“I didn’t even know you owned clothes other than suits.”
“I don’t. A previous boyfriend left these,” he says.
My eyes narrow. “Take them off. You shall wear my clothes. Disrobe your beautiful body immediately.”
“I’m joking. I just wanted to see how you’d react. I was pleased by causing you irritation,” he says before he starts toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to run into work.”
“Well, I shall run with you. Let me feed you,” I say as I grab a box of cookies and rush after him.
“I’d very much rather you not stalk me at work.”
“You really think I’m going to leave you alone? Don’t make me chuckle, My Lord of Suits. Or should I call you My Lord of Sweater Vests today?”
“I’d rather you call me neither,” he says as I pop a cookie in his mouth. He seems startled by it before taking it and biting off a piece. “This is quite unhealthy. Is this also what you ate?”
“You’re enough sweetness for me,” I inform him.
Ellison ignores me and hurries out to his car. I get into the driver’s seat and pass him my ferret and my rifle.
“I want neither of these things,” he grumbles as he sets Pocket Lint down on the middle console. She’s staring at his cookie, stretching her long neck out as far as it’ll go to try to snatch a bite.
He watches her for a ridiculously long time before he breaks off the smallest piece and hands it to her. When he sees me watching, he glowers at me like I’ve caught him doing something bad. It makes me beam.
The drive to Superheroes United is rather uneventful, as is getting inside once I threaten the security team, causing Ellison to smooth things over.
“I’m going to go deal with Valerie. I’m safe in here, okay? Go… pester Nolan.”
“You may be safe from the stalker, but Valerie saps the life from our souls every time we’re within fifteen feet of her. I can already feel my life force draining from me. It hurts, Ellison, it hurts.”
Valerie chooses that moment to walk around the corner, confirming my declaration.
My eyes narrow the instant I see her. “I think she’s constipated. Look at her face.”
“Why’d you bring him?” she asks.
“He’s going to keep Nolan company,” Ellison says.
I grab Ellison. “If she sucks out your soul and replaces it with one of her parasites… do know that I will avenge you.”
“Go,” he says.
I grasp his face and press my forehead against his. “I had fun jerking you off yesterday,” I whisper so only he can hear.
He pulls back, face red as he quickly turns around and storms off.
Pleased by my ability to fluster him, I think about what to do. The idea of spending time with a man who can read my mind doesn’t sound overly appealing when my mind is in a state of turmoil, so I head down to the shooting range, but as soon as I get settled in, Nolan joins me.
“You can’t think about how much you don’t want me to read your mind and expect I won’t come bother you,” Nolan says.
“Understandable. How is life in the underworld?”
“Better than life while I was alive,” he responds as he goes over to a bench and lies down on it. It isn’t long before Nemesis, his long-haired Persian, jumps up onto his chest and flicks his tail into Nolan’s face. Pocket Lint, who is on the ground, is staring at that tail with desire in her eyes. “Every time Landon stopped by, I did my best to pretend like I was loving life in that small room because I knew if I didn’t, he’d bust me out of there.”
“This may be a new prison, but it should be a better one. So… you can control other people’s minds.”
