Free Sometimes It Is Rocket Science by Kara Thorpe

name, didn’t he?”
    “Yep.  Called him Her-bert.”  She drew out the syllables for emphasis, purposely made the ‘t’ harder than necessary in an exaggeration of Robert’s precise enunciation.  Paul Herbert had been head of the R&D department for years.  He’d grown up on the border between Texas and Louisiana and proudly pronounced his last name A y-bear .
    The door swung open.  Arms overflowing with snack food and bottles of juice, Robert shuffled into the room.  He dumped the cellophane wrapped cookies and nuts on the bed beside Georgiana’s knees.  He handed a bottle of apple juice to his father, one of orange juice to Georgiana, and twisted the cap off a bottle of cranberry juice.  Bottle halfway to his mouth, he glanced back and forth between his father and Georgiana.
    “What?”  His eyes narrowed when Georgiana’s lips twitched.  He pointed at her with the bottle; juice sloshed over the rim and on to his fingers.  “You told him about Mr. Ay-Bear , didn’t you?”
    “It’s okay, son.  A case of brandy will get you back in Paul’s good graces.”
    “He’s right.”  Georgiana sipped her juice.  After twisting the lid back on, she propped the bottle against her thigh and snatched up a bag of salted peanuts.  “Paul loves his brandy.  Of course, if you could get him a case of honest-to-goodness moonshine he’d be your friend for life.  I don’t recommend it, though.  I’ll never get any work out of him if that happens.”
    Robert dragged the chair between the two beds.   “Cedric flies in tomorrow.  I’ll have him buy Paul Herbert’s forgiveness.  Pass the Choco-Bites, please?”
    Georgiana tossed the package of bite-size, double chocolate chip cookies in his lap.   “Tab used to fill a bowl with those things and eat them like cereal on Saturday mornings.  Even though he knew how hyper Tab could get, Dad let him.  I made sure to get out of the house early on Saturdays.”
    Dan chortled, elbowed his son.  “Robert used to do the same thing.  Would be wired for hours on end.”
    She chewed a handful of nuts and washed them down with juice.  Her stomach rumbled loudly.  Both men fixed her with curious stares.  She blushed, ducked her head.  “I’m sorry.  I hate lunch meetings.  I’m always too busy playing referee to eat anything.  Yvonne called dibs on my leftovers.”
    Robert tapped the top of his bottle.  He shifted, leaned towards Georgiana.  “I skipped lunch.”
    “Of course you did,” she laughed, well aware that she was often guilty of the same crime.  “You were too busy having a geekgasm with the boys to bother with something as trivial as food.”
    He flashed a warm, intimate smile.  “There’s no point in starving.  Dad’s half asleep already.”  He jerked his thumb at a yawning Dan.  “I haven’t been in Houston in months, and most of my friends are in New York.  You could show me your favorite restaurant.”
    Georgiana arched an eyebrow, determined to remain cool despite the fluttering in her stomach.  Details of Robert’s social life made excellent tabloid fodder, so she knew how he preferred to spend his evenings.  She preferred to be more low-key.  She doubted her favorite restaurant, a hole in the wall Mexican place with amazing enchiladas suizas, would meet his standards.  She’d changed out of her suit, but he was still impeccably dressed in charcoal pinstripes, thousand dollar shoes, and a silk tie.  It would make for an interesting date, at least. 
    She didn’t get an opportunity to respond.  Stiletto heels clicked in the hallway seconds before the door burst open.  A cloud of cloyingly sweet floral perfume wafted into the room followed by tall, svelte blonde.  Heavily made up blue eyes flitted over Georgiana and Dan then settled on Robert.
    “Robert, darling!”  She skipped into the room, threw bare arms around his neck.  Collagen-plumped lips left traces of red lipstick on his cheek.  “I missed