Page 60 of Catch Me
I thought about it for a second. “No. I’m too curious.”
He smiled and his eyes focused again. “I don’t have enough information to determine how bad it is. There are cave trolls, like in Lord of the Rings. Then, you have more sapient trolls like you see in World of Warcraft. There’s the kid’s movie with the creepy singing troll dolls from the nineties. Let’s not forget the evil shaman trolls in Frozen.”
“You’re a nerd,” I said as I tried to rein in my laughter. “Rate them best to worst.”
“Man, I should’ve kicked you out a few days ago.” He lifted himself onto the counter and swung his legs. “Obviously, sapient trolls are my best option.”
“Obviously.”
“The Frozen trolls are suspicious, and I’m convinced they’re the real villains, but I guess they’d be second. Then, cave trolls. I’d definitely die, but full send it. The colorful ones are horrifying, and the only saving grace is that Justin Timberlake plays one of them.”
I swiped a hand down my face, then met his eyes, which were alight with a playfulness I hadn’t seen much of when he was talking to me. If it did surface, I tried to ignore it.
“Jesus, that was jarring.”
“Why?” he asked
“I kind of forget you’re only twenty-four. You seem older, more mature and responsible. That was different.”
“Consider yourself blessed. Will I ever see your youthful side, or will you always act like an old man who yells and shakes his cane at kids who walk on his grass?”
“I resent that question. I wouldn’t have grass. It doesn’t have any ecological benefit. Clover is prettier, less work, and contributes to the environment.”
“I didn’t take you to be eco-conscious, Roman.”
“You can’t really take me to be anything. You hardly know me.”
“True.”
He hopped down from the counter and stretched his arms above his head, which made his shirt lift enough for me to see the curve of his pelvis. I took slow breaths, trying to force my heart rate to return to normal.
“Well,” he said when he dropped his arms, “I’ve got shit to do, errands to run.”
“Don’t you have a LIVE soon?”
His brow raised along with the corner of his lips. “I do.”
“Your shit comes up on my feed,” I said dismissively.
“That tends to happen when you follow someone.” He winked and strode down the hall.
He knew that I followed him. I thought it would get lost in the rest of his notifications. If I had that many, I wouldn’t read them. Had he noticed as soon as I did it?
When he returned, he was wearing a light blue flannel. The color suited him, but I refrained from saying that.
“Feel free to get into whatever you want,” he said. “I think I have all the streaming services. I’m not really sure. I don’t watch TV.”
“You don’t watch TV?”
He shrugged and headed to the door. “It bores me.”
“Everything bores you.”
With his hand on the knob, he turned and smiled at me. It was a little too dazzling. “Nah. If something interests me, though, I’ll become obsessed and be all over it. Well, until it bores me.”
He winked, then whistled for Tessa to follow him. Once the door closed, I took my first full breath since I’d seen him in the backyard.
This wasn’t good. My heart was racing around him, his smiles made my stomach flutter, I watched him when he didn’t know I was there, and after his statement, I began to read into it. If he was interested in something, it seemed like I would know.
