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“No, I mean it.” The plastic cup crinkled under her grasp. “I only read comics on occasion, but your art inThe Mystifiedis outstanding. You give this…” She looked up and gestured broadly with one hand. “…sort ofrealfeeling to even a story that’s so unreal. And after readingWheels, it makes sense. It’s such a grounded story—even with the talking squirrel.”
“You’re making me blush,” said Archer, although that was long past being obvious. He felt a stab of guilt for ever even thinking she might be one of “those” girls with just a passing interest in comics thanks to hunks in superhero movies. That didn’t seem to be the case—and even if it were, who cared?
“So was the squirrel really talking or was Todd just hearing her voice?”
“What doyouthink?”
“Ah, one ofthosecreators, huh? Leave it all up to the reader to fill in the gaps?” She stared down at her cup as she rolled the bottom in a little circle across the tablecloth. “Fine. I’m going to believe she could talk for real because I like to believe that magic exists, even if only in the realm of fiction.” She flicked her head slightly to move that billowing hair out of her face.
“Magic is real… in fiction?” He smirked. She was somehow both sexy and cute all at the same time.
“Oh, shush. You know what I mean.” She took one last swig from her cup, although there barely seemed to be more than a drop left. “So how did you get into the comic industry?”
“Passion, interest, a bit of talent, and a lot of luck,” he answered honestly. “And the safety net of my parents, I suppose.”
“Just a bit of talent?” She raised an eyebrow. “So most of that I get… It must be so freaking hard to break into the industry.”
“A lot of talent goes overlooked.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I was just lucky withWheels… I self-published it and it got just the right amount of attention and that led to the job onThe Mystified.”
“Thus the safety net,” added Brielle. “But about the passion… How come you have likenocomic books at your house? No fun little trinkets? No posters?”
Wincing, Archer poured himself some more tea and took a drink. “The books are in the video cabinet.”
“The perfect place for books, sure.”
He grinned. “The rest of the stuff, I don’t know. I guess I’m not that type of fan.”
“So you’re a fake geek boy,” said Brielle, staring down at him but with an amused look on her face.
“Mother always found those kinds of purchases useless.” He couldn’t believe he was bringing her up again or reminding Brielle just how much of a momma’s boy he might be, special circumstances or not.
“And is your mother still your interior decorator?”
“I… didn’t really care.”
“That’s right, you said the art was hers.” She crumpled the cup in her hand entirely.
He couldn’t stop staring at her face, which seemed set with grim determination. “Pretty landscapes make for better wall art than caped men jumping out of buildings, right?”
“Says you.” Studying him a moment, she stood up. “Or maybe not. Maybe saysMom?”
He lifted both hands in the air up and down as if weighing options. “I guess…? I don’t exactly care what my surroundings look like, and I don’t want an overly cluttered space.”
Grabbing the candle, she flipped it over to switch it off. “Luckily for you, you have an expert on cleanliness and clutter to help you out.” She dropped the candle and bottle of tea into his tote bag and flung herself forward, clutching at the tablecloth, pulling it toward her as if her life depended on it. Under a light sweater, she had a fluffy white top that didn’t even cover her midriff, and the movement made it ride even higher, revealing a perfectly planed abdomen that dipped only at the navel before disappearing under her jeans. “Thanks for the lunch,” she said. “This whole thing has been adorable, but I think Ireallyneed to study your condo right now. For some design ideas.” She shook out the tablecloth and folded it hastily, watching Archer with half-lidded eyes the entire time.
He hadn’t been mistaken. She could make any mundane cleaning task seem incredibly sexy.
“I need your design ideas likeyesterday,” he said, taking the tote bag from her. He didn’t even care that neither of them remembered to take the blanket along as they started back down the sidewalk.
Chapter Fifteen
Brielle feltlike she could benefit from a little liquid courage just about now. But that was the thing—she usually didn’t need it. When in the orbit of Lilac, it was hard to come across as sexy or domineering or anything but a blip in the background. But when she wanted someone, she could be quite bold, if she did say so herself. She may not want to jump every guy who flirted with her at a party, but once she found the guy shewouldlike to jump…
So what was different this time? Was it because of his disability? She couldn’t even bring herself to ask himwhathis disability was. As if that mattered. But the thought of jumping him made her stomach roar, in both a good and bad way. She’d never felt this way with Daniel or any of her shorter-term boyfriends before him. With Daniel especially, she’d just wanted him to shut up so she could close her eyes and forget it was him she was under the sheets with.
This time she didn’t want to keep her eyes closed the whole time. She didn’t want to turn off the lights—not that that would even matter since she was about to have, at minimum, a make-out session in the middle of the day.
She let him hold the door open for her—which made her hesitate for half a step because she felt like she should be holding the door open for him—and stepped inside his condo, looking around for a place to drop her purse that wouldn’t take her out of his orbit and settling for letting it fall to the floor beside where she kicked off her shoes. She immediately felt her face flush as she remembered the tight space and that he’d have to wheel past, so she bent over, picking up her shoes and purse again and squishing them against the wall.
