by HELEN HARDT
“Geez…Okay, do you have any graph paper?”
“Nope.”
“We need to make a number line.”
“I stopped making number lines in sixth grade, Kath.”
“Well, humor me. Get some notebook paper and draw some vertical lines so we have graph paper.”
“Okay.” He complied. “Why are we doing this again?”
“Because I don’t know the answer to your question.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“How can you be so good at math, then?”
“Because I learn the rules. I follow them. I get the right answer. I don’t have to understand why.”
“Wow. I never would have thought…”
“Well, I never would have thought you’d care about why the rules of math are what they are. I’d have thought you just wanted to get your C and play baseball.”
“I do.”
“Don’t worry. You will, with me tutoring you.”
He smiled. “I know.”
“So you got your graph paper ready?”
“Yup.” He handed it to her. Kathryn quickly wrote out a number line starting in the middle with zero and going horizontally and vertically into positive and negative integers.
“Okay. Now, what is your exact question?”
“Well, positive numbers are numbers greater than zero, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And negative numbers are less than zero.”
“Right.”
“When you add two positives together, you get a positive.”
“Yup.”
“And when you add two negatives you get a negative.”
“You got it so far.”
“It makes sense so far. When you multiply two positives you get a positive. I don’t get why you wouldn’t get a negative when you multiply two negatives. I mean, when you think about it, multiplying is just adding, only adding more than once, you know? So if you get negative when you add two negatives, why don’t you get negative when you multiply two negatives?”
Wow. Impressive. He’d really thought this out. Determination gripped her. She’d find the answer for him. Clearly, he understood the concepts of addition and multiplication and how they were related. There had to be a reason for this stupid rule. There just had to be.
“Okay, let’s look at two times two.” Kathryn drew a line two blocks to the right horizontally from zero, and two blocks upward vertically from zero. “If we tie these together with coordinates, we get a volume of four on the graph, see?”
“Yeah.”
“Now if we do the same with negative two times negative two—” She drew a line two blocks to the left side from zero, then two blocks downward from zero. She shaded in the area. “It’s still a volume of four. See?”
“Yeah. But I still don’t get it.”
She scoffed. “To tell you the truth, neither do I. Did you order the pizza yet?”
“Yeah. While you were getting the drinks.”
“Okay, let’s think of how multiplication works. Two times two means two sets of two, right?”
“Yeah. And two sets of two would be four.”
“Good. And you understand why two times negative two is negative four?”
“Yeah, of course. Two sets of negative two would be negative four. That makes sense.”
“Good. It makes sense to me, too. So really, all we need to do is figure out why negative two sets of negative two equals positive four.”
“Yup.”
“Okay, no problem.” Kathryn rolled her eyes. “Would you like to know about the existence of God or the meaning of life? That might be easier.”
Brett laughed. Oh, he had an attractive husky laugh. She sighed.
“Do you have any math homework you need help with? Maybe when the pizza comes we can tackle this question. I work better on a full stomach.”
Brett laughed again. “Me, too. Yeah, here’s my homework assignment. Can you check it for me?”
Kathryn went through the problems with him and found he had done a pretty good job. Just as she finished helping him with the corrections, the doorbell rang and the pizza arrived.
“The iced tea’s gone, and Deb doesn’t have any pop. We should have ordered some Coke,” Kathryn said.
“No problem. Ice water’s fine.” He winked. “She does have ice, doesn’t she?”
Kathryn’s heart skipped a beat. He’d actually winked at her! “I think so. I’ll get us some. And some plates and napkins. Give me a sec.”
“I’ll be right here.”
When she returned Brett had already polished off a piece of pizza.
“You must be hungry,” she said.
“Always. Here.” He handed her a piece. She took a bite and set it on a plate.
“So I’ve been thinking,” he said.
“About what?”
“About our positive and negative problem.”
“This is really bugging you, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. And I have no idea why.”
“It bugs me too, and I know exactly why. Because I like to know why. Evidently you do, too.”
“I guess so. I never really thought I cared about math. About anything about school. I guess I do.”
“That’s not a bad thing, Brett.”
“Maybe not. I would like to get this scholarship. Not that I’m looking forward to four more years of school, but it’s better than going to work right now.”
“In college, you can find answers to lots more questions.”
“I suppose. Of course, Michelle thinks we’re getting married. If I go to college, I can put off marrying her.”
“Do you want to put off marrying her?”
“Yeah. No. I don’t know.”
“You’re only eighteen. It’s not a sin to want to put off marriage for a while. I sure don’t want to get married right now.”
“But you have a future.”
“What kind of talk is that? You have a future.”
“I might if I get this scholarship.”
“You have a future anyway. It’s what you make of it that matters.”
“I don’t want to end up like my dad. Going nowhere in a nowhere job.”
“I heard he had an accident. I’m sorry.”
“Well, he’ll live, but he’s on disability for the rest of his life.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You already said that.” He smiled.
