Page 41 of Hero & Villain
“Oh. Right.”
“The last serious girlfriend I had was a very nice girl I met at Harvard. Harold made a play for her, but I let her steal my sandwich and the rest was history. Literally, because it ended over five years ago. Her mother was friends with my mother. They probably still think we’re going to get married.”
“Did you like her mother? I mean, if she’s like your mother, does she feel like family, like another aunt or a second mother?”
“No. Austere is a good word for her. She would accept pristine roses and a chaste kiss in the air next to her cheek. I was allowed to ask about her dog and her husband’s health.”
I laughed and curled up on the seat, getting more comfortable. “What kind of dog did she have?”
“A pug named Harold Bingham the Fifteenth, or something equally preposterous. What’s your mother like?”
I wiped my hands on the napkin and buckled up. “I’ve taken enough of your time.”
“Your mother isn’t your favorite person?”
“She might be if she wasn’t dead.”
“Ah. My bad.” He squeezed my shoulder. “That number I gave you…”
I turned and bit him, not quite hard enough to draw blood. He pulled his hand back and frowned at me. “You gave it to me. I took it. I’m already regretting it. I know that I seem like a mess that can’t manage her own business, but you caught me at a low.”
“You mean if you were doing better you wouldn’t make me bleed so much?”
I frowned and pulled out into the road. “There isn’t any blood. You can’t just touch me whenever you want.”
“Why not? You kiss me right when I’m getting furious until I forget what I’m angry about. Then I remember because someone snaps my recently broken nose with a hair band.”
“Sorry. I’ll try not to kiss you.”
“Try? Is it that hard not to?” His voice was soft, like his eyes would be if I looked at them. I wasn’t going to look at him, to see that dimple or the mouth that felt so right and tasted so much better than chocolate.
“It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you, but never when I actually do. I don’t go around kissing people.”
“I remember from the tower. You were as confusing back then as you are now.”
“Thanks. You too.” I sighed and focused on driving, signaling for three long seconds before changing lanes or turning. I drove around until I found my way back to the compound.
“Dirk,” I said once I pulled in front of his tech building. “Thank you for letting me stay.”
He squeezed my shoulder, but his hand felt very different from Trix’s, gentle, warm, irresistible. “You shouldn’t thank me until you get what you want.”
My heart pounded as I turned and looked at him, his lips inches from mine. “What do I want?”
He smiled, a heartbreaker smile that was all bad boy with that one dimple. “I can’t tell you that, but maybe therapy will help you figure that out even more than taking down stalker ninjas.”
“Some people would be ashamed of breaking and entering.”
“You think just anyone can break through Jezebel’s security? I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you pesky kids.”
“Was that a Scooby Doo reference? You are such a nerd. Give me directions to her house.”
“So imperious. How do you know Scooby Doo?”
“Doesn’t everyone? Go on, Prince Badger.”
“Now I have to go home and watch a marathon of Scooby Doo episodes. Do you want to come?”
A rush of confused delight went through me that I mercilessly cut down. Dirk Dagger was not asking me on a date. He was offering to be my big brother. Why did that make my chest ache? “I have things to do.”
