Page 63 of Love and the Laws of Motion
“Tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll build a machine learning algorithm.”
“In some instances, human beings are better at recognizing repeating patterns than computers, you know.”
“That cannot be true.”
“It is!A lot of astronomy researchers recruit people to analyze data for exactly that reason.They call them citizen astronomers.”
“I’m going to build an algorithm anyway.Then you can tell me who’s faster.”
She smiled at him, hiking one eyebrow in that way that drove him crazy.“Is it so impossible to believe that humans could be better at something than a computer?”Damn, she was cute when she was teasing him.
His eyes dropped to her cleavage, exposed tonight since she’d left off her baggy flannel shirt and was wearing only a tank top.“Humans are alotbetter at some things,” he murmured.
She wasn’t paying attention anymore, her eyes back on her screen.“When I find repeating patterns, it will let us begin to build a profile—”
Nick cut her off with another kiss.She let out a muffled yelp of surprise, but then relaxed against him, letting him tease her lips apart and stroke her tongue with his own.Without breaking the kiss, he slid her laptop out of her hands and closed it.Analysis could wait.
Tearing her lips away from his, she tried to retrieve her computer.“But—”
He set it on the nightstand by the bed.“Later.Coding turns me on.”
She laughed before he kissed her again.That wasn’t entirely a joke.Cracking a thorny problem always left him buzzing with adrenaline needing an outlet.And here was Livie, sitting on his bed next to him, getting all excited about science.How was he supposed to resist that?She had no idea how hot she was when she was obsessing over data.
She let him tumble her onto her back and deepen the kiss.Her hands slid up into his hair.His knee insinuated itself between hers.The kiss went from playful to hot.He nipped at her bottom lip, and dragged his tongue across the roof of her mouth.His hand curled into her waist, his thumb sweeping back and forth, right under the hem of her shirt.
Livie bent her right leg and suddenly his hips slid right in between her thighs.Ah, Jesus, that felt good.He fought down the urge to grind himself against her, keeping some small distance between them.
Then, slowly and deliberately, she hooked her calf behind his hips and hauled him in flush against herself.
His breathing stalled in his chest.
“Shit,” he groaned, pressing his forehead to her shoulder.This was why he’d been trying to go slow.
Livie had never done this before, and he had no idea how he was supposed to handle that.He’d never been with a virgin, not even when he was one himself.His first time, when he was fifteen, had been with a seventeen-year-old high school senior at computer camp.As much as he wanted Livie, as much as she seemed to want him, he couldn’t help but wonder if it would be a mistake, her throwing it away on someone as unworthy as him.He was a mess—no good for anyone.But that eminently responsible voice was continually being drowned out by his libido, and Livie wasn’t helping.
And now here they were, tangled together on his bed, the door closed, and the house silent.Jess was at Alex’s, Gemma was at the bar, and John had taken Teresa to his brother’s place on City Island for the weekend.No one would put a stop to this, unless he did.
He shifted his weight, intending to regain some distance and, hopefully, a little sanity, but somehow their hips collided again.He was hard as a goddamned rock, straining against the fly of his jeans, and incredibly sensitive.Again, he groaned.
“Livie—”
Her hand was on his hip, and now she slid it up under his shirt, over his ribs.Her palm felt like fire, branding his skin.
“I think you should take this off,” she murmured, tugging on his T-shirt.
He lifted his head, looking down into her face.Ah, hell.Her eyes were heavy-lidded and sexy, her thick lashes casting shadows on her cheekbones.Her lips were flushed pink and parted.Her chest rose and fell underneath him as she dragged in a breath.Why couldn’t he do this again?There was a good reason he’d been avoiding it, right?But what was it?Why couldn’t he strip off his shirt as she asked, and then strip off hers, and then strip off everything else and bury himself in her?She wanted him to.It was right there, all over her face.Hewanted to—so bad that it literally hurt.
Then she reached up a hand to touch his face, laying her palm on his cheek, running the pad of her thumb along his bottom lip, and the tenderness of her expression brought it all back.This wouldn’t just be sex for Livie.He wasn’t sure it would just be sex for him either.And this was a colossally bad time for him to be starting something when he had no idea if he could finish it.
“Livie, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“I want to.”
“I know.So do I.”God, he wanted to.Every molecule of his body wanted to.
“Then let’s do it.”
“But—”
