Page 17 of Liar & Champion
“I would never. Religion is good for most people, and even the bad people that practice would be worse without it.” I scooped her up in my arms, extra careful not to jolt her. She smelled so good beneath the spicy bruise ointment.
She rested her head on my shoulder like it belonged there, and for a moment I just marveled at how well she fit in my arms, small, delicate, sweet, but with fire, determination, and intellect. I liked her. If I had to spend the next six months driving her to things and taking care of her, I wouldn’t hate it.
She raised her head and stiffened up. “I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t get too comfortable around you. I know that sends mixed messages, and I want to be very clear. I don’t date, even though you are extremely attractive, and I feel mostly safe with you. I asked you to carry me because I didn’t want to crawl home, not because I want you to hold me in your arms.” The color rose in her cheeks, almost like she was trying to convince herself more than me.
“You’ve told me that you don’t want to date me several times. The only mixed messages I got was when you came to my house yelling that you had a boyfriend. I’m not confused about your feelings. Just because you want comfort doesn’t mean you want commitment or any kind of physical relationship. Trust me, I am not the guy you have to worry about stalking you. I’ve never met a woman I was comfortable being with for any amount of time. I’m open to dating, but that’s mostly my mother.” I winced. I hadn’t meant to say that, but I wanted to reassure her.
“Your mother?” She looked at me with so much adorable curiosity, so much like a kitten chasing a string, I couldn’t help but explain some.
“She’s convinced me to give dating a chance, actually gave me a list of women at her fine alma mater that I should meet. It’s crazy. I’m a grown man, but here I am, dancing to her tune.” It was more than slightly humbling.
“She gave you a list?” She laughed, and patted my head. “Poor Nix. Oh, I’m on the list, aren’t I? Because my uncle, he’s loaded. And Christina, she’d have to be on the list any good AHU alumni wrote up. Her ancestors founded it. Has your mamamade up a time limit that you have to date this girl, or is she leaving it up to you?”
I stared at her, aghast. “You make it sound expected. I did not expect it.”
She patted my chest and leaned her head against my shoulder again. She was so light. I could stand there in my empty living room holding her indefinitely. “Of course you didn’t. You somehow avoided all the normal expectations that all the right kind of families put on their children. Is she holding money over you or something else?”
“Money and something else. Am I that transparent?”
“Oh, no, I thought you really were some three-job-working student who had decided to go to school to be a vet after your long-lived dog finally died of cancer.”
I hefted her so she was at my eye-level. “Don’t joke about dogs dying of cancer. You’re going to make me cry, and then you’ll have to hold me all night, and you’ll never make it home.”
She wrinkled her nose and then smiled brightly. “That’s all right. I had a perfectly good pillow.”
“I see how it is.”
She laughed, a sweet rumble that I wanted to go on and on. “Seriously, I have some extra pillows you can use until you get to the store. I’ll have you get them from the hall closet after you put me on the couch, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. I could carry you all day.” I didn’t need to see the alarm in her eyes to realize exactly how that had sounded. I headed out, carrying her quickly enough that I didn’t seem reluctant to put her down. She had me get the key out of the hide-a-rock, because she didn’t have her bag. That still made me mad, but I’d deal with it.
The house was comfortable, small and cozy, with gorgeous floral paintings on the walls and nick-knacks on the tables and shelves that weren’t worth a fortune, more sentimentalthan anything. I loved that. Her couch was slip-covered and overstuffed, the kind of couch you could spend all Saturday on.
I put her down, grabbed a throw, the remote, and then headed to the kitchen without asking, bringing back a plate with snacks and juice. “If you need anything, call me. Here’s my number.” I placed my card down next to the food. It had ‘Nix’ on it in bold letters with my personal number below.
She looked at the coffee table that I’d loaded up with necessities. “That’s very neighborly of you.”
“We are neighbors. I’ll bring your philosophy homework too. I’m used to setting people up who have broken limbs.”
She raised a brow. “Are you?”
“I’ve had a lot of odd jobs.” That was true enough.
“But now you got wrangled back into being a fine son. Poor you. Look, to pay you back for your hospitality, I can give you a real summary of all the girls on your list.”
I crossed my arms. “A real summary? What would that look like?”
“How long do you have to date this girl?”
“Six months.”
“That’s some time.”
“That’s only because you’re so young. Six months is an eternity until you’ve put on some experience.”
“Oh, ancient one, your wisdom is always so elevating. What do you want in a girlfriend?”
“I don’t want a girlfriend.”
