Chapter 15 #2
“I was, but my mom had a sonogram. My grandmother was a midwife, and she had one of those portable machines. She’s also the one who delivered me.
” It was true. My parents were too afraid something might show up on the imaging they could not explain.
Unlike my parents, my grandparents thought differently.
More than once, they tried to tell my parents everything would be fine.
Mom and Dad wouldn’t listen, choosing to err on the side of caution.
Lorde snorted, yet when I glanced at him, I noticed a small smile. “Were you named after someone?” he asked.
Chuckling, I bit my lip and shook my head, not that he could see. “No, I was named after an evil robot.”
His head whipped around so quickly, I thought I heard it pop. “Pardon?”
“Sad but true,” I guffawed at his reaction.
“Mom was watching The Black Hole when she was pregnant and loved the name Maximillian. Many would like to think that it was because it’s strong or whatever, but nope.
An evil robot. As you can imagine, hardly anyone knows the truth.
When I pointed out she named me after a bad guy, she just shrugged. ”
“Are you serious?” he chuckled and looked horrified at the same time.
“Very. She told me it was up to me to rise above my namesake and do right by people, to choose my destiny and not allow my name to pick it for me. Or something like that. I began to tune out because that particular lecture lasted a good thirty minutes.”
If I hadn’t been staring at him, I might have missed this way his mouth tightened, his smile becoming more of a grimace, and the slight narrowing of his stunningly dark eyes.
What had I said to flip the switch? Was it talking about our names?
Yes, he had been standoffish since I asked about the origin of his name, but did that warrant such a one-eighty?
I tilted my head from side to side to relieve some of the pressure building in my neck.
Nothing was going right. I wanted to impress him, to get to know him a little, and I was bombing spectacularly.
Inhaling a deep breath, I released it slowly through my nose and peered out the window to see how close we were, shocked to find we were at a standstill on the highway.
I could have sworn the landscape was flying past us this whole time, only it wasn’t, and we were still a ways from Aurora. Fuck. My. Life.
Clenching my jaw, I quietly sighed, leaned my head back to stare out the sunroof, and opened my mouth to speak.
He did as well.
“I’m sorry,” I told him at the same time he said, “I apologize.”
Our eyes met again, and we laughed. The tension threatening to drown us a minute ago had backed off, hanging on the edges to see what would happen.
It wasn’t gone completely. After the awkwardness we just shared, I didn’t expect it to be; however, it had decreased and allowed us to breathe without choking.
Not that I wouldn’t mind choking on… I really needed to extract my mind from the gutter and not think about his dick or any other part of his anatomy.
“Please.” He gestured with his hand for me to speak first.
I swallowed hard and nodded. “I’m sorry.
I’m not really a people person. I mean, I know how to talk to people, but people who I’m interested in…
actually, I haven’t really ever been interested in anyone…
” I snapped my mouth shut, mortified I had word vomited like that.
My speech teacher in college would denounce me as one of his students.
Hell, I was denouncing myself. I was always, always calm, cool, and collected; able to give speeches, schmooze, and converse with anyone from children to the elderly.
Today, I’d lost all ability to hold a normal conversation.
Could a person burrow underground like a mole?
If possible, I would do it right now. Did embarrassment kill?
Maybe I should shift and fly away. Swans didn’t like cold, but the North Pole seemed awfully tempting.
“Shoot me now,” I groaned, sinking lower in my seat, unable to look at him.
“But I don’t have a pistol and am not certain where to get one.”
I darted my gaze to him, noticing the grin on his face. “You got jokes?”
“One of us should, otherwise, this d…outing will be dreadful,” he deadpanned.
Rolling my eyes at him, I snickered. “Okay. I deserve that. I am sorry.” I thought it best I end my sentence there because, with my luck, I would confess my deepest, darkest secret to him.
“You did, and I apologize as well. It’s a slight sore spot with me.
My name, I mean. My mother wanted a girl so badly, I wore pink, flowers, and dresses for the first year of my life.
Thankfully, I grew quickly, and she ran out of girly clothes which fitted me.
After that, she clothed me as a boy, and all was well.
” Something in his eyes told me not everything was hunky-dory after that, but I wouldn’t pry.
“That must have sucked.”
“I was a baby, so I don’t remember that time else I might be scarred for life. There are plenty of pictures, though.”
I would love to see those, I thought to myself. “Parents are sometimes our worst enemies.”
He sank down in his seat so that we were level. “They truly are.” Reaching his hand toward me, he softly brushed my cheek with the tips of his fingers, and my eyes slid shut, pleasure zinging through me, making my whole body tingle. “Lint,” he whispered.
“It’s everywhere.”
“Did you mean what you said?”
Frowning, I tried to think of what I’d said during our car ride and didn’t know what he was talking about. “Huh?” That was an intelligent response. In my head, I smacked myself.
He shifted closer to me. “Are you interested in me?”
My face burned and felt like it was on fire. Why did he have to catch that?
“You don’t have to gape at me with a deer caught in the headlights expression. It was a simple question.” He chuckled, but I got the impression he wasn’t trying to be mean or tease me; he was truly curious.
And I could only imagine what kind of expression my face was making.
I’d read a meme once that said if my mouth doesn’t get me into trouble, it will be my facial expressions.
All I could think about was how apt it was right now.
I was an adult, a grown man who usually got what he wanted.
I was straightforward to a fault and had been known to steal a boyfriend or two for a night of fun.
It wasn’t my fault they decided to ditch their partners for me.
Of course, they probably thought it would be more than one night, but it never was.
Before Lorde, I couldn’t remember anyone catching my attention the way he did.
I needed to man up and take life by the balls. “Sorry, and yes, I am very interested in you.” For now, I would ignore the way I had to force the words out, how my voice cracked like a teenager going through the change, and the way my cheeks felt hotter.
“Good because I believe I’m interested in you too.”
Hearing his confession, thrilled me, but instead of jumping up and down like an idiot, I smirked. “Only believe?”
“We’ve only known each other…” Lorde paused and squinted, “two days if you don’t include the two days in-between the party and today.”
“Let’s count them. Four days is better than two.” I winked.
“Four it is,” he guffawed.
The tension evaporated.