Page 68 of Packed in the Fire house

Well, jogging was out of the question. She was already exhausted. The same went for baking—that involved too much standing, mixing, and general moving around.

“I haven’t seen you reading, sunshine! You should have said. Actually, I was reading a riveting book on the history of fire hydrants while you slept.”

Sunny grimaced but then giggled. “I’m surprised you didn’t fall asleep reading about that.”

Beaming, I leaned forward, resting my chin in my open palm. “What kind of books do you like, then?”

“Romance, fantasy—wasn’t it you who said you guys were big fans of dragons?”

Rune nodded. “I’m more of a watcher than a reader, though,” he admitted, opening a bottle of water and handing it to her to sip on between bites.

“I was in the middle of reading this huge fantasy series, it’s like ten books long. I scored them all in paperback at a thrift shop a while back. With the fire…” Sunny hesitated, her eyes downcast. “Well, you know. Anyway, it’ll be a while before I’ll be able to replace them.”

Sometimes I forgot just how much she had lost. If she liked reading, I could buy her a library, and I would do it in a heartbeat if it would make her happy.

“Hey, Blaze, didn’t your mama get you a fancy new e-reader last year that you never used?” Rune asked, raising his eyebrows as he smirked at me.

“Oh yeah!” I shouted as I shot up. “It’s been in my drawer for months. I’ll be right back!” I was out the door and ignoring Sunny’s protests.

Grabbing the box and the envelope my mother gave me with it, I practically ran back to the den.

“So, fun fact about me, sunshine. I read on my phone, but personally, I hate e-readers. I’ve never been able to get along with them. There’s something about the screen I can’t deal with.”

She cocked her head to the side as adorable confusion overtook her face. “But you don’t mind your phone screen?”

“At this point, I’ve been Stockholm syndromed by my phone screen. I’ve been stuck with it so long, I’ve formed an emotionalconnection.” I shrugged. “But this is something I refuse to bow to,” I declared, holding up the e-reader box.

“That is some interesting logic,” she said, giggling.

“So, if you can make use of this, you totally should!”

“Well…” Sunny bit her lip. “If you’re not going to use it. I swear you guys hoard nice things and never use them.” Her look was almost accusatory.

“That thing has been doing nothing but gathering dust,” Rune said. “Really, you’re saving it from a slow and painful death of nonuse.”

Chuckling, she held out her hand. “Thank you.”

“There are also some gift cards in there for the e-book store. Courtesy of my mother.”

Sunny pulled out the gift cards and paled. “Blaze! This is five hundred dollars’ worth of gift cards! I can’t accept this!”

I shrugged. “They go with that devil device, so there’s no way I’m going to use them. Buy your book series.”

Was I being purposely obtuse? Yes. I could use those gift cards for books on my phone, but I was going to play ignorant if it got Sunshine to accept them.

Sunny sighed, rubbing her temple with one hand, holding the e-reader and gift cards in the other.

“I know, Cher, he frustrates us all,” Rune soothed. “He’s a pain, but he’s our pain.”

She glared playfully at Rune. “Coming from the man who was going to let a gift card with a thousand dollars on it expire?”

A rush of excitement filled my chest, and there was no hiding my dopey grin as she agreed to theourpart. Did that mean she saw me as her pain?

I would happily be her court jester.

Providing giggles in the day and orgasms in the night.

Chapter 26

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