“Ummm—I find mostfascinating,” he replied thoughtfully. “I have favorites. Like, hummingbirds, penguins, gannets, albatrosses, ducks, and blue jays.”
“Ducks, huh?”
He averted his gaze quickly to his soup. “Mm-hmm. But also, a lot of birds are super funny when you see their mating rituals. They dance! They look so silly.”
I grinned, noticing how quickly he changed the subject.
“Any other animals you like?” I wondered.
He thought about it, and I handed him a paper towel that he hurriedly scrubbed over his mouth.
Too fucking cute.
“I like tons of animals. I collect T-shirts from charities I support. But my favorite creature that’s not a bird has a dirty word in it, so I’d have to whisper it in your ear,” he said frankly.
I lifted my brows. “All right. Cockatoos are birds.”
He laughed and scooted closer. “I knowww. This is something else.” He reached up and leaned in, while I steadied the bowl in his lap. “I love nudibranchs,” he whispered.
What the fuck were those?
I inched back, too curious to maintain the close proximity. “I’ve never heard of that. It sounds as made-up as the illness James said you have.”
It took Jordan a beat to understand what I was talking about, and then he giggled behind his hand. “You mean abdomflixifluxitis? It’s super real. I heard it from Corey, an online friend in the Mclean community.”
Wait, what? Corey?
“Corey Cruz?” I pressed.
Jordan widened his eyes. “Yes! You know him?”
“Uh, yeah. Cute little shit. He’s datin’ a buddy of mine—Greer. Bratty as fuck too.”
“That’s him! He’s so awesome.” He shook his butt where he sat and ate more soup. “To be fair, he’s mostly innocent. Sadists set him up to be a brat.”
Ha! That was funny. Yeah, brats were known for their innocence. And Santa was real.
“So, what are nudibranchs?” I asked.
“They live in the ocean. Not to be confused with sea slugs—but kinda, still. They’re stunning. I’ll show you pictures later, okay?”
“Okay,” I chuckled. I couldn’t wait to look at pictures of…sea slugs.
Paws snuck into the living room and skidded under one of the chairs.
“Oh! You know what I did today, Sir?”
“No, tell me.”
“Very innocently, I asked James what life on Earth was like when he was my age. He wasn’t a fan.”
I looked back at him. Damn brat.
“Gee, I wonder why,” I drawled.
The giggler giggled. “Mister Ash?”
“Yeah?” I could sense the question coming from miles away.
