Sophia Bennett is a vibrant young woman who grew up with geniuses and spent her childhood surrounded by others who were gifted. Not being gifted herself, this was difficult for her. She chose to live in Texas, where men are men, because she didn't care to surround herself with "more of same" of what she grew up with. She prefers cowboys and is dating one.

Dr. Max Travers is a professor of Mathematics at the school where Sophy's parents teach, and he's a genius. As a favor to her parents, Sophy agrees to meet him for dinner from a sense of duty to a friend of her parents. Max is fascinated by Sophy, but she's simply not interested in geniuses.

The following day at work, where Sophy works as a secretary-typist and Max is contracted to consult for a few weeks, Max determines that he has to get to know Sophy better and that will involve somehow derailing her romance with the cowboy. Since she has a date that night with the cowboy, Max creates a situation where Sophy must work late to complete some important typing and springs it on her at the end of the workday. She is angry, needless to say. By the time she is finished, late in the evening, he offers to take her to the party so she can meet the cowboy for their interrupted date.

When they arrive, Sophy inquires for the cowboy and is directed out to the pool. What does she see when she gets there but her cowboy coming out of the cabana, with a blond, in a clearly compromising position. Sophy is crushed and asks Max to take her home.

Max takes her back to his hotel room, orders a few drinks and commiserates with her. One thing leads to another, and Max, who is intoxicated with her, winds up in bed with Sophy. Well, Sophy wakes up later, quietly removes herself and goes home. The next morning, Sophy accuses him of taking advantage of her, and he agrees. He still tries to get her to go out with him and she delights in thwarting him. That evening, in order to avoid him, she goes out for drinks with her office friend, who has just lost out on a promotion that she should have gotten.

When her friend discusses revenge against the company and espionage, Sophy is worried and decides to share the info with Max to make sure he doesn't get hurt. Well, Max uses the information to set up a "pretend" relationship with Sophy, by taking the info to the company owners and suggesting that through Sophy, he'll be able to keep an eye on Sophy's friend's activities. Sophy has no intention of letting her friend get hurt; instead she plans to help her. With the owners pushing for her cooperation, though, she has no choice but to appear to go along with the plan.

In the course of the plan, Max and Sophy change. Max becomes more outgoing (learns to barbecue - very cute scene), more "Texan" and less like the quiet professor he's always been. Sophy learns that she can hold her own with the genius types and that maybe she doesn't need to avoid them.

Read this book to find out how Sophy puts the color into Max's life and how they fall in love. It's a very good read.