Page 46 of Dash

“I’m on duty ma’am.” He marched to the fridge and poured me a tall glass of milk.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t eat.” I rolled another forkful, chewed, and swallowed. “You could join me.”

“No, ma’am.” He settled the glass of milk before me. “I’m on duty and I don’t eat carbs.”

“You don’t eatanycarbs?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Really, Micah?” I stuffed my mouth and wolfed down another gulp of deliciousness. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“Perhaps that’s best for the mind and soul of a man, ma’am.”

“So, in addition to being a savant, you’re also a philosopher.” I sipped on my milk. “Okay, forget the food. Just sit with me and keep me company, then.”

“I’m not here to keep you company, ma’am.” The man didn’t budge. “I’m here to protect you.”

“Thank God.” I teased him with a smile. “Keeping me company may not be in your skillset.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I caught a flash of white and straight teeth. “Omega did say you had a wicked sense of humor.”

“Did he now?” I wolfed down another bite. “I don’t knowhow Omega would recognize the absence of something he’s lost.”

Micah pressed his lips together. “Hmm.”

“There’s a sound that speaks louder than words.” I met his umber eyes. “What is it?”

“Nothing that should concern you, ma’am.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but that grunt you make is a whole speech in your head.”

He shrugged his huge shoulders. “You’re observant, ma’am.”

“Stop it with the ma’am, will you?” I flashed my most persuasive grin. “Let’s be friends. Please, call me Thena.”

“Sorry, ma’am. No can do. My duties here are official and you’re not my friend.”

He was a tough nut to crack. “I’m not your enemy, either.”

The look that he gave me was a silent reproach.

“What?” I spiked my eyebrows at him. “I’m eating the damn fettuccini, and I drank all the milk. I’m making conversation with you, even though I feel like I’ve been put through a shredder, and I get the feeling you’d rather I was mute. As Dash so deftly pointed out yesterday, I have no friends, which means I could use one. Why can’t we be friends?”

His tank of a chest rose with an inhale. “Permission to speak freely, ma’am.”

“Geesh.” I perched my chin on the heel of my hand and sighed. “Go ahead.”

“A man gets hard when life deals him a bad hand,” he offered. “A man loses the joy to live when a woman hammers him to his knees. Omega’s my friend.”

“And since I’m the hammer that, in your opinion, has pummeled Omega, I’m not your friend. Did I get it right?”

“Mostly, ma’am.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you say ma’am one more time, I’m going to—”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Do not make threats you can’t follow up on.”

“I’m going to pester you until I break you down.”

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