He wanted to kiss her again. She’d taste sweet from the syrup and smoky from the bacon, and it’d be so easy to pull her onto his lap and cover her mouth with his.
But he didn’t want her to run again. And he had the feeling that, even though she’d asked him to help her brush up on her seduction skills, she didn’t realize how much she didn’t know.
And how much he wanted her.
“What about you?” she asked. “Did you always know you were going to be a…what exactly do you call yourself? Mad scientist?”
She accompanied her last words with raised eyebrows, making him laugh out loud.
“Some days that would fit, I guess. But I prefer research and development mad scientist.”
“So why aren’t you working for the government? I can’t believe some branch of the alphabet soup didn’t want to snap you up. Or you could be making a mint working for one of the private R&D companies.”
“I considered it.” And was still considering it. “I’m not sure I’d work well with others. And I don’t take direction well.”
“Ah. You have Tony Stark syndrome.”
She said it with such a straight face, he thought maybe he hadn’t heard her correctly.
And when she started to grin, he swore his cock got so hard, he could hammer nails.
“So you’re a closet comic book geek,” he said. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Probably because it’s such a cliché. You know, the geek who hordes comic books and action figures. The problem is, I’m not really into comic books. But I do love superhero movies. Some guys look pretty freaking hot in tights.”
Damn, he really liked this girl.
“Guess I’ll have to pull out my Superman underwear.”
Her eyes widened and he saw something flash through those cat-green depths. Something that looked an awful lot like desire.
Then she blinked and looked away. And he saw the corners of her mouth tilt up before she met his gaze again.
“Will you model them for me if I show you my Wonder Woman costume?”
His mouth almost fell open. Damn. She was deliberately flirting with him. And he was totally falling for it.
“So you’ll show me yours if I show you mine?”
That blush suffused her cheeks again and made him want to see if other parts of her body were the same pretty pink.
He thought he’d finally managed to scare her off. She didn’t answer and he was a split second away from trying to change the subject and ease some of that embarrassment when she smiled.
And she didn’t have to force it. Her grin looked completely natural.
He realized that flush might not have been embarrassment.
Could have been excitement. Or arousal.
“Absolutely. But I never took you for a Superman fan.”
“They were a gift.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Oh really?”
“From Janey.”
Now she laughed, a straight-up belly laugh, and he fell so hard, he would’ve broken his ass if he’d actually hit the floor.
Mal
was gonna kill him when he found out he’d touched her. Janey would have his balls. And his mom would give him that disapproving look that made him feel like the biggest ass in the world.
But Merri had made herself perfectly clear and under no undue influence.
She wanted to seduce him. And he wanted her.
So why the hell couldn’t they have some fun while they had the time? It wasn’t like it could go anywhere. She lived in Washington. He lived in Philly. They both had all-consuming jobs they had no intention of giving up.
She needed a distraction, she was wound so damn tight. Jimmy could be pretty freaking distracting.
“I think you’re making a pretty good start on your education.”
Now her smile made him think of rushing through the preliminary stages of flirting and getting right to the part where she was naked and under him.
“I think I need more hands-on training.”
Hands-on. Yeah. He could get into hands-on training.
First, though, he had to take her into the office. His mom was waiting for her.
But tonight…
All bets were off.
“So, Janey wants us to go out to eat with her and Mal tonight. You up for that?”
She paused and he thought she was going to decline. “Sure, if it’s okay with you. I mean, if you have plans, I don’t want you to change them for me.”
Considering he probably would’ve spent the night working, he told her the truth. “I don’t have anything planned.”
Then it occurred to him that maybe there’d been more to her question. He wasn’t seeing anyone, but how would she know that unless she’d asked one of his family members or Mal?—and he just couldn’t see that happening.
So did he just come out and tell her?
And when the hell had he turned into a teenage girl?
Jesus, he needed to get to his lab and clear his head.
* * * * *
“Merri, it is so good to see you. I’m so glad you decided to stay with us for a while.”
Janey DeMarco had a lot of her mother’s best qualities, Merri realized as Janey gave her an enthusiastic hug soon after she walked in the doors of DeMarco Investigations.
She had the same warmth, the same way of making Merri feel like she belonged, and the same ability to read minds. Merri had no doubt about it now.
Janey also made her feel as if the reason for her stay with them was not as important as the fact that she was there to visit.
“Hey, Janey. Hey, Mal.”
“Hey, Mare.” Mal grabbed her away from Janey and gave her a tight hug, which she returned just as tightly. “Everything okay?”
She could honestly say everything felt okay right now.
She and Jimmy had made it into the office without any awkward moments. And she hadn’t thrown herself at him and demanded he kiss her again, so she considered that a win.
