“Thank you.” Usually compliments embarrassed her and she didn’t believe them, but at this moment, she could believe her smile was amazing. Because she believed diamonds rained on Jupiter. “So do you.”
His already dark eyes went nearly black and moved over her mouth. Her lips parted and all she could think about was tasting him…would he taste like smoky vanilla with hints of caramel, like the tequila she was sipping? Would he make her burn like the tequila did? She longed to find out.
“Jesus,” he muttered. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want me to pour that tequila over you and lick it off. Slowly.” He leaned even closer across the bar. “Inch. By. Sweet. Inch.”
Her inner muscles clenched and a shiver worked up her spine. “That sounds like a fun way of tasting tequila.” She took another sip of the golden liquid, holding his gaze. Wow, where did that flirtatious comment come from?
“It does, doesn’t it? Right now…” His voice went low and husky. “…I’m dying to taste that Don Julio on your lips.”
She couldn’t stop from sliding the tip of her tongue over her lower lip. Heat cascaded down through her. Tension snapped around them and she had a feeling she was about to demonstrate the principle of spontaneous combustion. “Exothermic internal reaction,” she murmured. “Followed by thermal runaway.”
His eyebrows notched together. “Um, what?”
“And finally, ignition,” she finished. “Spontaneous combustion.”
He tilted his head to one side, reached for her glass of Don Julio, and took a drink. “Yeah.”
“Is that cooling you off?”
“Nope.” He fastened his hot gaze on her again. “Not even a little. Despite your nerdy talk.”
She sighed and dropped her head. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s hot. And cute.”
She lifted her gaze back to him and gave a slow blink. “You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”
He frowned. “What? Are you kidding? Of course not.”
She smiled wryly. She totally knew he was making fun of her. Like so many people did. “Right. I saw you flirting with every woman here.”
A notch appeared between his eyebrows. “I wasn’t flirting. I was just being friendly. It’s usually a good idea to be friendly to customers.”
“So telling me I’m hot is just being friendly?”
His slow smile had heat pooling low inside her again. “No. I was definitely flirting with you.”
She gazed back at him. “I’m not the kind of girl men usually flirt with.”
He leaned in again. “You had me at diamonds raining on Jupiter. Not just gorgeous, but smart too.”
In her experience, men didn’t find her intelligence sexy. In fact, it was usually the opposite. But she’d always scorned the girls who acted dumb just to attract boys, and swore she’d never do that. She had a hard time believing this gorgeous man was seriously attracted to her. Maybe he was after a big tip. Surely bartenders earned bigger tips the more they flirted.
But he seemed sincere. And even though she was a scientist and only believed in proven facts, she had to admit there were sparks flashing between them. She liked her world orderly and intellectual, not physical, but right now her body wasn’t cooperating with that. Something pulled her toward him…attraction. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles giving rise to a magnetic field…oh hell.
Maybe it was more explainable in terms of biology—dopamine, norepinephrine, which was increasing her heart rate, and serotonin, all combining to make her feel high and energized.
“What is going on in that pretty head of yours?” Beck murmured, his gaze moving over her face.
“You don’t want to know.”
“If it involves thoughts about licking tequila off my naked body, then hell yeah I want to know.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that was it.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “Okay, maybe I didn’t want to know that.”
Hayden finished the tequila he’d given her and set the empty glass down. Beck dropped his gaze to it. “You want to taste something really special?”
Never in her life had she been someone with a dirty mind, but at that moment, her thoughts went straight to the gutter. Her lips parted.
Beck choked on a laugh and swiped a hand over his face. “Jesus, woman, you’re killing me. I was serious.”
“Okay, then. Sure.”
Beck stepped back from the bar and moved toward the end, beckoning her to follow. She slid off her stool, leaned in, and said to Carrie, “Be right back.”