Fuck if I knew. “You got any ideas?”
“Something with books,” he whispered, almost like he was wishing.
I made a sound. “My little pipgeek.”
He stuck out his tongue. “Liking books does not make me a geek.”
“What do you like to read about?”
His eyes brightened. “Oh, everything. I spend a lot of time in the public library since it’s free, quiet, and warm. I read all kinds of things. My favorite, though, is web comics.”
“Web comics about what?”
“Action, adventure…” He peeked up through shy lashes. “Romance.”
“Oooh, you like them dirty words.” Now we were talking. “This I can support.”
He nodded. “I do, but I don’t make it to those parts very often.”
“Why not?” I asked, pressing him against the wall so I could reach into my sweats and pull out the half-eaten pack of nuts from earlier. Damn cabby took off with my other snacks.Tommy probably climbed in the back crying and told him to drive. Probably peed his pants too when he got a load of his driving.Good.
“What are you doing?” Rett asked.
“Getting my snacks.”
“You could put me down.”
“Why would I do that?” I wondered, popping in a couple cashews and chewing loud.
“Where did you get those?”
“At the bodega where I got your hugs,” I told him and ate another. “One thing about me, Pip, is I’m a snacker.” Leaning in so my lips could graze his, I whispered, “I’m always hungry.”
“You didn’t eat snacks before.”
“That’s because I smoked.”
“You really quit because I told you to?”
“Kicked one addiction just to replace it with another,” I murmured.
“Nuts?”
My eyes snapped up. “You.”
His pupils dilated, but then he looked away. “What happens when you kick that addiction too?”
I studied his profile as he focused on the wall across the room. Before I met him, I never imagined I’d love someone. Now I couldn’t imagine not loving him. This was the power of Pip.
Did that make him my own personal superhero?
“That reminds me. I didn’t tell you the last house rule.”
“What is it?” he asked, still looking away.
Salt from my fingers smeared his jaw when I grasped his narrow chin to pull his face around. “Rule nine: You get to be yourself here. If you don’t like something, you don’t like it. I want you exactly as you are, and I won’t ever change my mind. No matter what.”
“No matter what,” he echoed, tone wistful.
