Page 47 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
“Are you okay?” Miles asked me.
I sent him a shaky smile. “I’m good. Sorry I can’t do more.”
He shook his head. “Don’t be. I’m sure we can find whatever’s causing this and destroy it. We’ll figure it out.” He hesitated, then added, “Just… don’t hurt yourself, okay?”
With a nod, I gently shoulder-bumped him in appreciation—he was so damn cute—and said, “So I guess we need to search the basement to find where the hell it’s coming from.”
“Let’s find a light switch first. There’s gotta be one down here somewhere.” Miles started to step away, then seemed to think better of it. “Um, I suppose we need to, uh, hold hands or something?”
“Oh my god,” Lyric whispered, but it was one hundred percent loud enough for Miles to hear, and I was sure Lyric knew it. “Why is he so damn cute? If you hadn’t already called dibs on dating that cutie, I would’ve done it.”
Even though it was dark in here, Miles moved closer to the doorway, and there was enough light coming in that I could see Miles’s cheeks darken in embarrassment, further proving that he’d heard every word.
I elbowed Lyric. “Stop making him uncomfortable.”
“I wasn’t trying to.” That was probably true, but sometimes they really needed to know when to keep their thoughts to themself. “Anyway, let’s all hold hands and find a light switch.”
Miles surprised me by not even hesitating for a second before reaching down for my hand. I sent him a warm smile and gave his hand a squeeze. Then Lyric grabbed my other hand and pulled our little train along. When we reached the wall, it got even more awkward because I didn’t have a hand to help search, so I was just standing there, holding hands and watching the two of them use the flashlights on their phones to find the light switch. It was weird.
It felt like I was contributing nothing, but logically, I knew my null magic was the only reason these two were being productive and not brawling across the floor.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Miles said, “Got it!” I heard the light switch flip, and bright artificial light filled the space, making me blink a few times.
Chapter Fifteen
Winter
All three of us took in the room, and I didn’t think I’d ever been more relieved to find a space empty of faeries—especially gnomes. There was another staircase off to the side that presumably led to the upstairs, although where in the house it exactly was remained a mystery. There were shelves lining all the walls, plus a few free-standing ones off to the right, and a couple of work benches with a scattering of tools to the left. I could see the water heater from here, straight ahead, plus whatever other maintenance things a large house like this had—I couldn’t identify even half of the crap over there, but I at leastknew what a breaker box looked like, and there were four of those lined up along the wall.
Since that was all house stuff, and nothing looked out of the ordinary, I turned my attention back to the shelves. Still no gnomes in sight, which I was thankful for—and I was sure Miles was even more grateful about.
“Alright, peeps, let’s get a searchin’.” Lyric pulled us over to the shelves.
But then I just stood there for a solid sixty seconds before Miles let out a small laugh, looking at me. “You can’t help.”
“Nope.”
He sent me a sort of shy smile, then untangled our fingers from where they’d been pleasantly entwined. I frowned at him because he was the only one I actuallywantedto hold hands with.
But then he slid his arm into the space between my elbow and side, stepped closer, and wrapped his hand up and under my armpit so he was holding the front of my shoulder.
The move brought his body very close to mine and felt even more intimate than the hand holding had, and I definitely wasn’t unhappy about that.
He sent me another of those sweet, adorable, shy smiles. “Um, there. Now you have a free hand. Does this help? Can you maintain your, uh, nullness through your clothes?”
I had to clear my throat several times before I was able to get any words out. “Y-yeah.” My voice cracked.For fuck’s sake, Win, get it together. Yes, your crush is likeright there, but that doesn’t mean you have to act a fool.“Yeah, this is perfect.” He was close enough, and my power was strong enough when it came to his magic, I could easily extend my nullness to him without our skin touching.
I wanted so badly to lean over and press my lips to his, or even to his cheek or anywhere, really. I wanted to forget aboutthis horrible house and take Miles out to lunch, then go back to my house and take him to bed. I wanted to kiss him and strip him naked and get my lips on every part of him I could reach. I wanted to hold him and sleep beside him and cuddle him and just… be with him.
I just really wanted him, in any way he’d let me have him.
I wanted Miles.
So badly.
But that wasn’t in the cards right now. As much as I wanted him and wanted to take advantage of his proximity, this wasn’t the time or the place for that.
But after… after we got out of here, after we finished this job, after we dropped Lyric off and could be alone… well, all bets were off after.
