“Tomorrow night?” he asked without skipping a beat.

Crystal came upright, feeling guilty. “I wasn’t fishing.”

“I know you weren’t.”

“You can’t buy me dinner two nights in a row.”

He lifted the corner of their leftover piece of pizza. “This wasn’t exactly dinner.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “It was fine.”

“You liked it?”

“The beer was cold, the pizza hot, and the cheese was…almost real.”

“Rouladen’s will have real cheese.”

“You don’t have-”

He took her hand in his, and she immediately stopped talking. He looked deep into her eyes. “I want to.”

She gazed back. His grip felt good. His hand was warm and broad and strong, with thick skin and the odd callus. It didn’t feel remotely like a professor’s hand.

“I want to, too,” she admitted.

He gave her a slow smile.

She lifted her beer mug with her free hand, leaving the other just where it was.

David shrieked, drawing her attention to where he and Jennifer were playing Bop-the-Mole.

“So, what was the emergency?” Larry asked in a low voice.

Crystal sighed heavily, keeping her gaze on the children. “My sister’s ex-husband is in town,” she grumbled.

“Trouble?” guessed Larry.

“Zane is always trouble. From the minute my sister laid eyes on him. To the day he got her pregnant. To the day he walked out and left her with a stack of bills and two tiny children.”

“Why is he back now?”

Crystal had wondered about that. “I don’t know yet.”

“Does he want his kids?”

She turned her attention to Larry. “Zane couldn’t care less about his kids. He’s a drunk and a mooch, and he’s after any money he can wring out of Amber. Then he’ll walk away, breaking her heart all over again.”

Larry frowned. “Sounds like a prince. Why doesn’t she tell him to take a hike?”

Crystal shrugged. “Self-esteem issues. He tells her he loves her. Makes wild promises about get-rich schemes and the fabulous life they’re going to lead together.”

“Let me guess. You tried to talk her out of seeing him tonight?”

“You bet your ass I tried to talk her out of it.”

Larry looked like he might launch into a lecture. But then the tension went out of his shoulders. “You know, you can’t literally bet your ass.”

The statement surprised her. She’d expected something along the lines of not being her sister’s keeper.

“You got something against metaphors?”

“I mean,” he continued. “What would it be worth? One ass is a hundred dollars? A thousand dollars?”

“This is the math nerd in you coming out, isn’t it?”

“Now your ass,” he said, leaning back to gaze down her silk dress. “That’d be worth about a million.”

She gave him a mock incredulous look. “Did you seriously just offer me a million dollars for…”

His face fell. “I didn’t-I mean, I wouldn’t-”

She struggled to keep her face straight. “What? You don’t think I’m worth it?”

He gave her a hard stare. “I’m getting the hell out of this conversation.”

“You’re a smart man.”

“That’s what my IQ results say.”

“How high?”

Looking embarrassed, he gazed down at his empty beer mug. “I’m not about to tell you that.”

“Why not?” she pressed. “Afraid I’ll be intimidated?”

“I just don’t like to talk about it. Hey, David,” he called across the room. “How’re you guys doing?”

The kids held up fists full of bright orange tickets they’d won at the game and that could be redeemed for various prizes.

“Nice try,” said Crystal.

“Looks like they can get a rubber gecko. Or maybe the mini fire engine.”

“How high?”

Larry gave a long-suffering sigh. “You’re not going to drop it, are you?”

“Not a chance.”

“That would be the courteous and respectful thing to do.”

“Who ever told you I was courteous and respectful? Come on, Larry. How bad can it be? I already know you’re a rocket scientist.”

“One sixty-five,” he finally admitted.

Crystal whistled low. “That’s pretty bad.”

“See?”

“I mean.” She put a combination of reverence and awe into her voice. “How can I ever dare talk to you again? What if I say something profoundly stupid?”

“You’re not going to-”

“You must know everything. You must laugh at us regular folks. You must be, on all counts, a superior human being to me or anyone else on the planet.”

He glared at her.

She faltered for a split second. “You do know I’m messing with you, right?”

His expression didn’t change. “You mock my intellect?”

She scoffed, fairly sure now that he was messing right back. “One sixty-five. Big deal. I’ve got an ass that’s worth a million bucks.”

He tried again, but this time he couldn’t completely contain his grin. “People never mock my intellect.”

