Page 57 of Out of Sight

“You are made of endless surprises and slightly terrifying, but I am here for it.” He found himself grinning again.

She stretched and slowly sat up. “Um, morning?”

“Evening, but dinner is on the way. It will be odd but interesting.”

Lucia smiled. “Good. I like interesting. So what are you working on? All I got was little diagrams and tiny portraits.”

He sighed. “It was supposed to be a surprise for when you are feeling up to a fancy day.”

“Wedding. You were thinking wedding.”

He shrugged. “Yes. That is what my people do. One mate to carry us through our lives, and one mate to find in the afterlife.”

“So a long-term relationship.”

“Very.” He smiled. “Do you need a hand?”

“No. I am going to take a shower. Is that okay?”

“Absolutely. I just want you to sleep in my bed because I am greedy and lazy. None of the guestrooms are set up. Giants are solitary by nature. Well, sort of. We live in family groups and socialize in neutral settings.”

She got out of bed and grabbed her clothing before heading to the bathroom. He grinned and finished the food order. The hot food would arrive first, right after her shower. All the fun food would arrive twenty minutes after they started.

Yorwell closed his sketchbook and used some mage fire to clean graphite off his hands. He stretched and got to his feet, checking his phone to see when items would be arriving. Putting a shield around it to keep her out had happened mid-conversation, and their chat hadn’t slowed at all.

He kept his shirt on and made the bed, inhaling her faint scent from the pillow. His kind were not generally known for detailed senses, but Lucia’s scent was distinctive, even to his nose.

When she emerged from the bathroom in her sweatsuit and damp hair, his heart stuttered in his chest. He walked over, and she threw her arms around him, pressing tight against him.

She whispered, “I am learning to sleep again.”

He stroked her back and felt five hundred feet tall. “I am very glad for you.”

Lucia whispered, “I am glad for me, too.”

He felt the forced positivity in the words as if she were reinforcing that she was allowed to be happy. Therapy was kicking in, and she was determined to follow it. He looked down at her and marvelled at the strength of her. She had lost everything and still survived. Her soul was already that of a giant.

Chapter Ten

Lucia watched Yorwell as he almost scampered to answer the door. He took something from the courier and closed the door. He walked back proudly.

“While you said you wanted pie and cake and ice cream, I thought we would start with a more practical sort of pie.” He set the boxes from the savoury pie shop down on the table and waved his hand over them, murmuring softly.

She felt the warmth coming off the boxes and looked at the stack of plates he had set out with different forks and pie servers. “That is sneaky and very welcome. What did you order?”

“A cottage pie, chicken pie, a pork pot pie, and turkey dinner pie. And in case you need a palate cleanser, a lemon meringue pie.”

Lucia washed her hands and sat at the table. “May I?”

“You may. Where are you going to start?”

“Small pieces of everything.” She grinned. She took the pie servers and began cutting one-inch slivers for her and leaving the implement for him to stab his own food.

“Excellent choice.”

“The variety is lovely. Look, pigeon eggs in the pork pie.”

He grinned. “I am glad you like them. Now start eating. The next course arrives in twenty minutes.”