The corners of Vie’s mouth sank. “I’m not a man.”
He was still standing, so I grabbed the sleeve of his hoodie to keep him near me. I hooked an ankle on the chair to pull it out. Then I used my hold on his sleeve to guide him into the chair. Once he was sitting, I cupped a hand under his chin. “Whatever you are doesn’t matter because you’re mine.”
His eyes lifted to mine and glowed bright blue for a moment. “Yes, I’m yours.”
“I’m glad we agree,” I murmured. My hand dropped away as he leaned his head close and placed a chaste kiss on my forehead.
“I can smell your hunger,” he murmured. “Please eat.”
I gave him a last smile before turning to face the food. I picked up the mug and took a sip. I might’ve moaned a little. It was my favorite, caramel vanilla latte with a little cinnamon.
“You like?” Vie asked, sounding pleased.
“Perfect,” I said, then took another swallow before setting it down and filling my plate with a little of everything. Honestly, when it came to breakfast, were there any bad choices?
“I know your shop is closed today,” Vie said as I ate like a woman at the end of a juice cleanse. “I thought we could shop for things you want in this space.”
“Shop?” I asked, the word garbled by a mouth full of food.
“I want you to be comfortable here,” he said. “Sorrow warned me you might not like the style he helped me pick out. We should shop for furniture you like and move things around until you consider this home.”
I looked around as I finished chewing and swallowing. “I like all of this. I don’t want to change anything.” I pointed a fork at the windows. “You even have a nice view from here! Is that Balboa Park?”
He nodded, looking pleased. “Then we can spend the day any way you like.”
I paused, feeling a little sheepish as I remembered my car’s death rattle last night. “I don’t suppose you have a car?”
“I’ve never required one,” he said, giving me a puzzled look.
“Yeah, so I guess we can use a rideshare,” I said. “I’d like to stop by my place first for a change of clothes.”
“No need to do that, I can buy you anything you might like,” he offered.
I snorted. “Great, then let’s go pick out a car.”
“Certainly,” he said with a completely straight face.
My eyes went wide. “Vie, I was kidding.”
“I wasn’t.”
Within three hours, I had several sets of new clothes and was sitting in a brand-new car. It was a luxurious, shiny, silver four-door sedan. The price tag was more than it had cost me to open my little store!
I sat in the driver’s seat, stunned as Vie finished accepting a thick stack of paperwork and walked around to the passenger seat.
“You don’t need to drive, do you?” I asked as he settled in next to me.
“Of course not,” he said. “I can travel much faster in my incorporeal form.”
“Then you didn’t need a car.” I dropped my hands from where they’d been resting on the steering wheel and looked over at him.
“No, but you did. I can’t carry you in my mist form, and your other car isn’t working anymore. It’s only reasonable that you have this. If you find that it doesn’t fulfill your needs, we can get you something else.”
“But this is so…much!” I said the last word louder than I intended.
“You didn’t have a working vehicle, but you needed one,” he stated. “This only makes sense.”
“I could’ve gotten my car fixed.” When he raised his eyebrows, I amended my statement. “Probably.”
