual toy she’d happily played with during recess for pleasure and entertainment. But now that school was back in session? She wanted nothing to do with him. Serious girls didn’t play with toys.
A child prodigy, he’d spent most of his life seeking normalcy. The beach and his friends in Los Cabos had always been his buffer against the demands of his profession, his grandfather’s expectations and what he accepted as his obligation to society.
Even so, he’d always been defined by his intelligence. A walking, talking brain.
But Drucilla? A fellow scientist who knew perfectly well the depth and breadth of what that intelligence meant in their field. A woman who, simply by having her name on the same project as him, stood to gain a great deal.
Did she care about him? Obviously not.
She only wanted him for his body.
DRU DIDN’T KNOW what was worse. That Alex had conned her into thinking he was some kind of philosophical, kick-back, go-with-the-flow kind of guy. Or that he’d railroaded control of her project away from her.
