The Brat and the Brainiac Read Online Free PDF

it back where she found it.
    “I’m sorry,” she tells me. “I’m not trying to embarrass you.”
    “No, I know.”
    “What else?” she asks. “Are you going to show me your bedroom?”
    “Yes, but don’t get any ideas. We have to do our STD tests first.”
    “You really are OCD.”
    I give her hand a squeeze and lead her off toward the back of my condo.
    “Here’s how you’ll know I really like you,” I tell her. “I’m afraid of needles, but I’m willingly going to go get stuck, just for you.”
    She laughs and gives me a hug, and when she lets go, I take her and show her my home office, where I keep all my sci-fi movie memorabilia on shelves on the wall over my computer. I glance at her to see what she thinks, but she doesn’t seem to have an opinion about it one way or the other.
    “Want to go look at my bedroom?”
    “Yes.”
    When I lead her over the threshold, she rushes forward and goes and bounces on my bed.
    “Ooh. Nice and springy.”
    “I’m glad you like it.”
    “Can I look in your closet?”
    “Knock yourself out.”
    She gets up and crosses the room, and then she throws open the closet door dramatically.
    “What’ve we got here?” she asks, stepping inside. I think it’ll be a short inspection, but then she starts playing with my clothes, checking out which shirts go with which pants, and matching up my shoes and belts. She puts together a couple of combinations I’ve never thought of before, and I watch her with interest.
    “Now, if you put this tie with this blazer, and then these pants...”
    “Miranda.”
    “Do you have any pocket squares?”
    “Are you kidding me? They’d laugh me out of the stadium if I suddenly showed up wearing a pocket square.”
    “I’ve seen other men do it.”
    “Yeah, all the old-timers. Nobody young.”
    “Well, they should bring it back.”
    “They should bring back crinolines and big, poufy skirts, too, but they don’t.”
    She giggles.
    “I’m surprised you even know what a crinoline is.”
    “I have three sisters. Another reason I left Chicago. Come on. Let’s get out of this closet.”
    She follows me out, but she looks at me gravely.
    “You don’t like women, then?” she asks me, shaking her head.
    “Yes, but my sisters are all a pain in the ass. Except the youngest. She’s not too bad.”
    “How old is she?”
    “About your age.”
    “So, no offense, but does the last name work against you?”
    “Weed? Yeah. Not too many girls want to be stuck with a Weed.”
    “Why not?” she asks me. “I think it’s a nice name.”
    “You’re trying to make me kiss you again, aren’t you?”
    “I wouldn’t mind.”
    I throw my glasses down onto the bed and drag her into my arms once more, kissing her hard, slow and deep. She slips her arms around my neck and caresses the back of my head, and her touch makes me shiver.
    I break off the kiss and say, “I’d better take you home now.”
    “No. Not right now,” she tells me.
    “Yes, right now. You’re too tempting.”
    “Kiss me one more time, then I’ll go peacefully.”
    “All right, but just once.”
    I lean my head down and give her a perfunctory kiss on the forehead.
    “Okay. Now let’s go.”
    “Rip off.”
    Once we’re in my car, she’s quiet. I stick the key in the ignition, and I’m just ready to turn it when she speaks.
    “So, no go?”
    “What?” I say, dropping my hand and blinking at her.
    “I mean, you really don’t like me that much, do you?”
    I draw my eyebrows together, and then I lift them. “How can you even say that?” I ask her.
    “The way you rushed me out of your house, for one.”
    “You think that was so I could get rid of you? I was just afraid if I kissed you again, I’d go too far.”
    She grins. “For real?”
    “Yes.”
    She reaches across the car and gives my hand a squeeze, and I lift hers to my lips to kiss its silky softness. She flips one of her braids over her shoulder with her free hand.
    “I like you,” she