“Really? Well, it’s about time somebody did.”

“Larry,” Jennifer shouted breathlessly, clambering back up on the bench and dumping a pile of tickets on the table. “Will you help us figure out what we can get?”

David was right behind, adding his own fistfuls of tickets to the pile.

“See that? Somebody out there respects my brain,” Larry said to Crystal.

“Is this what you do for NASA?” she asked him sweetly.

“Pretty much,” said Larry, helping the kids sort the tickets into piles of fives.

A RUBBER GECKO SQUEEZED tight in his chubby hand, David drifted off to sleep in the backseat of Larry’s car. A second glance in the rearview mirror told Larry that Jennifer wasn’t far behind. Her eyes had a dreamy look, and her blinks were long and slow.

He leaned toward Crystal and whispered. “Did we keep them out too late?” It had been a long time since his son Steve had been this age, and Larry couldn’t remember bed times.

Not that he’d ever paid that much attention to the details of childrearing. If he started work in his study at six, he often didn’t notice the time until well after midnight. Elizabeth was the reason Steve had survived childhood.

“They just had a good time,” said Crystal. “I won’t have any trouble getting them up for school.”

“They’re staying overnight with you?”

She nodded, a flinch of distress crossing her face. “I’m not sure what time Amber will get home.”

Larry nodded his understanding.

None of his business, of course. But what kind of a mother partied on a weeknight, potentially compromising her children’s education?

“What about you?” asked Crystal. “You have school tomorrow.”

“Classes are done,” said Larry. “I’ll mostly be compiling research over the summer.”

“Really? What are you researching?”

Larry hated this part. No matter how hard he tried to keep it simple, people’s eyes inevitably glazed over when he talked about his work. At parties, most people found a quick excuse to walk away.

“It’s not all that interesting.”

“Don’t mollycoddle me. I handled your IQ, didn’t I?”

“Fine,” said Larry. “I’m researching physical and hydrodynamical modeling for galactic superwinds.”

She blinked.

He took a breath, might as well find out now if she was going to walk away. “Specifically,” he continued, “the physical origin of X-ray emissions created when supernova remnants overlap in the star-forming regions of space. They form highly pressurized bubbles that burst into intergalactic space, redistributing mass and heat.”

The engine and tire noise filled in the silence.

“So, you don’t know yet what makes the X-ray emissions,” she said.

It was Larry’s turn to blink. “You got that?”

“Well, it may be rocket science, buddy. But it wasn’t like there were any new words in those sentences.”

He stared at her as long as he dared without crashing the car. “You understood what I just said?”

“Don’t get too impressed. It’s not like you can take me into the lab to help with the hydrodynamical modeling.”

Larry was speechless.

She took in his expression, an edge coming into her voice. “You never did ask me my IQ.”

“Well…I…” To be honest, Larry hadn’t been looking for intelligence from Crystal.

No. Wait. That sounded awful. She was obviously smart. Her sense of humor was sharp and sophisticated.

She glanced back at Jennifer.

Larry followed her gaze in the mirror and discovered the young girl was asleep along with her brother.

“You were too busy focusing on my hair,” hissed Crystal. “And my…other assets.”

“Whoa,” Larry put in. “I’ve never once fixated on your physical attributes over your personality.” He paused. “Okay, maybe the million-dollar ass comment was out of line. But it happens to be true.” Whatever else she had, Crystal was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

“Ask me my IQ,” she repeated.

The defiance in her voice gave him pause. “What’s your IQ?”

“One fifty-two.”

Okay. He was officially impressed. That number put her in the top one percent of his students. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Until now, I didn’t think it mattered.”

“It doesn’t.” He knew she was smart. He simply hadn’t known how smart.

“Should we compare bank balances next?” she asked. “See who can pee the farthest?”

“You’re a girl.”

“And you’re a metaphor-phobe.”

“I don’t think that’s a real word.”

“Hey, who around here has a graduate degree in English?”

“You do,” he admitted.

They were both silent, while Larry made the last turn before the Softco Machine Works building.

“Are you really upset?” he asked.

“Not that much,” she admitted.

“I like that you understand what I’m doing. I didn’t mean to sound so surprised.”

“And I didn’t mean to go all ballistic feminist on you. I’m glad you like my…brain. Few people hang around long enough to see it.”

“Their loss,” Larry said softly, reaching for her hand.