The Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek (Clumsy Cupids) (15 page)

consumed even a drop of alcohol the entire time.

By the time Fee pulled into a spot in front of

Ash's building that night, it was almost ten. Ash

turned in his seat to look at Fee. "So," he said into

a silence that seemed somehow both heavy and

expectant at once. "Can I ask you something?"

Fee reached out to cut the engine. "Sure."

"Was this a date, Fee? Or was this us just being

friends?"

Fee's eyes met his, endlessly dark in the

shadowy interior of the car. There was enough

light from the streetlamp for Ash to read his

expression, and what he saw there made his

breathing pick up.

"This was a date," Fee murmured.

Well, if that were the case, Ash was going to

push. Just a little. Just hard enough to see what Fee

would do. "Prove it then. Kiss me."

Fee hesitated long enough Ash thought he might

not do it, which would have been massively

embarrassing. Then Fee leaned over and suddenly

those soft, warm lips were on his, and Ash could

think of nothing except how good it was, how much

better than the first time. They were entirely alone,

no distractions, no one watching or other bodies

trying to get close, just him and Fee, seeking

tongues, biting teeth.

Ash moaned into the kiss and reached up to hold

Fee's arms, thinking he'd rather suffocate than have

it end. But soon, too soon, Fee drew back. Ash

was left blinking stupidly with a swollen, tingling

mouth and a hard-as-steel cock that throbbed

painfully in his jeans.

"Was that proof enough for you?" Fee asked.

Ash could only nod. Yes.
Hell
yes. It definitely

was.

Chapter Seven

BINARIES: THERE ARE 10

WAYS TO LOOK AT IT

One of your geek's favorite jokes may be: "There are 10

types of people in the world. Those who understand

binary and those who don't." A lot of people don't get this

joke. Don't feel bad. At its basic levels (not to be

confused with the programming language BASIC, or even

Visual Basic), all computer data is binaries: either a one

or a zero. On or off. True or false. One is on (or true),

zero is off (or false). Before you get into further

understanding mathematical languages, you have to

decide if your feelings are ones or zeros, and what you

expect his are. He may not have analyzed his feelings yet,

but there's no reason to assume he's automatically off.

7.1

Celibacy, Ash thought, was for the birds. He'd

been out with Fee a few times over the past two

weeks, but they hadn't had any real time alone. And

alone time, up close and personal, with Fee was

exactly what Ash was craving.

They'd gone out for coffee a few times during

Ash's breaks at the shop. Light kisses, just a peck

on the lips, really, after Fee walked him back to

work were the most he'd been able to get. Even

after going out to dinner at Jae's place, their

goodnight kiss had been quick. Hot, shaking him to

his core, but over way too quick. Every date with

Fee left him achingly hard, and the tension was

starting to get to him.

"Hey, Ty, are you going to Deli's tonight?" Ash

called across the room.

"Not tonight."

"Damn." Ash was in the mood to go out, do

some drinking, maybe even hook up with someone.

He'd been in this weird zone with Fee for over two

weeks now, stuck in the airlock, denied entry to the

ship—
oh God, where did that thought come

from?
He groaned and bumped his head against the

counter. Fee's sci-fi nerdiness must have been

rubbing off on him.
Now if something else of Fee's

would rub off on me.

"What's up?" Ty asked. He put one hand on

Ash's back.

"Nothing." Ash sat up and tried to paste a smile

on his face.

Ty checked his watch. "I can probably have one

drink if you really wanted to go out."

"Nah, it's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Just go do whatever. I'll go

home. No big."

"Aren't you dating that geek?"

"I have no idea." Ash shook his head and

walked back to the storeroom. He really didn't feel

like discussing the issue with Ty yet again. He'd

already let Ash know what he thought of Fee. No

way did Ash want to rehash the list of why it

wouldn't work out. So far, Carley was the only one

of his friends who'd started to believe that even oil

and water could sometimes mix.

Ash spent the next half hour cleaning up and

attempting not to think about Fee. Of course, his

mind wandered as he worked on autopilot. Was

this what dating was? Was this how other people

did it? How did they stand it? The waiting, the not

knowing where you stood with someone. The

abstinence? It all made a strong argument for the

dance-floor hookups Ash was used to. There, at

least you both got your rocks off. If something

clicked, great. If not, well, that was what one-

night-stands were all about.

He had just finished wiping the jewelry counter

down when a group of women out for a

bachelorette party stumbled into the shop. Ash

groaned quietly.

The leader wore a white sash, complete with

big lettering in silver glitter that was flaking off

onto the floor, declaring her to be the bride. She

had on a silver plastic tiara with condoms stapled

to the netting that draped down her back. The

women pawed through sample books, leaving

fingerprints all over the glass counter Ash had just

finished cleaning. Ash noticed his book was the

one they were studying so he made his way over to

stand behind the counter in front of them.

"Good evening, ladies. Can I help you?"

A redhead pushed her way to the front of the

counter. "Yesh," she slurred. "We wanna get

tattoos."

"Yeah," the bride said. "Can you put this—" she

pointed to a picture of a heart wrapped in thorned

vines, "—right here?" She put a finger inside her

low-cut shirt and leaned forward, showing almost

enough cleavage to be illegal.

