Page 10 of Marrying My Moth Lady

“My space isn’t personal, just my taste in books,” she says shyly. Is she blushing? The glow of her red eyes is stronger at night, so pink shadows rest on her cheeks. “Please stay.”

I nod and recline against a pile of dark green pillows. “What are you doing up here? I thought a jet landed with all the racket.”

“Dance party! Can’t you hear my music?”

If I concentrate, there is a faint buzzing at odds with the normal din of the forest. I assumed the sound was feedback from her generator, internet hub, or cell reception antenna. If I were camping below, I wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Her hearing must be enhanced like her other moth-like attributes. Rude to ask, but the scientist in me is dying to know all about her. Does she taste with her feet like a moth? Do her wings shed dander? Does she eat vegan food because she can’t digest meat? Can she coil her tongue like a butterfly’s proboscis?

Thinking about her tongue has me shifting uncomfortably. I’m engaged to be married—like it or not. I can’t sabotage my research, the deed’s transfer, the research center’s expansion, and the future of my child for a romantic night with a moth lady. Besides, Millie’s sheltered and tender-hearted. I bet I would cause her emotional trauma if she joined Amber on my love’em and leave’em list. My sexual prowess has caused nothing but heartache and disaster, so I must keep myself under control.

“You don’t hear a lick, do ya?” Oh, her accent! Her innocent words coil in my lower belly and fog my brain. Maybe joining her was a mistake.

“Not a peep, which is a good thing when you hide from humans. You must have incredible hearing,” I reply in a husky voice. I hope she assumes I’m whispering to avoid her brother and not struggling with my attraction to her.

“Too bad for you, I love this MC,” she says with a swing of her arms.

Her hair bounces, and her wings ruffle as she dances around me. The sway of her hips in her tiny pajama shorts might as well be a sorceress’s pendulum because I’m hypnotized. Her belly button peeks at me as her shirt rides up. Her foot grazes my hip as she steps over me. She has human feet with tiny toes. Oh Lord, have mercy on me. There’s no elastic around her thigh as I steal a glimpse up her shorts.

Chapter 6

Horus

Amber. Amber’s pouting face and nasty demeanor. My fiancé Amber douses the flames of my desire like a firehose. If only I hadn’t blacked out at the music festival, I’d be free to pursue Millie. Millie, who would probably backhand me if I tried to get handsy. But who’s to say I can’t have innocent G-rated fun?

“Be right back,” I say with a smile wider than I’ve worn in months. “I have an idea.”

I throw myself over the roof’s edge and crash to her treehouse’s verandah. I’m statue still as I listen to Matthew’s snores below. My heart pounds. On hands and knees, I skid to my backpack. His snoring resumes its rhythmic cadence. I pour my backpack’s messy contents onto the floor, spreading out the junk. Where are my earbuds?

Ah ha! There’s the case that should hold four but has three empty slots. I have one of the looped pair, but the pair with the buttons on short sticks is missing. Of all the luck! I have no one to blame but myself as I rummage through the piles for tiny, black earbuds on the dark wooden floor.

“This is taking too long,” I mutter as I detangle an earbud’s stem from a charging cable. Another wedged itself in an anti-diarrhea medication box. The third must have bounced when I emptied the bag because it’s half under the bed. I slam the errant electronics into place to charge while I climb the roof. Every percentage represents time with her.

“Ever been to a silent disco?” She whirls around at my question. Her hair fans over her shoulders in soft waves. My fingers itch to run my hands through the locks after she’s brushed out the hairspray she seems to love.

“I’ve never been anywhere,” she snaps.

Oh, right.

“Good,” I say, taking her hand in mine. She looks at our interlaced fingers before blasting me with her bewildered stare. “Millie, will you allow me the pleasure of escorting you to your first silent disco?”

She throws her head back and laughs. A real laugh. Not the polite twitter, or girlish giggle mandated by societal norms, but a belly-shaking laugh. I take her reaction as enthusiasm and drop two earbuds into her palm. Once her fingers curl over them, I release her…

Not for Amber’s pouting, not for my career, but to protect her heart.

“I’ll Bluetooth these to your phone dock, so go ahead and pop them in,” I say, settling in front of her system. Thank goodness we use the same brand of electronics or I’m not sure this would work. I toggle a few settings and we’re in business. Her system will pump music through both sets of earbuds, so we can listen to the same song at differing volumes. “Use the button on the right earbud to turn on the music and the one on the left earbud to adjust your volume to what’s comfortable.”

She touches the right earbud and jumps a few feet when the music starts. Must be too loud because she frantically taps the left earbud. She hits the device hard enough to wedge it into her ear canal. The stem sticks out of her head at an odd angle. As she fights the volume, the stick collects her hair like caramel cotton candy.

“Hold on,” I whisper as I leap to her rescue. I remove the right earbud and slide the loop of hair off the end. Her face relaxes as I tap the volume button until the device is as quiet as it goes. I hear nothing when I lift it to my face. “May I?”

At her shy nod, I lift her hair off her feathery hackle. My fingers curl the shorter layers behind her ear. The tips of my fourth and pinky fingers trail over her cheekbone. I don’t have to stand this close to her to put the device in her ear, but her scent draws me closer. If she turned her head, we would kiss…

So, I hop back as if she’s a hornet’s nest…but in reality, she’s much more dangerous.

Millie May

“Is the volume too loud or too soft?” He asks, with dimples flaring. The mask of serious veneer has dropped. I hope this silent disco is half as fun as his demeanor promises it to be, for his sake, more than mine. His bodily issues are probably an extension of his acidic personality. If he lightened up a little, maybe his churning insides would calm down too.

I give him a thumbs up because I fear anything I say will break the spell. Normally, this volume would be too loud but since the earbuds don’t engage my antennae, it’s fine. He fiddleswith his earbuds. His music plays loud enough for me to hear the buzz in the background.

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