“Maybe not, but that right there is,” I tell her, nodding to the book in her hand. “If any of my MC brothers knew I had special editions of every singleLord of the Ringsbook, I’d never hear the end of it.”
“Really? That’s not even the nerdiest thing you have in here.” Mika gives me a playful, almost flirty, smile, and I think my heart is going to explode.
“Is that right? So tell me, what would the club make fun of me the most for?”
Mika scoots over and pats the spot next to her on the loveseat. My tall-ass frame hardly fits on the piece of furniture when I’m by myself, so I’m not sure how it will work with a second person here. Still, I don’t want her to feel rejected. I plop down, wedging myself between my curvy, irresistible woman and the armrest.
I look over at Mika, who has a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter. “I guess I might need a bigger couch in here, huh?”
“We can make it work,” Mika says with a smile. She tries adjusting her position so that we both have equal space, but it’s no use.
“Here,” I say as I pat my thighs. “Rest your feet up here.” As soon as I say the words, I worry I crossed a line. I would understand if she didn’t want anyone to touch her, even though I held her nearly-naked body in the bathroom this morning. She’s vulnerable right now, and I would never take advantage of that. “If you want to,” I add.
Mika gives me a shy smile and rubs her lips together in what I’m starting to understand is a nervous gesture. She nods and lifts her legs so that her calves and feet are resting on my lap. I dutifully keep my hands at my sides, though all I want to do is massage every part of her that’s touching me.
“Wanna rub my feet?” Mika asks, surprising the hell out of me. She wiggles her toes, which is about the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. “I’m kidding, Shadow,” Mika says with a laugh.
“Yes,” I don’t hesitate to answer. Mika inhales softly as I wrap both hands around her right foot and dig my thumbs into her heel.
“Oh my God,” she moans, tilting her head back to luxuriate in the feeling. I angle my hips down so that she doesn’t feel my dick jerking my jeans at her sexy sounds. “I really was kidding, but feel free to keep doing that as long as you want.”
I’m glad my girl is at ease around me, and I feel like the luckiest bastard in the world that I get to be touching any part of her right now. “So,” I say while keeping a firm but gentle pressure on the heel of her foot. “You never told me the nerdiest part of my library.”
Mika tilts her head up and looks at me, the most adorable grin spreading across her lips. “To be honest, there are a few contenders. I mean, your comic book collection is definitely up there.”
“Hey now,” I say, coming to my own defense. “It’s not nerdy if it’s The Punisher,” I explain. “He beats people up for a living. That’s like, the opposite of being a nerd.”
Mika narrows her eyes at me, giving me a suspicious look. “Hmmm… If you say so. The other top spot for nerdiest artifact in here is undoubtedly your giant binder of Pokémon cards, organized alphabetically.”
I clutch my chest dramatically as if she wounded me, which makes her giggle. My heart aches when I hear the sound. I always want her to be this happy, this carefree. The fact that she can be silly with me like this after the experience she had tells me everything. Mika is stronger than she knows. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving it to her.
“There aren’t very many people brave enough to call me a nerd,” I inform her.
“I didn’t call you a nerd,” Mika replies. “I said you had nerdy things.” I roll my eyes, and her smile grows wider. “But you know what they say; if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… It’s probably a nerd.”
I tickle her feet and join in on her laughter as she playfully kicks my hands away. “Wanna call me a nerd again? If your feet are ticklish, I’m sure you have plenty of other sensitive spots as well.”
My face heats as I realize how my words could’ve been misinterpreted. I look over at Mika, who is also blushing. But she doesn’t look embarrassed, which is interesting. In fact, when her eyes meet mine, I see the hint of a challenge. Not today, but soon. Soon, Mika will know how beautiful and sexy I find every inch of her.
“How about you tell me your favorite book?” Mika asks, changing the subject.
“That’s hardly a fair question.”
“And that’s hardly an answer,” she says with a grin.
“I guess it depends on my mood. Or, rather, the season in life. Which character I can relate to, which hero’s journey I want togo on, stuff like that.” I shrug, wondering if my rambling answer made any sense.
“I get that. For me, it depends on what kind of world I want to escape to, you know? Growing up, I loved the trope of the main character being secretly royal or rich or special in some way, but they don’t know it. Their journey is in the discovery of their gifts, and I’ve always thought there’s something beautiful about that.”
“Is there a reason that trope comforted you?”
Mika rubs her lips together again, deciding how much she should tell me. I want all of her secrets, every last bit of her story, but I know it will take time.
“It’s cliche, really,” she says with a shrug, immediately downplaying her own feelings. “As a foster kid who was shuffled around from home to home until I aged out, I always dreamed of waking up one day to a rich, long-lost great-aunt who left me an island in her will. I would’ve settled for a letter inviting me to a school of magic as well.”
She tries smiling at her little joke, but the light is gone from her eyes. I figured Mika didn’t have a great childhood if she ended up at the auction house, but she’s been through so much in her short life.
“If you’re cliche, then I am, too,” I tell her. “I liked The Punisher comics growing up because he used his fists to dole out justice, and he wasn’t afraid to get blood on his hands. It’s thanks to those comic books that I got into underground fighting as a teen.” Mika gasps and furrows her brow in concern. I smile at her, letting her know I’m just fine. “Made a lot of money. Broke a lot of bones. Crawled out of the depths and got away from my druggie parents.”