“I know. I don’t know what else to say. I understand, though, why you want to get your math grade up. You want that scholarship.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You’ve done well. I think you’ll be okay. I can continue to meet with you each Monday.”
“But we still need to figure out the answer to our question.”
“What question?”
“Why a negative times a negative equals a positive.”
“Okay, Brett. But we don’t have to figure it out tonight.” She took a bite of pizza.
“Why can’t we? I’m here, you’re here. With my curiosity and your brain we ought to be able to handle it.”
“Okay.” She swallowed and took a sip of water. “Let’s do some analysis then. We understand why two positives equal a positive, and why a negative and a positive equal a negative.”
“Yep.”
“So we need to think about why two negatives equal a positive.” She inhaled. “I’m stumped.”
“I feel a little better if it stumps you, too. You’re the smartest person I know.”
Heat crept up her neck. “Am I?” It wasn’t like her to be coy, but she couldn’t help it.
“Yep, you always have been. I thought for sure you’d know the answer to this.”
“Maybe we can figure it out together.”
He smiled. “I’d like that.” He looked at the graph she’d made. “I wonder…”
“What?”
“Well, you know in English, like a double negative.”
Brett F
alcone knew what a double negative was? “Yeah…what are you getting at?”
“Like we said, negative two times two is like having two sets of negative two which is negative four, right?”
“So having negative two sets of negative two would be a double negative, right? So that would make it positive.”
“Oh my God.” Kathryn shook her head as a light bulb lit. Had the Italian Stallion truly figured this out? “You’re saying that having negative two sets of negative two would be like having two sets of two.”
“Yeah. The double negative makes it a positive.”
“Oh my God,” she said again. “That actually makes sense.”
“It does?”
“Yes, Brett, it does!” She jumped up. “If you didn’t have two sets of negative two, you’d have two sets of positive two, which would equal the same thing. You’re right, it’s a double negative! And that explains why it shows a positive volume on the graph.” She picked up the paper and stared at it, awestruck. Brett Falcone was not stupid. Mr. Phillips was right. He was intelligent. He just didn’t know it. Very intelligent. And very, very attractive to her right now.
“Amazing. If you had two sets of two, you’d have four. If you lost two sets of two, you’d have negative four. But if you lost two sets of not having two, the double negative results in gaining four. You’re a genius, Brett! A genius!”
Her heart soared. Knowledge was such a beautiful thing. Emotion swelled within her, and before she could think about what she was doing, she pulled Brett up from the couch and wrapped her arms around him.
And before she knew what was happening, he kissed her.
Chapter Five
“You haven’t changed a bit, Kath,” Brett said as she opened the door.
Neither had he. In fact, he looked even better than he had twenty years ago. He was no longer a boy. He was a man. A very handsome, sexy, hot man. Her body quivered.
She let out a shaky laugh. “I have a few wrinkles that say otherwise. And the gray hairs.”
“I don’t see any gray hairs.”
“Only my hair stylist knows for sure,” she quipped.
“Well, you look beautiful. You were always beautiful.”
“Even in middle school?”
He frowned. “I thought we’d gotten past that.”
She nodded. What had she been thinking, dredging up that horrible time that they’d gotten past long ago? “I’m sorry. Truly. We got past that twenty years ago. I’m just a little nervous, to be honest.”
“Me too.” He stepped through the door and shut it behind him. “Let’s just get this out of the way then.”
He gripped her neck, pulled her into his arms, and lowered his mouth to hers.
His lips—so firm, yet so soft at the same time—glided over hers provocatively, grazing at first, barely touching. His tongue slid traced first her upper, then her lower lip. Kathryn squirmed. Oh, to be kissed like this again. By Brett Falcone. The one true love of her life. Could it actually be happening?
She would awaken any minute. Slide from the passion of this nocturnal fantasy…
He pressed a sweet kiss to the corner of her mouth and chuckled huskily. “You do remember how to kiss, don’t you Kath?”
She couldn’t help but smile, remembering their first kiss. Her first kiss ever, where he taught her what to do, how to respond.
She’d done a lot of kissing since then, but never with anyone who mattered quite as much as the man in her arms now.
“Kiss me, Kath,” he whispered. “Kiss me like you mean it.”
Oh, she meant it. Meant it with all her heart. She parted her lips and met his tongue with gentle, silky strokes.
He tasted of peppermint, of maleness, of memory. Suddenly she couldn’t hold him close enough, couldn’t kiss him hard enough. As their tongues intertwined, raw guttural moans escaped her throat. She trailed her fingers over his broad, beefy shoulders, his hard chest, plucked open the buttons of his shirt and entwined her fingers in the dark curls covering his pecs. She found a flat nipple, tugged at it, loved how it hardened beneath her fingertips.
And still they kissed, as though they’d never kissed anyone before. He ate at her lips, nibbled, licked, sucked. She returned his passion with equal fervor, drawing his tongue into her mouth and sucking on it. Heat flared between her legs.
God, she was so turned on. More turned on than she’d ever been.
Well, not ever. But not for a very long time.
