Page 61 of Protected from Malice
Carefully, not wanting to give my feelings away, I reply, “No. It’s not weird. I think it’s a great idea.”
“You do?” The embarrassed pink turns to that of pleasure. “I always thought it would be funny. The T-shirt part at least. Or if people didn’t want to wear shirts, we could do hats. Although I don’t really look good in them.”
“What do you mean you don’t look good in hats?” I lightly tug at a curl and release it. “I have a hard time believing that.”
“It’s true.” Eden pats her hair. “First, my hair curls all weird around it. And then when I take the hat off, the top part of my hair is all flat and frizzy. It looks terrible.”
“I bet you look cute.”
Eden pinks up again. “I don’t. Trust me.”
Before I can stop myself, I say, “Well, once this is over, we’ll have to find a place to play trivia. And we’ll have some hatsandT-shirts made. Then I’ll decide if you look weird or cute.”
Her brows arch up. “Would you want to? Stay in Portland for a little while? After?”
I know I should say no. Ishouldsay I have to get back to Texas as soon as Eden’s situation—case—is resolved. I should stop torturing myself with wishes that can’t come true and of princesses who deserve white knights and not broken men, like me.
But I can’t tell her no.
I don’t want to.
Dammit, I want to go to trivia with Eden. I want to see her in her cute little hat and T-shirt, her cheeks flushed with excitement as she answers question after question correctly. I want to cheer with her when we win—because between my addiction to trivia and Eden’s smarts, I’m sure we will.
Even if I’m just there as her friend, it would be worth it.
“What would you want our shirts to say?” I ask.
Her lips purse. “I know I should say something really intellectual. Like… the Mighty Mitochondria or something. But?—”
A laugh bubbles up. “The Mighty Mitochondria?”
“Stop.” Eden gives me a playful shove. “It’s science-y. People would be intimidated.”
I raise my eyebrows at her. “I’m not sure aboutintimidated.”
Giggling, she concedes, “Okay. Maybe not Mighty Mitochondria. The Devious Double Helixes?”
Now I’m outright laughing. “If that’s what you want the name to be.”
“It has a nice ring to it,” Eden says defensively. But she’s laughing, too. And it’s so damn good to see her laughing like this, it renews my determination to make it happen again.
“Actually,” she continues, “I had a sillier name in mind. So people would underestimate us. We could call ourselves the Sneaky Cheeseburgers.”
“The SneakyCheeseburgers? Where did you come up with that?”
“I don’t know. It just came to me one day, and I thought it sounded funny.”
“It does,” I agree, “and if that’s what you want the team name to be, it’s fine with me.”
“So you’re going to stay in Portland for a little while? Long enough to go to trivia a couple of times?”
“Absolutely.”
Shit. What did I just agree to?
Do Iwantto torture myself?
Then again, Eden’s smile makes any torture worthwhile.
