Crazy About You (6 page)

“Two and two?”

She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I scrolled through your contact list. What agency do you work for, exactly?”

“Agency—what are you talking about? It’s not like I’m some kind of spy.”

The waitress appeared with a plate in each hand. Placing Emma’s sandwich down first, she cocked her head and squinted at Chase. “You’re a spy—like CIA or NSA? Or like Homeland Security?”

“More like
NOAA
.” Emma spat out the acronym, crossing her arms over her chest again.

Chase’s breath hitched in his throat. Such bitter animosity surprised him, especially from this bubbly woman. He felt a need to backpedal, and fast. “I’m a scientist. I do work with NOAA sometimes, but not
for
them. And not this time.”

Emma’s frown only deepened. “But you work with them. And those jerks in the NMFS division too, I’ll bet.”

“National Marine Fisheries Service? I don’t think I’ve ever—”

“They’re on your contact list. You do realize Massachusetts has the most small fishing boats and crewmen involved with ground fishing in the Northeast. We catch more cod, haddock, flounder, and other bottom-feeders than any other state. When they slash the number of permits and the cod quotas, guys like my dad and brother end up hurt.”

“The quotas are there for a reason.” Chase didn’t want to fan the flames of this argument, but facts were facts. It surprised him that she could reel them off so quickly, but so could he. Ocean ecology was what he did. “Studies show that allowing unrestricted catch causes fisheries to collapse. Even the vast Gulf of Maine has its ecological limits.” Not that fish stock was his area of expertise, nor had his research ever been funded by NOAA or NMFS, but he felt the need to defend other marine scientists and biologists trying to do right by the planet.

She pushed her chair back from the table and stood. “I’m not hungry anymore. C’mon, Hershey.” She tugged on the leash, waking the dog from his brief nap. He yawned widely but remained planted on the shady cement under the table.

“Wait a sec!” Chase gestured at the plates on the table. He didn’t want her to leave yet. “Stay and eat. We can talk about something else. Anything else.” He needed to see that smile again.

“Yeah, like you can tell us about being a spy. That sounds so cool! Do you, like, know Kiefer Sutherland, too? Or Chris Pine? I hear actors like them hang out with you CIA guys to get ready for roles.”

Both Emma and Chase turned, surprised to find Kallie hovering next to their table. Chase scowled. “I told you, I’m not any kind of spy.”

“Just a science geek who works with NOAA.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “Can we have a minute here, Kallie?”

“No prob.” Kallie shot Chase one last questioning look before heading off to check on other customers.

Chase tried again. “I don’t know what you have against NOAA but I don’t work for them. I’m not a government spy and this lunch is being paid for by your boyfriend so you may as well sit down and eat.”

She grimaced, the frown lines deepening. “One, he’s not my boyfriend, and two, what do you mean Tony’s paying for this?”

“The hundred bucks he stuffed into my pocket?”

Her eyes widened. “I forgot about that.” The frown disappeared and she cocked her head. “How embarrassing to have another guy stuff money in your pocket like you were some sort of hooker going down on him under the docks.”

His back stiffened and his cheeks burned with embarrassment. He’d heard plenty of stories in the bar yesterday about the late night boardwalk scene. “The money was for the broken phone, not a sexual favor…”

She chuckled at his discomfort. “I’m totally joking. I guess it sounded funnier in my head. God, what’s wrong with me today?” Suddenly she jumped up from her chair. “I know, let’s start this over, shall we? Hershey, you may as well stay put.”

The dog didn’t move a muscle, but Emma bounced right out of the café and back onto the sidewalk. She jogged half a block down the street before turning to walk back, looking completely nonchalant about it all. He couldn’t help but smile when she reached the restaurant entrance gate, looking for all the world as if she’d only just arrived. She lowered her sunglasses, white teeth chewing at her plump bottom lip in concentration while she scanned the crowd. When those blue eyes locked with his, it was like a bolt of lightning jolted throughout his entire body. A blinding smile lit her face, and she waved with enthusiasm. His heart skipped a few beats as his blood all went lower down.

She bee-lined to the table, calling his name. “Chase? Chase! It’s so good to see you again! Thanks
so much
for inviting me to lunch!”

