Page 42 of Defended By Love

Grant shakes his head and crosses the length of the floor towards me. His hands whisper up to the side of my face, tilting my head so that I look directly up into him.

“You’re always stunning, but now? Here in my basement in my clothes? You’re… you’re…”

“Your kryptonite?” I joke, extremely proud to be showing off my superhero research.

Grant doesn’t respond to the joke. He shakes his head slightly and holds my face even tighter in his hands.

“Kryptonite makes Superman weak. You, no you make me feel like I’m not myself. Like I can do anything, be anything. You make me surge with lust and power. You make me want to take you and show you exactly how much you’re mine. You make me crazy. You—” He stops and really shakes his head this time. Then, he takes a step back. He tries for a weak smile, but that fierce look in his eyes still pierces me. “So I guess you’re maybe red kryptonite then, although depending on which source material you’re drawing from—”

“Kryptonite is green,” I say, smiling, happy that I finally out-nerded him.

The warmth floods back into his eyes and he throws back his head to laugh.

“It’s whatever colour you want it to be.”

Okay, weird way of saying I’m right.

“Anyway, we can talk Marvel all day, or we can go back to discussing the little stuff. You know, who you are, why you lied, if you’re evil…”

“Are we still throwing the word evil around?”

I cock an eyebrow. Fair enough. “Allegedly evil,” I amend.

Grant sighs. “I don’t want you to think I’m evil—allegedly or not. What can I do to make you trust me?”

“Let’s start with something radical, like telling the truth.”

Grant nods seriously, even though I’m making fun of him a bit. He walks around to flop down onto the couch. I join him. As the smell of his freshly showered self washes over me, it takes everything I have not to cuddle into his side. Even though I’ve never gotten to the comfortably cohabiting stage with a partner before (or, you know, the month mark), it’s easy to imagine us spending nights unwinding together just like that. I imagine I’d breathe in his scent, fit perfectly into his side, and relax in a way that I never have.

I scooch away from him slightly, my back ramrod straight.

Nothing good comes from imagining a future with someone I barely know. Or, more accurately, who barely knows me. No one wants to cuddle someone who’s reviewing deposition questions for the millionth time.

“I really don’t want to lie to you anymore. I need you to trust me as much as I need air. It’s just that… that truth might be a bit scary,” he starts.

“Scarier than working for a supervillain?”

Grant shrugs. “Depends on who you ask.”

“Well, hard truth is kind of what I do for a living, so shoot.”

“To start with the truth, we have to go back a ways.” Grant runs a hand through his wavy hair. “I’ve never been a ‘dream big’ guy. I’ve always been a happy with what I got person. And I am happy, like really. I love my life, my family, my hobbies. I’ve just never wanted more. At least until I saw you. The moment I saw you, I knew want. I saw you and I knew that I wanted, no needed you in my life. Needed you to be mine.”

Is it weird that I wish I had a pad of paper to take notes on? Probably. My fingers twitch with the need to take note of inconsistencies that I find. I settle for interrupting him.

“So, going back ‘a ways’ is several hours ago? Technically.”

Grant throws me the most awkward, hopeless smile I’ve ever seen. “I guess my first lie is letting you think that tonight, well the tonight from a few days ago, is the first time I’ve seen you.”

My stomach knots. As someone who detests getting surprised, I do not like this turn of events. If he saw me before tonight, then that means that he wasn’t at the building by chance. In all probability, he was at the building because he was following me. Not good for the whole ‘evil’ thing.

“Elaborate.”

“The first time I saw you was a couple weeks ago when you came to the employee ferry to meet with that scary biker lady who’s been scoping out the terminal. I saw you and it was like the very foundation that I’d built my whole life upon shook.”

“So, what? You took one look at me and decided to go full stalker?”

“No, no,” he says quickly, waving his hands slightly. “Kind of. It wasn’t until a little while later.”

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