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I decide not to go there.
“Thanks.” I nod, setting the book aside and standing.
“What are you reading?” She enters my room, and I realize for the first time how much shorter than me she is.
Somehow she always seemed taller at a distance. Here, in my bedroom, her head only comes up to the center of my chest.
“The Sun Also Rises,” I answer, and her whole face grimaces. I almost laugh. “What?”
“That book is so depressing! Why would you read that?”
“It was on the bookshelf, and I picked it up.” I turn it over in my hands, examining the illustrated hardcover. “It’s a fancy special edition.”
“The hero is impotent.”
“The heroine is a nympho.” I don’t know why I’m defending Jake Barnes.
“She’s only with two men in the entire book, and one of them’s a bullfighter.” Her tone is sharp. “Bullfighters are hot, and she really seems to like him. So she has sex. That doesn’t make her a nympho. You could say she’s a drunk more than you could say she’s a nympho.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I hold up my hands like she has a gun on me.
“No wonder you’re always in a bad mood if this is what you’re reading.”
“I guess you think I should read one of Dylan’s romance books instead.”
“You should. She has some good ones.” She stomps out of the room, and my brow lowers.What is she doing?
I don’t have to wait long to find out.
“Try this one.” She shoves a light blue paperback into myhands with the wordsArcher’s Voicestamped on the front. “It’s way more uplifting than that awful slog.”
“I actually like Hemingway.”
“You’ll like this one better. Maybe it’ll improve your mood.”
I turn the book over, deciding not to argue. A few seconds pass, and she doesn’t leave. Setting the book aside, I look at her. She’s still frowning, but not like she’s annoyed.
“What?”
“You were really good with the kids tonight.”
Not what I expected her to say. “What kids?”
“Kimmie and Edward. When they were picking out names for the kitten? You were so good at smoothing things out between them. I was impressed.”
“It’s no big deal. Kids just want to be heard. They want you to listen.”
“It was a different side of you.” She tilts her head and smiles up at me.
My throat tightens, and I put my hands on the chair to keep them from touching her. I’ve wanted to touch her all night.
“I don’t have sides.”
She laughs low and soft, and my dick responds to the sound. “Everyone has sides, parts of themselves they try to hide for whatever reason.”
That.
I use her oblique confession to reestablish my resistance. “What are you trying to hide?”