Suddenly she wanted him. Wanted him inside her. Wanted to make love with Brett Falcone more than she wanted to breathe.
He broke the kiss and inhaled sharply. “God, Kath.” His lips rained kisses on her cheeks, her nose, the sensitive flesh of her neck. She shuddered, her pussy pulsed. She was wet, so wet. So aroused from just a kiss.
But it wasn’t just a kiss.
It was a kiss from Brett Falcone. The only man she had ever truly loved.
He sucked at her neck while his hands cupped her breasts through her blouse. Her nipples tightened into aching buds that longed for his lips to suck them, kiss them.
As though he read her mind, he tugged her blouse out of her jeans. The hot flesh of his roving fingers burned. Oh, so good.
“So soft,” he whispered. “God, I need to touch you.”
“Touch me,” she whimpered. “Please.”
He reached between her breasts and unsnapped the front closure to her bra. “Mmm. As full as I remember. Fuller even.”
“Having a baby does that,” she said, her voice breathless.
“Your nipples are hard, Kath. So hard. God, I want to suck on them.”
“No one—” she inhaled a sharp breath “—stopping you that I can see.”
“God,” he said again. He lifted her blouse over her head and discarded her bra. She stood, naked from the waist up, as Brett Falcone’s dark, smoldering gaze burned into her flesh. And burn it did. She was hot, so very hot.
“Still so beautiful,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I always imagined you’d still be as beautiful as the day I first saw you naked, but I never hoped it would be true. You’re amazing, Kath.”
“Take off your shirt,” Kathryn said. “I want to see you. Feel you pressed against me. God, Brett. Please.”
His shirt quickly met the floor.
“Saints above.” She breathed in deeply. His chest was a work of art. Sculpted perfection. Golden skin covered with a smattering of ebony hair. More hair than she remembered. But of course, he had matured quite a bit since then. Two copper coin nipples poked through, their tips hardened and bronze. She reached for them, traced them, and she reveled in his intake of breath as they hardened even further against her questing fingertips.
She roamed downward, to the bulge in his jeans. She cupped it and squeezed.
“Damn, Kath.” He thrust into her hands.
Yes, she’d learned a few tricks since their last time together. Their only time together.
“Are you wet for me?” he asked.
She nodded, still squeezing his hardness through the thick denim. Oh yes, she was wet. Sopping.
He took her lead and cupped her mound through her jeans, rubbed, found just the right place, and she squirmed. He reached for her zipper.
“I need to feel you. Feel your wetness.”
Tingles raced through her and settled in her pussy. Brett slowly unzipped her pants, and then reached under her panties until his hot fingers probed her heat.
“Ah, God. So wet, Kath. So wet for me.”
“For you,” she echoed.
He lowered his head and took a hard nipple between his lips. “So sweet,” he murmured.
First, he licked and teased. Her nipple hardened until she thought it would burst open. Finally, when she couldn’t take it any longer, he closed his lips and sucked on the tight bud.
She squeezed his hardness again and his groan rumbled against the flesh of her breast. God, she wanted him. Wanted him to stuff that hard cock into her and fuck her hard and fast.
Then she wanted to lie in his arms, kiss him and caress him, make slow, sweet passionate love all night long.
Was this going too fast? Hell, she didn’t care. If she had only this, only this one night with him, it would be enough. Two nights with Brett Falcone could get her through the rest of her life.
“I want you,” he rasped against her nipple.
“I want you, too.”
“Unzip my pants.”
She didn’t need further urging. She drew down the zipper slowly, listening to each click of the teeth as they brought her closer and closer to her heart’s desire. Oh, he was hard. And turned on. A drop of fluid had dampened his boxers. She reached under his waistband and pulled out his thick cock. And suddenly, she couldn’t wait any longer. She slid out of her sandals, pushed her jeans and panties to the floor, and stepped out of them.
“Condom?” she said.
“Vasectomy.”
“Thank God. Take me now, Brett. Don’t you dare wait one minute longer.”
He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her, and set her down on his hard thick cock.
Oh, the sweet joining of bodies, of hearts. He slid into her so easily, so smoothly, as though he were made for her.
And he had been. She was sure of it. More sure than anything in the world.
She sighed at that first beautiful fullness, that first smooth thrust that reunited their bodies.
“Brett.” Her voice had deepened an octave, as though his name had come from the deepest center of her.
Her soul.
He lifted her again and brought her back down onto his erection. “God, Kath. It’s never been like this with anyone else. Ever.”
“For me either.”
She slammed her lips into his and kissed him. Kissed him with all she had, with all the pent up frustration of being without him for all those years, with all the love she’d always felt for him, and still felt even more acutely now.
Their mouths melded together in a clashing symphony of teeth and lips. No melody, just discordant threads of a chorus too long ignored. Too long silent.
No, the melody would come later. This was fucking. Joining. Hard, fast cementing that they both needed. Later they’d make love.
At least she hoped they would.
She clamped her legs tighter around his waist as he continued to plunge into her. Harder, faster, the room started spinning.