He found himself rising to greet her for the second time inside an hour. Instead of sitting, she came to where he stood and wrapped her arms around his neck. She planted an exaggerated kiss on his cheek, like the one he’d envied Tony for the prior day, those soft red lips wet on his skin. His arms slipped around her waist and his stomach clenched hard, inappropriate thoughts racing through his head at breakneck speed, leaving him dazed. Staring down, he saw similar confusion mirrored in Emma’s eyes, as if she felt it too, that electric current running fast and furious between them at every point where their bodies connected. And she wasn’t letting go.

On impulse, he leaned in and captured those pouty lips in a real kiss, soft at first, testing, tasting iced coffee and minty toothpaste, her heart beating a fast staccato against his chest. He pulled her closer, the kiss going from searching to scorching in seconds. She slid one hand down his chest, twisting the fabric of his shirt in her hand to hold him tight, forgetting—or maybe not caring—that they were in the middle of a crowded sidewalk café making an absolute spectacle of themselves. Her legs pressed against his, the kiss deepening as his tongue swirled around hers. He’d never felt so aroused by a simple kiss—hell, he’d never felt this aroused in his entire life.
This one
, whispered a voice in his head.
She’s the one for you
.

The thought shocked him to his senses and he slowly pulled away, clearing his throat, disentangling his arms. She blinked and took half a step back, disoriented and trying to catch her breath. Her eyes locked with his and for a split second he pictured her sweaty and naked beneath him. That she could be imagining the same thing sent need spearing through his groin. She sucked in the bottom corner of her mouth, her teeth nibbling the lipstick from that swollen red lip, as they contemplated one another.

She shook her head and the moment dissipated. Her sunny smile returned, determined to ignore the electricity arcing between them. “So, I see you’ve already ordered lunch! This looks perfect!” She continued with the charade of being old friends, settling into her chair, not meeting his eyes. He followed suit, lowering himself to his seat, grateful she hadn’t noticed the growing bulge in his khakis.

“I can’t stay long, since I have to go buy a new cell phone and get the store open before two. That’s when the beach crowds roll back into town to shop and eat.” She chattered on about some local jewelry artist who had a meeting scheduled for this afternoon, and how she’d be filling in while her mother stayed in Boston. Chase nodded, trying to keep up with this new line of conversation. How was he supposed to think straight after that kiss?
Seriously?

He appreciated her effort to start fresh and avoid the minefields they’d stumbled into previously, but he only half followed along with her chatter. He was in an absolute fog of need and want. He closed his eyes trying to rein in those baser instincts.

Because all he wanted at this moment in time was another taste of those lips. To trail kisses down her neck and twirl his fingers through that silky hair. To touch and taste every part of this intriguing woman, and feel her naked body pressed against his.

One simple lunch date and one mind-blowing kiss with this girl would never be enough. Never. He wanted more.

Which was so not like him.

Chapter Six

Emma babbled on about the various Provincetown shops and tourist attractions as if she were the official spokesperson for the local Chamber of Commerce. She picked at the edges of her sandwich and sipped the iced coffee, her gaze darting all around the café and up the sidewalk, searching for something familiar, trying to get a handle on the situation. She tried to ignore the flashes of heat she felt down low each time their eyes connected, tried to forget the sizzling jolt of electricity passing between them with that kiss.

Which she totally didn’t understand.

She hadn’t felt a jolt like that since…well, ever, actually. Sure, Chase was kind of cute. Adorable, to be perfectly honest, in a rumpled, geeky sort of way that tugged at her heart and messed with her head. He wasn’t perfectly pressed and manicured like every guy she interacted with at city hall functions. Or like Tony, who never had so much as a hair out of place let alone a wrinkle on his suit.

This guy seemed totally unconcerned with his appearance, or by the fact that he had a smidge of ketchup clinging to the corner of his upper lip from that last french fry. She felt a strong urge to lean in and lick it clean for him, and maybe lick her way down his torso to find out how solid those muscles really were…

She blinked hard.
Wait a minute! Where did that thought come from?

