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  Crystal clenched her teeth. Zane was not trying. Zane was a loser lounge lizard who only showed up to mooch money, then left her sister in emotional tatters.

  “I can’t babysit,” Crystal reiterated.

  “Then I’ll have to think of something else.” Amber’s voice turned searching. “Jennifer is almost-”

  “Jennifer is nine.” Crystal instantly saw where this was leading. “You can’t leave the kids alone, Amber.”

  “She’s very responsible.”

  “No. It’s illegal.”

  Silence. Then an airy, “I guess I’ll think of something.”

  Damn it. Crystal knew she couldn’t take the chance.

  Their parents were rarely an option. If they weren’t working, they were sleeping, and they tended to subject Amber to lifestyle lectures if she was doing something other than visiting the local library. Amber wouldn’t call them.

  If Zane showed up at the door, Amber might talk herself into leaving the children alone. Or worse, Zane might start the party right there in the apartment.

  “I’ll come and get them,” said Crystal.

  “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Amber enthused. “You’re the best sister ever.”

  Crystal didn’t agree. A good sister would have been able to talk Amber out of this insanity. She wouldn’t have become an enabler.

  “I’ll be there in half an hour,” she told Amber, punching the end button in disgust.

  Crystal blew out a sigh of frustration, then dialed Larry’s cell phone.

  “Larry Grosso,” came his crisp greeting. The sound of traffic was in the background, which meant he was already on his way. She felt terrible.

  “Larry, it’s Crystal.”

  His tone changed, becoming warm and friendly. “Hey, Crystal.”

  Her body hummed in reaction to the deep baritone. She took a breath to combat the sensation. Nothing to do but blurt out the bad news. “I’m afraid I can’t meet you tonight.”

  There was a silence.

  “Larry?”

  “I understand.” His tone was cool.

  “How can you understand? I didn’t even tell you why.”

  “If you’ve changed your mind-”

  “I haven’t changed my mind.” Good grief, she’d been looking forward to this dinner for twenty-four hours. She wasn’t some flighty young thing who’d blow him off for a better offer. “My sister called. And, well, it’s complicated, but I have to babysit her kids.”

  “I see.” He obviously didn’t believe her.

  “It’s not an excuse,” she insisted. “It was a…kind of…emergency.” Emergency stupidity? Was there such a thing?

  “How old are the kids?” asked Larry, his tone mellowing ever so slightly.

  “Jennifer’s nine and David is seven.”

  “We can bring them along.”

  “To Rouladen’s?”

  “Well, obviously not to Rouladen’s. What about Pizza Heaven?”

  Something warmed in Crystal’s chest. “You’d take me to Pizza Heaven?”

  “Sure.”

  “With two kids in tow?”

  “The kids would be the one and only reason to pick Pizza Heaven.”

  Crystal laughed. “You mean you don’t want to play Bop-the-Mole or jump around in the ball room?”

  There was a pause on Larry’s end of the phone. “I want to hang out with you. I don’t much care where we do it.”

  Her heart warmed some more. “You’re a very nice man, Larry.”

  Another pause. “Well, thanks for that. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  “I’m going to have to change,” she warned him.

  “Oh, no you don’t. If I’m showing up at Pizza Heaven in a suit, you’re wearing whatever it is you’ve got on.”

  Crystal glanced down at the shimmering blue dress. “Well, thank goodness I didn’t go with the red.”

  “The red?” he asked, interest clear in his tone.

  “It’s a little flamboyant.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Guaranteed to turn heads.”

  “Put it on.”

  “I’m not going to put it on for Pizza Heaven.” But another buzz went through Crystal’s body.

  Were they flirting? This definitely felt like flirting. Which was okay with her.

  His tone went low. “Put it on for me.”

  She was tempted. She was honestly tempted to do just that.

