Old Enough To Know Better

Sure enough, his eyes widened and he glanced up. She could almost read his thoughts—system alert: brain-iac in the house. Then he smiled and picked up the pen. He continued to smile as he wrote down his favorite book and added another line, maybe another question.

When he pushed the paper over to her, she hesitated before picking it up. She was supposed to be out of here by now. Instead she was still trading notes with Sam. But she had to find out what he’d written, and what his next question would be. Without realizing it, he’d chosen a method of communication that tapped right into her curious nature. She found the suspense contained in each note irresistible.

Glancing down, she read “Goodnight, Moon was my favorite book. I think you’re probably a lot smarter than I am. Is that a problem for you?” She looked up and saw the uncertainty in his expression. He wasn’t rejecting her because of her brains—he was afraid she’d reject him.

Her heart turned over. She couldn’t leave now. Instead she wrote “No way” across the bottom of the page and gave it back to him.

His face relaxed into another broad smile and he flipped the paper over to write something across the back. This time he didn’t give her the pen, only the small sheet of paper.

When she read what he’d written, her pulse rate jumped. “I promise to compensate in other areas.” Sweet heaven, the man was ready to guarantee that he’d love her so well she wouldn’t care about his IQ.

THE TIN TARANTULAS’ opening number put an end to the note writing for a while, but that was okay with Sam. Thanks to that maneuver, he was getting a handle on Kasey Braddock. What he’d taken as a standoffish attitude might be related to her heavy-duty smarts.

She hadn’t wanted him to know she was a brain. Understandable. He wasn’t oblivious to the problems that could have caused with the opposite sex once she started dating. Some guys reacted poorly if they found out a woman was more intelligent than they were.

Sam happened to think it was cool. He liked hanging out with smart people. He’d discovered that early in his life during interactions with Colin, who had inherited more brains than he had. When discussing things with Colin, he sometimes lost his way in the conversation, but he was never bored. So if Kasey didn’t mind the gap in mental abilities, he sure as hell didn’t.

Good thing he’d thought up the note idea, or he might never have found out her secret. She must have decided to test him when he asked about her favorite book as a kid. Maybe she’d thought that would be the end of the attraction for him.