“You could have left it behind.”
Instead of answering her, he leaned a bit forward and dropped it on her lap, sucking the air out the compartment as his large frame moved.
“Do with it what you want, then.”
Silence.
“Entropy of a system approaches a constant value as temperature approaches absolute zero,” she whispered to compose herself and stop from picking up Uccellino and cuddling him to her chest.
Adonis shifted. “I’m not sure what the third law of thermodynamics has to do with the bird, but if you are speaking of your attraction to me … remember that absolute zero is theoretically possible, but not the case when it comes to us. It’s impossible tonotwant me,no?”
She gaped at him. Did he just …
Fabiana glared at Adonis. “Define the spin anti-corelated case.”
“A spin-zero particle could decay into a pair of spin-½ particles. Due to conservation of angular momentum, the total spin before and after decay–”
“Symmetries give rise to conservation laws.”
“And now you speak of Emmy Noether. It’s a shame her gender ensured she would not get the fame Albert did in the same year.”
This wasn’t real. The mic in his ear must be allowing someone to give him the information. No one ever knew what the hell she talked about.
“My mother wanted to be a scientist, a physicist to be exact. She was allowed to go to college, but when she married my father, it all stopped. Sometimes, she whispered theorems when she cooked.”
Lombardi Pack lands faded behind them, giving way to the inner city of Encantado as they drove south, yet Fabiana couldn’t bring herself to view the sights. She was stuck, watching the man across from her in hesitant awe.
“Some men may find your intelligence intimidating, Fabiana. I am not one of those men.”
“Will you beat it out of me?” Fabiana covered her mouth, eyes wide. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud and give voice to her fears.
Adonis glared at her, his brows low over his eyes. “You are asking the wrong questions,pequeña.”
Lightning fast, he reached out and palmed her neck, dragging her body next to his. Only her hands pushing ineffectively against his side kept her from being plastered to him.
Warm, mint-scented breath slid across her cheek as he leaned down. “The questions is: will you allow it?”
“What sort of answer is that?”
His fingers tightened, pressing into her pounding pulse. “It’s the answer that makes sense to your pointless question. You know why no one would dare lift their hand to me? Because I will hit them back harder. They won’t take something from me because I will takeeverythingfrom them. I would allownothing.”
She struggled against him, the threat of his body, the anger in his hushed tone. “So I was beaten because Iallowedit.”
“You do not blame the cat for tucking tail because of a harsh master.”
“Dog. A dog tucks their tail.” She peered at him. “English isn’t your first language.”
“No.”
He pulled back a bit from her. The momentary hesitance in his face was gone in a blink of an eye, but she saw it. The boy behind the man. The thing others could see as a weakness in him.
She licked her lips. “I would never ridicule you for it. I … just noticed it. You misspeak idioms and talk overly proper at times.”
Silence hung between them for a heartbeat before he nodded. “And I won’t ever throw your past in your face,” he promised. “Fabiana, I speak of now. I would never touch you that way because you wouldn’t allow it. It’s not about my disposition to never touch a woman that way. If I want to have you, I know what you will and will not allow. I can’t hit you and gain your trust. I can’t break you and wish for you to love me. I have to follow your rules to get what I want.”
“And what do you want?”
His lips hovered over hers, so close she could taste their kiss from earlier. The memory was imprinted on her skin.
