The Chemistry of Love(41)

I hated that I couldn’t tell the difference. “This is hard to admit, but I’m going to need your guidance here. I’ve never fake dated anyone before.”

“Neither have I.”

“I think of the two of us, you probably have the, um, more colorful dating history.”

“Just what are you insinuating?” he asked jokingly.

“Nothing. Only that you might have more knowledge in this particular area.”

“I haven’t dated that many women.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. “We must collect data and arrive at logical conclusions differently.”

“Very funny. I’ll take the lead here. But if there’s a Lord of the Rings movie trivia challenge, I’m going to depend on your skill set.”

I blinked a couple of times at him. “I know you’re joking, but do you think something like that exists?”

“You never know. I’m curious, though. Do you think there’s a lady of the rings?”

“Galadriel,” I said immediately.

“It was a joke,” he told me.

“Yeah, I don’t joke about Lord of the Rings.”

“Understood,” he said. “By the way, we have been standing on the porch for an uncomfortably long amount of time.”

“I know, I know. Do you have any gum?” That would make me feel calmer.

“No. Why? Did you need fresh breath for something?” Again with that smolder and sexy smile of his. This man was going to be the death of my ovaries.

“I chew it when I’m nervous. Or to help me concentrate. Some of my best work has been done while chewing gum.”

“Sorry,” he said. “Shall we?”

“Okay.” I nodded.

Then he reached down and took my hand in his.





CHAPTER TWELVE


I jerked my hand back so fast that I smacked myself in the mouth. “Ow!”

“You can’t keep jumping every time I touch you.” He sounded frustrated, and I couldn’t blame him. I knew my reactions weren’t typical. “And now you’re injuring yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, although I wasn’t sure why I was apologizing to him. I was the one with a sore lip. “It just surprised me.”

“No one’s ever going to believe that we’re together if we can’t touch each other, least of all Craig. One step at a time. Deep breath. That’s why we’re here. To practice and get to know each other. I’m going to hold your hand. Don’t punch me or yourself, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed. I tried to breathe in deeply, but then I would just smell him, and I was pretty sure that was going to make everything worse.

He took my right hand in his left one, and I willed myself to feel nothing. To be oblivious to him and whatever pheromones he secreted that were currently taking up residence in my hypothalamus. Again it was like being struck by an electrical charge big enough to power a city. He was warm and strong, and the touch of his skin against mine made me feel faint.

Definitely not typical. I should probably date more.

“Are you good?” he asked.

At first I wanted to laugh, to tell him that I might never feel like myself again. Then I wanted to ask him if he felt it, too, that connection between us, but I knew he didn’t, and I couldn’t stand to see a pitying look in his eyes.

I could take a lot of things from Marco, but not his pity.

“I’m fine.” I half expected him to call me out on it, but he didn’t.

“Hey, what did one proton say to the other?”

What? I wasn’t sure why he would ask me that, but my physical reaction was admittedly messing with my ability to think clearly. Talking protons?

“Stay positive,” he said.

His dumb joke should have calmed me down, but I was pretty sure that I might never be calm again if he kept touching me. “My dad used to do that. He was an environmental scientist, too. He was one of my grandma’s graduate students. He told me science jokes all the time.”

Marco smiled. “I had a grandpa who cared about me. He liked those kinds of jokes, too.”

I knew he was trying to make me relax, and under normal circumstances it might have worked, but these were not normal circumstances.

He reached up and knocked on the door, which was good because I currently felt like I was holding on to a live wire that was going to electrocute me at any moment and there was no way I could have knocked. My right arm actually felt numb. Was that the heart attack arm? I couldn’t remember.

Because my entire brain was scrambled, and all he was doing was holding my hand.

Good Baby Yoda, I was in trouble.

Catalina opened the door with a big smile on her face. Her expression changed to one of complete shock before she got ahold of herself and, smiling again, said, “You made it! Welcome! Come on in!”

She stepped back to let us inside. Marco waited for me to enter first, and it was really odd to be pulling this giant of a man in after me. I told myself to think of it as passing through a portal and that I had to keep our hands linked.

Maybe if I thought of our hand-holding as some kind of safety tether instead of one of the greatest yet scariest things that had ever happened to me, things would feel better.

Instead, my hand was starting to sweat profusely. He was going to let go, and there would be a puddle of sweat that was going to form on the floor between us.