  CHAPTER THREE

  J ENNIFER AND D AVID ORDERED kid’s combos that came with a soft drink and an ice-cream sundae, while Crystal and Larry split a pepperoni pizza and went with the beer that was on tap. Although she’d stuck with the blue dress, they’d drawn a few looks on their way in. But then Larry had slipped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, and now they blended somewhat with the crowd of young families.

  Crystal was impressed with Larry’s relaxed manner around the children.

  Once David had discovered Larry consulted on the space shuttle program, Larry became his new hero. He’d peppered Larry with questions all through dinner. Even Jennifer seemed impressed.

  David announced he was going to be an astronaut, and Jennifer allowed that some things about math were cool.

  As the meal wound down, Larry nodded to the display board above the counter. “Can anybody tell me which price is the best deal for games tokens?”

  Jennifer and David quickly swiveled on their wooden bench seat, studying the numbers. Tokens were four for a dollar, nine for two dollars, twenty-five for five dollars, and fifty-five for ten dollars.

  David peered hard, then looked to Jennifer.

  “Fifty-five for ten dollars,” she sang out.

  “Fifty-five for ten dollars,” David gamely echoed.

  Larry handed Jennifer a ten dollar bill. “For ten dollars, how many will you each get?”

  Both the children’s eyes went wide as they stared at the bill.

  Jennifer bit her bottom lip. “Twenty-seven,” she said. Then she grinned at Larry. “And you can have the extra one.”

  He smiled back. “Good answer.”

  The kids looked to Crystal for permission. “Go ahead and have fun,” she told them.

  They instantly scampered away.

  “That was very nice of you,” she said to Larry.

  He took a sip of his beer. “I wish you’d quit calling me nice.”

  “You are nice.”

  “Nice is boring.”

  “You’re not boring. You helped with the space shuttle.”

  “That seemed to impress the kids more than it impressed you.”

  Crystal leaned an elbow on the table and rested her chin against her hand, gazing up at him with a grin. “Go figure.”

  “Yeah? What would it take to impress you?”

  “Rouladen’s would have done it.”

  “Tomorrow night?” he asked without skipping a beat.

  Crystal came upright, feeling guilty. “I wasn’t fishing.”

  “I know you weren’t.”

  “You can’t buy me dinner two nights in a row.”

  He lifted the corner of their leftover piece of pizza. “This wasn’t exactly dinner.”

  She waved a dismissive hand. “It was fine.”

  “You liked it?”

  “The beer was cold, the pizza hot, and the cheese was…almost real.”

  “Rouladen’s will have real cheese.”

  “You don’t have-”

  He took her hand in his, and she immediately stopped talking. He looked deep into her eyes. “I want to.”

  She gazed back. His grip felt good. His hand was warm and broad and strong, with thick skin and the odd callus. It didn’t feel remotely like a professor’s hand.

  “I want to, too,” she admitted.

  He gave her a slow smile.

  She lifted her beer mug with her free hand, leaving the other just where it was.

  David shrieked, drawing her attention to where he and Jennifer were playing Bop-the-Mole.
r />   “So, what was the emergency?” Larry asked in a low voice.

  Crystal sighed heavily, keeping her gaze on the children. “My sister’s ex-husband is in town,” she grumbled.

  “Trouble?” guessed Larry.

  “Zane is always trouble. From the minute my sister laid eyes on him. To the day he got her pregnant. To the day he walked out and left her with a stack of bills and two tiny children.”

  “Why is he back now?”

  Crystal had wondered about that. “I don’t know yet.”

  “Does he want his kids?”

  She turned her attention to Larry. “Zane couldn’t care less about his kids. He’s a drunk and a mooch, and he’s after any money he can wring out of Amber. Then he’ll walk away, breaking her heart all over again.”

  Larry frowned. “Sounds like a prince. Why doesn’t she tell him to take a hike?”

  Crystal shrugged. “Self-esteem issues. He tells her he loves her. Makes wild promises about get-rich schemes and the fabulous life they’re going to lead together.”

