Page 36 of Capture of Capricorn

“Actually, that’s probably the least annoying part.” He offered her a smile. “You ready for that tour I promised?”

“Will it end with dinner?”

“Yes,” he replied with a laugh. “Shall we?”

He showed her several of the tower levels, from the admin office, where she got to meet Aquarius and admire his impressive surveillance and research computer setup. He set up an untraceable phone call that allowed her to call Mama, a conversation that went fairly well once Mama stopped yelling.

“Where have you been? You didn’t call and weren’t answering,” Mama accused.

Zora couldn’t exactly tell the truth, so she gave an excuse her mama would enjoy. “Met a guy who kind of kidnapped me.”

“What? Do I need to call the cops?”

“No, Mama. I’m kind of staying with him at the moment.”

A moment of silence before a whispered, “You’re shacking up with a man?”

The surprise was understandable, as Zora had never done that before. “Yeah. At least for the next little bit. We’ll see how things go.”

“You should bring him by so I can meet him. I’ll make my battered catfish and Cajun collard greens.”

“Maybe. Let’s see how things go.”

“Don’t you be scaring him off,” chided her mama.

“Either he takes me as I am or he can bugger off,” Zora replied, not for the first time. She refused to pretend to be someone she wasn’t.

“Would it kill you to wear a dress and be nice?”

“Yes.”

“I’m never gonna have grandbabies to spoil,” her mother lamented.

“Would it help if I got a cat?”

“You’re a brat.”

“Love you, too.”

When Zora hung up, Capricorn grinned. “Your mom sounds awesome.”

“She is, but she’s also a bully, especially about the whole having-a-kid thing.Your eggs are going to shrivel up if you keep waiting.” Zora pitched her voice to mime her mama’s tone.

“Do you want kids?”

She shrugged. “It’s not a top priority for me, to be honest. But I wouldn’t hate it if it happened. What about you?” she asked as they left the office area to do more stairs.

“I wouldn’t mind a rug rat or two. But finding a woman who can handle me is the challenge.”

For some reason, her gaze dipped to his groin before she naughtily said, “Maybe you’ve been dating the wrong type. I’m pretty sure you don’t have more than I can take.”

His dropped jaw was worth it, and she skipped down some steps lest he see how her own daring statement made her flush.

They continued their tour, hitting the training rooms, which included some neat hologram options. The game room, which indeed held pinball machines, a pool table, foosball, and even a few arcade units.

“You have the originalGauntlet?” Zora squealed. “I fucking loved this game as a kid. Used to scrounge and return bottles just so I could have change to play.”

“I see we’ll have to come back and play after dinner.”

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