Page 112 of The Genius
“I can’t argue with that. My conclusion is that sexual arousal trumps rational thinking. People do really stupid things when they are horny.”
Raven nodded her head and used the celery stick to underline her words when she stabbed it through the air, “I’ve read about that. My parents have a lot of antique books and some of them are quite steamy.”
“You’ve read them?”
“Uh-huh. They’re very entertaining, and some of the books are making me curious to see if I could lose my head like that.”
“You probably could. You’re very spontaneous and adventurous by nature.”
“Thank you.” Raven gave me a lopsided smile and popped the last piece of celery in her mouth.
“I didn’t mean it as a compliment. I just meant that it can happen to the best of people.”
“Except you. You could never lose your head like the people in those books, could you?”
It was tempting to tell her the truth and see how shocked she would be, but instead I picked up a piece of broccoli pie, making my response sound as casual as possible. “I would like to say no, but in reality, none of us are safe from our biological dispositions.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just that intelligence is no armor against arousal and attraction.” Tilting my head, I gave her a sharp look. “And neither is being a fierce fighter, by the way.”
“That’s a shame, because I’m a pretty badass fighter.”
“I know you are, but if the day ever comes when you get physically attracted to someone, you can’t punch your way out of it.”
“Are you sure about that?” Raven reached down for her drink and looked around with a mischievous smile. “Too bad I’m not attracted to anyone here or we could put it to the test. There are a few of the boys that I wouldn’t mind punching a little over what they did to us back when we were kids.”
“Violence never solved anything.”
Raven looked amused and stood up. “Hey, boys, who wants to go for a few rounds and have your ass kicked by a Motlander woman?”
All the men turned to look at her. “Did she just call usboys?” Nero asked.
“I did. So how about you prove to me that you’ve turned into a man?”
“I don’t fight women.”
“No, I could see why you’d be afraid of fighting me.” She looked at the others. “Maybe one of you guys is braver than Nero?”
“I’m not afraid of fighting you,” Nero defended himself. “I’m afraid Boulder is gonna tear me apart for hurting you.”
“Ha! What do you say, Dad, would you be okay with me kicking Nero’s ass?”
Boulder nodded. “Sure. As long as you use protective gear.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, as I remembered Nero was a good fighter when he was a student.
Raven just grinned down at me. “I’ve been training for this moment for ten years.”
CHAPTER 24
The Fight
Marco
There will be no fighting tonight!”
I had never seen Mila so serious. She almost looked like her father, Magni, with the way she stood and stared the whole group down, her legs slightly spread and her hands firmly planted on her hips.
