Read Down to the Bone for Free Online

stunned.
    She gave him a smug kiss. “Not all geeks are virgins.”
    “So I’ve heard. Ask you something?” He shifted a little and brushed a hand down her left shoulder.
    “Anything,” she murmured, tracing fingers over his biceps. He smelled wonderfully ripe, all sweat and sex.
    “What’s with the skull?”
    “The skull?” For a moment Liddy wasn’t sure what he meant. Then she understood and was taken aback.
     

     
    Jarret smiled sheeplishly as Liddy’s brows went up.
    “We make love and that’s the first question to pop into your mind?”  she demanded, but with a grin so he knew she wasn’t really upset.
    “Well, I’ve been meaning to ask you about it since that first time, when you had one of my books. No offense, but it’s not a very sexy skull.”
    “No,” she agreed, snuggling in. “It’s Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Commonly known as Toumaï. Discovered in the Sahara back in 2002. Some anthropologists believe this skull is the earliest hominid, marking our split from chimpanzees. Others think it’s just an ape.”
    “What you think?”
    “As I’ve got it permanently inked on my shoulder, I vote for early hominid.”
    Jarrett shook his head. At times like this, hearing the enthusiasm in her voice, he felt like Liddy and he were from different planets. “I’m afraid I just don’t get it, this fascination with old bones.”
    “Bones are it,” she insisted, coming up on an elbow. Her eyes, free of their glasses, sparkled. “People talk about getting to the heart of things, but it’s when you get down to the bone that you find out all a person’s secrets. The shape of their skeleton can tell you their sex, their age, their health. The breaks and fractures can tell you their occupation or lifestyle. Their teeth can tell you what they ate as a child!”
    Liddy was fairly glowing now. Jarrett had never seen her so illuminated; he was almost jealous, wishing he could make her look that alive.
    “The DNA from bones can reveal an entire genetic history,” she finished up. “All that, the history of an individual, of a species, there in the bones.” She sighed and took note of the old alarm clock. “Damn. I’m going to have to get going. I’m hosting the PAC meeting tonight.”
    “Pack?”
    “P.A.C. Prehistory Anthropology Club. There are four of us crazy enough to want to spend the rest of our lives piecing together old skull fragments. Don’t suppose you’re interested in joining us? Tonight we’re talking jawbones.”
    “Um...maybe next time.”
    “Thought you’d say that.” She found her panties and wiggled into them, and then got her bra on. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you as well, meaning no offence...but what do you want to be when you grow up?”
    Jarrett frowned, uncertain whether to be insulted. “I’m a football player.”
    “Yeah, I know.” She handed him his shirt. “But you have some other interest, right? A major?”
    He finally got his briefs and jeans all the way up. The crowded little closet made it hard, but he managed to adjust himself and get zipped up.
    “I’ll decide on some major along the way, sure, but after I graduate, I’m going into the big leagues. Football to me is what your skulls are to you. And the money’s damn good.”
    “True. But unless I go blind or something, I can study skeletons till I’m ninety.” She dragged on her sweater. “In football, players get broken bones, torn ligaments. Some end up with spinal injuries paralyzed for life. Your career could end in the middle of your next game. And even if it doesn’t, you’ll probably be out by the time you’re thirty.”
    Her words made him go cold even as they left him strangely touched. So. That’s what this was all about. She’d done her research and now she was worried about him. He wasn’t sure whether to be moved or annoyed. His plans—or lack of plans for the future were, after all, none of her business.
    “That’s life,” he said tersely,