Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(23)
His eyes drifted up to the mobile, and an electric shock of lust zipped through him. The couples circling in the draft above him were wrapped around each other in ways he’d never even dreamed about. Although each position made sense, the more he studied them. Some of them looked like they might be worth a try. He certainly wouldn’t mind wrapping Melody’s legs around him like—
“Mom picked it up in India.”
Melody’s statement, the fact that she was standing only a few feet away from him and he hadn’t noticed her approach, jolted Will out of his guilty observations. His heart thudded against his ribs.
“It’s…” He planned to say “nice,” but all he managed to get out was, “…interesting.”
Melody laughed. It was the laughter of someone who knew much more than he did. He hated it and loved it in equal parts. “It’s quite the conversation piece. Don’t worry, there hasn’t been a single person who has walked into our home for the first time who hasn’t just about had a heart attack looking at that thing.”
He glanced up again, mouth dropping open, but well beyond the ability to say anything. At least staring at the mobile gave him a few extra seconds to gather his thoughts for the reason he was there.
“I really am sorry for snapping earlier,” he said, dragging his eyes from the mobile to her. Melody continued to stare up. Will had to content himself with studying her profile, the softness of her cheeks, the fullness of her lips, and her tiny nose, until she was good and ready to lower her head and meet his gaze. “I have no excuse for getting so frustrated and short with you the way I did,” he went on.
“Yes, you did,” she said, as though it were obvious.
“No, I really didn’t.” He shifted to face her, wincing at how rebellious his body felt.
“Oh, I think you did,” Melody insisted. “That phone call—”
“No one ever has an excuse to bark at someone unprovoked,” he spoke over her. “And you can call me historical, Dancy-sounding all you want, but it was ungentlemanly of me.”
Melody let out a breath and faced him fully. She crossed her arms…which only accentuated her breasts. “First of all, it’s Mr. Darcy. And Elizabeth Bennett. From Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen? Any of this ringing a bell?”
“I recognize the name Jane Austen,” Will admitted, feeling stupider than ever.
“Second, it was too my fault.”
Will blinked in surprise, but didn’t know what to say.
“I am fully willing to admit that I was trying to provoke you into confiding in me. I shouldn’t have done it—” She held up her hands in defense, tilting her head. “—it wasn’t right of me to pry. But I can’t stand knowing that someone doesn’t like me, and I was stooping to extreme measures to make you change your mind.”
His first instinct was to contradict her, to tell her that he did like her. But he wasn’t sure that was an entirely honest answer. “I don’t dislike you.”
Her brow slowly rose to her hairline. “Oh?”
Inwardly, he grimaced at the way he was handling the whole thing. “I honestly thought you joined the competition just to meet men, and I’m not in the market for a girlfriend.”
She stared at him. She stared at him with a look that cut right into him and made him feel like the dorky kid on the playground again. “Why would you assume—”
She stopped herself, took a breath, and shifted her weight to her other hip.
“I joined the competition because I like a good challenge now and then. I’m a big fan of camping and our National Park Service. And I thought it would be a good way to get to know some of you PSF people a little better. Any other motivation that you put into my head is more of a reflection on how you see the world than on my intentions. And let me give you a word of advice—you need to change your attitude toward—”
“Women?” he filled in for her.
“People,” she answered, her voice completely flat. As quickly as her anger had sprouted, it receded. “But I still think that phone call from your dad is what’s really to blame in this situation.”
He couldn’t argue with her, so he didn’t answer the statement. “No one is responsible for my behavior but me, and I behaved badly. Please just let me apologize for that.”
“Are you apologizing sincerely?” She crossed her arms again, and it took an extreme force of will for him not to stare at her chest.
“Yes. I am. I hope you believe me when I say that.” He paused, thinking it would be best to leave things there. But the urge to defend himself got the better of him. “Look, tomorrow we’re going to be dropped into the wilderness with nothing but the backpacks Howie gives us. And who knows what he’ll put in there, thinking it would be ‘fun’.”
Melody chuckled, her mouth twitching into a lopsided smile. “You’re right about that.”
For a change, her smile relaxed him. He let his shoulders drop. “I don’t want you to hit the ground thinking you can’t trust me, that I’m going to turn on you at any second. I’m not. I won’t. That’s not how I compete.”
“So the competition really is the most important aspect of this whole thing for you?” She gave him a curious look—one that made him squirm.