That actually seemed reasonable, so I nodded. “Deal. You have your phone and stuff to keep you occupied.”
I knew from prior experience it would take a long time before he got bored enough to follow me some place he didn’t want to go. He was stubborn about weird things and easily distracted by others, so the combination meant that he could stay in the car until the apocalypse hit if it became necessary.
“I should’ve said that from the beginning.” Huffing, Knox let me help him into the truck with not much more than a pout and another sigh. “I need to think before I react.”
Since that was mostly about being able to manipulate me better, I ignored it even though he was right. But he didn’t need me giving him any encouragement. He could do that very well on his own and proved it as he kept up the drama and ramblings the entire drive over, only stopping once we got to his driveway. “Well, the gremlins didn’t burn it down.”
Had that been a legitimate worry or was he just being dramatic?
“You’re right.” Leaving the truck going, I held my hand out. “Keys?”
As he dug them out of his pocket, I tried to radiate calm and confidence. “You’re going to hang out in here. You’re going to read a book on your phone or make notes about whatever you should’ve been writing this morning. And before you know it, I’ll be back here for you.”
He took a deep breath as he handed over the keys, but he shook his head. “No, I need to be on the phone with you so I can hear you scream if they get you.”
His imagination was entirely too vivid...and somehow it was going to end up giving me nightmares if I wasn’t careful.
Fucking writers.
“Okay then, that’s what we’ll do.” I wasn’t going to argue with him just in case he turned out to be right. “But thank you for worrying about me getting killed by the gremlins.”
“Eaten.” Knox corrected me politely while also giving my nightmares more fuel. “They’re going to eat you. That’s what they do primarily. They eat weird shit in my kitchen and you’re meaty.”
For fuck’s sake.
“I am not going to be eaten.” I refused to die that way or question him about his definition of meaty. “No cannibalistic gremlins or anything like that. It’s going to be fine.”
“Is it cannibalism if they’re another species?” His strangely logical question made me want to bang my head against the steering wheel.
“If they can use plates and fuck with you, then yes.” It was the first thing that came into my head but it was an interesting enough response to have Knox going silent.
“I’ll have to think about my definition of human more.” It actually kept him distracted for several seconds until he remembered where we were. “But you have to promise not to get eaten. It’s important to me.”
“I should hope so.” He needed to write happier things. “That’s just fucking creepy.”
“No, it’s important you don’t get eaten.” Knox couldn’t seem to decide if I was stupid or just easily distracted, and he finally settled on rolling his eyes. Both. I was clearly both. “That should’ve been obvious.”
“Well, excuse me if romance wasn’t the first place my mind went when you talked about me getting eaten by cannibals.” It probably would’ve been the second if he hadn’t been so distracting.
“It should’ve been.” Still looking offended, he frowned at me. “I want you safe and not just because you feed me and keep me on track with work.”
There was an unsaidduhin his voice that made me want to laugh.
“Thank you.” Leaning over, I brushed my lips against his pouting ones. “You’re important to me too and I don’t wantyougetting eaten by cannibalistic gremlins either. I want you safe and not just because you’re good at blow jobs and giving me chapters of my favorite books.”
“Really?” Knox’s eyes got wide and he went all romantic and gooey. “The chapters are very good.”
“You’re better.” Because he was insane and kept my life much more interesting than I’d ever thought possible.
“Thank you.” He kissed my cheek before I could pull away. “Be safe.”
And we were back to worrying about the gremlins.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll be on the phone and I’ll do a quiet walk-through first while you chatter to me.” There really was nothing that could go wrong. “Then once I know that it’s fine, you can come in and we’ll get more of your stuff.”
Knox frowned as he gave the house a quick glance. “Well, I was—”
“If you’re good for me and pack more clothes, I’ll pick out a toy to use on you tonight.” He had to have more clothes because I was doing laundry entirely too often considering how much of the day he spent naked.