That kiss last night had sizzled her nerve endings. But this morning, he hadn’t mentioned it. They’d both pretended it hadn’t happened.
So now what? Could she pick
Mal’s
brain like she used to? He still looked like the man she’d known before he’d come to the DeMarcos to see if they’d been involved in the death of his former partner. They hadn’t been. And Mal had never returned to Fort Meade.
He started to smile as they stood in the hall leading back to the office on the first floor.
“I know that look,” he said. “Why don’t you come on back to our office and we can talk back there.”
He exchanged a glance with Janey who, with no hesitation at all, said, “You guys go on back. I have to talk to Annie about our schedule. Merri, let me know when you’re ready to get your office set up, and Annie and I will show you where everything is. Oh, and let’s have a girls’ lunch? After spending all morning with all three guys in the office, we’ll need the break.”
All three guys meaning Mal, Jimmy, and Nic, Janey’s oldest brother. Since she was used to working in a building that was almost ninety-five percent male, she wasn’t quite sure why Janey would think she needed to get away. But lunch with other females was such a rare occasion, she figured what the hell.
“Sure, that sounds good.”
Janey’s smile was bright as she waved then headed back out toward the reception area and Annie.
If Merri was going to be intimidated by anyone, it would be the blonde ice queen Annie Reed.
Not that the woman had been anything but kind. Merri really did like Annie, but the woman oozed confidence and poise in her perfect pencil skirt and white blouse.
Merri never wore white. She always managed to spill something on it, no matter if it was a dress shirt or t-shirt. Usually she wore dark colors. Blue, green, or black. They hid pencil and ink stains much better than white.
Looking down at herself as she followed Mal back to his office, she realized her normal clothes might not cut it here.
Damn, Grace hadn’t said anything about what to wear to the office. Maybe she needed skirts and blouses and, God forbid, shoes with five-inch heels, like those monstrosities Annie had on today.
By the time Mal closed the door to his office and dropped into the chair behind one of the desks, Merri felt her lungs tightening.
“Jesus, what the hell am I doing here? I don’t even have the right clothes.”
For a second, she thought Mal was going to run for the door and scream for Janey. Then he started to laugh. “Damn, I missed you. Now take a deep breath, Mare. Everything’s gonna be just fine.”
When he spoke like that, the faint Southern accent coming through, she began to breathe again. “Shit, Mal, what the hell did I agree to?” She started to pace in front of his desk, twirling the end of one of her braids around her finger. “I’m not cut out to work here. Not if they expect me to wear those shoes. I’ll kill myself. And skirts that tight? How do they breathe? Shit, I just realized I didn’t bring more than two pairs of jeans and a couple t-shirts with me because I didn’t know I’d be staying and— And stop laughing at me, you lug.”
She picked up the closest thing she could find that wouldn’t break his head on impact and tossed it at him. He batted away the magazine before it could hit him in the face, laughing and making her smile as well.
“Unless there’s some office handbook they didn’t give me when I started, you can wear whatever you damn well please.” He motioned to his cargo pants. “See, I didn’t have to buy anything new.”
“But you’re not a girl. Damn it. I’m gonna have to go shopping and I hate to shop.”
Mal shook his head. “No, I am
not
a girl. But luckily for you, I’m sure Janey and Annie would be more than happy to take you to the mall and help you find some new clothes.”
The Mall, which had to be synonymous with Hell. “Mal. What the hell am I doing here?”
“Mare, sit. I’m gonna need a nap if you keep pacing. And tell me what the hell else is going on that you’re freaking out about clothes.”
She sat with a huff, elbows on her knees, chin on her fists. “I asked Jimmy to teach me how to pick up men.”
Mal blinked and she swore he was about to shake his head, as if he hadn’t heard her correctly. Then he swallowed hard. “You did what?”
She gave him the finger without moving her hands from her chin. “Don’t piss me off. You heard what I said.”
The corners of his lips twitched and that just made her roll her eyes. “Yeah, I heard you but I’m still trying to believe it. What the hell were you thinking?” Mal asked.
“Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking or I never would have said it.”
“No way.” Mal punctuated his words with a shake of his head. “I know you. You don’t say anything you don’t mean. Come on now. It’s me. You know you can tell me anything.”
“So I can tell you I want to jump Jimmy’s bones and have hot monkey sex with him.”
She swore Mal lost all the color in his face but, to his credit, he didn’t laugh. And he didn’t fall over in dead faint.
Instead he took a deep breath. “Okay. So you got the
hots
for Jimmy. Damn good thing I like the guy or this would’ve gotten ugly. So what’s the problem?”