Five minutes ago she’d wanted to kick his shins and poke his eyes out. Now she wanted something a lot less violent…and way more intimate. The idea of his mouth on other parts of her body sent a tremor running straight through her. She took a deep, steadying breath
. This is only a friendly lunch. And he most likely works for some alphabet soup agency my family and neighbors dislike. It would never work out.

“Are you all right?”

Concern splashed across his face along with the ketchup smudge. She reached across the table to wipe the corner of his mouth with her thumb, her fingers grazing the spot she’d planted that first innocent kiss. “You had a bit of ketchup stuck there.”

“Thanks.” His stormy eyes darkened a shade.

She shook off the urge to caress his cheek, retracting her hand and dropping it to her lap. “So enough about me. Tell me, Dr. Anderson, what exactly is it that you do, if you don’t actually work for NOAA?”

His expression turned serious. “I’m a scientist. I study climate change and the environmental impact we humans have on our oceans. Nothing to do with fisheries management.” He cleared his throat. “Should we, uh, talk about what happened?”

“Hey, I’m sorry I accused you of being a federal agent and all, but the contact list on your phone…”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks, understanding exactly what he was asking. She wasn’t ready to talk about that kiss, mostly because she didn’t understand it herself. At that moment, a smiling Kallie appeared next to their table, oblivious to the tension sparking between them. “Is everything all right with your lunches?”

Chase’s eyes never left Emma’s. “Just great.”

Her mouth felt dry, nodding at her friend before drowning again in his demanding gaze.
What does he want me to say? How am I supposed to feel?
He was the one who started it, after all, not her. She gave him a simple kiss on the cheek and he turned it into something so searing she felt his kiss imprinted permanently on her lips.

“Okie dokie then. I’ll leave you to eat.” She turned on her heel and went to check another table.

To Emma’s relief, Chase finally turned away. He gestured at the sandwich she’d barely nibbled. “You already said you haven’t eaten today. At least try it.”

She obliged and bit into the caprese wrap, savoring the tang of balsamic vinegar drizzled between the layered slices of mozzarella and fresh tomato. Swallowing hard, she reached for her drink. “After we eat, I’ll show you where the phone store is, down on the other end of Commercial Street. You can shuffle phone data and be ready to ship out with the evening tide.”

“Oh, we’re not going out on the water tonight.” Chase popped another fry in his mouth. “Todd and I scheduled a sit down meeting with the new captain first, to go over the maps for tomorrow’s journey. We need daylight for this expedition.”

Curiosity got the best of her. “So if it’s not fish you’re interested in, what are you going after?”

“Part of the Atlantic garbage gyre.”

“Say what now?”

He grinned. “The gyre is a floating vortex of plastic debris, swirling in an elliptical pattern where the Atlantic currents converge. I’ve been assigned by the U.S. Global Change Research Program to map its current size and location before the upcoming global climate summit in September.”

“Garbage mapping?”

“We shipped out from Woods Hole six weeks ago, and thought we had a good handle on the extent of the gyre. But then we got a report of another siting that didn’t fit with our current coordinates. Either there’s a second flotilla of trash, or the gyre bent in ways we hadn’t anticipated.”

She blinked back at him in confusion. “What does my dad have to do with finding an elusive garbage slick?”

Chase explained that her father submitted a report online, triggering the agency investigation that led to his arrival in Provincetown. She finished her sandwich while he detailed the previous mapping expedition. Her mind stuck on the fact that her father filled out some kind of government form in the first place.

Mom and Dad were always ecologically minded, strong proponents of repurposing and recycling long before it was the norm. Mom even started the petition committee to ban plastic shopping bags within the town limits. They’d encouraged her to take the job with Eco Dawn fresh out of college, working to raise awareness for the upstart company with a fresh vision for garbage recycling in urban areas. But filing government forms online?

Not what she’d expected.

During their heated phone exchange this morning, she’d pictured Dr. Chase Anderson as another uptight, over-privileged businessman looking for a big catch and a photo op to hang on his office wall.

Which was so not Chase. He was nothing like she expected. Then again, she’d only just met him.
One sizzling kiss does not a relationship make,
she reminded herself.