Page 155 of The Genius
Marco laughed. “Then we’ll have to come up with something better.”
“Is the book about you and Shelly?”
“Noooo… of course not. Just inspired by us, a little.”
“I can’t wait to read it.”
“Tristan, please don’t encourage him.” Shelly gave me an exasperated glance. “Marco can find a thousand other more interesting things to write about. We’re not that special.”
“You could write a story about me,” Tristan suggested. “It could be an action book with fast drones and women throwing themselves at me.”
“See, that plot would fit right into the fiction category,” I pointed out.
Tristan made a sound of mock offense. “I’ll have you know that your sister has invited me to visit her, and Nicki asked if I wanted to stay in touch.”
I chuckled. “Wow, I take it back then. The women are literally throwing themselves at you. How will you choose from the hordes?”
“I’m not sure. Nicki is quiet and your sister can be very bossy.”
“It runs in the family,” Marco teased.
There was no apology in my tone of voice. “We’re strong women.”
Marco took my hand and kissed the back of it. “Which is why you need a strong Nman.”
“Hey, I’m an Nman too,” Tristan exclaimed. “That doesn’t mean I like being bossed around.”
“You’re a crossover, Tristan.” Still holding my hand, Marco let his thumb trail back and forth over my knuckles. “You were fifteen before you discovered the Nman side of you. I’m afraid the damage was already done.”
“What damage? I can deal with strong women; I grew up surrounded by them.”
Marco looked at Tristan. “Yeah, and I’ll bet you aren’t attracted to a single one of them.”
Tristan looked away and I followed his eyes to the lake trail, my heart sinking a bit when I verbalized what I’d suspected for a while. “You like Willow.”
He squatted down, touching the grass. “It’s hard not to.”
I frowned. “But she doesn’t like you that way – she said so herself, remember?”
“Maybe she will in time. Sometimes love can grow out of a strong friendship.”
“It’s not impossible,” Marco agreed.
“Willow isn’t like other Motlanders,” Tristan argued. “You heard her. She wants to marry and have children. Do you know how rare that is?”
“That’s because Solo filled her head with talk about it since she was twelve.”
Tristan had a determined expression on his face. “I want to be that man for her.”
“It’s not enough that you want to be that man. She has to want it too.”
“Why are you being so negative?” Tristan rose back up again.
“I’m not. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. You’re my friend.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s a little hard not to worry when you’ve gotten yourself entangled in the whole Willow and Solo drama. Did you see how big Solo has become?”
