“Scandalize us,” Marisol adds, waving a hand against her face like she’s hot.
Would Nori want to be scandalized? Would two cocks be considered scandalous for a human?
Tilly holds up a finger. “But still give us plot.”
Peregrine adds, “And a mystery.”
A slow smile creeps over Nori’s face and she leans back in her seat. “Mission accepted,” she purrs.
In this moment, Nori looks so comfortable and so sure of herself while being the center of everyone’s attention. The sight of her at ease like this, talking about a topic she’s truly passionate about, makes pride bubble up in me, scales slowly flowing over my chest as my dragon echoes my thoughts.
I knew I loved Nori, but realizing just how much almost brings tears to my eyes. It takes monumental effort not to be swept away by my emotions and to sit still while she continues to shine in what looks to be her natural habitat.
“It’s not too tall of an order?” Lucille asks Nori with a tilt of her head.
“I might have just the book for that,” Nori says and starts ticking off on her fingers. “It has a little bit of mystery and a whole lot of smut. It has an FMC escaping a sex cult, and a knight ready to annihilate anyone who dares harm her, but he keeps telling himself that he doesn’t have any real feelings for her.”
“Yesss,” Maisie practically growls. “Give me more of that. I love some secret pining. Where do we sign up?”
Nori looks around the room and studies the different expressions of everyone present. “Would you be interested in different types of book clubs? Like one can be more smutty romance and one can remain as closed-door mysteries where romance is only a subplot? You don’t have to answer right now, I’ll have a signup sheet on the refreshment table after this, but if you’re comfortable with it, maybe by a show of hands, how many of you would want to join for the smutty romance pick?”
Almost everyone raises a hand, and I quickly raise one in support too. If Nori is coming to Starry Hill, then I’m doing everything and anything to spend more time with her. I’ve never read a smutty book before, but from what the other women have been hinting at, I might just learn something from them.
Richard clears his throat. “I’ll raise a hand for Annamae. And one for Calla. They already read a lot of romance, so having others besides them and Lucille to discuss their type of books with might be fun. And if that book comes in audiobook format, even better. Annamae likes to listen while she bakes. But I’ll keep to the tame mysteries, if that’s okay.”
Aurelius hesitates for a couple of seconds before he finally asks, “Is it possible to meet on a Sunday afternoon or evening? That way more of us can attend and don’t have to worry about our own shops or have to close them.”
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Aurelius,” Peregrine says, effectively causing the mothman’s entire face to turn pink, his wings giving a small flutter of pleasure at the compliment.
“Yes. Then we can alternate meetings. One week mysteries, one week smutty picks, and we can add more if you’re up forit,” Tilly suggests as she absentmindedly rubs her stomach. “But don’t feel pressured to say yes to any or all of it.”
There are more murmurs of agreement, and Nori steals a quick glance at me. Her voice turns shy as she says, “I can ask Beck if he wouldn’t mind ferrying me about so much.”
It feels weird to hear her call me Beck again, but I’m glad she did so in front of the book club, because I’m only Nori’s Shinsu. For now. When the time is right, I’ll reclaim the name fully. But not before I explain to Nori why I stopped using it in the first place.
“He doesn’t,” they all answer in unison.
I echo, “I don’t.” And silently add, “This way I’m sure to have you all weekend, every weekend.”
Maybe it’s too soon to ask Nori if she wants to move in with me, even if she’ll only stay on weekends, but just in case she says yes, I’ll clear out half of my closet and prepare her a reading corner this week. I’ll do anything to turn my old mill into a place that she can call home, somewhere she’ll always feel welcome and loved.