  “Let me guess. You tried to talk her out of seeing him tonight?”

  “You bet your ass I tried to talk her out of it.”

  Larry looked like he might launch into a lecture. But then the tension went out of his shoulders. “You know, you can’t literally bet your ass.”

  The statement surprised her. She’d expected something along the lines of not being her sister’s keeper.

  “You got something against metaphors?”

  “I mean,” he continued. “What would it be worth? One ass is a hundred dollars? A thousand dollars?”

  “This is the math nerd in you coming out, isn’t it?”

  “Now your ass,” he said, leaning back to gaze down her silk dress. “That’d be worth about a million.”

  She gave him a mock incredulous look. “Did you seriously just offer me a million dollars for…”

  His face fell. “I didn’t-I mean, I wouldn’t-”

  She struggled to keep her face straight. “What? You don’t think I’m worth it?”

  He gave her a hard stare. “I’m getting the hell out of this conversation.”

  “You’re a smart man.”

  “That’s what my IQ results say.”

  “How high?”

  Looking embarrassed, he gazed down at his empty beer mug. “I’m not about to tell you that.”

  “Why not?” she pressed. “Afraid I’ll be intimidated?”

  “I just don’t like to talk about it. Hey, David,” he called across the room. “How’re you guys doing?”

  The kids held up fists full of bright orange tickets they’d won at the game and that could be redeemed for various prizes.

  “Nice try,” said Crystal.

  “Looks like they can get a rubber gecko. Or maybe the mini fire engine.”

  “How high?”

  Larry gave a long-suffering sigh. “You’re not going to drop it, are you?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “That would be the courteous and respectful thing to do.”

  “Who ever told you I was courteous and respectful? Come on, Larry. How bad can it be? I already know you’re a rocket scientist.”

  “One sixty-five,” he finally admitted.

  Crystal whistled low. “That’s pretty bad.”

  “See?”

  “I mean.” She put a combination of reverence and awe into her voice. “How can I ever dare talk to you again? What if I say something profoundly stupid?”

  “You’re not going to-”

  “You must know everything. You must laugh at us regular folks. You must be, on all counts, a superior human being to me or anyone else on the planet.”

  He glared at her.

  She faltered for a split second. “You do know I’m messing with you, right?”

  His expression didn’t change. “You mock my intellect?”

  She scoffed, fairly sure now that he was messing right back. “One sixty-five. Big deal. I’ve got an ass that’s worth a million bucks.”

  He tried again, but this time he couldn’t completely contain his grin. “People never mock my intellect.”

  “Really? Well, it’s about time somebody did.”

  “Larry,” Jennifer shouted breathlessly, clambering back up on the bench and dumping a pile of tickets on the table. “Will you help us figure out what we can get?”

  David was right behind, adding his own fistfuls of tickets to the pile.

  “See that? Somebody out there respects my brain,” Larry said to Crystal.

  “Is this what you do for NASA?” she asked him sweetly.

  “Pretty much,” said Larry, helping the kids sort the tickets into piles of fives.

  A RUBBER GECKO SQUEEZED tight in his chubby hand, David drifted off to sleep in the backseat of Larry’s car. A second glance in the rearview mirror told Larry that Jennifer wasn’t far behind. Her eyes had a dreamy look, and her blinks were long and slow.

  He leaned toward Crystal and whispered. “Did we keep them out too late?” It had been a long time since his son Steve had been this age, and Larry couldn’t remember bed times.

  Not that he’d ever paid that much attention to the details of childrearing. If he started work in his study at six, he often didn’t notice the time until well after midnight. Elizabeth was the reason Steve had survived childhood.

  “They just had a good time,” said Crystal. “I won’t have any trouble getting them up for school.”

  “They’re staying overnight with you?”

  She nodded, a flinch of distress crossing her face. “I’m not sure what time Amber will get home.”

  Larry nodded his understanding.

