Page 10 of Love and the Laws of Motion
“Um, no.It’s okay.That must be Nick DeSantis.I’ll, um, I’ll let him in.”
Janet blinked at her when she made no move to actually do that.“You’ll have to open the door to let him in.”
“Oh!Right.”She hobbled over to the door and threw it open.
Once again, she was completely unprepared for the sight of Nick.Her chest flooded with heat, and her tongue suddenly felt too big for her mouth.This was even worse than the first time she’d met him.This feeling was supposed to go away now that she knew he was off limits.Danger, Livie, danger.
He looked at her expectantly, and, after several excruciating moments of silence, his mouth quirked with a smile.
“You okay, Livie?”
“Errrr.”Coughing, she swallowed and tried again.“Fine.Yes, I’m fine.You’re late.”
Nick absorbed the accusation with a casual shrug.“Got distracted,” he said by way of explanation, even though it explained nothing.
She scowled in disapproval, but he didn’t seem to notice.“Um, come in.This is Dr.Janet Finch.Janet, this is Nick DeSantis.”
“Nice to meet you,” Nick said.Then he strode into her office, grabbed a chair, and dragged it around to Janet’s side of her desk, throwing himself into it.“Now tell me about your research.”
Oh no.He didnotwaltz into Janet’s office, make himself right at home, and then demand that she explain her work to him.Livie’s heart sank.Janet was going to toss him out of her office.She’d think Livie was out of her mind for suggestingthisguy to design a key component of her research.And she’d be right.This was adisaster.She was definitely going to have to find another programmer.If Janet even let her after she’d presentedNickas a possibility.
Livie braced herself for Janet to politely but firmly tell him he was not what they were looking for after all.But to her astonishment, Janet turned to her computer and began to do as he asked, as if strange men invading her office and demanding a walk-through of her research was an everyday occurrence.
The breath Livie had been holding left her in a shaky exhale.Apparently that charm that had so discombobulated her worked onallwomen.Good to know.
Since Livie knew this part of Janet’s walk-through like the back of her hand, she took the chair still remaining—on thecorrectside of the desk—and watched in silence as Janet explained her theory to Nick.He was fully engaged, his gaze alert and focused as she explained the work she’d done so far.Janet was a brilliant scientist, but she often forgot that not everyone around her was as sharp as she was.More than one student had been reduced to tears as they frantically took notes in her class, unable to keep up with her lightning-fast mind.That wasn’t a problem for Nick.Every now and then he’d ask a question that would prove how closely he’d been listening.He might not know anything about astronomy, but that didn’t seem to be slowing him down at all.
With his early admittance to DeWitt and his success in his field, she’d assumed he was intelligent, but she hadn’t been prepared for this level of brilliance, this kind of agile, expansive mind.Of course, that only served to make him more appealing to her.Why couldn’t he be smart and capable, but utterly boring?Or an obnoxious ox like Peter Hockman?Why did he have to be hotandbrilliant?It just wasn’t fair.
“This is amazing,” Nick said, when Janet finished explaining what they would be looking for.“You could change telecommunications forever.This could be how we finally make transporters work.”
“Transporters?”Janet asked.
“Star Trek.You know, where they stand on the platform and the transporter turns them into an energy pattern and then beams them to another location?”
“Well, beaming an object to another location is outside the laws of physics—”
“As far as you know right now.”
Livie bit back a gasp.Nobodyknew the laws of astrophysics better than Janet.
But Janet shocked her again by letting out a laugh.“You’re right.Perhaps we’ll have to rewrite the laws of physics by the time we’re done.”
“I’m all for breaking a few laws.”
Then he glanced at Livie and winked.Winked.She’d be furious if she wasn’t too busy being flustered.
“Can I take it you’re interested in working with us, Mr.DeSantis?”
“Oh, yeah, I already told Livie I’m in.I just wanted to hear more about it.When do we start?”
Janet clapped her hands.“Wonderful!Why don’t you get started with Livie?She’s got all the Hubble data and knows the parameters of what we’re looking for.”
Nick shifted his attention to Livie and grinned.“Can’t wait to get started.”Her stomach flip-flopped dramatically.Stupid, stupid stomach.
He glanced down at his phone.“I gotta run.Walk me out and we’ll figure out a time to start.”
Livie slowly rose to her feet, in no rush to face Nick one-on-one.His effect on her was bad enough when he was paying attention to someone else.It was pathetic.
