Nate ignored her, studied the landing, and did a few calculations in his head. How could she have completed a good square club face as a novice? Her natural swing was off the charts. This time, he found the pencil in his pocket, grabbed his scorecard, and scribbled down some calculations. Again, she held a slight left hook tendency, but that was an easy tweak.
“Earth to Nate.”
“Yeah?”
“The orange pants. That is a crime against nature. You’re scaring the birds.”
He looked up with a frown. “Are you kidding me? These shorts are from Rickie Fowler’s line. They cost a fortune.”
“Who’s Ricky?”
“One of the best golfers in the world.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “For God’s sakes, why is he designing clothes if he golfs? Golfers have the world’s worst fashion sense. You can’t wear those again.”
“Fine.”
“Your turn, right?”
“Yeah.” He quieted his mind and his breath, and hit his approach shot. Damn, he’d end up getting a bogey if he didn’t clean it up in the next swing. He barely missed the hazard and fell into the rough close to Kennedy’s ball.
“Yay, you did good. Cool, we’re together.”
“Let’s go.”
They trudged to the next hole. This time, he studied the way she set up her body. Her pullback was amazing, a gorgeous, graceful arc that connected cleanly with the ball. Rarely did females follow through with enough power to hit the ball far, let alone keep their eyes so securely on the target. Her shot cut through the air and landed right next to the hole.
No. Fucking. Way.
His eyes bugged out. She stuck out her lower lip in a pout to rival a movie star’s. “Aww, I missed.”
He jerked around. “Missed? You can putt the ball right in. You got a par three.”
“That’s good?”
“It’s almost impossible for a beginner. Or so I thought.”
She brightened and did a little dance. Her skirt swung and showed off tanned, muscular thighs and a cute rear. The little white socks and sneakers gave her a juvenile look. Her full breasts strained against the dress and bounced to the rhythm. He cursed under his breath and bit his tongue on purpose. The sudden pain grounded him.
He was missing something. What did she have that most first-time golfers didn’t? How could she line herself up so perfectly without strain and manage to pitch the ball so far? “Your turn!” she chirped.
“Fine.” This time, the ball rolled in a drunken arc too far from the green and slid into the sand trap.
“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s bad, right?”
Aggravation stirred inside him. “Yes, that’s bad. You go. Use the putter.”
“Cool, I like the little stick better.” She wiggled her ass and with a delicate tap, sank the ball. “Yay, I did it!”
“Goody for you.”
“How are you going to get out of that sand thing?”
“Watch.” Usually he was a whiz at the sand traps, but this time he took two swings to get himself out. When he finally sank his ball, he was wondering if he was being pranked on some hidden camera show.
The nightmare continued. Nate watched as she commanded each hole, her swing never wavering and giving her perfect pars while he struggled with his own game. She grew perkier, and he grew more annoyed as he started sporting a massive erection and a headache.
By the time they were halfway through, he was done.
“Maybe we should break. I don’t want to tire you the first time we’re on a real course,” he said.
“Good idea. Hey, this wasn’t as bad as I thought. I’ll do it again.”
“Hooray,” Nate said humorlessly.
They climbed into the cart and took off. Nate wondered if he could sneak back in an hour and finish his game. It must be the sexual energy that had messed him up. He quickly texted Wolfe that they’d need to reschedule for that week and decided to go to work early.
“Nate?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you always want to be an aerospace engineer?”
Her off-topic question pulled him back to the present. “No. I wanted to be a superhero. I always felt I could make Batman’s cave a hell of a lot better, and the Batmobile needed some tweaking.”
That earned him another of her husky laughs. “Bet you were always smart.”
“Yeah. I got bored too quickly in school, so they pushed me ahead a year. And of course, once they introduced higher mathematical concepts, I understood exactly what they meant. I never struggled, and in my spare time I studied formulas. So I changed from becoming the next Batman to helping get a man into space. When the NASA program disassembled, I sided with the camp of the private sector that wanted to open up space travel to everyone. Rich billionaires began creating their own companies for the purpose, and I came back to New York.”
“Was Connor here?”
“Yeah, my family grew up near Westchester so it was a chance for us to get back in the same state. I missed my brother. He’s the only family I have left.”
She nodded. “I always wished I had a sibling. That’s why I’m so close with Kate and Arilyn. We met in college and bonded and they became my family.”
“What about your mom and dad?”
Darkness stole over her face, momentarily capturing the jubilance that had come from her earlier success at the game. “We don’t talk much. It’s better that way.” He nodded, not digging any further. The gentle whirr of the cart’s wheels broke the silence. “I know you study propulsion, but what exactly are you trying to find? Are you hired to build a certain rocket?”
“No. We’re looking for more efficient ways to create spacecraft. I’m working on new formulas to challenge our current ideas. Something called the thrust equation.”
“The thrust equation depends on the mass flow through the engine and the exit velocity, right?”
He narrowed his gaze. She acted like she’d just told him she liked the color red. “Exchanging Vogue for Science Today?” he asked casually. He was afraid to scare her off after the other night, but dear God, she was trying to kill him.
“I looked up your company on the net to get some info on your job.”
His heart shifted. There wasn’t one person in his entire life who cared enough even to figure out what he did all day. His throat closed up. “Why?”
“I wanted to get an idea of who you were. To match you with the right woman, of course. Career is an important part of your life and expectations for your future wife.”