For the first time in his life, Quasar felt like a man on a mission.
* * *
RANDI NERVOUSLY NIBBLED on her bottom lip. Twenty minutes ago she had still been debating the merits of making this call. Now that she had, she wondered how much, if anything, she should tell him. And just like he wanted to get to know her, she wanted to get to know him. What woman wouldn’t? But for now, she’d let him lead the conversation.
“Dr. Fuller?”
She swallowed. Why did he have to sound so darn sexy? Especially this early in the morning. She hadn’t been able to sleep and had gotten up before seven o’clock to wash her face, brush her teeth and make a cup of tea before calling him. “Yes?”
“Do you have a problem with me wanting to get to know you?”
She considered his question thoughtfully. “It depends on why you want to.”
“I believe you know the reason.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, I think you do.”
Randi drew in a deep breath, deciding for the time being to play coy. “And just what reason do you assume I know?”
She heard him chuckle and knew he was well aware she didn’t intend to make anything easy for him. “Although we haven’t officially met, something is going on between us that defies logic,” he said.
Maybe in his world it did, but not in hers. “Does it?”
“Every time we look at each other, it’s like we’re the only two people in the universe.”
She would admit that was true. “It’s called chemistry, which is a normal, healthy attraction. It happens.”
“Not to me. At least not this way, and not this intense. Has it ever happened to you before?” he asked her.
Randi didn’t say anything for a minute. She could say yes, it happened to her all the time, but that would be a barefaced lie. Her attraction to him was just as intense as he’d described his to her. “No,” she finally said. “It’s never been this way for me before, either.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, as if he was trying to digest her response. “Don’t you think we owe it to ourselves to find out why it’s happening?”
Truth was, she already knew why, but he would need to discover the reason for himself. “How do you suggest we go about solving the problem?”
“I didn’t say it was a problem. In fact, I find it quite stimulating.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, which is why I want to get to know you. You intrigue me.”
Randi took a sip of her tea. It wouldn’t be the first time a man said she’d intrigued him. He wanted either to get inside her head or to try his luck getting her into his bed. She couldn’t help wondering why, of all the men out there, he had been chosen to be her mate for life.
“I think we owe it to ourselves to explore what’s going on between us,” he said, pulling her mind back into the conversation. “To meet finally would be a great start. However, if you’re seriously involved with someone, then of course I understand.”
Seriously involved? She’d forgotten just how that felt since it had been so long. “No, I’m not involved with anyone.” Seriously or otherwise.
“In that case, will you join me for breakfast? Let’s say in an hour? There’s a wonderful café in the heart of Georgetown. Rocs. I’ve eaten breakfast there before, and it’s good.”
Trey, Haywood, Zach and Anna were taking the kids on a train ride to Delaware today, and she had told them she would join them. Randi figured she could certainly change her plans. She would be honest with herself and admit she wanted to see him again. “Yes, I’ll join you for breakfast. However, you need to make that in two hours instead of one.” She had promised to go jogging with Trey this morning.
“Fine.” He gave her the address. “And another thing.”
She pushed to her feet to get dressed for jogging. “What?”
“I’m Quasar, and I hope it’s okay to call you Randi.”
“It is.”
“Great. I’ll see you in two hours, Randi.”
“Alright, Quasar.”
After Randi disconnected the call, she couldn’t stop the butterflies from swirling around in her stomach. She would get to see Quasar Patterson again. And soon.
QUASAR FELT RANDI FULLER’S presence long before he saw her. Since it was a gorgeous day in May, he’d chosen to sit at an outside table in the beautiful historic section of Georgetown. His gaze searched up and down the cobblestone sidewalk, but he didn’t see her.
He would have been the first to admit that nothing about his attraction to Dr. Randi Fuller was normal. He’d been attracted to beautiful women before, but this was different. It was something he couldn’t explain...like what was happening now. When had he actually been able to feel a woman without being buried deep inside her body? All he knew was that he was convinced Randi was close by, either parking her car or coming up the sidewalk...although he had yet to see any sign of her.
“More coffee, sir?”
He glanced up at the waitress, who was smiling at him. She’d been to his table three times now, and his coffee cup was still pretty full. She was young, probably no more than twenty-two. And more than likely a student. He’d seen her looking at him a couple of times, and he’d felt nothing. Not even a twinge of excitement or a flutter of desire. “No thanks. I don’t want any more coffee.”
She gave him a sexy look...or at least she tried to. “Would you like anything else, then?”
He didn’t have to ask, Anything like what? “No thanks. I’m good.”
“Yes, I’ll just bet you are.” And then she walked off, deliberately sashaying her hips as she moved toward another table.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Quasar quickly switched his gaze from the waitress to the woman standing beside his table. He couldn’t keep his eyes from dragging all over her before staring into the most gorgeous pair of brown eyes he’d ever seen. Up close they were lighter than he’d thought they were. “No, you’re not interrupting anything,” he said, standing.
He liked everything he saw. Smooth, creamy, cocoa-colored skin; high, perfectly sculpted cheekbones; a cute nose; a pair of lush lips and pretty ears with dangling gold earrings. He thought she was gorgeous. Irresistibly hot.
And there was no way he could overlook the thickness of the black hair spilling to her shoulders and framing her face in such a sassy and sexy way. He could imagine her raking her fingers through it or pushing it back off her face. She was wearing a yellow print sundress with spaghetti straps that highlighted beautiful shoulders. And he couldn’t help noticing she had a gorgeous pair of legs. She managed to look both graceful and sensual at the same time.
He extended his hand to her. “Randi.”
She took it. “Quasar.”
Why did his name sound so damn sexy on her lips? And why were they standing there holding hands while something akin to hard-core sexual chemistry flowed between them?
“I hope I’m not late,” she said, finally easing her hand from his.
“Not at all,” he said, sitting back down after she’d taken her seat. “What would you like to drink? Coffee? Tea? Juice?”