  None of his business, of course. But what kind of a mother partied on a weeknight, potentially compromising her children’s education?

  “What about you?” asked Crystal. “You have school tomorrow.”

  “Classes are done,” said Larry. “I’ll mostly be compiling research over the summer.”

  “Really? What are you researching?”

  Larry hated this part. No matter how hard he tried to keep it simple, people’s eyes inevitably glazed over when he talked about his work. At parties, most people found a quick excuse to walk away.

  “It’s not all that interesting.”

  “Don’t mollycoddle me. I handled your IQ, didn’t I?”

  “Fine,” said Larry. “I’m researching physical and hydrodynamical modeling for galactic superwinds.”

  She blinked.

  He took a breath, might as well find out now if she was going to walk away. “Specifically,” he continued, “the physical origin of X-ray emissions created when supernova remnants overlap in the star-forming regions of space. They form highly pressurized bubbles that burst into intergalactic space, redistributing mass and heat.”

  The engine and tire noise filled in the silence.

  “So, you don’t know yet what makes the X-ray emissions,” she said.

  It was Larry’s turn to blink. “You got that?”

  “Well, it may be rocket science, buddy. But it wasn’t like there were any new words in those sentences.”

  He stared at her as long as he dared without crashing the car. “You understood what I just said?”

  “Don’t get too impressed. It’s not like you can take me into the lab to help with the hydrodynamical modeling.”

  Larry was speechless.

  She took in his expression, an edge coming into her voice. “You never did ask me my IQ.”

  “Well…I…” To be honest, Larry hadn’t been looking for intelligence from Crystal.

  No. Wait. That sounded awful. She was obviously smart. Her sense of humor was sharp and sophisticated.

  She glanced back at Jennifer.

  Larry followed her gaze in the mirror and discovered the young girl was asleep along with her brother.

  “You were too busy focusing on my hair,” hissed Crystal. “And my…other assets.”

  “Whoa,”
Larry put in. “I’ve never once fixated on your physical attributes over your personality.” He paused. “Okay, maybe the million-dollar ass comment was out of line. But it happens to be true.” Whatever else she had, Crystal was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

  “Ask me my IQ,” she repeated.

  The defiance in her voice gave him pause. “What’s your IQ?”

  “One fifty-two.”

  Okay. He was officially impressed. That number put her in the top one percent of his students. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Until now, I didn’t think it mattered.”

  “It doesn’t.” He knew she was smart. He simply hadn’t known how smart.

  “Should we compare bank balances next?” she asked. “See who can pee the farthest?”

  “You’re a girl.”

  “And you’re a metaphor-phobe.”

  “I don’t think that’s a real word.”

  “Hey, who around here has a graduate degree in English?”

  “You do,” he admitted.

  They were both silent, while Larry made the last turn before the Softco Machine Works building.

  “Are you really upset?” he asked.

  “Not that much,” she admitted.

  “I like that you understand what I’m doing. I didn’t mean to sound so surprised.”

  “And I didn’t mean to go all ballistic feminist on you. I’m glad you like my…brain. Few people hang around long enough to see it.”

  “Their loss,” Larry said softly, reaching for her hand.

  Her fingers curled around his, and something felt totally right about the touch.

  She closed her eyes and tipped her head back against the headrest. “What are we doing here, Larry?”

  “I haven’t a clue,” he admitted. “You want to stop?”

  To his relief, she shook her head.

  He pulled into the parking lot of Softco, driving around the building to the back staircase that led to her apartment.

  He killed the engine and flipped the catch on his seat belt. Jennifer’s eyes blinked blearily open, but David stayed sound asleep.

  “I’ll carry him up,” Larry whispered into the silence.

  Crystal smiled her appreciation, and she opened her door, flipping the seat forward to help Jennifer out.

  Larry bundled David into his arms, making sure the gecko didn’t get dropped. Then he followed Crystal and Jennifer up the long staircase.