"Oh, yeah. I want that, too," a brunette said from

behind her. She staggered to the front of the group

and propped herself against the counter. She was

already spilling out of her blouse. "Can you do

me?"

"I'm sorry. It's against the law to tattoo anyone

who's been drinking. We'd be happy to help you

out tomorrow, though." Ash gave them his most

appeasing smile.

The brunette tried to stand up straight, but the

redhead had to steady her as she wobbled on her

feet. "I'm sober."

"You are not," the bride said. The brunette

turned toward her and glared for a second before

they both started giggling.

"Ladies, can I help you?" Tank asked as he

joined Ash. The brunette looked up at him and

almost gasped, but it was taken over by a hiccup.

The redhead behind her laughed. Tank looked at

Ash, but Ash shrugged.

"Why don't you have a seat over there?" Ash

showed them to the couch near the back of the

shop. He went to the storeroom and grabbed three

bottles of water. After handing them out to the

ladies, he returned to the front of the store. He

heard them whispering, but he knew better than to

go back. Tank smiled as he walked by to check on

them. Ash knew they were in his capable hands, so

he went about sweeping up the glitter and re-

wiping the counters.

The night passed quickly as customers came and

went while the bachelorettes relaxed on the couch.

They made small talk with everyone getting new

ink and flirted with Ty and Tank. By closing time,

they had petered out. Paige, the bride, they had

learned, had her head against the redheaded Roxy's

shoulder. Both looked to be dozing, while

Samantha, the wobbly brunette, looked around

with wide eyes. After three cups of coffee, she

didn't seem to be any more sober, but at least she

was wide awake now.

"Hey, guys? We're closing now," Ash said.

"Hmmm?" Paige asked as she rolled her head to

the other side.

"Call them a cab," Tank said.

Ash nodded. "Samantha? Can you tell me where

you live so I can give the cab driver your

address?"

"S'okay. We have a car." Samantha shook her

head, but the action sent her body swaying. She

looked up at Ash. "Maybe not?" she asked in a tiny

voice.

"Let me call someone for you. I couldn't handle

it if you had an accident on the way home."

"We're at a hotel up the street. Figured we may

have too much fun." She leaned down to shake

Roxy's shoulder. "Come on, girls. Time to go."

Roxy came awake with gasp and looked around.

"Oh, crap. Did we …?"

Ash smiled. "You just kept us company this

evening. Nothing more than conversation."

Ty shook his head but didn't say anything.

"Thanks for everything," Samantha said as she

helped Paige to her feet.

They started for the door, and Ash looked at

Tank. At Tank's nod, Ash grabbed his bag from

behind the counter. "I'm leaving now, too. Why

don't you let me walk you back?"

He held the door open for them, and Roxy

lurched out onto the sidewalk. She leaned against

the small tree planted outside the shop.

"We'll be fine," Samantha said, right as Roxy

bent over and threw up in the tiny patch of grass.

"Oh shit."

Ash stepped forward and cupped Paige's elbow.

"I've got her. You help Roxy."

Ty brought out a couple cans of Sprite, and

Roxy accepted one gratefully. The walk took

longer than the fifteen minutes it normally would

have, but Ash didn't mind. The women were good

company, when they weren't coming on to him. He

walked them to the lobby of their hotel and politely

declined when they tried to talk him into having a

drink with them.

He watched them go toward the bar, but Paige

shook her head and rushed to the elevator. Roxy

and Samantha followed her, and the doors closed

behind them. He made his way back home, the urge

to go out killed for the night.

The apartment was silent, so he went straight to

his room. He booted up his desktop and went to the

restroom while it went through its startup process.

He checked his email but didn't really feel like

surfing. Not with his mind continuing to go back to

Fee. He was about to log off when a chat window

popped up.

Just getting in?
Fee asked.

Yeah. Long night.

Wanna talk about it?

Mind?
He instantly regretted asking, since what

he really wanted to talk about was their

relationship, or lack of one, if things didn't start

progressing soon. He was watching the screen for

Fee's response, so he jumped when his phone went

off instead.

"Hey, man. Isn't it past your bedtime?" Ash

asked.

Fee yawned into the phone. "Probably, but

Donovan just left, so I was up."

"Oh?" A pang of jealousy rocketed through Ash,

but he tried to keep it out of his voice.

"Yeah. So how was your night?"

Questions he couldn't ask ran through Ash's

mind.
My night? What about Donovan? Why was

he at your place so late?
"Just another Wednesday

night. So, what brought Donovan over?"

Fee chuckled, and Ash knew he'd been busted.

"Just RTFS stuff. We have another meeting

tomorrow night. Are you going to make it?"

"Ugh. I don't think so."

"Come on. You read the book I showed you,

didn't you?"

"Yeah, I read it. I liked it." Ash was shocked at

how much he liked it. It was a romance, so that

was strike one against it, and a steampunk fantasy,

which was strike two. The cover had great artwork

though, with the Soldier wearing his dapper

uniform, cut tight to emphasize every muscle on his

body. His face was obscured by the lighting, and

Ash had wondered why. He started the book,

intending to skim through it to find out, but he'd